Jonathon Goldsmith
INTRO:
When I started writing this story, I didn't know who or what I would be writing about. I am always fascinated by connections I find between names, even those listed right next to them. As you remember from last month, one of my favorite TV shows is Perry Mason, and many actors whom we might recognize played roles on the show, so to learn them I printed out a list of them off the web, and recently I was looking at one of them, and I read about him and found out I know him as someone who has been given an amazing title, and people use his picture as a web avatar. Then I saw that another character in the Perry Mason episode he acted in was played by the same actor who was killed by another actor listed right next to our hero's name, and this actor whose character was killed is alphabetically right next to our hero's other name. Thinking about our prompt as I wrote, he fit right in.
In one lifetime, a person may wear different hats
A man's head may be skinny, or it may be fat
He may be honest, or he might be a rat
He could be a dog, or he could be a cat
He could do very well, when it's his turn at bat
But everyone knows, he knows where it's at.
His work is so fine, we all wonder "who dat?"
We'll have him on TV for a fine little chat
The last thing we expect is for him to stand pat
Just what has he done, to have given us all that?
I'll tell you the tale, if you just sit back,
So up we all stood, and then down we all sat.
A tale that's so great, it surpassed all begats.
It's stranger than fiction, even stranger than fact.
That line doesn't quite rhyme, so I think it's about time
to tell you all more about this partner in crime.
"
He's the most interesting man in the world ,"
said Will Lyman, I believe
In a beer commercial, and from there
quite a story we weave.
He wore so many hats, it's hard to conceive
that one man could have so many tricks up his sleeve
Jonathon Goldsmith's his name, I don't know if you've heard.
His life can't be covered just by using one word.
Jonathon Goldsmith
The man had two names, or so we are told.
Lippe's his other one, but he put this one on hold.
On Perry Mason he played a character so bold
that he hired a detective to steal his step-father's deed.
Jonathon Lippe
Just two lines above his, on my list I can read
that another actor killed the very same actor, indeed!
Bruce Gordon's the actor whose character was killed,
and his name is next door to our hero's, as later billed.
Left, Robert Lieb, who as Joe Marsden killed Bruce Gordon character Frank Thatcher in the Perry Mason episode The Case of Paul Drake's Dilemna. He also played another murderer on the series.
Right, Bruce Gordon, whom the Robert Lieb character killed, and who also played the stepfather (Mr. Winlock) of Jonathon Lippe's character Marvin Palmer. Marvin hired a detective to blackmail Winlock in The Case of the Blonde Bonanza. Gordon also played yet another murder victim on the series.
Such linkages we see only in a life so well-filled.
It's much more amazing than anything that's willed.
He played western movies, and lo and behold,
he went on TV on a show that's pure gold.
He hung out with J.R., in Dallas he starred.
But his story goes on, there's more on his card.
Jonathon Goldsmith in Dallas
Another hat he wore, which you wouldn't expect.
He started a whole company, and thus gained our respect.
You might need his service if you're making a call
if you ever use Sprint from the phone on your wall.
You're adding to the fortunes of Mr. Goldsmith, not small.
What's stranger to see, is that part of your fee
supports his whole life, which all happens at sea!
No-one else lives in a sailboat like he.
You may well have seen him, his face is a meme.
How many of us could ever fulfill such a dream!
Stay thirsty, my friends!
Jonathon Goldsmith, by wikipedia
that Dos Equis guy? He actually might BE the Most Interesting Man in the World
How Jonathan Goldsmith Became "The Most Interesting Man In The World"
All the Most Interesting Man Dos Equis Commercials
Perry Mason: The Case of the Blonde Bonanza
Perry Mason Moments Quotes and connections between actors on my favorite TV show
August, last month's essay about other Perry Mason characters
A few more notes
Goldsmith's commercials increased sales of Dos Equis by 22%.
At our meeting it was said that my poem is like Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat. I didn't know this about Goldsmith when I wrote the line about a dog and a cat, but it turns out he is an animal lover. He is very intimate with his dog, even using his dog's flea comb to comb his beard, and his charity work includes saving the Siberian Tiger.
As Marvin Palmer on Perry Mason in 1964, one of his first roles, he played a stepson, which he was in real life, and was using the last name of his step-father Lippe at this time. Later he changed his last name back to that of his birth father, who had been divorced from his mother.
I didn't know this either when I wrote the line, but he also had a role on a TV series called Partners in Crime.
The detective that the Jonathon Goldsmith (Lippe) character hired in The Case of the Blonde Bonanza was played by Michael Constantine, who died just days before this poem was written. Perry in his inimitable way forced the Constantine character to confess that he was the murderer in this episode.