Memories of Morey
Stan Freberg here. We lost a great comedian when we lost Morey Amsterdam, but not many people remember him as a cellist. I do. Be right back. [:60 SPOT BREAK]
Freberg here. Comedian Morey Amsterdam was cut from the same bolt of funny cloth as Henny Youngman and my good friend, Milton Berle. Most people remember Amsterdam from "The Dick Van Dyke Show," where he played a comedy writer, "Buddy," along with my friend Rose Marie. But I have a special memory of Morey Amsterdam from my teen years.
I was a big fan of radio long before I ever got into it. My dad, knowing this, was always getting tickets for us to be in the audience of some network radio show in downtown Hollywood. This was about 1943, in the middle of World War II.
One night, having watched "The Al Pearce Show" at the NBC Studios at Sunset and Vine, Al was thanking us for being a good audience when the air raid siren went off outside. We were all stuck in the studio for at least an hour more. The cast put on an impromptu "aftershow" for us, and one of them was a funny man who sat down and played his cello, while telling jokes like, "In Beverly Hills, where I live, it's so exclusive, even the police have an unlisted number!"
It was Morey Amsterdam, of course, taking our minds off the air raid warning, just as later, his humor over the years would help take our minds off reality for a little while.
So long, Morey. Thanks for all the laughs, from Stan Freberg here.
Copyright ©1996, Stan Freberg/Freberg, Ltd. (but not very) Distributed by Dick Brescia Associates and Radio Spirits, Inc.