Rip Taylor (born 1934)
Charles Elmer Taylor was born in the Nation's Capital, and hard as it is to imagine, was a Senate Page in his teens. King of game shows and the talk show circuit in the 70's and 80's his outrageous trademarks of confetti throwing and toupee yanking developed over the course of his career.
I personally have memories of him in the late 70's flouncing into Mr. Henry's in Georgetown, always at happy hour, and over the course of the following 90 minutes or so doing an impromptu act; wandering from table to table and all along the bar, 'reading' the patrons. It was always a sort of frightening treat as you laughed and awaited your turn to come under the ax.
Below you can see Rip get wiggy with it at about 1:45.
3 comments:
If you squint just a little - he could pass for 'Captain Kangaroo'. No wonder I never missed an episode. And that dead animal on his head is WAY past toupe. That is all wig, probably from the hooker wig store on 14th Street. The first person to say kabuki shops there will die a thousand tiny deaths. Have some cake for me Rip, I know you don't care for pie.
The last time I saw him and asked how he was, he replied, "Medium," which I MUST remember to use. Perfect.
there is a niche for rip in the hall of fame.
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