When I was a very small boy, there were a few things on television that could always get me to laugh myself sick. The first was on syndicated reruns of the old George Reeves "Superman" series in which our Red-Caped Hero would burst through a wall with his chest thrust so far out that his nipples were practically akimbo. That bent my very young mind so far that I couldn't stop laughing over it. The second funny thing was on the old "Hee-Haw" show, in which animated pigs would scroll across the bottom of a hoedown scene dancing the Can-Can - this was never done at any particular time, and might not even appear on any particular show, but it was always worth the waiting and watching.
The third was on the Andy Williams comedy-variety show which aired in the late '60's early on Saturday evening, if I remember correctly. At some point every show this goofy black bear would saunter coolly on-stage, knock on a door (which would be answered by the affable Andy himself), and try to mooch a few cookies. The normally mild-mannered host would blow a gasket at this point, and scream at the bear that he was "never, never, NEVER getting any cookies" from him! "NEVER!!!!"
At which point our hapless ursine protagonist would fall back on his ample behind in utter defeat.
And of course, the next week, Cookie would go a-mooching all over again, with predictable results.
I was very young in 1969, so that's about all I remember about the show, except for the anticipation I felt before the bear would appear: "C'mon, don't waste my time like this! I don't want to hear any stupid singing - where's the bear?"
Andy Williams, of course, was and is a great singer with a tremendous ability to bring across just about any kind of song. He also did and does project a tremendously likable persona which has, no doubt, contributed greatly to his success in show business. Sadly though, to me he'll always be a straight man to a cookie mooching bear.
Maybe that's not such a bad thing though....
