Discogs the First Family Rides Again
| The First Family | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Studio album by Vaughn Meader | |
| Released | November 1962 Spring 1963 (Book Two) |
| Recorded | October 22, 1962 March 18, 1963 (Volume 2) |
| Studio | Fine Recording Studio, New York City |
| Genre | One-act |
| Label | Cadency Records |
| Producer | Earle Doud[ane] |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  [2] |
The Outset Family is a 1962 comedy album featuring comedian and impressionist Vaughn Meader. The album, written and produced by Bob Booker and Earle Doud, was recorded on October 22, 1962, is a good-natured parody of then-President John F. Kennedy, both equally Commander-in-Chief and as a member of the prominent Kennedy family unit. Issued by Cadence Records, The Starting time Family unit became the largest and fastest selling record in the history of the record industry, selling at more 1 million copies per week for the outset six and one-half weeks in distribution and remained at #1 on the Billboard 200 for 12 weeks. By Jan 1963, sales reached more than vii 1000000 copies. Cadence president Archie Bleyer credited the album's success to heavy radio airplay.[3] The album was first played by Stan Z. Burns on WINS radio, a friend of Booker, and information technology instantly became a hit all over New York Urban center. By the time the sequel anthology, The First Family Volume Two , was released, The Start Family unit had sold vii.5 meg copies — unprecedented for any album at the fourth dimension, peculiarly a comedy anthology.
The Starting time Family unit won the Grammy Laurels for Anthology of the Year in 1963, becoming the second and most contempo comedy or spoken word album to win the award.
Cast [edit]
The First Family starred stand-upwardly comedian and impersonator Vaughn Meader as Kennedy and Naomi Brossart as the Commencement Lady. Meader's skill at impersonating Kennedy was honed on the stand up-upwards excursion – with his New England accent naturally close to Kennedy's familiar, and often parodied, Harvard accent; he needed to adjust his voice only slightly to sound like the President. Brossart was a theatre extra and model making her recording début.[4]
The First Family was written and produced past Bob Booker, Earle Doud and George Foster; Booker and Doud were likewise in the cast and received front comprehend billing, as the album is officially titled Bob Booker and Earle Doud Present The Start Family. The anthology as well features the vocalisation talent of Jim Lehner, Bradley Bolke, Chuck McCann, Bob McFadden, and Norma MacMillan. Information technology was recorded in front end of a live studio audience.
Meader subsequently revealed, "A lot of people don't know this, simply nosotros recorded The First Family on the dark of Oct 22, 1962, the same nighttime as John F. Kennedy's Cuban Missile Crisis Speech. The audience was in the studio and had no idea of the drama that was taking place. But the cast had heard the spoken communication and our throats near dropped to our toes, because if the audience had heard the Cuban Missile Oral communication, we would not take received the reaction we did." During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cadence Records nigh cancelled the distribution of the record, assuming America would be going to state of war.
Consequence on pop culture [edit]
Although the one-act album smash was mushrooming past 1962, production of a record imitating the President met strong opposition. James Hagerty, a pinnacle executive for ABC-Paramount Records and President Dwight D. Eisenhower's former printing secretary, said the proposed album would be "degrading to the presidency" and proclaimed that "every Communist state in the world would honey this record." After other rejections, Cadence Records agreed to distribute the anthology, and within a calendar month the record was actualization on store shelves, and seeing brisk sales. Ii weeks subsequently information technology had sold more 1 million copies, pushing by the debut anthology by Peter, Paul and Mary.[v]
Inside weeks, many Americans could recite favorite lines from the tape, including "the safety schwan [swan] is mine", and "movement alee...with groovy vigah [vigor]", the latter lampooning the President's own words. The anthology poked fun at Kennedy'due south PT-109 history; the rocking chairs he used for his painful dorsum; the Kennedy clan's well-known athleticism, football games and family togetherness; children in the White House; and Jackie Kennedy's soft-spoken nature and her redecoration of the White House; and many other $.25 of knowledge that the public was eager to consume. Kennedy himself was said to take given copies of the albums equally Christmas gifts, and once greeted a Democratic National Committee group by saying, "Vaughn Meader was decorated tonight, so I came myself."[half dozen] According to UPI reporter Merriman Smith, during a Cabinet meeting Kennedy played the unabridged record for anybody. At one printing conference, Kennedy was asked if the album had produced "annoyment or enjoyment." He jokingly responded, "I listened to Mr. Meader's record and, frankly, I idea information technology sounded more like Teddy than it did me. So, now he's annoyed."[7]
The Outset Family album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1963.[8] That March, nearly of the same cast recorded a sequel album, The Outset Family Volume 2, a combination of spoken-word one-act and songs. Release in the jump of 1963, Volume Two was also successful, peaking at #four on the album chart in June 1963.[nine]
Immediately after Kennedy'south assassination on Nov 22, 1963, producers Booker and Doud, forth with Cadence president Archie Bleyer, pulled both albums from sales and had all unsold copies destroyed then as not to seemingly "greenbacks in" on the President's decease. Both albums remained out of print until they were finally re-issued on CD together in 1999.
Like albums [edit]
In 1962, 2 like albums were as well released:
- The Other Family spoofed the Nikita Khrushchev regime of the Soviet Marriage and featured Buck Henry, Joan Rivers, and George Segal.
- The President Strikes Back! was an imagined response of President Kennedy to The First Family, written by future Mel Brooks collaborator Ron Clark.
During Lyndon Johnson's administration, Doud and Alen Robin released a series of ii comedy albums using bodily recordings of Johnson and other political figures to create comedic imitation interviews: Welcome to the LBJ Ranch (1965)[10] and Lyndon Johnson's Lonely Hearts Gild Band (1967).[11]
In 1966, The New Commencement Family 1968: A Futuristic Fairy Tale was issued, co-produced by Bob Booker and George Foster, and starring impressionist and comic Volition Jordan as the newly elected president Cary Grant in this political fantasy. 2 other noted impressionists too appeared on the album – John Byner and David Frye. Frye's impression of Richard Nixon would later be featured on the Elektra Records albums I Am the President and Radio Complimentary Nixon, among others. Will Jordan'due south most famous impression – that of TV host and paper columnist Ed Sullivan – was not used on The New Beginning Family 1968. Instead, the Ed Sullivan impression heard on the album was done by Byner.
In 1981, a new album titled The Beginning Family Rides Once again was issued, co-produced past Doud and starring impressionist Rich Piffling equally then-President Ronald Reagan.[12]
Track list [edit]
The First Family [edit]Act I [edit]
Act II [edit]
| The First Family Volume Two [edit]Human action I [edit]
Act 2 [edit]
|
Nautical chart positions [edit]
| Chart (1962) | Tiptop position |
|---|---|
| The Offset Family: Billboard Peak LPs—Monaural | 1 |
| The Start Family Volume Ii: Billboard Top LPs—Monaural | 4 |
See also [edit]
- Cultural depictions of John F. Kennedy
- Lists of fastest-selling albums
References [edit]
- ^ Smith, Ronald 50. (2013). ""The Showtime Family" (1962)" (PDF). Library of Congress.
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ "The 'First Family unit' Story. WOW!" Billboard (Feb 2, 1963)
- ^ Bob Booker and Earle Doud (Oct 1962). "Album notes for The Showtime Family". Collectibles Records.
- ^ Robinson, Peter M. The Trip the light fantastic toe of the Comedians (University of Massachusetts Printing, Amherst, 2010), ISBN 978-i-55849-785-six, pp 132-33.
- ^ "Vaughn Meader, Satirist of Kennedy Family, Dies". washingtonpost.com. November 1, 2004. Retrieved iii April 2006.
- ^ JFK: As It Happened. A&E, November 22, 1988
- ^ Making Fun of the Kennedys|Studio 360|WNYC
- ^ Billboard June 1963
- ^ "'LBJ Ranch' LP Runs Grunter Wild", Billboard, November xx, 1965.
- ^ "Album Potpourri", Appleton Post-Crescent, January 7, 1968.
- ^ The First Family Rides Again at AllMusic.com
External links [edit]
- Library of Congress essay on the album's addition to the National Recording Registry.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Family_(album)
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