Vaughn Meader (March 20, 1936-October 29, 2004) was a comedian who became extremely famous in the early 1960s for his dead-on impersonations of John F. Kennedy. His comedy album "The First Family" sold over million copies and even won a Grammy for album of the year in 1963.
He was profiled in
Time and
Life magazines, appeared on
The Ed Sullivan Show, and played to packed houses in
Las Vegas. At the time, many Americans could recite favorite lines from the record (including "the rubber schwan [swan] is mine," and "move ahead ... with great vigah [vigor]," the latter lampooning the President's own words). The album poked fun at Kennedy's
PT-109 history; the
rocking chairs he used for his
aching back; the Kennedy
clan's well-known
athleticism,
football games and family togetherness;
children in the
White House; and
Jackie Kennedy's soft-spoken nature and her redecoration of the White House; among many other bits of knowledge that the public
consumed voraciously.
The parody was fairly good-natured. Kennedy himself was said to have given copies of the albums as
Christmas gifts, and once greeted a
Democratic National Committee group by saying, "Vaughn Meader was busy tonight, so I came myself."
[1] At one press conference, Kennedy was asked if the album had produced "annoyment [
sic] or enjoyment." He jokingly responded, "I listened to Mr. Meader's record and, frankly, I thought it sounded more like
Teddy than it did me. So, now
he's annoyed."
[2]
In March of 1963, Meader recorded a follow-up album,
The First Family Volume Two, a combination of spoken comedy and songs performed by actors and comedians portraying members of the President's family and White House staff.
But then along came a man named Lee Harvey Oswald...
After John F. Kennedy was killed in
Dallas, Texas, in November, 1963, sales of
The First Family albums plummeted, and stores removed the records from their shelves as the nation went into mourning. Meader and others commented through the years that the assassin's (presumed to be
Lee Harvey Oswald) bullet killed not only Kennedy, but also Meader (or, Meader's career). His act was no longer in demand and even appearances that were already bookedâ??including those for the
Grammy Awards show, the
Joey Bishop show, and
To Tell the Truthâ??were canceled.
According to several sources,
avant-garde comedian
Lenny Bruce appeared at a New York
nightclub the day of Kennedy's assassination. As if testing his
audience's readiness to find something funny so soon after tragedy, Bruce was silent for several moments before announcing, "Vaughn Meader is
screwed!"
[1] Certainly, Meader discovered that he was so completely
typecast as a Kennedy impersonator that he could not find anyone willing to hire him for any of his other talents. He recorded comedy albums for
Verve Records, including
sketches on almost anything except the Kennedys, but sales were virtually nonexistent.
Meader sank into depression as his source of income and employment vanished, and as his newfound famous friends and associates stopped calling. His non-Kennedy albums and act interested almost no one, because the public associated his face and voice with the late President. He began using his
given name, Abbott, and vowed to never again do a Kennedy impersonation (a vow he kept until his death). He also began using
alcohol,
cocaine, and
heroin.
[2]
Meader tried several times to revive his career, but achieved only moderate success, and then mostly outside of
show business. He appeared briefly in the
1974 movie
Linda Lovelace for President and on the
Rich Little comedy album,
The First Family Rides Again, which both parodied
Ronald Reagan and paid homage to the original
The First Family album.
Eventually, Meader resumed a career in
bluegrass and
country music, becoming a popular local performer in his native Maine.
Meader was married four times, the last for 16 years to a woman named Sheila, until his death. The couple lived briefly in
Gulfport, Florida, from
1999 to
2002, but eventually returned to Maine.