Tom Lehrer- George Murphy

Another Tom Lehrer song from that was the year that was

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• tom
• lehrer
• george
• murphy

[DejaViewed]

Ronald Reagan... now isn't that ironic?

[AdiRudi]

He was involved in political activism for nearly twenty years before becoming Governor of California.

[SbAsAlSe]

@AlbertPaysonTerhune Well, he did say once that his career was an experiment to attempt to prolong adolescence beyond all previous limits. :) Guess it worked!

[AlbertPaysonTerhune]

@shepardman666 Actually Lehrer wrote all the stuff beforehand. He didn't produce it on the fly. The meanspirited political slant is offered without redeeming wit, and the business about comparing Mexican farm workers to "Hebrew braceros" is just bad taste.

[CocteauDalighari]

Helen Gahagan (Gahagan Douglas) was a former Broadway star & Congresswoman married to actor Melvyn Dougals who ran against Nixon for the CA Senate seat in 1950. She was characterized by an opponent as "pink [commie] right down to her underwear." She lost to Nixon, & her poli career was over.

[13wyvern7]

@cengime Thank you for this.

[cengime]

@jaysicks Perhaps Murphy's most enduring achievement in the Senate is the "candy desk." Murphy stocked his desk with candy and would offer some to his colleagues as they walked by, and ever since his term ended, the Senators seated in that spot have maintained the tradition. Most Senators help themselves to candy from the desk even though eating is not allowed on the floor. The Broadway Melody of 1940 trailer has also gained popularity in recent years for advertising how "gay" the movie is.

[cengime]

@jaysicks George Murphy was an actor known for appearing in musicals in the 30s and 40s, including some films in the Broadway Melody series, which were titled by year, hence "Broadway Melody of 1984". He was elected to one term in the United States Senate (the more powerful of the two bodies that compose the Congress) in 1964. There, he supported temporary work visas for Mexican workers, because they were "built lower to the ground" and it was "easier for them to stoop." He's little known today.

[jaysicks]

Can sby give me some background information on Murphy? As you would explain it to a foreigner (which I am :) )

[AlbertPaysonTerhune]

Lehrer is mildly amusing but tiresome and sophomoric in the basic sense...the undergraduate whose talent never got beyond his teens.

[SmattNC]

Wow, this is incredibly dated. And even funnier now, with the Govenator

[shepardman666]

Just enjoy the guy's extreme talent for a minute w/o injecting other stuff. Play the piano and intersperce lyrics. Think that did'nt take talent.