Tony Webster
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Birth Name
aka Tony Webster II |
Birthplace
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Jan 09 1922 - Jun 26 1987 age 65
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Official
Site
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Comedy writer Tony
Webster, fresh with the success of a hit album, "Marriage Counselor",
aimed a velvet-tipped dart in the lofty direction of "serious writers."
"What do you
think a 'profound' writer is?" asked Tony, whose mother and stepfather, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel
Crane, live at 513 E. 28th Avenue,
in Pompano Beach.
"Just a comedy writer who couldn't get a laugh with his lines. So he
turned 'profound' - that way the people couldn't catch him at it." In "Marriage
Counselor" Tony touches all the bases of marital non-bliss.
"I mean, let's
face it - this is a serious subject," said the man who speaks with the
wisdom of two marriages and two divorces behind him. "But what I tried to
do was make people identify with a situation in comic terms where it would be
too painful on a serious level."
Thus there's the counselor who's encouraged because the wife can still
call her husband 'hon' - until she
explains, "That's his name - Attila The Hun" and the elderly couple
who approach the counselor on the occasion of their 75th wedding anniversary, apologizing,
"We'd get a Mexican divorce, but
we're both afraid to fly." "Comedy" said Tony, pooh-poohing the
'profoundests' even more, "goes right past tragedy."
The Arthur Miller
look-alike ("l think it'd be nice some day if people said Arthur Miller
looked like ME") was born and raised
in St. Louis and attended the University of Missouri for two years before
being drafted into the army. Since then he's written for the best comics in the
business - including Sid Caesar and Phil Silvers.
He's proudest of his
Emmy-award winning TV show of a few years ago, "Call Me Back" which
starred Art Carney. "It was a
one-hour monologue", Tony recalled, "and probably the only suicide
ever shown on TV. It has a lot of
laughs, though. Most people remember the line of Carney on the phone asking
whether Dr Schweitzer made house calls."
Humor aside, Tony
has a real thing against quack marriage counselors.
"It's amazing,"
he says. "Anyone can put on a black
suit and become one. You can't prescribe a pill without a license. but they
have these guys who can prescribe for the mind without a thing. I could become
one too, you know. Except I'd make the people sign a notarized release so that
if their lives fell apart afterwards I wouldn't assume the responsibility."
"Do you wan to
get married again?" I asked. "I hope so",
he said, "I don't like to go swimming that much - at the club bar, that
is." ~Earl Wilson, Miami News January 12 1964
~~~
This is certainly a funny album! Many a happily married couple will get a chuckle or two out of most of the bands. A good deal of the material is suitable for air play and many of the cuts are less than 60 seconds long. The other material should be great t for parties or as a warning for those who are about to tie the knot. ~Billboard 1963-12-14
01 Opening
02 Sex Manuals
03 The Late John
04 Something in Common
05 Understanding a Husband's Career
06 The Promise
07 I Love You Truly
08 Hon
09 Red China
10 Know What I Mean
11 The One Flaw
12 Happy Anniversary
13 Immaturity
14 Henry and Catherine
15 Commuting
16 Relating to People
17 Woman's Best Friend
18 Oedipus Complex
19 Adam & Eve
20 The Panel Experts
21 Duke & Duchess
22 Woman Behind the Man
23 First Husband
24 Working Mother
25 Questions and Answers
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Stand-up
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Enjoy!
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