Saturday, February 23, 2019
The Man Who Died Twice,
In October 1962, a
young comedian rose to fame and success when club audiences saw him perform,
doing something no entertainer had ever done before. His comic impersonation
was spot on. The voice was eerily accurate. The appearance was strikingly
similar. The target of his act was the President of the United States.
His name was Vaughn Meader and his talent was so great that
he was able to join with two writers, Bob Booker and Earle Doud, and produce a
comedy album called The First Family.
The album sold over 7.5 million
copies in less than one year, making Meader rich and famous. But on November
22, 1963, caught by the horrible events of that day, Meader’s world came
crashing down. President John F. Kennedy was shot to death in Dallas.
Another death occurred at exactly
the same instant. It was not the death of another man but, rather, the death of
a hugely successful career. Vaughn Meader had become so identified with his
impersonation of President Kennedy that he could not escape the stereotype. He
tried other aspects of entertainment but he failed. By 1965 he was nearly broke
and he fell into the abyss of drugs and alcohol. He eventually had some success
as a musical entertainer in Maine.
I recently heard a Podcast by Moe
Rocker that was about Meader. Rocker said Meader appeared on a cable interview show
in 1998 and apparently performed this piece in the voice of JFK.
“Two-hundred years ago in
Concord, Massachusetts, a shot was fired that was heard around the world.
Thirty something years ago in Dallas, Texas, another shot was fire that was
heard around the world. The first bullet that was fired from the Concord Bridge
signaled the birth of the American spirit. The second bullet fired from the
Texas Book Depository attempted to end that spirit. And we have seen in the
last thirty something years how nearly successful that second bullet was. But
in the final analysis, there is no bullet. There is no bomb. There is no power
on the face of the Earth that can destroy the American spirit.”
Abbott Vaughn Meader, the man,
died in 2004 but his career died on November 22, 1963.
