skippy the bush kangaroo: the great ones always go in 3's...no, 4's...no, make that 5's

Monday, June 29, 2009

the great ones always go in 3's...no, 4's...no, make that 5's

we guess god must be putting on a big show in heaven this week...first ed mcmahon...then farrah fawcett...then michael jackson...then billy mays...now fred travelana:

fred travalena, the master impressionist and singer whose broad repertoire of voices ranged from jack nicholson to sammy davis jr. to bugs bunny, has died. he was 66.

travalena, who began being treated for an aggressive form of non-hodgkin's lymphoma in 2002 and saw the disease return last july after going into remission in 2003, died sunday at his home in encino, according to his publicist, roger neal. travalena also was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003 but had been in complete remission since then….

in school, he said, he learned to deal with bullies by imitating a martian voice or porky pig. and he found he could deflect a teacher's question of why he didn't do his homework by making her laugh with his impression of crazy guggenheim, the goofy character played on tv by frank fontaine during jackie gleason's "joe the bartender" sketches.

during a stint in the army's special services, travalena won the all-army entertainment award for best singer and once impersonated president lyndon johnson's voice on the base theater's answering machine to announce the movies and show times…

at one point after launching his career as a singer, he and his singer wife, lois, were performing together at andrews air force base near washington, d.c.

as recounted in a 1989 new york times story, lois surprised her husband by spontaneously asking the audience, "how'd you like to hear fred do impressions?"

he went on to impersonate dean martin, paul lynde, jim nabors and presidents kennedy and johnson.

"people liked it," he later said.

travalena reportedly was performing at a resort hotel in the catskills when impressionist rich little was in the audience. after the show, little congratulated travalena and later recommended him for a spot in british celebrity journalist david frost's show at the riviera in las vegas.

at that time, rich little was the king of impressionists. to get the go-ahead from him was like getting blessed by the god of impersonations.

rest in peace, fred travalena.

posted by skippy at 12:16 PM |