The Homer & Jethro Project #48

#48

And so it goes.

March 1964 - RCA 47-8345 - I Want to Hold Your Hand / She Loves You

Like they did with  Elvis the decade previous, Homer and Jethro had to go with the times and attempt to lampoon the then current fad. So they made this one which I won't linger on.
The less said the better.

July 1964 - lsp-2928 - Cornfucius Say

So yeah, 1964 was a different time. Civil Rights were being fought for hard in the streets as well as equality and and end to racial discrimination, but apparently Asian stereotypes were still game.

(See also Mickey Rooney's yellow face portrayal of "Mr. Yunioshi" in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" for even cringier shit)

But it is what it is and to deny that it existed is to deny where we started and how far we've come and still need to go.

(One really shouldn't be looking for racial sensitivity in the comedy from half a century ago anyway.)

So at this point our boys were still doing their Kellogs Corn Flakes work. There were another couple of commercials too. One that is a surreal take on the pervasive nature of advertising and one that would probably prompt an Asian American boycott nowadays. (and I'm not sure I'd blame them.)
At least they have their names on the back of their shirts so you can tell them apart.

This leg of the Corn Flakes campaign even came with its own Cornfucius Joke Book (here in a nice .pdf format from my own personal copy.) that could be gotten as a premium for sending in your box tops collected over the course of many many breakfasts and bachelor dinners.

Contents therein assured to entertain six year olds and grandparents.

Of note on the record is another version of the Frank Loesser tune "Slow Boat to China" (see H&JP #10) and two more particular favorites in "Cousin John and Cousin Mabel" and Cy Coben's great working man's lament "My Boss". He wrote a lot of songs for Homer & Jethro, but this is the clear winner.

Cornfucius Say
Doin' My Homework (While I Watch TV)
Cousin John And Cousin Mabel
Doctor Foo Man Choo
Mother Goose Is Chicken
A Slow Boat To China
Gonna Send 'Em Home
Oh Golly, Cornfucius
Darlin' You Look So Good To Me
Chow Hound's Lament
My Boss
Monsters Of The World, Unite!