Sunday, June 15, 2003

Don Pardo Hanging In There!

You get a gold watch for retiring after 30 years. Assuming at some point Don Pardo retires, what does he get? Today was his 59th anniversary of his hire by NBC Radio Network. He still carries his original ID card, noting his date of hire as June 15, 1944. Keep em flying, Pardo!

BTW, has anyone else beside me who tracks voiceover activity notice that Jackson Beck has pretty much disappeared from the scene? Up until a few years ago Jackson, who turns 91 in June, was still doing commercials and film roles by the score. I think the last thing he ever did was a commercial for Infusium hair care products. Maybe he retired at 90? Hope he's still well. Jackson Beck, of course, was in a ton of Paramount cartoons and was the narrator of the Superman radio show. (How does this tie into the item above? Jackson Beck once did a voice over for a SNL skit. What it was I can't remember. They didn't totally rely on Pardo in the show's formative years. Dan Ingram narrated a skit about a kid addicted to video games, and Bill Wendell was the narrator on the "Spud Beer" fake commercial.)

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