Crazy Guggenheim

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crazy Guggenheim was a fictional character played on television by Frank Fontaine. He appeared primarily on a program starring Jackie Gleason called The American Scene Magazine which ran from 1962 to 1966.

The character appeared on Gleason's "Joe the Bartender" sketch, as an inebriated (and perhaps brain damaged) regular customer of Joe's. With a hat worn askew, face contorted into a crooked smile, and a slurred voice that must be heard to be believed, "Craze" was an unforgettable character. Perhaps more incredible was a routine in which Crazy would sing for the audience. He would place a dime in the bar's jukebox, place his hat on the bar counter, and then sing, usually an old Irish standard - beautifully. (In real life, Frank Fontaine was an excellent singer and made numerous albums.)

After American Scene Magazine ended its run, Fontaine continued to play the character in commercials, most memorably for Schafer pens and Malt-O-Meal.

The exact origin of the character is in dispute. Gleason always claimed that Crazy Guggenheim was based on a real person by that name, whom he knew growing up in Brooklyn. No one has ever come forward to verify that claim. The name was used by Gleason for about 10 years prior to Fontaine's first appearance on the Gleason show.

However, Fontaine did play a very similar character on Jack Paar's program and also on Jack Benny's show, with the character being variously named John L.C. Sivoney or John L.T. Savonie, or John L.O. "Bingo" Sevony. There was even another similar character called Finnegan who appeared on the old radio program Duffy's Tavern.

Craze had a very distinctive laugh, which can be best transcribed to print as follows:

"Ha ha ha ha, HA ha ha ha ha ha...hee, hee, hee!"

Satirist Tom Lehrer made the following statement during his recording of the album That Was the Year That Was, in reference to events such as "National Brotherhood Week": "One of my favorites is National Make-Fun-of-the-Handicapped Week -- which Frank Fontaine and Jerry Lewis are in charge of, as you know."