Humor 12124

When I was very young, I prayed for wisdom. I got a combination of good judgment and a sense of humor. My mom and dad were clowns and my grandparents were clowns as well.  I thought humor was genetic. It was easy for me to see humor in everything. I laughed and clowned my way through my childhood. .

When I was 2 years old we were on a train moving to Hallettsville Texas. I didn’t want to move from St. Louis, so I was sullen and unhappy. I was wearing a sailor suit as was common for kids in 1945. On our way up to the dining car the train rocked and I bumped in to Ethel Waters who was sitting on an isle seat . I looked up at her in my sullen mood and said “I’m a drunken sailor”. She laughed and told my mom that I belonged on the stage. I said the stagecoach leaves at 4. Ethel Water was a big movie star in the 1940s and she was right. I would spend a lot of time on the stage.

In Texas, my dad installed a 1000 watt radio tower that allowed us to pick up radio shows across the South and Midwest. My brother and I listened to and sang along with hillbilly music. We laughed when we heard a black preacher offer an autographed picture of Jesus Christ for a $10 donation. We had a complete collection of hilarious Spike Jones records. I had a cowboy outfit and would practice roping on our cat.

In New York, we laughed at local TV shows. Earnie Kovacs had a 7am morning show we loved. He played characters like Percy Dovetonsils, a goofy gay poet. My dad took us to a Jewish Delicatessen on Saturday mornings and we laughed watching them harass each other. My uncles visited us in New York in 1950. We were driving next to the harbor and the Ferries were returning. Gays were plentiful in New York and were referred to as Fairies. My uncle said “There’s a fleet of Ferries”. I said “I didn’t know they had a Navy.” Jews and Gays had a knack for making fun of themselves in the 1950s. They didn’t take themselves seriously and provided us with lots of humor. We were the only family in our neighborhood with a Christmas Tree. Our Jewish neighbors adopted us. They came to our apartment for Christmas and we went to their apartments for Jewish holidays. In New York, I learned dialects and could do impressions.

When I was a musician in high school I did a lot of singing. I noticed that the audience didn’t always seem to be listening to the music, so I made up lyrics.

We played a Bar mitzvah and played Hava Nagela.  They had trays of really good cookies and I decided that the cookies were called Nagila. I sang: “Hava Nagila, hav two Nagila, hav three Nagila they’re pretty small. Hava Neranenah their yummy too.  That prompted 40 12 year old boys to gather in front of the band dancing, clapping and laughing. We played every Bar mitzva after that.

In high school, I was tapped to join the Speech Club. I won gold medals in Humorous Interpretation. My assignment was “Wickets” by Thurber. I used my Peter Lorie voice.  I was tapped to act, sing and dance in St Josephs Academy. I played Poohbah, the Lord High Everything Else in The Mikado as a whiney, snippy, gay guy.

The girl from Ipanema came out in 1964 and became a standard. I sang “Tall and pale and green and sickly, the girl with emphysema was coughing and when she passes each on she passed goes (wheeze).  When she walks she’s like a zombie that swings so cool and sways so gently that when she passes each one she passes goes (wheeze)  O but I watch her so sadly, how can I tell her I love her, Jes I would give my lung gladly  But each day when she walks to the sea, she looks strait ahead not at me….

In my Catholic education. I found a bounty of humor in the scriptures because they were so subject to interpretation. When Jesus said: “the poor will always be with you”. I know now He was talking about your children. Jesus also said “The birds of the air neither spin or sew, yet my Father feeds them. I later learned that God had delegated this to my wife, who fills 3 bird feeders. God works with the natural order of things.

My favorite hobby was work. I used humor with employees at work to maintain morale and they felt free to do the same. I knew that the way to educate adults was to entertain them.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader