0:05

I think we have time for one final question.

0:08

In the late fall of nine two,

0:10

one of President John F. Kennedy's closest

0:13

advisers, Arthur Schlessinger,

0:15

Jr. Was driving in his car

0:17

when all of a sudden, he heard the following

0:20

question come over the airwaves,

0:25

pity President. A familiar

0:27

voice answered, well, I think they're pretty

0:30

good. Now, let me say, I don't see why a person

0:32

of the Jewish faith God be President

0:34

of the United States. I know

0:36

it's a Catholic. I could have a vote fire.

0:38

But his

0:42

confusion was cleared up when he learned

0:44

the voice belonged to kennedy impersonator

0:47

Van Meter. But Schlessinger

0:50

was concerned enough that when he returned

0:52

to the White House, he drafted a memorandum

0:55

to the President. He

0:57

wrote the following, This raises

0:59

the question of what in hell a president

1:02

of the United States ought to do about

1:04

Mimickry. I'm

1:07

guessing many of you have never heard of Von Meter,

1:10

but for one brief shining moment. Okay,

1:13

a twelve month period between late nineteen sixty

1:15

two in late nineteen sixty three, he

1:17

was a really big deal. He

1:20

had this parody album called The

1:22

First Family, a spoof of the Kennedy's

1:24

in old video clips. He looks like a

1:27

distant Kennedy cousin, Young, clean

1:29

cut with a thick head of hair and his jfk

1:31

impression. He's uncanny. Just

1:34

listen today will be in Nuclear de Ghamman,

1:37

followed by the U N Bond issue. In a matter

1:39

of the trade, agreemwach Now, first there is

1:41

a most important matter to settle, Mr

1:44

de gall yours was the chicken, Salad and coffee.

1:46

That's a dollar forty first

1:49

Families Well, in five weeks

1:51

this album has broken all records

1:53

in the history of the recording business. Its soul will

1:55

get this three and a quarter million copies

1:57

in five weeks. It took My Family album

2:00

five years to sell that many copies. Had

2:03

That was Late Night King of his day, Jack

2:05

Parr marveling at the popularity

2:08

of this one album and the

2:10

star of the album, Von Meter was

2:13

just about everywhere until

2:16

all of a sudden he wasn't

2:18

from Dallas, Texas. The flash apparently

2:21

official President Kennedy

2:23

died at one pm Central

2:26

Standard Time. I'm

2:29

mo Rocca and this is mobituaries

2:38

this moment. Jfk impersonator

2:41

Vaughan meter November

2:47

death of a career. Are

2:55

we recording me out? Okay? I've

2:57

worked across the street from

2:59

this building. I had no idea.

3:01

I thought it was maybe some an

3:04

s a storage, you know that. I don't know people's

3:06

finals. Okay. The

3:09

CBS News Archives,

3:13

Hey, it's Joe.

3:16

That's Joe A. Lessie. He's managed

3:18

the CBS archives for twenty two years

3:21

now. He's the go to guy if

3:23

you need anything that was shot by CBS News

3:25

during the century.

3:27

Even the first thing we have is from

3:31

and that's William McKinley's inauguration. You're

3:34

kidding. Let's go to the back. And then when

3:36

I say to the back, we're going to the vault. Are the vault?

3:39

It sounds it sounds very mysterious. It

3:42

smells like fistromy or something.

3:45

Well, that's going to lunch. That's so

3:47

you're correct on that know what that

3:49

is? That's film? Sometimes? All right, let's

3:51

go this way.

3:55

What are CBS is sort

3:57

of greatest hits? Well,

4:00

the thing that people ask for most

4:03

is the assassination of President Kennedy. That

4:06

seems to be a story that fascinates people from the

4:08

beginning right up until today. People

4:10

asked her at least once a week, and

4:12

for good reason. That horrible

4:15

day in November ended

4:18

the president's life and changed

4:20

the life of the nation. That's what

4:22

Mr Oaks taught us in high school. There

4:24

was America before the assassination and

4:27

America after and before

4:30

comedian Vaughan Meter was a household

4:33

name, So surely the CBS

4:35

archives would have something on the man. My

4:38

friend Joe did not disappoint.

4:41

Three tapes of a von Meter interview

4:44

sounds promising, because that's unless

4:46

as tapes are super short. That's

4:48

a significant interview. I

4:50

think it's a it's a good find, and

4:55

so I took a look. But

5:00

what I saw and heard wasn't exactly

5:03

funny. So it looked like, you

5:05

know, I could do this forever. There was no end

5:07

of the pot of gold, but there was no rainbow

5:10

either. It was no idea it was going to be

5:13

that month. This

5:17

is Vaughan Meter in on

5:20

these tapes. He looks haggard and shake

5:22

him sixty two years old, but

5:24

a rough sixty two. This

5:26

was all recorded for a short lived CBS

5:29

cable network called Ion People.

5:32

Meter was being profiled as part of a where

5:34

Are They Now? Type series? Little

5:36

of this footage made it to air Well.

5:40

I was born in Waterville, A night

5:42

of the flood. Abbott

5:45

Vaughan Meter was born in nineteen thirty

5:47

six in Waterville, Maine, and

5:49

by all accounts, had a harrowing childhood.

5:53

His father drowned when he was one, and

5:55

his young mother moved from Maine to Boston

5:58

to work as a cocktail waitress. Meter

6:01

had to shuttle between Maine and Massachusetts

6:04

for much of his youth, spending some

6:06

of that time in children's homes. He

6:09

says he started entertaining people to avoid

6:11

punishment. When he got into trouble near

6:14

the end of high school, his mother was

6:16

institutionalized and Meter

6:19

ran away to the army. He

6:21

ultimately was stationed in Germany, where

6:23

he met the first of his four wives and

6:26

played in a band. After

6:28

his time in the service, he did a risque

6:30

piano act around the New York City area

6:33

and then moved on to Greenwich Village, where

6:36

he owned a politically themed comedy

6:38

routine. It

6:43

was at this point that he dropped his first

6:45

name, Abbot. He became Vaughan

6:48

Meter, and then one

6:50

fateful night a voice

6:52

came out of Meter. It

6:55

was the President of the United states

6:57

John F. Kennedy. Yes,

7:00

the gentlemen over there, sir. When

7:03

when are we going to sandomd to the mode whenever

7:05

Mr Goldwater wants to go. Meter

7:09

started to reserve the last ten minutes of

7:11

his routine for an impression of Kennedy's

7:14

live television press conferences. My

7:16

name is Bob Booker. I've just been

7:19

in the entertainment business all my life,

7:21

and I've been very lucky. And I also

7:23

forgot to turn off my phone. No, that's fine. If

7:25

it's if it's a gig, pick it up. I don't even

7:28

Back in the nineteen sixties, Bob Booker

7:31

was a disc jockey who, along with his partner

7:33

Earl Doud, wanted to capitalize

7:35

on the fascination with the new president

7:38

as well as the popularity of comedy

7:40

albums. These were the days of

7:42

Stan Freeberg, Shelley Berman,

7:44

Nicholson May, and the great Bob

7:46

Newhart, who had just one Album

7:49

of the Year at the Grammys, a first

7:51

for a comedy album. That classic

7:53

bit with new Heart as President Lincoln's press

7:55

agent still holds up. I

7:58

actually heart hard. I'll

8:03

get it. Burt sort

8:06

of a drag. So

8:09

we were looking for the next thing to do, like,

8:12

you know, so we could have a meal. The

8:14

next day. We said, you know, Kennedy

8:17

make a great album. So what

8:19

was your concept for this album.

8:21

You've got this giant star.

8:25

He's a movie star, he's a political

8:28

star, he's he's a world

8:30

star. I got in such a good looking man

8:33

with this beautiful wife. Right. We

8:36

said, if you take this character

8:38

and the family and put

8:40

them in everyday situations,

8:43

that's funny. This was the beginning

8:45

of what would become the First Family

8:48

album. The only problem was

8:50

they had no idea who could play the

8:52

head of this First Family, that

8:54

is until they turned on the TV the

8:57

evening of July three. But

9:00

he's from the New School and has served his

9:02

apprenticeship in the little clubs that feature

9:05

you know, the topic of comedians, the kids with the

9:07

rye offbeat comments on life today.

9:10

Does that voice sound familiar? It's

9:12

Jim Backus a k A. Mr

9:15

Magoo a k A. Thurston

9:17

Hall of the Third from Gilligan's Island. He

9:19

was hosting a summer replacement show called

9:22

Talent Scouts on CBS and I

9:24

know, I know you're going to be delighted with

9:26

the TV debut of Mr. Vaughan

9:29

Meter. Meeter

9:32

started off with his take on the news headlines

9:34

of the day. There's there's

9:36

one there might be a little more familiar to

9:38

you. Congressman read Write of Alabama was

9:40

quoted as saying, literacy test ain't

9:42

proven nothing. Listen.

9:47

I have no idea how funny or fresh

9:49

his topical stuff actually was. There's

9:51

that old quote from playwright George S. Kaufman,

9:54

satire is what closes on Saturday

9:56

Night. But his impression of Kennedy

9:59

was and is nothing short

10:01

of sensational. He's doing my action,

10:04

he's doing my gestures, and he's

10:06

using my lines. Do not ask what this country

10:08

can do for you. That's one of my original

10:11

lines. When

10:13

he did Kennedy, it was perfect,

10:16

absolutely perfect. Bob

10:18

Booker and Earl Zoud had found

10:21

their man. But there was something

10:23

else striking about that performance,

10:25

a kind of disclaimer he made at the end

10:27

of his starmaking routine, something

10:29

I can't imagine any comic doing

10:31

today. Yes, I'd like to make one final

10:33

statement at this time, and

10:36

I would like to make that final statement as

10:38

myself, Von Meter And that is

10:40

the thing. Thank you for the United

10:42

States, a country where it is possible

10:45

for a young comedian like myself to come out

10:47

on television before millions of people and

10:49

kid it's leading citizen. Thank you nice.

10:54

It's very interesting to me because he was to

10:56

me non controversial. I

10:59

wanted to get the respective of a modern day

11:01

presidential impersonator. I

11:03

decide how big my failures are,

11:06

and they're the biggest play

11:09

Meet Anthony at Tamanick. He impersonates

11:12

President Donald Trump, most

11:14

recently on Comedy Central's The President

11:16

Show. I wonder if that

11:18

caution was sort of to say,

11:21

listen, I'm making fun with him,

11:23

not of him. This is a telegram

11:26

that right after von Meter made

11:28

his television debut, he wrote a telegram

11:31

of the White House. He wrote this to

11:33

the President. Dear

11:35

Mr President, I respectfully call your attention

11:37

to the Talent Scouts Show, which we taped

11:40

last night for viewing on CBS Television

11:42

Tuesday night, July three

11:44

at ten pm. I impersonated you,

11:47

but I did it with great affection and respect.

11:49

Hope it meets with your approval, respectfully,

11:51

von Meter. Wow, that

11:54

is wild. We actually went

11:56

through eleven. I think uh

11:58

turned down. Booker

12:02

and Dowd had their concept there,

12:04

Kennedy and a demo of the album

12:07

No One was Biting, though. Booker remembers

12:10

one meeting at ABC. In the room

12:12

that day was Jim Haggarty, who was

12:14

the vice president of News and a

12:16

former White House Press secretary under

12:18

Eisenhower, Kennedy's predecessor.

12:21

He said, I think the Communists will

12:23

love it. I think Russia will love it, and

12:25

every communist country in the world will

12:27

love it. And he slammed

12:30

the door behind him going up. He

12:32

was outraged. So

12:35

we were just insulting the president

12:37

and his family. It was not

12:39

a man, but a great sense of humor. Mr.

12:43

It doesn't sound like it. But didn't give you any

12:45

doubt, did you for a moment, go boy,

12:47

maybe this is disrespectful. Maybe we

12:50

shouldn't do it. This was placed

12:52

number twelve that we had been thrown into the

12:54

street. Okay, I didn't

12:56

discourage us at all. We knew

12:59

we had a record. I would

13:01

have bet anything on it. We did bet

13:03

everything on it. While ABC passed,

13:06

the president of the network suggested they

13:08

try a smaller label called Cadence,

13:11

run by Archie. Blier picked

13:13

up the phone, called him set the meeting.

13:15

The next morning. We went over and

13:17

they bought it. In they'd overcome

13:19

one hurdle getting a record deal, but

13:22

as it turned out, recording the album

13:24

before a live audience came with

13:26

its own set of challenges. This

13:28

is a special report from CBS News

13:31

the Cuban crisis. Talk about

13:33

an evening. Oh

13:35

what an evening. That's the night of President

13:38

Kennedy's big speech about the Cuban crisis.

13:40

And we had the TV sets in the back room

13:43

and we watched the speech where everybody

13:46

believed they are coined to war. Within

13:48

the past week, unmistakable

13:51

evidence has established the fact that

13:53

a series of offensive missile

13:56

sites is now in preparation

13:59

on that imprisoned. So the

14:01

show starts, the audience has no idea

14:03

that President Kennedy is on TV addressing

14:06

the nation about this really

14:09

terrible crisis. Yes it was, and

14:11

how does the show go? Perfect?

14:14

And I did have a fear that the

14:16

cast had heard this speech

14:19

also, so we did. We

14:21

did a quick little speech right before Hey,

14:23

it's showtime, We're going out

14:25

there and kill Okay,

14:28

and everybody did. It

14:30

didn't affect anybody. After

14:32

making it through that crisis within a crisis,

14:35

Bob Booker handed off the album to a DJ

14:37

friend at w i n S Radio in

14:39

New York and

14:45

he was going on the air in ten minutes and

14:47

I said, look what I've got and

14:50

he looked at it and he played one cut and he said,

14:52

Jesus Bob, that's asational. He

14:54

went on the air for

14:56

three hours. He played the album continuously,

15:00

No More Family for a while. Now, I promise you now

15:03

turn off the light. Good

15:05

Night, Jackie, good night, jack Night,

15:08

Bobby night ethel Every

15:15

light in the place lit up. I

15:17

mean it was crazy. The phone

15:19

calls from the other stations were coming

15:21

in, television bookings

15:24

for all in three hours,

15:27

Broken Wide Open, One Jock, the

15:30

first Family album took off like

15:33

a rocket, and Von Meter

15:35

was in for the ride of his life.

15:45

Van Meter was playing a gig in Detroit

15:48

and didn't know what hit him. I couldn't

15:50

believe it's like it. Back to New York and I walked

15:52

down the street and heard my voice being broadcast

15:55

and they just couldn't keep up with it. I

15:57

mean, it was on fire. Can you give me a sense

15:59

of what that felt like? What did you think? No

16:02

this, no way, no insanity.

16:06

Everyone wanted Van Meter to appear

16:08

on their show, including beloved singer

16:10

Andy Williams, who was hosting a popular

16:13

new variety series on NBC. Welcome

16:15

to our show. Thank you very much, Andy. It's a pleasure

16:18

to be here. You know. I've been looking forward all the week to h

16:20

working with Vaughan because I wanted to sit right next

16:22

to the guy who was sold well.

16:25

He's had the most successful album in the history

16:27

of the record is the First Family album.

16:29

Okay, there's

16:32

a good reason the First Family was

16:34

the best selling album of its time. It's

16:37

a total blast. It's

16:39

not really a satire. It's parody

16:42

the kind of fun zany takeoff that I used

16:44

to love reading in Mad Magazine when I was a

16:46

kid, like when they turned chips into chimps,

16:48

or the Godfather into the odd Father.

16:51

That kind of a thing. It's not really meant to make

16:53

you think. It's meant to make you laugh.

16:56

Okay, so some references may not play

16:58

for today's audiences. Have

17:01

you drive a hide bug like

17:03

Monopoly? With Republican Senate Minority

17:06

Leader Everett Dirkson. I'll show

17:08

you a boardwalk and park place, but

17:12

a surprising amount of it really holds

17:14

up. You'd like to ask the following

17:16

question Speak

17:19

English, Jackie, Sure?

17:22

The Jackie sounds more like Marilyn Monroe,

17:25

which probably didn't make the first lady very

17:27

happy. But come on, to be fair, who

17:29

didn't think the real Jackie sounded a

17:32

little like Maryland during that famous TV

17:34

tour of the White House. Yes, this room

17:36

is everything in it really is

17:38

from the time of President Monroe. Of

17:40

course, the album does its own take on that

17:43

tour and left at the day Medicine

17:45

Peanot Room.

17:47

While most of the jokes are pretty gentle,

17:50

there are a few digs, as the Richard

17:52

Nixon dumb waiter. One

17:55

of the biggest laughs comes here when

17:58

the President divvyes up Caroline and

18:00

John John's bath tool, nine

18:02

of the pet Boat, two of the Yogi

18:04

Bearra beach balls, the ball

18:06

of Hilly Putty belonged to Caroline,

18:09

nine of the pet Boat, one of

18:11

the Yogi bear A

18:14

beach balls, and the two Howdy

18:16

Duty plastic bouncing clowns. Baby

18:18

John. The rubbishwan is

18:20

mine. I'm

18:23

imagining people everywhere, like at

18:26

home, around the water cooler, at work, repeating

18:28

that rubber swan line, and apparently

18:30

they did. I thought it was pretty funny.

18:33

Anthony and Tamanek, who impersonates President

18:36

Trump knows the album well, his

18:38

grandfather played it for him when he was growing

18:40

up. But I also wanted his take on

18:42

how Meter looked as Kennedy.

18:45

Is it a good impression? Yeah,

18:47

it is a good impression. It's a good impression

18:50

because the good impression doesn't require any

18:53

makeup or a

18:55

kuchma. The idea

18:58

should be that the presence of the person is

19:00

what you feel like. There's a will

19:02

that presents Kennedy in that

19:05

moment. There is not, and I

19:07

say this with a great pride, there

19:09

is not one ugly joke

19:11

in the entire thing. There's not

19:13

even a really nasty

19:16

political joke anywhere in the album.

19:18

Yes, it's all very safe from today's

19:21

vantage point. Turns out, and this

19:23

was a surprise to me. The producers

19:25

in cast were pushing the limits of comedy.

19:28

I had the first I must level with you, I

19:30

had some misgivings about this

19:34

idea for reasons

19:36

of my own. That's Late Night host

19:38

Jack Parr again he was Johnny

19:41

Carson before Johnny Carson issuing

19:43

a disclaimer before inviting von

19:45

Meter on stage. Part

19:48

then goes on to quote feigned anthropologist

19:51

Margaret Mead, She too

19:53

had weighed in on the First Family album, because

19:55

well why not, She told Life

19:57

magazine, quote, this making fun

19:59

of people in authority is very healthy.

20:02

It is the difference between democracy and

20:04

tyranny. End quote. The

20:07

album continued selling like crazy.

20:10

What was the White House thinking? Remember

20:15

presidential advisor Arthur Schlessinger,

20:18

who was so concerned about that voice

20:20

on the radio that he wrote a memo

20:22

about the dangers of impersonating

20:24

the president. He wrote, the

20:26

radio listener twirls his dial, comes

20:29

in in the middle of things, and rarely listens

20:31

with full attention. Anyway, Chlessenger

20:35

concluded on an ominous note, remember

20:38

orson Welles and the Martian invasion.

20:43

Again, this comedy seems completely

20:45

benign today. The boy it raised

20:47

an alarm in the president's inner circle. Well,

20:50

it got dangerous because

20:53

the people around Kennedy, around

20:55

any president, are so protective.

20:58

The minute they heard someone

21:01

doing Kennedy on the air so accurately,

21:03

because Vaughn was really good with it, they

21:06

went screaming. They even went to the FCC

21:08

to try and stop the album. Clearly,

21:11

and thankfully, those attempts weren't successful.

21:14

But I was fascinated to learn that Schlessinger

21:16

took the time to go back to the days of

21:18

FDR to seek out some kind

21:20

of precedent with regard to presidential

21:22

impersonations. It turns out Franklin

21:25

Roosevelt's press secretary, Stephen Early,

21:27

had directly asked media outlets

21:30

not to give airtime to Roosevelt

21:32

impersonators. It's been a long time since

21:34

the President and his family have been subjected

21:37

to such a heavy barrage

21:39

of cheasing and fun poking and

21:42

satire. And they've been books on backstairs

21:44

at the White House, and cartoon books

21:46

with clever sayings, and uh

21:50

photo albums with balloons,

21:52

and the and the rest, and now a

21:55

smash hit for record. Can

21:57

you tell us whether you read and listen

21:59

to these things and whether they produce annoyment

22:02

or enjoyment. Annoyment

22:06

now they do. Yes, I have read

22:08

them and listened to them. Actually I

22:10

listened to Mr Meted record, but I thought it sounded

22:12

more like Teddy than it did me. But that's

22:16

not von Meter, as JFK. That

22:19

is the actual President of the United States

22:21

talking about von Meter in one of his life

22:23

press conferences. According

22:26

to many accounts, the President did enjoy

22:28

the album and even gave out copies

22:30

for Christmas. Do you know why he loved

22:32

it? Made a human being out of him,

22:35

took him down off the pedestal. He

22:37

was one of us. He

22:40

just looked a lot better than all of us. Von

22:46

Meter went on to win a Grammy for Best

22:48

Comedy Performance and the First

22:50

Family one Album of the

22:52

Year. The First Family

22:55

beat out the likes of Tony Bennett

22:57

and Ray Charles. Von Meter

22:59

was living the dream, right.

23:02

It just took over. The voice

23:04

you're hearing now is the older Meter

23:07

from that interview that I

23:09

got from the archives. You know, I

23:11

go on Sullivan. I'd asked him if I could play a

23:13

thing I song. I wanted it, to desperately play

23:16

some music, saying some songs. No

23:18

no chance, no chance, no chance. So

23:20

I just sell in line, you know, and

23:24

and did it. And I

23:27

had to get sued to do a volume too,

23:29

because I didn't want to do a volume too. They

23:31

sued me for a million dollars. In

23:35

early nineteen sixty three, while Meter

23:37

was on a concert tour the album,

23:39

Bob Booker and Earl Dowd began developing

23:42

fresh material for a second volume

23:44

of the First Family album, at

23:46

which time Vaughan said I don't

23:48

want to do Kennedy anymore. You

23:51

heard that right, Meter, who almost

23:53

overnight went from barely scraping

23:55

buying clubs just storing in

23:57

the country's most popular album,

24:00

was sick of the Kennedy act. But

24:02

I wasn't very content with any of

24:04

it, and maybe it was the Kennedy thing that I

24:06

couldn't get out of. But album

24:08

producer Bob Booker was having

24:11

none of it. I said, we have a deal

24:13

to do it. He said, I don't care about it. I

24:15

don't want to have to do Kennedy the rest of my life.

24:18

He said, I want to do my act. And

24:21

this is the time I had to say, Van,

24:24

you don't have an act. You never

24:26

had an act. If

24:28

you give this up, you're not gonna be working

24:30

anywhere. Was that hard for you to say

24:33

no? Because it was the truth. And I

24:36

wanted the album and just do

24:38

what we have contractually, and then go

24:40

do anything you want in your life. If

24:43

I never see you again, that's fine, and

24:46

just do what you promised you would do. How

24:48

did he take it when you told him

24:51

you don't have an act? How did he know he

24:53

was offended by that? He said no? So I can

24:55

go do my act? Said, there was no act.

24:58

There was no act in the talent skill

25:00

right, it was Kennedy that was it. Volume

25:03

two was released in the spring of nineteen

25:05

sixty three and sold fairly

25:08

well, but nowhere near the original

25:10

album. One of the sketches, which

25:13

today seems pretty haunting, imagines

25:16

the Kennedy's enjoying retirement in

25:18

n I

25:20

certainly enjoyed being president, Bobby

25:23

enjoyed being president, Jetty

25:26

enjoyed being president, and

25:28

then I enjoyed being president again. Once

25:33

I was in, I couldn't find the way out,

25:36

And yeah, I'm

25:39

sorry he found the way

25:40

out. On

25:46

the morning of November nine,

25:49

sixty three, the Associated Press

25:51

published a story by veteran Hollywood

25:53

columnist Bob Thomas which

25:56

started as follows, It's

25:58

always a bit surprising to find the new starring

26:01

show business trying to run away from

26:03

the thing that made him famous. Today's

26:05

example is Van Meter. Thomas

26:08

thing goes on to write, he also was

26:10

searching for ways to destroy his image

26:12

as a JFK imitator. Meter

26:17

didn't have to search much longer. Here

26:31

is a bulletin from CBS News in

26:35

Dallas, Texas. Three shots were fired

26:37

at President Canaday's motorcade in downtown

26:40

Dallas. The first reports say

26:42

that President Canada, that's

26:47

the older Von meter Well.

26:49

I just got booked at the Democratic

26:52

clubn in Wisconsin, and

26:54

I flew into Wisconsin

26:56

from New York. And

26:59

when I got in the cab, the cab

27:01

driver said, you here. Kennedy got

27:03

shot in Dallas. And

27:05

I said, no, how does it go? Because I

27:08

thought it was another Kennedy joke because people, you know,

27:10

everywhere I went, people and say, Joe, do you hear about jack

27:12

and did this? And Jackie out of the punchline,

27:14

you know, so I thought it was just another being

27:17

set up. Somebody recognized me. He was setting me up

27:19

for another Kennedy joke, you know. I said, how's

27:21

it go? And then I heard on the taxi

27:24

cab radio that

27:26

that's what happened. So I went

27:28

to the hotel, got drunk, and got

27:30

the next plane out and went back to New York. And

27:34

I guess they stayed drunk. Bob

27:37

Booker was having lunch in Greenwich Village

27:39

when he heard the news. The phone

27:41

rang and it was my secretary and she said, Kennedy

27:43

has been shot. And I just threw

27:46

some money on the table and left. It

27:50

was devastating, absolutely devasating.

27:52

I called Archie Blaier the minute I got

27:54

back, and I said, get

27:57

the albums wherever they are, because they're

27:59

out with constributors all over the country. I said,

28:01

get your hands on all of them. We're gonna chop

28:04

him up. I want no part of cashing

28:06

in on this man's death. And

28:08

just like that, Van Meter's meteoric

28:11

rise to fame was

28:14

over. Did

28:17

you ever see Vaughan again? Oh?

28:19

I talked to him a couple of times. I don't think I ever

28:21

did see him again. Well,

28:26

it was over. It's

28:28

over over. You know, John's

28:32

gun So

28:34

I don't want to hear me playing

28:36

him

28:39

if it isn't me, I don't want to, you know, I

28:42

don't want to be him.

28:50

Listen, I am.

28:57

I think his issue and this armchair

28:59

now it's us, was that he did not have a

29:01

good division between the character and himself

29:04

Trump impersonator, Anthony and Tamanick.

29:07

But he basically doesn't know where he ends or

29:09

Kennedy ends and he begins. And he

29:12

might have just been a person who just

29:14

didn't think about his psyche before

29:16

he got into it. Well, it broke

29:19

my heart really uh at the time,

29:21

but I thought to myself, well, now I

29:23

can go on to something else. But I couldn't.

29:26

I was. I mean that

29:29

they didn't want it, and nobody else know that he wanted

29:31

nothing else from me. That's what they wanted, and they couldn't

29:33

let go of that. I'll never forget.

29:36

New York City is cold

29:38

as it is. I'm walking down Second Avenue

29:40

and a steel riveter, a rivet with

29:43

a hard hat, sees me and stops

29:45

his rivet and walks over and squeezes

29:48

my hand assist. Oh, so sorry,

29:50

man, And like, you

29:52

know, I was getting that, you know, it's like

29:54

almost pity. And I think

29:57

I had to go to a great extent.

30:00

I know I did. I stayed drunk, and then after

30:02

that I stayed drugged to

30:04

get away from pity feeling

30:07

sorry for me, you know, And so I

30:10

get to feeling sorry for myself. I don't know. So

30:13

imagine if like the one thing that you were getting

30:16

your momentum on just got pulled from you,

30:18

and then everyone's like, oh, that's so bad, almost

30:21

as if also it's like everyone was like your career

30:23

is over, and maybe almost like he wants to shout

30:25

I'm not dead, and also

30:28

I thought this, but maybe I'm wrong.

30:30

But they would also be like, I don't want this.

30:32

I don't show your pity and love for him,

30:35

don't don't put it to me. Meter

30:37

would go on to say that he seemed to be

30:39

a living reminder of a tragedy.

30:43

It's worth remembering that in November of nine,

30:46

he was just twenty seven. I

30:48

mean, that's usually the start of a career. One

30:51

week after the assassination, comedian

30:53

Lenny Bruce was back on stage in New York.

30:56

Bob Booker saw him and says he remembers

30:58

a moment that its since become legendary.

31:01

And he grabbed that microphone and

31:03

he said, boyd did Vaughan

31:06

Meter get screwed? Not

31:09

exactly that word, Okay, and you're

31:12

you're free to say it if you want to say no, he said,

31:14

boy did Vaughan Meter get fucked? Now

31:18

the critics took him apart for this. I

31:20

have never heard a laugh that

31:23

big in a house in my life,

31:25

because Lenny had the ability

31:28

to say your most inner

31:30

thought in public that you would

31:32

never dare say. Everybody

31:34

in the theater had thought that I

31:37

had gotten calls from people

31:39

saying poor Vaughan. I

31:41

said, poor Vaughan. How about poor

31:44

jack Kennedy? For Christ's sake, right,

31:46

I think about poor Vaughan. One

31:48

of the best presidents we ever had, in my opinion,

31:51

was dead assassinated.

31:55

Is that a story? It's not about Van Meter?

31:57

Gut No. Von Meter hadn't,

32:00

but he was collateral damage.

32:03

Another line attributed to Lenny Bruce

32:05

was that they should put two graves in Arlington,

32:08

one for Kennedy and one for Meter.

32:11

After the president's death, Meter wrote

32:13

a condolence letter to Jackie Kennedy.

32:16

Although we never met, He wrote, I felt

32:18

as though I had known him all my life. I

32:21

was given by fate the ability to impersonate

32:23

his voice and to copy his gestures.

32:26

I sincerely hope that a part of what I

32:28

did found its way to him and gave

32:31

him and his family a few pleasant moments.

32:34

Yes, beautiful letter, handwritten,

32:36

It's sent two different books. Actually

32:39

did he get a response? She hated him.

32:43

That's Van Meter's widow, Sheila. She

32:45

holds a copy of the letter. Mrs

32:48

Kennedy did hate the album

32:50

when it first came out. She referred to meet

32:52

her as a rat in a memo, and

32:54

here's her conversation with Arthur Schlessinger

32:57

a few months after the assassination. What

33:00

did you think of all these kits about him,

33:02

so like the First Family and so

33:04

on? Do you ever listen

33:07

to them?

33:09

I think he listened. I'm not sure he listened to all

33:11

of that record. I listened to one side and then

33:14

I threw it away because they didn't want my children to see

33:16

it, And well

33:18

he wasn't, but I guess he sort

33:20

of took it, you

33:23

know. I thought it was so un fair,

33:25

those things, She went on to say.

33:28

I mean, I thought it was so mean. I didn't care

33:30

if they make fun of me or anything, but

33:32

when they make fun of little children. In

33:36

the year after the assassination, Meter

33:38

didn't disappear completely. He popped

33:40

up on television a few times in four

33:43

but never again as a JFK. That

33:46

same year, he put out his own album called

33:49

Have Some Nuts, later another

33:51

one called if the Shoe Fits

33:54

So pick up your phone right now and contribute, contribute

33:57

the name of a communist and put us over the top.

34:00

While they received some nice reviews, they

34:03

just didn't sell. He traveled

34:05

the country for the next decade, But,

34:07

as Sheila Meter recalls, the man

34:09

she called by his birth name, Abbott never

34:12

found that second act. He insisted

34:14

on writing his own stuff, and it didn't

34:17

He needed a writer, you know. That's he

34:20

would never have succeeded in

34:22

something like the First Family

34:25

if there hadn't been an

34:27

Earl Doubt and a Bob Booker to

34:29

write it. He was a delivery

34:31

man. Abbot delivered, Abbot

34:34

spoke. Abbot had a voice that

34:37

felt like warm oil was

34:39

being rubbed into your skin. It

34:42

was beautiful. I mean, that

34:44

sounds great. I mean there's no shame

34:46

in being, as you so well put it, a delivery

34:49

man. That's what he was. So

34:51

why was it he okay with that? I

34:55

don't know, I don't know. He turned to a

34:57

variety of substances. Was

34:59

the cocaine, There was the LSD.

35:02

There was a psilocybin, There

35:04

was the the rum

35:07

and coke. Was the marijuana,

35:10

and they all had their effects, every one

35:12

of them. You know, he was a different

35:14

person with each one. Why

35:17

do you think he'd used so many substances

35:20

escape, running away, getting getting

35:24

into going toward a new

35:28

life, a new reality

35:30

for him. I think one

35:34

of the characters inspired by these substances

35:38

was a blue bunny. Yes,

35:40

that's correct, a blue bunny.

35:43

Meter also had a messianic complex,

35:45

which led in two to

35:47

a production of a Jesus comedy album

35:49

called Wait for It, The

35:52

Second Coming. I tell parallels.

35:54

Would you care to hear something? What are you on? Make

35:56

me laugh? I'm afraid that they

35:59

are very humor. I'll be to judge that. Run

36:01

it down? So

36:03

he's playing Jesus? Is

36:06

it funny? Kind? Did

36:08

it so well? He

36:10

pursued his passion for honky talk music

36:13

and even appeared in a few movies in the nineteen

36:15

seventies, including the commercial flop

36:18

Linda Lovelace for President. Eventually,

36:21

he moved back to his home state of Maine.

36:24

And you know, I should apologize. I'm on television.

36:26

I really should apologize to every woman that ever

36:29

known me, because I really didn't know how to treat women.

36:34

Something we haven't talked much about is Meter's

36:37

personal life. As mentioned

36:39

earlier, he was married four times.

36:42

Sheila was number four. They

36:45

met in the early nineteen eighties in Maine.

36:47

Sheila was running away from her own addictions

36:50

when she came across a flyer advertising

36:52

von Meter playing piano at

36:54

a nearby in Did

36:57

you know who that was? I did, but you know,

37:00

it didn't really register. He was only a voice,

37:03

you know, a voice, that's all he was from

37:05

that comedy album from the First Family,

37:08

And I really didn't register

37:11

him as a living, being, visible,

37:14

touchable person. They

37:17

would be together for twenty years. She

37:20

describes a controlling relationship

37:22

with highs and lows, and a man

37:24

deeply conflicted by the thing that had

37:27

once made him so famous. Was

37:29

he haunted by the whole experience

37:31

awful awful, awful

37:34

awful, But he also

37:37

didn't let anybody know it. At

37:39

the same time he was letting everyone know it.

37:41

He was a dichotomy. He I've

37:44

never known anyone who

37:48

could be so many things at the same

37:50

time. And as far as how he looked

37:52

back on the First Family experience,

37:54

was there a dichotomy there? Was? He haunted

37:57

by it. But then also I wanted people to know

37:59

he was Meter or well he

38:01

did that. That's he wanted

38:03

to be known as von Meter. But on the other

38:05

hand, he didn't want anything to do with

38:07

von Meter. He was abbot and he

38:10

wrote his music, and he entertained

38:12

people, and he played the piano and that's

38:14

what he wanted. They say

38:16

every man must say

38:19

rejection. They

38:24

say every man let's

38:27

fall. But

38:32

I swear I see

38:34

my reflection somewhere

38:40

high upon the wall.

38:45

Coming up. Von Meter as

38:48

Kennedy one final time.

39:10

In February, von Meter

39:12

was wintering with friends in Florida. He

39:15

seemed happy, playing piano at a local

39:17

bar. He hadn't been a star for years,

39:20

and then out of the blue, he got a call

39:23

from CBS producers

39:25

wanted to profile Meter for a new

39:27

cable show hosted by paulas

39:29

on Coming

39:32

Up on PS. He

39:34

sounded like JFK. He

39:37

looked like JFK. It made

39:39

him world famous. Now, while you've been

39:41

listening to von meter speak, it's important

39:44

to note that back in there was

39:46

a producer sitting across from him

39:48

asking him the questions. I was

39:50

struck immediately by his

39:52

appearance. You know, full

39:55

headed, gray hair and a big beard.

39:58

This is Kevin Huffman. He was a young

40:00

CBS producer at the time. What do

40:02

you think his self image was when you

40:04

were sitting there. Oh, he was one

40:07

of the least confident people. You

40:09

know, it's all this bravado like. On the

40:11

one hand, he's aggressive, and if you look

40:13

at you know, the tape, sometimes he looks at

40:15

me. And I watched it just

40:17

now, and I could see the aggression

40:20

on his side, like, you know, what are

40:22

you going to ask me next? Um?

40:25

You know, I've got my story to tell

40:27

and I'm not quite confident here. But I also

40:30

noticed that when he does go into bits,

40:33

his eyes darted around a little bit, like he's

40:35

looking for an audience, very

40:37

much like the camera crew,

40:39

you know, behind me, or a part

40:41

of the audience, you

40:43

know. When he finally kind of shed

40:46

the act, that's when I felt like I

40:48

was starting to get to the real guy. She'll

40:51

revealed to me the reason for her husband's weariness,

40:53

his defensiveness. What do you

40:55

remember from when CBS

40:58

came down to you an interview

41:00

of him in Florida. His

41:04

disappointment meter

41:06

had boasted to Sheila and his friends

41:08

that TV anchor Paula is On would be

41:10

coming down to do the interview. When

41:13

he opened the door to find Kevin, I

41:15

think that broke his heart. Broke

41:17

his heart, it did, It embarrassed

41:20

him, and he didn't tolerate embarrassment.

41:23

What happened at the end of the interview, This

41:26

was sad Um. You

41:28

know we I think towards the end

41:30

of the interviews when I asked him to do the voice,

41:33

and which I felt was kind of a big

41:36

moment for him, like him

41:39

doing the voice to me was

41:41

like a really cathartic and

41:44

possibly damaging things. I don't

41:46

know, it messed him up. I

41:49

want to play this moment in its entirety

41:51

because more than anywhere else

41:54

you can hear what a struggle it was

41:57

just being von Meter me

42:00

doing my jobs. I didn't ask you if you would

42:02

do the voice for you wouldn't be

42:04

doing your job. I'd

42:09

have to think of a clever line. Why do the

42:11

voice? You know, save

42:14

up that voice? All these years, and we

42:16

did not have a punch line, not

42:18

have the line to use the voice for no.

42:21

Look at the brain. The brain doesn't react

42:24

to do it, just shuts

42:27

off the switch. Am my on and off? Switch

42:29

went on? Somebody used to do the voice. My

42:31

switch went off. I can't,

42:34

No, I can't. Two

42:43

years ago and conquered Massachusetts.

42:46

A shot was fired that was heard around

42:48

the world. Thirty

42:53

something years ago, in Dallas, Texas, another

42:56

shot was fired that was heard around the world.

42:59

The first bullet fired from the conquered

43:02

bridge signaled the birth of

43:04

the American Spirit. The

43:07

second bullet fired from the Texas Book

43:09

Depository attempted

43:11

to win that spirit, and we have

43:13

seen in the last thirty something

43:15

he is how nearly successful

43:18

that second bullet was. Mhm.

43:24

But in the final analysis, there

43:26

is no bullet, There is no bomb.

43:29

There is no power on the face of

43:31

this earth that can destroy the

43:33

American Spirit. Maybe

43:38

he'd say something like that. I don't know. It's

43:49

not funny what he's saying here. It's

43:52

a little bit dark, but it's also

43:54

thoughtful, kind of deep, even

43:57

I don't know, optimistic. A

44:00

totally different jfk impersonation

44:03

once again, Anthony and Tamanik.

44:06

It was interesting because in a weird way, I watched it

44:08

and aligned with it. I was like, oh,

44:11

it's you. You. You are

44:13

doing the same thing. You're using this

44:16

vessel to make

44:18

a greater point, right, so

44:21

we you know. We wrapped up the interview

44:24

and he got up immediately

44:27

and I followed him. But he went right into the

44:29

kitchen and grabbed a court

44:31

of vodka, cracked opened

44:34

the lid and just started jugging.

44:37

He said, look, I needed this, you know,

44:40

I couldn't um, I

44:42

got through your whole interview. I did

44:44

everything, but this is you

44:46

know, I have to do this. I

44:49

wasn't judging him.

44:54

I can't help but wonder if Van Meter

44:56

would have been better off if he'd never discovered

44:58

he could imitate Kenna. But

45:01

what do I know? Maybe after a very

45:03

tough childhood he was

45:05

simply faded to have a rough go of it

45:07

in life. If

45:10

you could get into a time machine and you could

45:12

go back to the moment that

45:14

he's approached by Bob Booker and Earl

45:17

Dowd to do the first Family album, what would

45:19

you tell him as a time traveler from the future,

45:22

Do it, dear, and I'll be right here. I'll

45:24

be in the background. No one will see

45:26

me, no one will hear me, but I'll be

45:29

here for you, I would say, do it sure?

45:33

Why not? That

45:42

Van Meter interview from was

45:45

the last the public would hear from him.

45:47

He died six years later on

45:49

October four,

45:53

just one day after my father died. Pop

45:56

always talked about the time before Kennedy

45:58

was shot is a more innocent time.

46:02

He heard the news on the car radio and

46:04

pulled the light blue VW bug he was

46:06

driving the first car my parents

46:08

ever owned over to the side

46:10

of the road and wept. It

46:13

was a different time, one where

46:15

the presidency was held in such regard

46:18

that von Meter would end his routine with

46:20

the assurance that it was all in good fun.

46:24

We're never going back to that time, and

46:26

I'm not saying we should try,

46:28

but that doesn't mean we shouldn't pay

46:30

our respects, not just

46:32

a van Meter, but also

46:35

to that time before

46:37

that horrible day. So

46:40

I want to end this mobituary with

46:42

some sound from near the end of the First

46:44

Family album

46:46

Sweet, Disarmingly

46:48

Innocent and yes

46:52

funny, Oh no, everybody

46:54

taking it together with Biguinness.

47:01

Yeah next

47:28

time. On Mobituaries TV

47:31

sitcom deaths and Disappearances,

47:34

they did not have room in

47:36

the writing for the older brother,

47:39

because the fans became the older

47:41

brother. I

47:43

certainly hope you enjoyed your first mobile

47:46

Be sure to rate and review our podcast.

47:48

You can also follow Mobituaries on Facebook

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and Instagram, and you can follow me on

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Twitter at Morocca. For

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more great content, including video of

47:57

the older vond Meter, please visit

48:00

mobituaries dot com. You can subscribe

48:02

to Mobituaries wherever you get your podcasts.

48:09

This episode of Mobituaries was produced

48:12

by Megan Marcus. Our team

48:14

of producers also includes Gideon Evans,

48:16

Kate mccauliffe, Megan Dietree, and

48:18

me Morocca. It was edited

48:21

by Kate mccaulliffe and engineered by

48:23

David Herman. Indispensable

48:25

support from Genius Tensky, Kira

48:28

Wardlow, Zach Gilcrest, Richard

48:30

Warrer, the team at CBS News

48:32

Radio, the JFK Presidential

48:34

Library, and Joe Allessie

48:37

at the CBS News Archives. Our

48:39

theme music is written by Daniel

48:41

Hart and, as always,

48:44

undying thanks to Rand Morrison

48:46

and John carp without whom Mobituaries

48:49

couldn't live. Hi,

49:05

It's mo. If you're enjoying Mobituaries

49:08

the podcast, may I invite you

49:10

to check out Mobituaries the book.

49:13

It's chock full of stories not

49:15

in the podcast. Celebrities

49:17

who put their butts on the line, sports

49:20

teams that threw in the towel for good, forgotten

49:23

fashions, defunct diagnoses,

49:25

presidential candidacies that cratered

49:27

whole countries that went to put and

49:30

dragons, Yes, dragons, you

49:32

see. People used to believe the dragons will real until

49:35

just get the book. You can order Mobituaries

49:38

the book from any online bookseller,

49:40

or stop by your local bookstore and

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look for me when I come to your city.

49:44

Tour information and lots more at

49:47

mobituaries dot com