Shecky Greene - An Appreciation

[JSngry]

Outrageous and Courageous: The Myth and Legend of Shecky Greene

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2011/06/the-legend-of-shecky-greene.html#more

[MartyJazz]

Outrageous and Courageous: The Myth and Legend of Shecky Greene

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2011/06/the-legend-of-shecky-greene.html#more

Skimming through that lengthy column, I was surprised to see that there was quite a bit of truth behind Greene's very famous line about Sinatra having saved his life. I always found Greene to be hysterically funny, primarily when I saw him guest on Carson's Tonight Show. Wish I would have seen him in person. Many thanks for the link.

[Larry Kart]

Outrageous and Courageous: The Myth and Legend of Shecky Greene

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2011/06/the-legend-of-shecky-greene.html#more

Skimming through that lengthy column, I was surprised to see that there was quite a bit of truth behind Greene's very famous line about Sinatra having saved his life. I always found Greene to be hysterically funny, primarily when I saw him guest on Carson's Tonight Show. Wish I would have seen him in person. Many thanks for the link.

Yes, but I think they got the Sinatra joke a bit wrong. As I recall, and I heard Shecky deliver it, it goes like this:

"Frank Sinatra? Wonderful man -- saved my life. One night in the parking lot of the Sands Hotel three guys were beating the crap out of me, and Frank said, 'That's enough.'"

There might have been an extra beat or two in there, a la "Frank Sinatra? Wonderful man, prince of a fellow -- saved my life" etc., but I'm pretty sure about the rest. And if I am right about this, I think that the rhythms and wording really matter.

[MartyJazz]

Outrageous and Courageous: The Myth and Legend of Shecky Greene

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2011/06/the-legend-of-shecky-greene.html#more

Skimming through that lengthy column, I was surprised to see that there was quite a bit of truth behind Greene's very famous line about Sinatra having saved his life. I always found Greene to be hysterically funny, primarily when I saw him guest on Carson's Tonight Show. Wish I would have seen him in person. Many thanks for the link.

Yes, but I think they got the Sinatra joke a bit wrong. As I recall, and I heard Shecky deliver it, it goes like this:

"Frank Sinatra? Wonderful man -- saved my life. One night in the parking lot of the Sands Hotel three guys were beating the crap out of me, and Frank said, 'That's enough.'"

There might have been an extra beat or two in there, a la "Frank Sinatra? Wonderful man, prince of a fellow -- saved my life" etc., but I'm pretty sure about the rest. And if I am right about this, I think that the rhythms and wording really matter.

Yes, I guess they did get it "a bit wrong", but I hadn't really noticed. I recall it the exact same way you do, because I've repeated the story many times to various people over the years. Additionally, I think Greene mentioned that the incident happened after a set when he went out to the parking lot to take a break, the implication being once the punch line is delivered that he must have said something to irk Sinatra during his set.

[Larry Kart]

Outrageous and Courageous: The Myth and Legend of Shecky Greene

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2011/06/the-legend-of-shecky-greene.html#more

Skimming through that lengthy column, I was surprised to see that there was quite a bit of truth behind Greene's very famous line about Sinatra having saved his life. I always found Greene to be hysterically funny, primarily when I saw him guest on Carson's Tonight Show. Wish I would have seen him in person. Many thanks for the link.

Yes, but I think they got the Sinatra joke a bit wrong. As I recall, and I heard Shecky deliver it, it goes like this:

"Frank Sinatra? Wonderful man -- saved my life. One night in the parking lot of the Sands Hotel three guys were beating the crap out of me, and Frank said, 'That's enough.'"

There might have been an extra beat or two in there, a la "Frank Sinatra? Wonderful man, prince of a fellow -- saved my life" etc., but I'm pretty sure about the rest. And if I am right about this, I think that the rhythms and wording really matter.

Yes, I guess they did get it "a bit wrong", but I hadn't really noticed. I recall it the exact same way you do, because I've repeated the story many times to various people over the years. Additionally, I think Greene mentioned that the incident happened after a set when he went out to the parking lot to take a break, the implication being once the punch line is delivered that he must have said something to irk Sinatra during his set.

Yes, as the blog entry about Greene would lead one to expect, he was almost certainly talking during his set about Sinatra's mob connections. In fact, the night I heard him tell the joke at a club in suburban Chicago, he was going on about Sinatra and mob-upped L.A. attorney Sidney Korshak (originally from Chicago), who happened to be the uncle of the woman who was the publicist for the venue and one of the more powerful figures in the Chicago entertainment world. She was not amused.