pigpen51 left a very kind and much appreciated comment on the last obit watch. In that vein, someone who I feel like i should remember, but is probably just a little outside the fringes of my consciousness:
Maria Perego. She created Topo Gigio.
Ms. Perego, who worked alongside her husband, Federico Caldura, came up with the 10-inch-tall Topo Gigio in the late 1950s. Topo Gigio was a sort of cross between a puppet and a marionette; three puppeteers, hidden in a black background, moved various body parts with rods.
According to “Sundays With Sullivan: How ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ Brought Elvis, the Beatles, and Culture to America,” a 2008 book by Bernie Ilson, Mr. Sullivan saw a tape of the puppet from Italian television and booked Topo Gigio for a series of appearances on his popular Sunday-night CBS variety show. The first, the book said, was on April 14, 1963.
Ms. Perego and two other puppeteers were on hand to impart the movements, and a fourth provided Topo Gigio’s voice — but, Mr. Ilson wrote, Mr. Sullivan had not realized that someone would also have to serve as the puppet’s straight man. Mr. Sullivan, who was famously wooden on camera, stepped into that task for the initial appearance, figuring he would arrange for a professional comic to take over for later ones if the bit caught on.
“It was evident from the very first appearance, however, that the chemistry between Sullivan and Topo Gigio worked extremely well,” Mr. Ilson wrote. “The exchanges between Sullivan and the mouselike puppet revealed another side of the host, a warm and humanizing element.”
Mr. Sullivan remained in the role of sidekick for what the book says were some 50 appearances by Topo Gigio over the years. (Other sources give higher numbers.) The appearances often ended with the mouse saying, in a thick Italian accent, “Eddie, kiss me good night.”
A little late on this, but: Ernest J. Gaines. (The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, A Lesson Before Dying)
Laurel Griggs. Nobody should die at 13.
I remember Topo Gigio very well. I have a twin brother, and we used to watch Ed Sullivan each week hoping that the little puppet would appear that night. I was too young to really get into the music part of the show much, until I got a little older. Then, when I became more of a musician, learning to play the saxophone, among many other instruments over time, I started to begin to watch the many variety shows that were popular on the networks back then. It seemed like just about every popular singer had a show. From Johnny Cash, to the Smothers Brothers, Hee Haw, the Osmonds, Sonny and Cher, and the many specials, like the Bing Crosby Christmas specials, I remember him singing with David Bowe, the song Little Drummer Boy. It was perhaps the best Christmas song ever recorded, and I saw it the first time it aired.
Alice Cooper’s Welcome to my Nightmare, was also a special that I saw, and was amazed, because my oldest brother had liked him, and gone to concerts by him. I never thought I would like him. But I found him to be fascinating.
It was through such specials, that I learned to love just about every genre of music.
I remember riding in the back of my parents car, in the rear window ledge, when I was young, at night, listening to the Grand Ole Opry, coming home from my dad’s younger brother.
I wonder just why it is that the networks don’t have the guts to run any of the shows like that now? But with acts that have talent, and don’t rely upon mere showmanship, instead of talent and quality musicians. Because frankly, the new music, of just about all genre’s leave me cold.