A Jester and a King

I finally went to the website Procrastinators.org. I had first heard about this site a few years back. That's one more item checked off my bucket list. (Interesting side note: The Procrastinators Club is still planning its 50th anniversary party. The club was started in 1954. You do the math.) I will write more on this later.

Okay, what else can I talk about? I reach deep into my memory bag and pull out the year... 1977. The month of August. That week the world lost one of the greatest entertainers of all time. For those of you who are now figuring that I must mean August 16th, 1977, the day that Elvis Presley died, I will tell you that you are wrong. Yes, I will agree that Elvis had a very big impact on the culture but not as big as the other celebrity who died three days later. Of course I am referring to... the one, the only... Groucho Marx. (Insert music from song "Hurray for Captain Spaulding.")

Let's compare: Elvis vs Groucho.

Civil Service:     Elvis reached the rank of sergeant in U.S.Army
                        Groucho was President of Freedonia in Duck Soup

Siblings:            Elvis had one brother who died at birth
                        Groucho had five brothers, only one died at birth

Songs:              Elvis sang "Teddy Bear," a stuffed doll named after
                                                      President Theodore Roosevelt.
                        Groucho sang "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" for
                                                      President Franklyn Roosevelt.

Frank Sinatra:   Elvis performed a song on a Frank Sinatra TV special
                                                             (3 min. shared screen time)
                        Groucho co-starred with Frank Sinatra in Double
                                            Dynamite (80 min. shared screen time)

Movies:             Elvis starred in "Stay Away, Joe" which was enjoyed by
                                                                                dozens of people.
                         Groucho starred in "A Night At The Opera" which was
                                                                             enjoyed by millions.

Quotes:             Elvis said, "I don't know anything about music. In my line 
                                                                               you don't have to."
                         Groucho said, "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best 
                                        friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."


Death:               Elvis died alone on a toilet.
                        Groucho died at home in bed surrounded by
                                                                            family and friends.

Novelty Items:   Elvis sequin jumpsuit sells hundreds every decade.
                         Groucho glasses w/thick eyebrows, nose and mustache
                                                                            sell thousands daily.

Elvis died at age 42. Groucho died at 86, over two of Elvis's lifetimes. So with all this information, if you were to ask if Groucho was the more popular of the two, I would answer, "You bet your life."

Next time: Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson; dangling golden locks vs dangling children off balconies.