Despite the fact that he once threatened indirectly to sue me when I was in high school (story here), I am still a huge fan of the late Allan Sherman. He not only wrote — or employed people who wrote — great song parodies but he performed them with grand humor and delivery.
I have a theory which I may have voiced here that he was a big smash because of the lyrics, because of his performances of them and because he was able to introduce Jewish humor into mainstream America in a non-threatening way. If he'd had the dialect of Myron Cohen or even a name like that which screamed "Jew!" I don't think he'd have sold a zillion records and done some of the shows he did. When Ed Sullivan had on a Cohen or a Jackie Mason, he practically ghettoized the performer with an intro that just about said, "All right now…I'm going to bring a Jew out here to tell you some Jew jokes!" All of the U.S.A. could accept that because, you know, the Jew was being kept in his own little category.
Allan Sherman transcended that. He had a goyishe name and he was fat and lovable and self-deprecating and only a small percentage of his material hinged on the listener knowing what Hadassah was or laughing reflexively at any mention of pickled herring. Mickey Katz made records of funny Jewish-oriented songs but they only sold them in "certain" neighborhoods and never played them on the radio. Sherman, you could buy and hear anywhere. He really was a breakthrough comedian on so many levels.
He even did commercials. Here — and we have Barry Mitchell to thank for this treasure — is Mr. Sherman picking up a couple of bucks. They never asked Mickey Katz to sing about Brillo soap pads…
