'Mortimer Snerd was the secondary dummy of popular ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. Created in 1938, Mortimer made his debut on Bergen's radio series, The Chase and Sanborne Hour. The character was an amiable hick, with a slow drawl reminiscent of the Disney character Goofy, and a streak of innocence and unique logic, in contrast to the sharp-witted Charlie McCarthy. The dummy reflected this, with buck-teeth, elongated nose, and more mundane "rube in the city" costuming in contrast to the top hat and tails worn by both Charlie and Edgar. Snerd is credited as the original source of the word "Duh!". The dummy became popular in his own right, and appeared with Bergen and McCarthy in such films as Charlie McCarthy, Detective; Here We Go Again; Stage Door Canteen; and Fun and Fancy Free (also starring Mickey Mouse and the voice of Dinah Shore). He was also the inspiration for the Looney Tunes character Beaky Buzzard. Bergen died in the late 1970s, one week after announcing his retirement and two weeks after Mortmer Snerd's final performance on The Andy Williams Show.' -- muppet.wikia
1939
75 years later
Bonus: Mortimer Snerd, the band
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p.s. Hey. I have a headache. It might flatten out the p.s. a little. If so, sorry. ** Rewritedept, Hi. First, let me pass along your thing. Everyone, here's Rewritedept, if he may have your attention for a moment: 'hey everyone, i started a facebook page for my writing and collages and stuff. it's here if you want to check it out. please and thank you and all that mushy stuff.' Nope, I did zip to mark Bastille Day. The Pettibon book is nice. Acker-wise, I'd maybe start with 'Blood and Guts in High School'. I don't remember Lee Ranaldo being that short. Are you sure? Maybe. Making what kind of candy? I'm obsessive too, but whatev', right? 'TP' is still my all-time favorite TV show. ** S., Nice titties, man. ** Mononoke Paradice, That Fujiko Nakaya book/DVD is really good. I didn't see a photograph on that page you linked to. Actually, there was a kind very narrow photograph-like column on the left hand side. Maybe my browser is fucked up. Cashcort seems to have been the favorite. I would never have guessed. Interesting. Enjoy your 5 am coffee and reading. I was up at 5 am today, but not by choice, unfortunately. ** Scunnard, Yeah, really dug it, man. Exciting. Eyes wide in anxiousness for more. ** Sanatorium, Hey. Less depressives than usual? Hm, I think Lionking seems a little depressed, and if I was Yourpal, I might be depressed if I was telling the truth. But, yeah, I see what you mean. And I do tend to look carefully for depressives. They're usually my faves. I did indeed like the YnY work, and a pdf would be sweet, man, thank you. Yeah, the tilting houses, me too. Any other highlights? Best, me. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, D. And he's right here in Paris awaiting, albeit without knowing it, your long awaited visit. ** Kier, Thanks, Kier! Lionking was cool, def. Yeah, I'm from LA, so snow has this whole wow factor for me, even fake snow, maybe fake snow even more so. Fake snow in Norway would be weird. It seems like it would have this whole other effect. ** Steevee, That was such a good line, wasn't it? ** Chris Goode, Hi, Mr. G. _SMELL_OF-SUCCESS ... which one was that? Hold on. Oh, yes, I see, yes. Being 'SO PIG', I'm sure broken legs would be de rigueur and even right up his alley. A paper drop, yeah. It could work with fake snow too. I think the kind we use in 'Ktl' is just minute shreds of white plastic, for instance. Let me know. Wow, you figured out how to tolerate Joni Mitchell? What can't you do, maestro? I can only listen to Joni Mitchell when John Kelly is channeling her, and even then I have to be chewing gum. Mm, no, I don't think MM's minimalism bothers me. I really like minimalism, in music at least. Or certain kinds. No, it's more like, 'Who stepped on your foot, and why did you think to turn the recorder on while that happened, and how do you manage to both yowl so annoyingly and structure your yowling at the same time?' Or something. David Borden ... I'm blanking. I think I know his stuff. I'm sure I do. But my headache has blocked the neural path or whatever between his name and me. I'm going to go find him and, you know, listen (again). You rule the fucking waves, man. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. I hope I did her work justice. Isn't 'Mine' an old Sotos book that's been reissued? Oh, wait, maybe not. ** Chilly Jay Chill, Hi, Jeff. Yeah, the new 'Weaklings' book has been beefed up with some new and some previously unpublished older poems. Roberto Calasso ... no, don't think I've read him. But I have a headache, so I'm untrustworthy today. Yes, I saw that about the Collagist excerpt yesterday. So exciting! Everyone, Chilly Jay Chill is, in reality, a fella named Jeff Jackson whose first novel 'Mira Corpora' is coming out this fall from Two Dollar Radio. And it's a fantastic novel, as endorsements from me and Don De Lillo and others make clear or something. Anyway, you can get a nice taste of the novel right now by clicking this, which will take you to an excerpt 'about teenage oracles' from Jeff's novel that has just made its appearance on/in the new issue of The Collagist. You'll also get a look at the book's cover featuring art by the blog's very own Kiddiepunk. Go, be off! ** Cassandra Troyan, Hi, Cassandra! I did see and read Chris Higgs' great and so accurately thought out and poised piece on 'Throne'. Fantastic! Hold on. Everyone, if you click this, you can read a really smart, stellar review by the brilliant Christopher Higgs of one of my top favorite books of the year aka the brilliant Cassandra Troyan's 'Throne of Blood'. Super highly recommended. It's also on/in The Collagist, which seems to be on a serious roll this issue. Congrats to you and to Chris! Cool, I'll look for the email, thank you! ** Misanthrope, Have you stopped looking at porn and gone to sleep yet? ** Joakim Almroth, Hey, J! Wow, you move already on the 27th? Sweet about the central apartment. Where is the school located in Copenhagen. Not that I will recognize the locale, I guess, but I did wander and drive around the city for several days. The moving to a different country thing: Well, in the case of Amsterdam/Holland, I was miserable but that was due to extenuating factors that have no bearing on your situation. Moving to Paris was great. That feeling you get for a while of everything being foreign and yours at the same time is very invigorating. I don't know. I would think you'll feel alert and exhilarated. Do you have friends there? I forget. And I guess you can ferry or whatever back to Stockholm for visits without to much hassle if you feel homesick, right? Love, me. ** Kingdom Slide, Hey, D! Great! I'm glad that someone mentioned No. I was so happy to find him. I was surprised that his imaginative take on what it takes to pull in clients had gone un-noted until you, dear sir, noted that. Thanks re: the recent posts. The Larson piece I used in the post isn't from the novel, if that makes a difference. I don't know, I'm kind of blown away by 'Irritant', but it's very much the kind of novel I like to read. Yeah, I have daydreamed about writing a videogame book like that, but I know myself well enough to know that I'm too far out of the non-fiction writing mode these days and too swamped to give my fondness for the idea of writing that kind of book any realism. I seem to have lost the knack for non-fiction writing. I've gotten too far away from doing that, and it was always for a gig, and it was always more difficult for me than it should have been. That voice could snap back into place, I guess, though. But, yeah, if I could do it, I think it would be pretty good, ha ha. Thanks! I would say my weekend was more a manslaughter one than a killer one. So great to see you, D., as always and forever. What's on today's plate for you? ** Okay. I might be starting to work on a new piece with Gisele involving ventriloquism, so you might be getting the occasional ventriloquism-oriented post here in the near future. Here's one. See you tomorrow.