This will likely mean more to me than most people, but it's still pretty interesting regardless. And I suspect some people will know the background. When at summer camp at Camp Nebagamon in Wisconsin, they would show movies in the Rec Hall a few times a year. And one summer, many years ago, they showed very entertaining movie from 1960 that I still remember called The Great Imposter, which starred Tony Curtis. It was based on a remarkable true story about a fellow named Ferdinand Waldo Demara who took on a wide range of jobs, none of which he was trained for -- many being reasonably skilled, most notably a surgeon in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Korean War. Really. I'm sure the film romanticized and embellished some of the story, but years later I tracked down a Life Magazine story on Demara, and a lot of the film hung close enough to the truth. (The only reason he was found out was that, bizarrely, when he was the doctor he'd won an award and the news reports about it got out.) There's a point to all this, but first, here's the trailer for the film -- And this is the point -- Here is the real Ferdinand Demara as a guest on You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx! Demara comes on at the 6:45 mark, though after a little chat with Groucho the initial conversation is with his co-contestant. Groucho's longer than usual interview with Demara doesn't start until 12:15. It's an especially-long interview for the show, which usually only gives about a minute or so of chatting. This episode appeared in November, 1959, though that's before the movie of his life was released. But given shooting schedules and post-production and release dates, I suspect that the film was already completed at the time of this appearance. By the way, I recall the movie as being a lot of fun (the trailer doesn't do it justice), though admittedly I was a kid at the time. Alas, it's not available on Netflix, but perhaps it will show up there, or on Amazon Prime or elsewhere. If so, it's probably worth checking out. You'll note that in the TV apperance below they pretty much refer to him as just "Ferdinand Demara." But I've always remembered his middle name being used, it struck me as interesting sounding. And as you noted in the trailer, they do reference that. So, here's Waldo --
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|