Comedian dies during Friars roast, November 24, 1958

Posted on November 24, 2008 by lmharnisch
1958_1124_cover

Ozone in downtown Los Angeles reaches 0.49 parts per million, just short of a Stage 1 alert. Today, 0.50 would be a Stage 3 alert.

1958_1124_runover

Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller arrive in New York.

Comedian Harry Einstein, 53, known as Parkyakarkus, collapses moments after finishing what Friars Club members said was "the most hilarious speech of his career" during a tribute to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.  (Note: The runover page wasn’t microfilmed, so we don’t have the rest of the story).

On his way back to his seat, Einstein touched Art Linkletter on the shoulder, stumbled and grabbed the back of his chair, then fell into the arms of Milton Berle. "It was like a wave of horror had suddenly swept over the room," a witness says.

My colleague Brian Hanrahan points out that Einstein’s sons are Albert Brooks, Bob Einstein and Charles Einstein.

"This offering meant so much to me. Now it means
nothing. Please, everyone, pray to your God that he will be saved."


–Desi Arnaz
1958_1124_wayne

Above, John Wayne says he will  direct "The Alamo."

Interestingly enough, The Times reported as early as 1951 that Republic had approved the budget for Wayne to make "The Alamo." Although imdb reports that the script was by John Edward Grant, The Times said in 1948 that the screenplay was by John Ford’s son Pat. But what’s this? John Wayne was linked to a project about the Alamo in 1935? Hm. By Lindsley Parsons and Robert Emmett. That’s a new one on me.

Unknown's avatar

About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times
This entry was posted in @news, broadcasting, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Nightclubs, Obituaries, Television. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to Comedian dies during Friars roast, November 24, 1958

  1. Unknown's avatar zabadu says:
    November 24, 2008 at 8:10 am

    Can we have the full Parkyakarkus story jump?
    I can’t believe they said that the doctors actually cut his chest open right at the Friars Club. Seems a little extreme…

    Like

  2. jeff prescott's avatar jeff prescott says:
    November 24, 2008 at 9:48 am

    I hate to say it…but that is one of The Times’ best headlines, ever.

    Like

  3. Unknown's avatar zabadu says:
    November 24, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    It’s even more interesting when you find out that Parky was the father of Super Dave and Albert Brooks.

    Like

  4. Wilson's avatar Wilson says:
    November 25, 2008 at 9:54 am

    On his “Laughter” episode of his satellite radio show Theme Time Radio Hour (February 2007), Bob Dylan recounted the story of the death of Parkyakarkus. I can’t remember if he mentioned the last jokes he told, but there is an account at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/8135/shawn.html

    Like

Comments are closed.