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White House Puts Kibosh on Comedian’s Mimicry of President Kennedy in Advertisements

Dec. 11, 1962 - Vaughn Meader (right) has earned a lot of laughs and money from imitating President Kennedy’s voice on the hit comedy record, “The First Family.” White House aides objected, however, when he used the Kennedy broad “a” in advertising on a local radio station. Twice an hour on Saturday, the familiar “Kennedy voice” startled listeners on WWDC: “This is Vaughn Meader in Washington…Jackie, Bobby, Caroline, and Eunice…we all listen to WWDC with great vigah.” Newton Minow, chairman of the FCC, who heard the advertisement, got in touch with White House press secretary Pierre Salinger. Mr. Salinger said today that when he called to protest to the station, officials said the station had had “doubts as to its good taste” and had scrapped the tape. Mr. Salinger said he did not think “the use of mimicry of the President’s voice for commercial purposes was proper.”

© 2024 by Joe Rubenstein

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