Posted on 01/04/2020 9:27:39 PM PST by Impala64ssa
Jack Sheldon, once known to Americas schoolkids as the voice behind Im Just a Bill, "Conjunction Junction" and other songs on Schoolhouse Rock, and to older TV viewers as a sidekick of talk-show host Merv Griffin, has died at age 88. Sheldon succumbed Friday to natural causes, his longtime manager and partner, Dianne Jimenez, said in a statement Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. No further details were provided. An acclaimed jazz musician who played trumpet on the award-winning song The Shadow of Your Smile, Sheldon was a prominent part of the vibrant West Coast jazz movement in the 1950s alongside fellow artists Art Pepper, Stan Kenton and Shorty Rogers. He also played with jazz and pop greats including Benny Goodman, Peggy Lee, Lena Horne and Frank Sinatra. The Shadow of Your Smile was introduced in the 1965 film The Sandpiper. It won a Grammy as song of the year and an Oscar for best original song. Born in 1931 in Jacksonville, Fla., Sheldon started playing the trumpet professionally as a youth and moved to Los Angeles in 1947. He served in the Air Force, playing in several military bands. He also found work as an actor, with TV credits including the 1966-67 comedy series Run Buddy Run, the 1970s series The Girl With Something Extra", The Simpsons, Family Guy and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He appeared on Griffins show for most of its run from 1962 to 1986. Sheldons films included 1991s For the Boys, in which he played a World War II bandleader opposite Bette Midler and James Caan and the documentary Lets Get Lost, about trumpet player Chet Baker. His gravelly voice was heard in more a dozen episodes of the educational animated childrens series Schoolhouse Rock!, including Im Just a Bill, written by Dave Frishberg.
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I loved that song!
I remember him. RIP.
Schoolhouse Rock was great. RIP Mr. Sheldon.
Bob Dorough, who composed most of those songs, died in 2018.
Sheldon also voiced “I’m an Amendment to Be” from The Simpsons....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSANTRnEBgg
“Cause those liberal freaks go too faaaaaar!”
Hey, who left all this garbage on the steps of Congress?
Then I’ll crush all opposition to me
And I’ll make Ted Kennedy pay
If he fights back
I’ll say that he’s gay
(That always cracked me up)
Schoolhouse Rock is why I can still remember the preamble to the Constitution.
Heck, I wouldn’t even know what a conjunction is, if not for Jack.
No ifs, ands, or buts....
That IS funny. I remember the original version. And I remember first seeing this version on the Simpsons years ago and I almost fell out of the chair because I was laughing so hard.
“Schoolhouse Rock is why I can still remember the preamble to the Constitution.”
Yep, me too!
Great teaching tool. Something good out of the ‘70s along with the last Cudas, the first Z cars and the grooviest lime green Electra 225.
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