Posted on 06/19/2017 5:26:51 PM PDT by EveningStar
Bill Dana, who created and starred as the earnest character at the center of the "My Name … Jose Jimenez" routine that made him one of America's most beloved comic performers of the 1960s, has died. He was 92.
Dana, who first appeared as Jimenez on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show, where he also worked as an Emmy-nominated head writer, died Thursday at his home in Nashville, Emerson College announced.
(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodreporter.com ...
Never understood that part of the movie until Google. ;)
He did a residency at a theater I worked at when I was first married. Hubby and I still run his lines.
IIRC, there was a short clip of Bill Dana doing his astronaut routine in the movie “The Right Stuff.”
I remember him, and I remember that one with Milton Berle.
Here he is talking about the J and H thing that started it all; and, no, you couldn’t do it today. But the things that made us laugh back then were a lot more innocent than the ‘humor’ of today, and it was a better world in a lot of ways:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGAm_7yRSCI
Loved his routine in the ‘60s. His line was very popular when I was in high school.
Made me LOL, thanks.
RIP.
Small French restaurant in Hollywood, I think was on Vine St. south of Sunset. He was alone and sitting next to my wife and I. He started the conversation and we ended up having a very nice chat with him.
He was so different than the character he played: perfect gentlemen, no accent, obviously very intelligent. Always viewed him differently after that evening.
And to be honest, I did not realize he was still alive.
Gotta say: I’ve tried to figure out what was funny about that routine.
Just... Can’t.
That is some not funny stuff.
He also was in a Hanna Barbera TV special version of Alice in Wonderland, featuring the song “What’s a Nice Girl Like You
Doing in a Place Like This?”
Thanks for the laughs. RIP
“My name is Jose Jimenez, and I doan’ wan’ to go!”
A fondly remembered astronaut routine.
“Tell me, is that your crash helmet?”
“Oh, I hope not!”
Very True. There are a numbers of scenes in "I Love Lucy" where Lucy makes fun of Ricky's Cuban accent. If that happened today, the network would apologize, half the writing staff would be fired, and the rest would be ordered to attend "sensitivity training." Another example: The Honeymooners. The first time Ralph waved his fist in the air and threatened to send Alice "to the moon!", the women's rights groups would go nuts, saying the show promotes violence against women.
Crash helmet.
One of my desert island discs. A masterpiece.
Cheers,
Jim
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