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April 26, 2020 12:26 pm  #1


The Great Radio Contest Bit

I noticed with some sadness that the last surviving regular cast member of the classic TV series "Green Acres" passed away last week.Tom Lester played farmhand Eb Dawson on the mid-60s show that took surrealism to new heights never seen before or since on television. (The characters regularly saw and commented on the credits, farm animals' grunts and sounds would be subtitled and talked about and characters would deliberately all mispronounce the same phrases. Not to mention the fife that played whenever Oliver gave one of his endless speeches about America - which everyone could hear but him. Just to name a few bizarre incidents.) 

I know it probably wasn't everyone's favourite but it's one of only two shows that can make me laugh out loud so hard that I have troubling breathing. Anyway, why bring this up here? His passing made me think of a wonderful episode that satirized Top 40 radio. It starts when Eb is given a transistor radio for his birthday and gets involved in local station WPIXL (yes, five letters) Pixley's ID-that-song contest. Of course, in keeping with the show, every single song sounds exactly the same. 

In the end, Eleanor the cow accidentally swallows the radio and her hiccup changes the station just as the last tune is about to come on. That's left out of the compilation below, but I still find the whole thing hilarious. And on a day when most of us remain stuck inside, you might, too. 

Well golly, Mr. Douglas! And RIP Eb. Thanks for all the laughs. 

  

 

April 26, 2020 12:56 pm  #2


Re: The Great Radio Contest Bit

Uh...that "repeater" was a real song right? I think I heard the full version played once while an American station was stunting in between formats! lol 


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

April 26, 2020 12:59 pm  #3


Re: The Great Radio Contest Bit

"Best of" 



 

Last edited by Radiowiz (April 26, 2020 12:59 pm)


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

April 26, 2020 1:04 pm  #4


Re: The Great Radio Contest Bit

It was a real song.  "The last of Green Acres Is Off to the Undertakers..."
 

 

April 26, 2020 1:04 pm  #5


Re: The Great Radio Contest Bit

I'm honestly not sure what it was, but I strongly suspect it was created by the late, great Vic Mizzy, who wrote the famous theme song for not only Green Acres but also the Addams Family TV show, among others. (I wasn't aware until I read his obit in the L.A.Times that it was Mizzy who sang the Addams' famous theme song on the show.) 

“I sat down; I went ‘buh-buh-buh-bump [snap-snap], buh-buh-buh-bump,” he recalled in a 2008 interview on CBS’ “Sunday Morning” show. “That’s why I’m living in Bel-Air: Two finger snaps and you live in Bel-Air.”

The tune Eb tries to ID in the clip above has Mizzy's style all over it and since he did the music for the show, I'm guessing it's some incidental song he created just for the episode. 

Whether the station you heard it on lifted it from there or it was ever put out on an album, I can't say, but I'm 99.9% sure it came from Mizzy's pen.

     Thread Starter
 

April 26, 2020 5:51 pm  #6


Re: The Great Radio Contest Bit

I was big Green Acres fan and recorded a lot of episodes in the 1980's maybe from CKVR. Was also a contest junkie and am surprised that I only vaguely remember this episode. The music sounds very much like what was a regular part of the show.


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