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66-487: After a short stint on the radio, in the late 1940s, Spike Jones began to see that there might be potential in the fairly new medium of television. With this potential in mind, Jones along with Edward F. Cline filmed two half-hour pilots in the summer of 1950; Foreign Legion and Wild Bill Hiccup . Neither were broadcast. Jones then decided to try live television bringing his wife Helen Grayco and his band, The City Slickers with him. For them, live television proved to be

132-490: A Southern Pacific railroad agent. Young Lindley Jones was given the nickname 'Spike' for being so thin that he was compared to a railroad spike . At the age of 11 he got his first set of drums . As a teenager he played in bands that he formed himself; Jones' first band was called Spike Jones and his Five Tacks. A railroad restaurant chef taught him how to use pots and pans, forks, knives and spoons as musical instruments. Jones frequently played in theater pit orchestras . In

198-496: A 1994 CD reissue, Spiked! (BMG Catalyst). A scene in the romantic comedy I.Q. shows a man demonstrating the sound of his new stereo to Meg Ryan 's character by playing a Jones recording. In the 1948 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short Back Alley Oproar , a caterwauling Sylvester the Cat does a Spike Jones-inspired solo finale cover of " Angel in Disguise " by opening with

264-568: A CD compilation called (Not) Your Standard Spike Jones Collection . Recorded just days before the recording ban, Jones scored a huge broadcast hit late in 1942 with " Der Fuehrer's Face ", a song ridiculing Adolf Hitler , which followed every use of the word " Heil " with a derisive raspberry sound, as in the repeated phrase " Heil, (raspberry), Heil (raspberry), right in Der Fuehrer's face!". The romantic ballad " Cocktails for Two ", originally written to evoke an intimate romantic rendezvous,

330-474: A brief, serious-sounding introduction before immediately breaking into a jazzy rendition featuring a collection of crazy sound effects produced by firing guns, breaking bottles and exploding firecrackers among other sounds, much to Elmer Fudd 's annoyance. Spike Jones is referenced several times in the American TV series M*A*S*H . In season 2, episode 5, "Dr. Pierce and Mr. Hyde", an exhausted Hawkeye sings

396-530: A creative force but not being the leader of a band. With the Slickers he could write songs, sing and play on records, and let Spike book the gigs. Porter was the lead vocalist, and also played clarinet and arranged. Among the songs Porter wrote. "Siam" and "Pass the Biscuits Mirandy" became part of the band's book. His arrangements were early hits, "Hotcha Cornia" and "Der Fuehrer's Face," with Der Fuehrer being

462-682: A dozen appearances on the radio show Command Performance broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio Network . They started on September 19, 1942; with their last appearance on Christmas Eve 1944. On Command Performance they appeared with Tommy Dorsey , Cary Grant , Lionel Hampton , Bob Hope , Lena Horne , Dinah Shore and Ethel Waters . In 1943 they started regular appearances on the Bob Burns Radio Show. They continued with Bob Burns until The Slickers got their own radio show, sponsored by Chase and Sanborn Coffee in 1945. Among

528-453: A fresh sound to old songs. He invited them to back him up on his radio show The Kraft Music Hall . Bing also brought them into the recording studio to record songs for Decca such as Sweet Georgia Brown ; Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider; My Honey's Loving Arms; Chinatown, My Chinatown and others in 1937. In 1938 they backed up Dick Powell on several recordings, and they backed up Bing on When the Bloom

594-523: A line of "Der Fuehrer's Face" in reference to the great songs that came out of World War II; in the season 8 episode " "Good-Bye, Radar: Part 1 ", when Radar returns from leave in Tokyo to a generator-less 4077th, he calls up Sparky to unsuccessfully bargain for a new one with a variety of items, which included some Spike Jones records; and in the season 11 episode "Foreign Affairs," visiting French Red Cross nurse Martine LeClerc ( Melinda Mullins ), who develops

660-531: A second group in 1946. Spike Jones and His Other Orchestra played lush arrangements of dance hits. This alternate group played nightclub engagements and was an artistic success, but the paying public preferred the City Slickers and stayed away. Jones wound up paying some of the band's expenses out of his own pocket. Some of the City Slickers band members appeared and recorded with the Other Orchestra, but most of

726-459: A six-piece ensemble that did comedy material in the style of then-popular musical comedians Freddie Fisher's Snickelfritz Band . Spike initially managed Porter's band for ten dollars a week. After limited success, Spike suggested that he join the band, and Porter accepted. Eventually, the band evolved from the Feather Merchants to Spike Jones and His City Slickers. Porter was happy with being

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792-407: A success. The basis for The Spike Jones Show came about after an episode of The Colgate Comedy Hour on NBC . The episode, entitled "The Spike Jones Show", was originally broadcast on February 11, 1951. Three years after that telecast, NBC offered Jones, Grayco and his band their own slot on television. The first version of The Spike Jones Show premiered on January 2, 1954 on NBC . The series

858-462: A warm if brief affair with Charles Emerson Winchester III , tells him that she's a huge fan of Spike Jones, which inspires him to admit, in a rare confession, secretly loving Tom and Jerry cartoons. In 1974, Tony Levin (future bass player for King Crimson ), recording under the name, The Clams, released a Spike Jones tribute of him giving the songs " Close to You " by The Carpenters and " The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face " by Roberta Flack ,

924-517: A week while we were over there." After entertaining troops in England they went to France, just after D Day . On the tour with them was Dinah Shore and Edward G Robinson . Porter said, "And we gave a big show up on the hill from the beach that night. And you should have seen the guys! Well, you've seen the Bob Hope things on TV. Well, they were spread out acres of guys! It was the most thrilling thing in

990-457: A woman who tries to find a job in the United States military. Jones's recording, " All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth ", with a piping vocal by George Rock , was recorded in 1947, too late for that year's shopping season; the record was withheld and was finally released in the fall of 1948, becoming a number-one hit. ( Dora Bryan recorded a 1963 variation, "All I Want For Christmas

1056-399: Is a Beatle ".) Among the recordings Spike Jones and his City Slickers made in the 1940s were many humorous takes on classical music such as the adaptation of Liszt 's Liebestraum No. 3 , played at a breakneck pace on unusual instruments. Others followed: Rossini 's William Tell Overture was rendered on kitchen implements using a horse race as a backdrop, with one of the "horses" in

1122-530: Is a producer of live events and television broadcasts. Leslie Ann is the Director of Music and Film Scoring at George Lucas ' Skywalker Ranch in Marin County . Jones was a lifelong heavy smoker, reportedly 4-5 packs a day, and eventually he developed breathing problems, including emphysema . Never the picture of health, his emphysema advanced to the point where he used an oxygen tank both on and offstage, and he

1188-593: Is on the Sage. They were even busier in 1939 backing up Pinky Tomlin , Shirley Ross, Dick Powell and Bing. One of the songs with Bing was the Johnny Burke and James V Monaco song "Sweet Potato Piper," inspired by the Foursome, for the 1940 film The Road to Singapore . Spike Jones , who played drums on some recordings by The Foursome, suggested to Porter that he should start his own band. Porter created The Feather Merchants,

1254-449: The "race" likely to have inspired the nickname of the lone chrome yellow -painted SNJ aircraft flown by the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels aerobatic team's shows in the late 1940s, "Beetle Bomb". In live shows Spike would acknowledge the applause with complete solemnity, saying "Thank you, music lovers." An LP collection of twelve of these "homicides" was released by RCA (on its prestigious Red Seal label) in 1971 as Spike Jones Is Murdering

1320-578: The 1930s, after the original Three Stooges left Healy for movie work. Spike Jones's second wife, singer Helen Grayco , performed in his stage and television shows. A strike by the American Federation of Musicians in 1942 prevented Jones from making commercial recordings for over two years. He could, however, make records for radio broadcasts. These were released on the Standard Transcriptions label (1941–1946) and have been reissued on

1386-559: The 1930s, he joined the Victor Young orchestra and got many offers to appear on radio shows, including Al Jolson 's Lifebuoy Program , Burns and Allen , and Bing Crosby 's Kraft Music Hall . Jones became bored playing the same music each night with the orchestras. He found other like-minded musicians and they began playing parodies of standard songs for their own entertainment. The musicians wanted their wives to share their enjoyment, so they recorded their weekly performances. One of

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1452-420: The 1940s, led his own big band. Porter was a singer with the Foursome, which came to prominence in the 1930 Broadway hit show, Girl Crazy . Porter, the best known member of the quartet, co-founded City Slickers with Spike Jones , about the time his group The Feather Merchants split up. With the Foursome's arranger and Porter's lifelong friend, Raymond M. Johnson, Porter reorganized the quartet around 1946 as

1518-518: The 1960s (including "Washington Square" and "The Ballad of Jed Clampett"). One of his New Band tracks in 1964 was a cover of " Dominique ", a recent hit by The Singing Nun , in which the arrangement not only plays part of the melody on a banjo but melds the melody successfully with " When the Saints Go Marching In " Jones had four children: Linda (by his first wife, Patricia), Spike Jr. , Leslie Ann , and Gina, with Helen Grayco . Spike Jr.

1584-570: The Cinamatone, Runnin' Wild . In 1944 the Slickers and Porter performed for the troops in Europe. They flew to Scotland, then to London on a train. The train was unable to reach London because a buzz bomb had destroyed the tracks outside the city. A bus arrived eventually to take them into town. There they found more buzz bomb attacks. Porter said in an interview with Ted Haring in 1971: "But, oh, we had buzz bombs like mad! Boy! We had three or four

1650-723: The Classics. They include such tours de force as Pal-Yat-Chee ( Pagliacci ), sung by the hillbilly humorists Homer and Jethro , Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours , Tchaikovsky's None but the Lonely Heart , Strauss's Blue Danube waltz, and Bizet's Carmen . In 1944, RCA Victor released "Spike Jones presents for the Kiddies" version of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite , in three 10-inch, 78- rpm records, P-143, arrangement credited to Joe "Country" Washburne with lyrics by Foster Carling. The set

1716-632: The Feather Merchants, a band led by vocalist-clarinetist Del Porter, who took a back seat to Jones during the group's embryonic years. They made experimental records for the Cinematone Corporation and performed publicly in Los Angeles, gaining a small following. Original members included vocalist-violinist Carl Grayson, banjoist Perry Botkin, trombonist King Jackson, and pianist Stan Wrightsman . The band's early records were issued on RCA Victor's budget-priced Bluebird label, but were soon moved to

1782-400: The Foursome in 1928. He was brought in by Ray Johnson, who he had met at Oregon State Agriculture College . They joined Marshall Smith and Dwight Snyder who had formed the Foursome in 1926. Prior to Porter joining the group they had recorded for Columbia Records . The Foursome's biggest hit was the song Walkin' My Baby Back Home in 1932. There was one thing that separated the Foursome from

1848-636: The Jones gang worked on numerous soundies , musical shorts similar to later music videos which were shown on coin-operated projectors in small nightclubs, arcades, malt shops, and taverns. The band appeared on camera under their own name in four of the Soundies ("Clink! Clink! Another Drink", "Pass the Biscuits, Mirandy", "The Sheik of Araby", and "Blacksmith Song"), and, according to musicologist Mark Cantor, provided background music for at least thirteen others. Mel Blanc ,

1914-496: The Jones treatment were punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells, hiccups , burps , and outlandish and comedic vocals. Jones and his band recorded under the title Spike Jones and His City Slickers from the early 1940s to the mid-1950s, and they toured the United States and Canada as "The Musical Depreciation Revue". Lindley Armstrong Jones was born in Long Beach, California , the son of Ada (Armstrong) and Lindley Murray Jones,

1980-537: The Jones treatment. In 1986, the Belgian synthpop group Telex paid homage to Spike Jones in their album Looney Tunes , with a song named after him. The intro of that song is a part of the intro from " Camptown Races ". In 1997, singers Artie Schroeck and Linda November directed a production in Atlantic City titled "The New City Slickers Present a Tribute to Spike Jones", with a band that attempted to re-create

2046-564: The Ninth Air Corps all the time we were in France, playing one landing strip after another. We had our base camp at one, and we'd start out in the morning, real early. And at lunch time we'd play one, oh, probably 60 miles away. We'd have lunch there, and then we'd go on, play one mid-afternoon, and then some place else and play one in the evening. And then, coming back to our base camp after dark, with no lights but – you know what cat eyes are on

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2112-565: The Other Orchestra personnel consisted of "serious," accomplished studio musicians from the Los Angeles area. The one outstanding recording by the Other Orchestra is "Laura", which features a serious first half (played exquisitely by the Other Orchestra) and a manic second half (played for laughs by the City Slickers). Jones's son, Spike Jones Jr., called attention to the precision of his father's most outlandish musical arrangements: "One of

2178-656: The People (1944), Bring on the Girls (1945), Breakfast in Hollywood (1946) and Variety Girl (1947). Jones was set to team with Abbott and Costello for a 1954 Universal Pictures comedy, but when Lou Costello withdrew for medical reasons, Universal replaced the comedy team with look-alikes Hugh O'Brian and Buddy Hackett , and promoted Jones to the leading role. The finished film, Fireman Save My Child , turned out to be Spike Jones's only top-billed theatrical movie. In 1942,

2244-537: The Smallest Snowball"). Over the years, Jones had become increasingly unhappy at RCA Victor due to management censoring his recordings and other matters, and he left the label in 1955. His later recordings were issued by Verve , Liberty and Warner Bros. In 1956, Jones supervised an album of Christmas songs, many of which were performed seriously. In 1957, noting the television success of Lawrence Welk and his dance band, he revamped his own act for television. Gone

2310-537: The Sweet Potato Tooters. " Sweet potato " is a nickname for an ocarina . The Foursome, with members Del Porter, Ray Johnson, J. Marshall Smith and Dwight Snyder, first appeared on Broadway in the two-act musical "Ripples" that ran for 55 performances. The show opened on February 11, 1930, at the New Amsterdam Theatre and ran through March 29. The members of The Foursome appeared as state troopers in

2376-582: The band's first recording. " Der Fuehrer's Face " reached number three on the pop charts. It gave the Slickers exposure that got them on three national radio shows. On the show Furlough Fun they performed songs and also musical ads for Gilmore Gas. The show was on Monday nights at 7:30 pm. Among the songs they performed were the Porter composition "The Greatest Man in Siam," and the Porter arrangement "Hotcha Cornia." They were on Furlough Fun for two seasons. They made over

2442-403: The cue for a pair of pants—inhabited by dwarf actor Billy Barty —to scamper across the stage. Jones was always prepared to adapt to changing tastes. In 1950, when America was nostalgically looking back at the 1920s, Jones recorded a tongue-in-cheek album of Charleston arrangements. In 1953, he responded to the growing market for children's records, with tunes aimed directly at kids (like "Socko,

2508-399: The end of World War II and the rise of rock and roll in the early 1950s had a marked effect on Spike Jones's repertoire. Early rock songs were already novelties, and Jones could not spoof them the same way he had lampooned "Cocktails for Two", "Laura" or "Chloe". He played rock music for laughs when he presented "for the first time on television, the bottom half of Elvis Presley !" This was

2574-590: The many, many other vocal quartettes in the USA; the Foursome also played Ocarinas in harmony, which was not an easy thing to do. When they were in Hollywood shooting Born to Dance (1936) Porter ran into Bing Crosby . Bing had met him in Spokane in the Twenties where Porter and Ray Johnson were musicians playing a gig in a dance band. Crosby liked the Foursome's singing, but realized the ocarinas, and also Porter's clarinet, could add

2640-490: The more-prestigious Victor label. They recorded extensively for the company until 1955. They also starred in various radio programs (1945–1949) and in their own NBC and CBS television shows from 1954 to 1961. During the 1940s, prominent band members included: The band's 1950s personnel included: The liner notes for at least two RCA compilation albums claimed that the two Morgans were brothers (the 1949 radio shows actually billed them as "Dick and Freddy Morgan"), but this

2706-496: The rarest of the Spike Jones recordings were Cinamatone discs. The discs were 12 inches in diameter with ten tunes on one side. They were made the year before the Slickers got their RCA recording contract, in 1940. They were for a juke box that played for a song for a penny. Porter sang on the sides the Slickers cut. The band was called The Penny Funnies. Dr. Demento on a Spike Jones tribute night in 2015 played, with Porter singing,

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2772-496: The recordings made its way into the hands of an RCA Victor executive, who offered the musicians a recording contract. One of the City Slickers' early recordings for the label was a Del Porter arrangement of " Der Fuehrer's Face ". The record's success inspired Jones to become the band's leader. He initially thought the popularity the record brought them would fade. However, audiences kept asking for more, so Jones started working on more comic arrangements. From 1937 to 1942, Jones

2838-475: The series was meant for replacement purposes only and its last episode aired on August 27, 1957. On NBC , Club Oasis , which had a different host for each episode, became Club Oasis with Spike Jones during the summer of 1958 when Spike Jones became the permanent host. The final version of The Spike Jones Show premiered on July 31, 1961 on CBS . The series aired on Monday nights as a summer replacement only. Its last episode aired on September 25, 1961. This

2904-462: The show, which had music by Oscar Levant and Albert Sirmay , a book by William Anthony McGuire , and lyrics by Irving Caesar and Graham John. The Foursome next appeared in the George and Ira Gershwin show Girl Crazy , which ran for 272 performances. The Foursome were featured in the opening number "The Lonesome Cowboy Won't Be Lonesome Now!". They also performed the song Bidin' My Time , which

2970-431: The style and humor of Jones's music. Both Spike Milligan and Spike Jonze were nick-named in reference to Jones. Del Porter Del Porter (April 13, 1902, Newberg, Oregon – October 4, 1977, Los Angeles) was an American jazz vocalist, saxophonist, and clarinetist who, in the 1930s, performed on Broadway, toured with Glenn Miller , and recorded with Bing Crosby , Dick Powell , and Red Nichols , and in

3036-434: The summer of 1958; and by CBS, as The Spike Jones Show, in the summers of 1957, 1960, and 1961. Jones and his City Slickers also appeared on NBC 's The Ford Show , Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford in the episode which aired on November 15, 1956. In 1990, BBC2 screened six compilation shows from these broadcasts; they were subsequently aired on PBS stations. The virtual disappearance of big bands immediately following

3102-514: The things that people don't realize about Dad's kind of music is, when you replace a C-sharp with a gunshot, it has to be a C-sharp gunshot or it sounds awful." In 1940, Jones had an uncredited bandleading part in the Dead End Kids film Give Us Wings , appearing on camera for about four seconds. As the band's fame grew, Hollywood producers hired the Slickers as a specialty act for feature films, including Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), Meet

3168-408: The voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink" (reissued in 1949 as "The Clink! Clink! Polka"). Jones saw the potential of television and filmed two half-hour pilot films, Foreign Legion and Wild Bill Hiccup , in the summer of 1950. Veteran comedy director Eddie Cline worked on both, but neither

3234-514: The world! And, oh, did they enjoy it! Dinah, she was terrific! In fact, when we first got on the beach, she stood up on the side of a truck and sang five or six (or maybe more) songs, with no accompaniment or anything, for the guys that gathered around. Other trucks were going by, and the dust was flying. How she sang in that dust, I'll never know! Great gal. Wonderful gal." From there the Slickers separated from Shore and Robinson, going out by themselves to entertain. Porter reported: "We were with

3300-506: Was Dorothy Shay , "The Park Avenue Hillbillie." One of the announcers on Jones's CBS show was the young Mike Wallace . Writers included Eddie Maxwell, Eddie Brandt, and Jay Sommers . The final program in the series was broadcast in June 25, 1949. While Jones enjoyed the fame and prosperity, he was annoyed that nobody seemed to see beyond the craziness. Determined to show the world that he was capable of producing legitimate "pretty" music, he formed

3366-616: Was also issued by RCA Victor on three 7-inch vinyl 45-rpm records in 1949 as WP-143 and on one 45rpm "extended play" record, EPA-143 in 1952. An abridged and re-sequenced version of the recording is also included in the aforementioned RCA Red Seal 'classics' album, with the complete original version available on the CD collection Spiked: The Music of Spike Jones . After appearing as the house band on The Bob Burns Show , Spike got his own radio show on NBC , The Chase and Sanborn Program , as Edgar Bergen 's summer replacement in 1945. Frances Langford

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3432-490: Was co-host and Groucho Marx was among the guests. The guest list for Jones's 1947–49 CBS program for Coca-Cola (originally The Spotlight Revue , retitled The Spike Jones Show for its final season) included Frankie Laine , Mel Torme , Peter Lorre, Don Ameche and Burl Ives . Frank Sinatra appeared on the show twice (October 1, 1948 and December 3, 1948) and Lassie in May 1949. Jones's resident "girl singer" during this period

3498-528: Was confined to a seat behind his drum set while performing. In spite of his illness, he continued smoking until his death on May 1, 1965, at the age of 53. He is interred in Holy Cross Cemetery , Culver City, California . His second wife, Helen Grayco , died as a result of cancer in Los Angeles on August 20, 2022, at the age of 97. There is a clear line of influence from Harry Reser 's 1920s hot-comic "Six Jumping Jacks" band (whose drummer and vocalist

3564-462: Was named partly in tribute to Jones. Syndicated radio personality Dr. Demento regularly features Jones' records on his program of comedy and novelty tracks. Jones is mentioned in The Band 's song, " Up on Cripple Creek ". (The song's protagonist's paramour states of Jones: "I can't take the way he sings, but I love to hear him talk.") Novelist Thomas Pynchon is an admirer and wrote the liner notes for

3630-505: Was not true; Freddy's real name was Morgenstern. Peter James (born Peter James Accardy, sometimes billed as Bobby Pinkus) and Paul "Mousie" Garner were former members of Ted Healy 's stage act on Broadway. James joined Healy for a two-year run in the Shubert revue A Night in Spain (1927–1928) where he worked alongside Shemp Howard and Larry Fine . Mousie joined Healy as a replacement stooge in

3696-447: Was performed as if sung by a drunkard and ridiculed Monroe by name in its final stanza: CHORUS: ...'cause all we hear is "Ghost Riders" sung by Vaughn Monroe. I.W. HARPER: I can do without his singing. SIR FREDERICK GAS: But I wish I had his dough! The official American release edited out the dig at Monroe, because Monroe, a popular RCA Victor recording artist and also a major RCA stockholder, demanded it. The original version

3762-500: Was re-recorded by Spike Jones in 1944 as a raucous, horn-honking, voice-gurgling, hiccuping hymn to the cocktail hour. The Jones version was a huge hit. Other Jones spoofs followed: " Hawaiian War Chant ", " Chloe ", " Holiday for Strings ", " You Always Hurt the One You Love ", " My Old Flame " and " Laura " Spike's 1949 parody of Vaughn Monroe 's rendition of " Ghost Riders in the Sky "

3828-526: Was released in the European market. (A limited number of original 78-rpm pressings containing the first ending were mistakenly released on the West Coast and are a prized rarity today.) The original recording with the unedited ending was later issued on a German RCA LP collection and on some CD and audio tape releases containing the song. In the 1940s, Spike also recorded a comedic song titled "Trailer Annie", about

3894-622: Was reprised twice in the opening act, and were part of the cast performing " I Got Rhythm ", where they were featured with Ethel Merman. The Foursome's final Broadway show was in Cole Porter's Anything Goes , at the Alvin Theatre in 1934. The Foursome was reunited with Ethel Merman. They had two featured musical numbers, "Sailors' Chantey (There'll Always Be a Lady Fair)", and sang the Anything Goes number with Ethel Merman. Del Porter joined

3960-588: Was successful. The band fared much better on live television, where their spontaneous antics and crazy visual gags guaranteed the viewers a good time. Spike usually dressed in a suit with an enormous check pattern and was seen dashing around playing a washboard, cowbells, a suite of klaxons and foghorns, then xylophone, then shooting a pistol. The band starred in variety shows, such as The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951, 1955) and their All Star Revue (1952) before being given his own slot by NBC , The Spike Jones Show , which aired early in 1954, and Club Oasis on NBC, in

4026-501: Was the current trend in comedy records. Spike Jones adapted to this, too; most of his later albums are spoken-word comedy, including the horror-genre sendup Spike Jones in Stereo (1959) and the send-up of television programs of the period in Omnibust (1960). Jones remained topical to the last: his final group, Spike Jones's New Band, recorded four LPs of brassy renditions of pop-folk tunes of

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4092-753: Was the distinctive Tom Stacks , "The Voice With a Smile"), the Hoosier Hot Shots , Freddie Fisher and his Schnickelfritzers , and the Marx Brothers to Spike Jones — and to Stan Freberg , Gerard Hoffnung , Peter Schickele 's P.D.Q. Bach , The Goons , Joe Raposo , Mr. Bungle , Frank Zappa , George Maciunas , The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band , The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo , and "Weird Al" Yankovic . According to David Wild's review in Rolling Stone magazine, Elvis Costello 's 1989 album Spike

4158-465: Was the first weekly television series that was presented by Spike Jones . The series also starred Helen Grayco and members of the City Slickers. It ran on Saturday evenings alongside The Jackie Gleason Show on CBS . Nearly three years after The Spike Jones Show finished its run on NBC, CBS decided to offer Jones and his band their own time slot on Tuesday nights. The CBS reincarnation of The Spike Jones Show premiered on April 2, 1957. However,

4224-427: Was the last incarnation of the series. A DVD entitled The Best of Spike Jones features scenes of the 1954 version of The Spike Jones Show . The DVD was released on November 24, 2009. Spike Jones Lindley Armstrong " Spike " Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician, bandleader and conductor specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving

4290-505: Was the old City Slickers mayhem, replaced by a more straightforward big-band sound, with tongue-in-cheek comic moments. The new band was known as Spike Jones and the Band that Plays for Fun. The last record credited to the City Slickers was the LP Dinner Music for People Who Aren't Very Hungry . By the late 1950s spoken-word comedy ( Bob Newhart , Mort Sahl , Stan Freberg , Shelley Berman )

4356-499: Was the percussionist for the John Scott Trotter Orchestra , which played on Bing Crosby's first recording of " White Christmas ". He was part of a backing band for songwriter Cindy Walker during her early recording career with Decca Records and Standard Transcriptions. Her song "We're Gonna Stomp Them City Slickers Down" provided the inspiration for the name of Jones's future band. The City Slickers developed from

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