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| Bobby "Boris" Pickett Dies at age 69 http://www.scifimarathon.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=203 |
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| Author: | Jaws3dfan [ Fri Apr 27, 2007 9:30 am ] |
| Post subject: | Bobby "Boris" Pickett Dies at age 69 |
'Boris' Pickett -- He did the 'Mash' Los Angeles Times Friday, April 27, 2007 (04-27) 04:00 PDT Los Angeles -- Bobby "Boris" Pickett, whose Boris Karloff impersonation was immortalized on the novelty hit song "Monster Mash," which has become a Halloween perennial, has died. He was 69. Mr. Pickett, a longtime resident of Santa Monica, died Wednesday of leukemia at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, said his manager, Stuart Hersh. " 'Monster Mash' is the biggest Halloween song of all time. The song was spooky but nonthreatening, just a natural -- it had a good beat and was a great, fun idea," said Barret Hansen, better known as syndicated radio host Dr. Demento. The catchy tune, about a mad professor who joins his latest creation to dance the "Monster Mash," was the No. 1 song in the country on Halloween in 1962. Re-released twice more, it cracked Billboard's top 100 in 1970 and the top 10 in 1973. Inspired by a dance craze called the mashed potato, the song was written in a few hours by Mr. Pickett and a musical colleague, Leonard Capizzi. Not only did "Monster Mash" catch on in a flash, its refrain -- accompanied by Mr. Pickett's spirited Karloff impression -- was destined to get stuck in the minds of generations to come: He did the mash He did the monster mash |
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| Author: | Dennis [ Fri Apr 27, 2007 10:23 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
And now I have the song bouncing through my head. He did write a catchy tune. |
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| Author: | bar2b2 [ Fri Apr 27, 2007 12:03 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
His father managed a movie theatre in the Boston suburb of Somerville. I'll have to check, but I don't think it was the Somerville Theatre, sometimes and current home to the Boston Science Fiction "Festival". It might also be noted that it was just as MONSTER MASH was slipping off the charts that Ghoulardi first materialized on the Cleveland airwaves. Had to have been some influence there. From what I've read, Pickett was a nice guy. Have to dust off the LP now.... |
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