The Two Stooges

If Memory Swerves™, 'twas on this day in music history — November 20, 1957 — that two fresh-scrubbed jarheads from Queensboro, North Carolina — Tom Graph and Jerry Landers — boarded a two-bit MegaBus® up to Intercourse, PA to sing their cow-licked Cath-o-lic schoolboy hearts out on American Blandstand™ and were promptly laughed off the stage. Mind you, this was when Blandstand set the bland standard; bands got just one shot and if the mopey steel town teens in attendance didn't like the cut of your jib, they’d sling hot CheeseSteak-Umms® slices at you and run you off the stage. When Graph and Landis were introduced as “Tom & Jerry,” the catcalls came swiftly; 'twas a shame, as the lads could harmonize and, indeed, later had a regional hit 'bout a ferry boat ride called "Cross the Jersey." Alas, their journey up the iron ore summit was brief and they would soon find themselves on the rock 'n roll scrapheap along with other never-was duos of the era, including Pakistani sensations Parsely & Sage, sibling duo Rosemary & Thyme and progressive forebears Ferrante & Teicher. Tom & Jerry later resurfaced, renamed, as miming annoyances Shields & Yarnell, charting with the horrible, close-captioned sailor's prostitutional ode “Brandy” or possibly "Mandy," before heading off to look for bloody America or something.