Henry Gibson- One Of Cinema’s Most Memorable Nazis

My mother would not let me watch Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In in the early 70’s. She felt it was too vulgar and that I would not understand the humor that was being used. So like most kids I would sneak over to my best friend’s house and watch it. By today’s standard there was nothing to it to get upset about and many of the jokes were not that great .

It did change the culture and many of the catch phases of the time were invented on Laugh-In. The regulars on the show included Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne, Larry Hovis, Arte Johnson, Teresa Graves, Jo Anne Worley and Henry Gibson.

It is Laugh-Ins’ Henry Gibson who has taken his Final Taxi at 73.

I remember a few character’s that Gibson did on the show, including a tea-sipping priest, but mostly he read some of his funny poems.

I didn’t think much about Gibson until about 1977 when the local movie theater showed a double feature of movies that were skit comedy bits. The bill included a film called Tunnel Vison and The Kentucky Fried Movie. Gibson appeared as himself in a fund drive for the United Appeal for the Dead. In it Gibson talks about how the dead can still be a productive member of society even after they have stopped breathing.

It was John Landis’ hilarious 1980 film The Blue Brothers that brought Gibson back in the limelight. Many will remember the head of the ‘Illinois Nazis’ who The Blues Brothers ran their parade into a park stream. The rest of the film Gibson and his band keep try to kill the Blues Brothers (John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd) and are met with failure since they are “on a mission from God.” Gibson was listed as one of Cinema’s Most Memorable Neo-Nazis by Empire Magazine.

Henry Gibson was born James Bateman and created his comedy persona after serving in Air Force and joking around with a Southern accent. His character was supposed to be from Fairhope, Alabama. His first film appearance was with Jerry Lewis in 1963’s The Nutty Professor. Gibson won a supporting-actor award from the National Society of Film Critics for his character in 1975’s Nashville. He recently has been seen playing recurring roles on two TV shows, Boston Legal and King of the Hill.

Jack Ellory- Played On Beatles Song “Fool On The Hill”

It seems that this is Beatles week.

The new video game “ The Beatles – Rock Band” has come out. It has been called ‘the world’s leading music game meets the greatest band in history.’ Also all the Beatles original albums have been released on digitally remastered CDs. I have heard a few songs from them and they sound awesome.

With all the Beatles blitz one musician who played with the Beatles will not be hearing himself on the new remastered CD. That would be Jack Ellory who for more than 30 years was a leading flautist and session musician. Ellory recently took his Final Taxi at the age of 89.

In October of 1967, Ellory was hired by Beatle’s producer George Martin to play flute on the song “Fool on the Hill.” The song was written and sung by Paul McCartney for their LP Magical Mystery Tour. It took almost a month to record and Ellory’s flute was only added weeks before the album went to press.

Ellory was a graduate from Trinity College in Bristol, UK and the Royal College of Music. The London Philharmonia Orchestra was founded in 1945 and Ellory was was the first hired to play second flute. The orchestra was often called upon to play session work for EMI recording studio. Ellory would soon become a studio musician playing flute for such artists as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Peter Sellers, and of course, The Beatles.

Jack Ellory can also be heard playing in the soundtrack of many of the early James Bond and Pink Panther films. Other works include the films The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare.