[Speed Gibson,
Thursday September 8, 2005 at 9:36am]
He's Got a Good Job
This one's for you, Mitch.
In recounting KSTP-AM 1500 in the late eighties, you said you had worked for "Mel "Mel Freakin' Jass" Jass". Some closer to my age may remember Mel in a number of TV roles, notably the Matinee Movie, not all that far removed from Johnny Carson's Art Fern. Mel would introduce the films, sometimes sharing one of his Hollywood insights. Sometimes he'd note something in the paper, like the "new" Daytons symbol, sort of a Sergeant's chevron laid horizontal. "Looks like the KKK," he quipped, no doubt getting a note or two from the general manager and the sales department.
He did an occasional remote, like going to the Indy 500 to check on the Bear wheel alignment equipment also used by his sponsor Woody Harrier. Wherever he went, he was oft heard to say of a guest or person in the news, "he's got a good job" as he ran his curled hand through his hair. And who could pass up those three rooms full of furniture for just $299 at The Furniture Barn, with free delivery and a 9 x 12 rug?
Well, Mel didn't always have such a good job. Shortly after World War II, he was the manager/program director/salesman at a small radio station in Butte, Montana. My dad was his engineer. He worked all hours, running the boards during the day, maintaining the equipment and transmitter at night. Radio equipment was much more primitive in those days. Vacuum tubes would give out, resistors fried, capacitors de-formed, it was always something.
The hours and climate got to my dad, who took ill with a bad cold and fever. Mel stopped by to see him, and his young bride and later my mother happened to mention that his temperature was 104 degrees. She didn't know what that meant but Mel did, who promptly bundled my dad off to the hospital. He had pneumonia, and it was close.
So if it hadn't been for Mel Jass, you wouldn't be reading this blog, nor one of my more frequent commenters, and the credits on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 would read a little differently.
Mel Jass died in 1997. He was one of kind, the kind only America can produce.
In recounting KSTP-AM 1500 in the late eighties, you said you had worked for "Mel "Mel Freakin' Jass" Jass". Some closer to my age may remember Mel in a number of TV roles, notably the Matinee Movie, not all that far removed from Johnny Carson's Art Fern. Mel would introduce the films, sometimes sharing one of his Hollywood insights. Sometimes he'd note something in the paper, like the "new" Daytons symbol, sort of a Sergeant's chevron laid horizontal. "Looks like the KKK," he quipped, no doubt getting a note or two from the general manager and the sales department.
He did an occasional remote, like going to the Indy 500 to check on the Bear wheel alignment equipment also used by his sponsor Woody Harrier. Wherever he went, he was oft heard to say of a guest or person in the news, "he's got a good job" as he ran his curled hand through his hair. And who could pass up those three rooms full of furniture for just $299 at The Furniture Barn, with free delivery and a 9 x 12 rug?
Well, Mel didn't always have such a good job. Shortly after World War II, he was the manager/program director/salesman at a small radio station in Butte, Montana. My dad was his engineer. He worked all hours, running the boards during the day, maintaining the equipment and transmitter at night. Radio equipment was much more primitive in those days. Vacuum tubes would give out, resistors fried, capacitors de-formed, it was always something.
The hours and climate got to my dad, who took ill with a bad cold and fever. Mel stopped by to see him, and his young bride and later my mother happened to mention that his temperature was 104 degrees. She didn't know what that meant but Mel did, who promptly bundled my dad off to the hospital. He had pneumonia, and it was close.
So if it hadn't been for Mel Jass, you wouldn't be reading this blog, nor one of my more frequent commenters, and the credits on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 would read a little differently.
Mel Jass died in 1997. He was one of kind, the kind only America can produce.
Speaking of local TV celebs, didn't Chef Hank Meadows do some segments on Mel's show?
I didn't actually work for Mel - he was one of the people KSTP brought on after I (and my generation of Hubbazoids) were canned, in '87.
But he was truly one of a kind. His legend preceded and succeeded him.