Product Code Database
Allan Sherman (born Allan Copelon or Allan Gerald Copelon; November 30, 1924 – November 20, 1973) was an American musician, satirist, and television producer who became known as a song parody in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer (1962), became the fastest-selling record album up to that time.Thomas, Bob (Associated Press). "Fat and fortyish but star no less," Ottawa Herald, December 13, 1962, page 10: "Warner Brothers Records report that it is the fastest-selling album in history, having sold 575,000 in six weeks. With the Christmas season coming up, it might push over a million." Retrieved April 14, 2016, via NewspaperArchive.com His biggest hit was "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh", a comic song in which a boy describes his summer camp experiences to the tune of Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours.
In his autobiography A Gift of Laughter, Sherman writes that he was fired from I've Got a Secret in 1958, the night when guest star Tony Curtis demonstrated childhood street games. First, Curtis had never heard of the games that Sherman wanted to stage, resulting in awkward reenactments. Then, according to Sherman, Henry Morgan was left short of scripted material by seven minutes, and Morgan filled the time by berating Sherman on air. However, the episode in question does not run short. Morgan ends it abruptly and says that they have run out of time. "The spot was not only a fiasco but also a catastrophe," recalled Fates. "That show was Goodson's last straw and Allan's last I've Got a Secret. Within hours, the reaction from the network and the sponsors was in, and Allan was out."Fates, p. 80. Sherman was replaced by associate producer Chester Feldman.
Sherman also produced a short-lived 1954 game show What's Going On?, which was technologically ambitious, with studio guests interacting with multiple live cameras in remote locations. In 1961, he produced a daytime game show for Al Singer Productions called Your Surprise Package, which aired on CBS with host George Fenneman.
Capitalizing on his success, in 1962 Jubilee Records re-released Sherman's 1951 single on the album More Folk Songs by Allan Sherman and His Friends, which compiled material by various Borscht Belt comedians such as Sylvia Froos, Fyvush Finkel and Lee Tully.
Sherman's first two LPs were mainly reworkings of old to infuse them with Jewish humor. His first minor hit was "Sarah Jackman" (pronounced "Jockman"), a takeoff of "Frère Jacques" in which he and a woman (Christine Nelson) exchange family gossip. The popularity of "Sarah Jackman" (as well as the album My Son, the Folk Singer) was enhanced after President John F. Kennedy was overheard singing the song in the lobby of the Carlyle hotel. By his peak with My Son, the Nut in 1963, however, Sherman had broadened both his subject matter and his choice of parody material and begun to appeal to a larger audience.
Sherman wrote his parody lyrics in collaboration with Lou Busch. A few of the Sherman/Busch songs are completely original creations, featuring original music as well as lyrics, rather than new lyrics applied to an existing melody.
However, Sherman had trouble in getting permission to record for profit from some well-known composers and lyricists, who did not tolerate parodies or satires of their melodies and lyrics, including Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, Ira Gershwin, Meredith Willson, Alan Jay Lerner, and Frederick Loewe, as well as the estates of Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, Kurt Weill, George Gershwin and Bertolt Brecht, which prevented him from releasing parodies or satires of their songs. In the late 1950s, Sherman was inspired by a recording of a nightclub musical show called My Fairfax Lady, a parody of My Fair Lady set in the Jewish section of Los Angeles that was performed at Billy Gray's Band Box. Sherman then wrote his own song parodies of My Fair Lady, which appeared as a bootleg recording in 1964, and were officially released in 2005 on My Son, the Box. Alan Jay Lerner did not approve of having the parody being performed; however, he reluctantly settled to allow the performances of "Fairfax Lady", on the strict conditions that the show could be allowed to be performed only inside the Fairfax Theater, without any touring company, and that the musical could not be videotaped or recorded for any album.
Although Sherman believed that all the songs parodied on My Son, the Folk Singer were in the public domain, two of them, "Matilda" and "Water Boy"–parodied as "My Zelda" and "Seltzer water Boy", respectively–were actually under copyright, and Sherman was sued for copyright infringement.Wallace, Irving and Wallenchensky, David. The People's Almanac of the 20th Century
In 1963's My Son, the Nut, Sherman's pointed parodies of classical and popular tunes dealt with automation in the workplace ("Automation", to the tune of "Fascination"), Spaceflight ("Eight Foot Two, Solid Blue", to "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue"), summer camp ("Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh", to the tune of Dance of the Hours by Ponchielli), the exodus from the city to the suburbs ("Here's to the Crabgrass", to the tune of "Country Gardens"), and his own bulky physique ("Hail to Thee, Fat Person", which claims his obesity was a public service similar to the Marshall Plan). Seven cartoon bears were printed on back of every album.
The songs on Sherman's next album My Name Is Allan (1965) were thematically connected: except for a couple of original novelty songs with music by Sherman and Busch, all the songs on the album are parodies of songs that had won, or were nominated for, the Academy Award for Best Song. They included "That Old Black Magic", "Secret Love", "The Continental", "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and "Call Me Irresponsible". The cover of the album bore a childhood photograph of Sherman. That, and the album's title, were references to Barbra Streisand's album My Name Is Barbra, released earlier that year, which featured a cover photograph of the singer as a young girl.
During his brief heyday, Sherman's parodies were so popular that he had at least one contemporary imitator: My Son the Copycat was an album of song parodies performed by Stanley Ralph Ross, co-written by Ross and Bob Arbogast. Lest there be any doubt of whom Ross is copying, his album's cover bears a crossed-out photo of Sherman. One of the songs on this album is a fat man's lament, "I'm Called Little Butterball", parodying "I'm Called Little Buttercup" from Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta HMS Pinafore. Sherman would later parody this same song as "Little Butterball" – with the same subject matter – on his album Allan in Wonderland. The song may have had more poignancy for Sherman, as he, unlike Stanley Ross, was genuinely overweight. Sherman also parodied Gilbert and Sullivan's "Titwillow" from The Mikado, in the song "The Bronx Bird-Watcher" (on My Son, the Celebrity), as well as several other Gilbert and Sullivan songs.
Also in 1964, Sherman narrated his own version of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf in a live concert at Tanglewood with the Boston Pops under Arthur Fiedler. The concert, which was released by RCA Victor Red Seal as the album Peter and the Commissar, also included "Variations on 'How Dry I Am'", with Sherman as conductor, and "The End of a Symphony". In "Variations", Fiedler was the guest soloist, providing solo hiccups. In 2004, Collector's Choice reissued the complete RCA Victor album on CD.
Sherman's later albums grew more pointedly satirical and less light-hearted, skewering protesting students ("The Rebel"), consumer debt ("A Waste of Money", based on "A Taste of Honey"), and the generation gap ("Crazy Downtown" and "Pop Hates the Beatles"). It was for this reason that Ken Barnes, when attempting to analyze American music acts that were harmed by the British Invasion, surmised in 2021 that Sherman had been doomed to lose momentum anyway and could not blame the Invasion for his career decline (even as "Crazy Downtown" was a top-40 hit for him).
Sherman was often tapped to produce specialty song parodies for corporations. An album of six paper-cup and vending machine related songs, titled Music to Dispense With, was created for the Container Division of the Scott Paper Company for distribution to its vendors and customers. It consisted of the tracks "Makin' Coffee" (a parody of "Makin' Whoopee"), "Vending Machines", "There Are Cups", "That's How the Change Is Made", "The Wonderful Tree in the Forest" and "Scott Cups".
Sherman also created a group of eight "public education" radio spots for Encron carpet fibers, singing their praises to the tunes of old public-domain songs. Entitled Allan Sherman Pours It On for Carpets Made with Encron Polyester, it featured an introduction by Sherman and comprised the tracks "Encron Is a Brand New Fiber" (to the tune of the Michael Renzi-Jack Norworth-Nora Bayes hit "Shine On, Harvest Moon"), "Put Them All Together, They Spell Encron" (to the tune of Theodore Morse and E. Johnson Howard's "M-O-T-H-E-R"), "There's a Fiber Called Encron" (to the tune of William H. Hill's "There is a Tavern in the Town"), "Encron Alive, Alive-O" (to the tune of "Molly Malone"), "Encron's the Name", "Why They Call It Encron" (to the tune of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart"), "Encron, Encron" (to the tune of "Daisy Bell") and "Encron Is a Great New Fiber" (to the tune of "Take Me to the Fair").
By 1965, Sherman had released two albums that did not make the Top 50 and in 1966, Warner Bros. Records dropped him from the roster. His last album for WB, Togetherness, was released in 1967 to poor reviews and poor sales. All of his previous releases had been recorded in front of a live studio audience – or in the case of Live, Hoping You Are the Same, recorded during a Las Vegas performance – but Togetherness was purely a studio recording, and the lack of an audience and their response affected the result, as did the nondescript backup singers and studio orchestra.
On November 13, 1965, Sherman made a rare primetime television acting appearance in "The Sheriff of Fetterman's Crossing," an episode of Rod Serling short-lived Western series The Loner (1965–1966).Witbeck, Charles (November 13, 1965). "Allan Sherman Stars in Western Comedy". The Journal News. p. 28. Retrieved November 30, 2021. Sherman played Walton Peterson Tetley, a local schnook who went off to war and rose to regiment cook before returning home a hero, thanks to tall tales and yarn-spinning. The town hails its conquering hero and Tetley is appointed sheriff. Series star Lloyd Bridges as William Colton, a wandering Union veteran, comes to town and signs on to be Tetley's deputy, discovering quickly his boss' utter incompetence in the office.Page, Don (August 26, 1965). "Sherman's Talent Larger Than Life". The Los Angeles Times. p. 82. Retrieved November 30, 2021. Tetley receives a threatening note from a gunslinger challenging this purported hero to a gunfight when he arrives on the noon stage, at which point the story becomes a parody of iconic Western movie High Noon (1952). Colton sets to teaching the shivering-in-his-boots sheriff courage and gunmanship. Sherman's semi-serious and sympathetic performance was strong and his presence an affable one.Cohen, Mark (2013). Overweight Sensation: The Life and Comedy of Allan Sherman. Boston, MA : Brandeis University Press. p. 217. .
In 1966, Sherman visited Australia. He did a television series in Melbourne, Victoria, for a live audience. During the performance, he sang a parody of "Molly Malone." It included a play on the word "but" (butt) which did not elicit a laugh. What Sherman did not know is that Australians use the word "bum" where Americans would say "butt" (although usage of the word "butt" has since become widespread in Australia). Otherwise, Sherman was well received by the audience. Afterward, he met with some of his fans and signed at least one autograph.
In 1969, Sherman wrote the book and lyrics – with music by Albert Hague – for The Fig Leaves Are Falling, a flop Broadway theater that ran only four performances, despite direction by George Abbott and a cast that included Barry Nelson, Dorothy Loudon, and David Cassidy. Still creative, in 1973, Sherman published the controversial The Rape of the A*P*E*, which detailed his point of view on American Puritanism and the sexual revolution.
In 1971, Sherman was the voice of Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat for the animated television special. He reprised the role for Dr. Seuss on the Loose, his last project before his death.
Sherman lived on unemployment benefits for a time and moved into the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital for a short time to lose weight. He died while entertaining his friends during the night of November 20, 1973, at his home in Los Angeles, California, ten days shy of his 49th birthday. According to sheriff's officers, Sherman, who had been undergoing treatment for emphysema, asthma, and obesity, died of respiratory failure. He is entombed in Culver City, California's Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.
Sherman's hit song "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" has been translated into other languages. In one notable example, the Dutch–Swedish poet Cornelis Vreeswijk translated the song loosely into Swedish as "Brev från kolonien" (Letter from Summer Camp), which reached fourth on the Swedish popular music chart Svensktoppen in the summer of 1965 and is still popular in Sweden today.
A Best of Allan Sherman CD was released in 1990, and a boxed set of most of his songs was released in 2005 under the title My Son, the Box. In 1992 a musical revue of his songs titled Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah ran for over a year off-off-Broadway; other productions ran Off-Broadway for four months in 2001 and toured in 2003. A children's book based on the song "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh", with illustrations by Syd Hoff, was published in 2004.
On March 14, 2006, National Public Radio profiled Sherman on All Things Considered.
In 2010, eight of Allan Sherman's Warner Records albums were individually released on CD:
Sherman's son Robert (not to be confused with others of that name in the showbusiness industry) became a game show producer, producing for Mark Goodson during the 1970s and 1980s, including Password Plus, Blockbusters, Body Language and Super Password.
Legacy
Sherman was the inspiration for a new generation of developing parodists such as "Weird Al" Yankovic, who pays homage to Sherman on the cover of his first LP.
In popular culture
Discography
Albums
1962 My Son, the Folk Singer 1 Warner Bros. Records 1963 My Son, the Celebrity 1 Warner Bros. Records My Son, the Nut 1 Warner Bros. Records 1964 Allan in Wonderland 25 Warner Bros. Records Peter and the Commissar 53 RCA Victor For Swingin' Livers Only! 25 Warner Bros. Records 1965 My Name Is Allan 88 Warner Bros. Records 1966 Allan Sherman: Live!!! (Hoping You Are the Same) - Warner Bros. Records
1967 Togetherness - Warner Bros. Records
2014 There Is Nothing Like a Lox: The Lost Song Parodies of Allan Sherman - Rockbeat Records / Smore
Singles
1963 "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! (A Letter From Camp)"
b/w "Rat Fink"2 — 14 My Son, The Nut "The Twelve Gifts Of Christmas"
b/w "(You Came A Long Way From St. Louis)
You Went The Wrong Way, Old King Louie" (from My Son, The Nut)5
(Christmas charts)— — For Swingin' Livers Only! 1964 "My Son, The Vampire"
b/w "I Can't Dance" (from Allan In Wonderland)— — — Non-album track "(Heart) Skin"
b/w "The Drop-Outs March"— — — Allan In Wonderland "Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh! (A Letter From Camp)" (1964 version)
b/w Original version of A-side (from My Son, The Nut)59 9 — Non-album track "The End Of A Symphony"—Part 1
b/w Part 2
With The Boston Pops Orchestra—Arthur Fiedler, conductor— — — Peter and The Commissar "Pop Hates The Beatles"
b/w "Grow, Mrs. Goldfarb"
Unreleased— — — For Swingin' Livers Only! 1965 "Crazy Downtown"
b/w "The Drop-Outs March" (from Allan In Wonderland)40 6 — Non-album track "The Drinking Man's Diet"
b/w "The Laarge Daark Aardvark Song"98 21 — My Name Is Allan 1966 "Odd Ball"
b/w "His Own Little Island"— — — Non-album tracks 1967 "Westchester Hadassah"
b/w "Strange Things In My Soup"— — — Togetherness 1968 "The Fig Leaves Are Falling"
b/w "Juggling"— — — Non-album tracks
Musical theater
Filmography
See also
Bibliography
Notes
External links
Categories: 1924 Births, 1973 Deaths, 20th-century American Businesspeople, 20th-century American Comedians, 20th-century American Male Actors, 20th-century American Singers, 20th-century American Male Singers, American Comedy Musicians, American Satirical Musicians, American Entertainment Industry Businesspeople, American Male Comedians, American Male Voice Actors, American Novelty Song Performers, American Satirists, Burials At Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, Comedians From Los Angeles, Comedians From Chicago, Deaths From Emphysema, Fairfax High School Alumni, Grammy Award Winners, Jewish American Comedians, Jewish American Male Actors, Jewish American Songwriters, Jubilee Records Artists, Male Actors From Chicago, American Parodists, Parody Musicians, People From Brentwood, Los Angeles, Rca Victor Artists, Songwriters From Illinois, Television Producers From California, Television Producers From Illinois, Warner Records Artists, University Of Illinois Urbana-champaign Alumni, 20th-century American Jews, American Male Songwriters, 20th-century American Songwriters
|
|
