Celebrating a Deathday™: Larger than life comedian "Fatso" Marco — look him up — from the "Golden Age of Television" — horrible bloody television, if you ask me — died on this day, October 27, 1962. "Largely" forgotten — outside of, say, a Wikipedia editors' meeting — Fatso was born Marco Marcella on October 1, 1906 in New York City, and was said to be devouring everything he could get his fat little fingers on from the moment his potbellied mum launched him like a cannonball in the 'livery 'vroom. In short order (cook), he was cleaning out ev'ry mamm'ry in sight, moving on to creamy custards and rich rice puddings before age 1, on to canned meats, porkened rinds and pickled eggs at 18 months, and by age 2 was eating half a dozen Boston Crème donuts for breakfast and a string of Nathan’s linked hot dogs for lunch. As fat kids are wont to do, Fatso became a class clown, capable of moving even the coldest of humankind — Catholic Nuns® — to gut-busting chortles. Labeled "Fatso" by a fat, neighborhood lass, young Fatso grew (and grew) to become an older, funnier Fatso, prat-or-rather-fat-falling drunkenly on and off vaudeville stages with showboating sideschtick Pat Harrington Sr., father of building superintendent Duane Schneider from “One Day at a Time Sweet Jesus,” starring formerly-thin fat actress Valerie Van Halen. Fatso got his start in radio and television with the "Texaco Star Theater," which eventually became the "Milton Berlinger Hour," where he played 'longside eye-rollin', cigar-chompin', camera-hog Uncle Miltie. Fatso Marco's time in the spotlight’s glare was brief, but standing 5 feet 5 inches tall and tipping over the scales at 300+ pounds, he cast an enormous shadow. Indeed, Fatso paved the way for future cine-fatties, including ample-breasted thespian Jack Nicklauson (studying his lines, above), kimonoed, karate-chopping fatty Steven Seagal, sitcom porker Kevin James, fat entertainer Cedric Somebody, loveable Canadian fatso John "Candy" Barr and his fatheaded sister Roseanne, disgraced fat sweatered funnyman Bill Crosby, fat former funnyman Dan Akroyd, fat singing sensation Jennifer Hudson, fat game show host Drew Carey, wheel-chaired fatty Perry “Ironsides” Mason and snarling, half-breed fatty Valmont Kilmer. In other corpulent sightings, mystery writer Rex “Stout” died on this day (in 1975) and I'll wager that if we were to check the funeral logs, we'd discover other heavyweight passings, because fat people — even famous ones — are always dropping like flies. Forgive me if this or that seems insensitive for, truth be well told, I myself come from a line of fulsome-figured types, whose sense of humour, decency and menu planning I've long — or rather, wide — admired. Had I been 'round the day they lifted Fatso Marco by crane from his home in South Amboy, New Jersey, I would have offered to assist, or at the very least, raised a proper malted milkshake in his honour. Happy Anni-hearse-ary™, fat sir.Tuesday, October 27
Fatso, Feted
Celebrating a Deathday™: Larger than life comedian "Fatso" Marco — look him up — from the "Golden Age of Television" — horrible bloody television, if you ask me — died on this day, October 27, 1962. "Largely" forgotten — outside of, say, a Wikipedia editors' meeting — Fatso was born Marco Marcella on October 1, 1906 in New York City, and was said to be devouring everything he could get his fat little fingers on from the moment his potbellied mum launched him like a cannonball in the 'livery 'vroom. In short order (cook), he was cleaning out ev'ry mamm'ry in sight, moving on to creamy custards and rich rice puddings before age 1, on to canned meats, porkened rinds and pickled eggs at 18 months, and by age 2 was eating half a dozen Boston Crème donuts for breakfast and a string of Nathan’s linked hot dogs for lunch. As fat kids are wont to do, Fatso became a class clown, capable of moving even the coldest of humankind — Catholic Nuns® — to gut-busting chortles. Labeled "Fatso" by a fat, neighborhood lass, young Fatso grew (and grew) to become an older, funnier Fatso, prat-or-rather-fat-falling drunkenly on and off vaudeville stages with showboating sideschtick Pat Harrington Sr., father of building superintendent Duane Schneider from “One Day at a Time Sweet Jesus,” starring formerly-thin fat actress Valerie Van Halen. Fatso got his start in radio and television with the "Texaco Star Theater," which eventually became the "Milton Berlinger Hour," where he played 'longside eye-rollin', cigar-chompin', camera-hog Uncle Miltie. Fatso Marco's time in the spotlight’s glare was brief, but standing 5 feet 5 inches tall and tipping over the scales at 300+ pounds, he cast an enormous shadow. Indeed, Fatso paved the way for future cine-fatties, including ample-breasted thespian Jack Nicklauson (studying his lines, above), kimonoed, karate-chopping fatty Steven Seagal, sitcom porker Kevin James, fat entertainer Cedric Somebody, loveable Canadian fatso John "Candy" Barr and his fatheaded sister Roseanne, disgraced fat sweatered funnyman Bill Crosby, fat former funnyman Dan Akroyd, fat singing sensation Jennifer Hudson, fat game show host Drew Carey, wheel-chaired fatty Perry “Ironsides” Mason and snarling, half-breed fatty Valmont Kilmer. In other corpulent sightings, mystery writer Rex “Stout” died on this day (in 1975) and I'll wager that if we were to check the funeral logs, we'd discover other heavyweight passings, because fat people — even famous ones — are always dropping like flies. Forgive me if this or that seems insensitive for, truth be well told, I myself come from a line of fulsome-figured types, whose sense of humour, decency and menu planning I've long — or rather, wide — admired. Had I been 'round the day they lifted Fatso Marco by crane from his home in South Amboy, New Jersey, I would have offered to assist, or at the very least, raised a proper malted milkshake in his honour. Happy Anni-hearse-ary™, fat sir.