CHRISTMAS HONORS LIST 2021 - COUSIN ITT

 
O’BSERVATION:

I’m sorry for the day’s delay in getting the Christmas induction online.  My extended family was hit with a major loss last week, followed the next day by the loss of a friend of mine from my Nooyawk era….

Here Itt is!  Our penultimate tribute to ‘The Addams Family’ and the annual Christmas induction into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.  Why did I make this choice for the holiday?

ITT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

Come on!  How could I resist?

COUSIN ITT

From Wikipedia:
Cousin Itt is a fictional character in the Addams Family television and film series. He was developed specifically for the 1964 television series and is a regular supporting character in subsequent motion-picture, television and stage adaptations.

Cousin Itt is a diminutive, hirsute being, his visible form composed entirely of floor-length blonde hair. He has an IQ of 320, is often attired in bowler hat and round sunglasses, and speaks in a high-pitched gibberish that is understood only by his family.  As he was created specifically for the television series, illustrations of the character by cartoonist Charles Addams followed the show's debut, first in a single-panel sketch showing Itt on the telephone ("This is It speaking"), and later in family-portrait artwork.  He drives a Messerschmitt Kabinenroller.

Cousin Itt is introduced in the television series as the cousin of family patriarch Gomez Addams. He is an occasional guest in the Addams home, entering and exiting through the chimney, though he also has his own quarters which are furnished in proportion to his size. He vainly attempts a multitude of professions such as an actor, a singer, a marriage counselor, and a zoo curator, while his physical appearance is the subject of one episode in which he begins to lose his hair.

Cousin Itt appeared in 19 total episodes of the original series and was played by Felix Silla, except for two appearances in which he was played by Roger Arroyo. Silla attended a casting call in Los Angeles and was given the role on the spot without having to audition. The character's heavy costume was first constructed with real hair but later changed to a fire-retardant synthetic, as smoking was common on-set and the real hair was therefore a fire hazard. Silla's instructions were simply to walk around on the set, as Itt's voice (provided by sound engineer Tony Magro) was dubbed in post-production, but he often had difficulty seeing through the costume.

The character appears with the other family members in a September 23, 1972 crossover episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, titled "Wednesday Is Missing". His vocal effects were provided by John Stephenson, who returned to the role in the 1973 Hanna-Barbera animated series.

He also appeared in the 1977 Halloween reunion TV special.

Welcome to the Hall, Itt.  Feel free to relax and let your hair down.

Yeah... I have no regrets.

Exit, Stage Left....

THE HAT SQUAD - REMEMBERING FOSTER BROOKS

Foster Brooks (May 11, 1912 – December 20, 2001) was an American actor and comedian most famous for his portrayal of a lovable drunk in nightclub performances and television programs.  

As his "Lovable Lush" character, Brooks usually portrayed a conventioneer who had had a few too many drinks — not falling-down drunk, but inebriated enough to mix up his words and burp to comedic delight. Brooks is most affectionately remembered for his appearances on ‘The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast’ during the 1970s, where he roasted other comedians, such as Don Rickles, Johnny Carson, and Lucille Ball, or serious personalities such as author Truman Capote, or consumer activist Ralph Nader.

On those Celebrity Roasts (which take place in Skitlandia the sketch comedy TV dimenson), Foster Brooks may have done more to embellish the Sktlandian televersions of those celebrities than anybody else on the dais.  It wasn’t enough just to belittle the “honoree”; Brooks made himself part of their lives, adding details to their history which were never shared in any other TV dimension and not even in the Trueniverse.  

Let’s take those celebrities described in that Wikipedia excerpt.  Well, except for Capote – I haven’t seen his clip yet.  We’ll replace him with Hubert Humphrey.
In each of these appearances, Foster Brooks played himself:

• DON RICKLES – Brooks was having an affair with his Rickles’ wife, Mrs. Pickles.  (That wasn’t a drunken malaprop; he called her that because she was a real dilly in bed.)
• JOHNNY CARSON – Like Mrs. Miller at ‘The Jack Paar Show’, Foster Brooks had been in the audience of every ‘Tonight’ show since Johnny became the host.  And he regaled the audience with details from his interviews with other celebrities which never took place in real life.  (Like when the jockey told Johnny that he weighed 98 pounds soaking wet.  Johnny told him that would teach him for standing underneath his horse.)
• LUCILLE BALL – Foster Brooks passed himself off as Lucy’s first fiancé, left behind in Jamestown, New York, but still devoted to her.  He was the high school football star and she would shake her pom-poms at him… and she wasn’t even on the cheerleading squad.
• JIMMY STEWART – Brooks was Stewart’s navigator during WWII, so I would count that as a supplemental tidbit for Jimmy Stewart’s eventual entry in the TVXOHOF even if it is in the Skitlandia section.
• HUBERT HUMPHREY – Brooks served as the campaign manager for the Vice President’s presidential run in 1968.  If it had not been for Brooks, we would have had Hubie the Boobie instead of Tricky Dick.
• RALPH NADER – Foster was also one of Nader’s Raiders.  While he was test-driving a car one day, an old lady started walking right in front of him.  Brooks had to swerve off the sidewalk to avoid hitting her.

So it’s been 20 years since Mr. Brooks passed away.  I only discovered that an hour and a half before midnight because I was watching his Celebrity Roast videos while on the can.  So we’re shuffling the schedule around, last minute, in order to give him a proper salute by sharing those clips and more from the Roasts.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  If not… well, I guess I don’t really care.

We’ll start with the most famous person to grow up in my new hometown….

This next one isn't a hometown boy, but he came from just down Route 8....

Well, ladies and gennel -# 

Ladies and gennuh-#
Folks....

I hope you enjoyed it, but like I said earlier, it doesn't really matter to me if you do or don't.  It's December 20, 2021.  I put this together December 19, 2018.  For alls I know I could be dead by now.  Even worse, these videos may have been removed from YouTube!

BCnU!