Garry the weatherman: “Welcome to our show on a beautiful night in
New York City, our first night of summer.”
Seven Midwestern Scholars: “We play together
in a Dixieland band”
The septet consists of Raymond Mack,
Robert Winch, William Bascom and [Dan Rose] from Northwestern University;
Robert Frank from Illinois Institute of Technology; Richard Waterman from Wayne
State University; and [William Witeman], an art director. They perform here in caps and
gowns. Garry says they call themselves “The
Reasonably Acceptable Although Non-Commercial Jazz Seminar of Social Sciences
and Humanities.”
Jakob Nacken from Cologne, Germany: “I’m the
tallest man in the U.S.”
Nacken (Garry misspells his name in
the intro) is employed at the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Odditorium near the
studio. A sideshow performer seen at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City,
Nacken returned to Germany and served as a soldier in World War Two. After the war, he returned to the United
States where he worked for several of the leading circuses of the day, and even
as “The World’s Tallest Santa.” His superlative claim appears to be a
showmanship conceit. He claims to be
7’4”, and newspaper accounts of the time identify others as being taller than
that. The Odditorium in New York City
originally opened in 1939 and was a popular attraction for years. It reopened in 2007 and is operating today.
Special Guest Mickey Rooney makes faces
Rooney emulates the faces of six-month-old
infants from the current Constance Bannister Baby Calendar. Bannister was a photographer who made a
career out of baby pictures, and the funny expressions she captured appeared in
books, calendars, postcards and print advertising throughout the 40s and
50s. It’s estimated she took over
100,000 shots of babies in her career.
At one point in the 50s, there was even a line of “Bannister Baby”
dolls.
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