Arthur Spooner
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Arthur Eugene Spooner (born 1926) is a fictional character played by Jerry Stiller on the sitcom The King of Queens. He lives with his daughter Carrie and her husband, Doug Heffernan. He refers to himself a "A. Spooner" or "Arty". Arthur was played in the show's pilot episode by comedian Jack Carter.
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[edit] Early life
Little is known about Arthur's early life. His father (played in one episode by Stiller's own son, Ben Stiller and himself) was abusive, and when Arthur was a child he would force Arthur to change costumes on Halloween and go to houses that gave money several times, leading to Arthur banning the holiday from the Heffernan home. He also was a gifted singer as a child and performed jigs for the workers at the Empire State Building. Arthur has an estranged half-brother, Skitch.
Arthur served in World War II in at least the Italian theater and in The Battle of the Bulge. He also mentions being in Paris, France. In Season 1 Episode 24, Arthur tells Supervisor O'Boyle he was in the US Army 33rd Brigade. In Episode 3x12 he states that he was in the 71st Infantry.
Arthur's wife and Carrie's mother, Sophia, lived in Greenwich Village when Carrie was born. Arthur was young 44 years young at the time. He arrived at the delivery room wearing a tie-dyed t-shirt and a leather vest. Additionally, he screamed at the doctor, yelling, "Hey, that's my wife. Don't look down there!" After being reminded by Sophia that he has to look, Arthur retorted by saying, "He doesn't have to stare. He could glance." He also gets upset when the doctor announces that their baby is a girl, worrying that he'll "look down there" too.[1] A onetime actor, Arthur gave up his career in an attempt to provide a stable home for daughter Carrie, though he never held a job for more than a few months. His various jobs included working at a metalworks factory, polishing and engraving bowling balls, and selling both string and ribbons. It is revealed in one episode that Carrie's birth name is Simone, but Arthur lost it in a poker game to one of his friends (he tries to win it back in that same episode, but instead loses the name Carrie as well).
Arthur appeared on The $10,000 Pyramid in 1976, a fact that he has told Doug "several dozen times." When asked if he won, Arthur in turn asks if he would be "living in this dump if [he had]." He later asks for Carrie's help in "[suing] the boyish grin off of Dick Clark's face" because he never got the full year's supply of Rice-A-Roni that he had been promised after the appearance, a scandal he has named "Rice-A-Roni-gate." In an effort to placate Arthur, Clark's representative offers to give him a book instead of the boxed rice meal, the continued production of which the representative is unsure of. After assuring the representative that Rice-A-Roni is "still made in a variety of mouth-watering flavors," Arthur refuses screaming, "I don't wanna read. I wanna eat!" Arthur ultimately receives a 30-year supply of Rice-A-Roni, in addition to the original supply he was promised on the game show, after (presumably) blackmailing Dick Clark with a photo of the TV icon "locked in a muddy embrace with Fannie Flagg," which was captured from his appearance on the Battle of the Network Stars. (The vintage Pyramid clip used for the episode is from an actual appearance Stiller made on the game show that same year.)[2]
Arthur once bought a headstone for his grave, with the assurance that he would die before the year 2000, hence the inscription: "Arthur Spooner, 1926-19--." He even announces loudly that he only has eight months to live. But the plan falls apart, when Arthur gets into a fight with the cemetery manager when he refuses to change his date of death for free, and Carrie is informed that he is banned from being buried there. Upon receiving the call, she remarks back at the manager that "he won't bother you when he's dead!"
Arthur keeps forgetting the name of Doug's friend Ray Barone (Ray Romano), while the three are playing golf. He calls the sportswriter Randy, Rory and Petey (but never Ray or Raymond), and when Ray's mother Marie (Doris Roberts) comes to pick up her son, Arthur tells her that he "[hasn't] seen anyone named Raymond."
Arthur was married four times. Sophia, Arthur's first wife and Carrie's mother, died when Carrie was a teenager. Lily was his wife when Doug met Arthur for the first time. Arthur "found her on a street corner" where she was waiting for the bus. It was never mentioned but implied that Arthur and Lily got divorced. Arthur's third wife Tessie dies in the pilot episode. And his fourth wife was Veronica Olchin (played by Stiller's real wife Anne Meara). They got married in the series finale China Syndrome and divorced one year later.
[edit] Role in the series
Sarcastic, brash, and always scheming, Arthur lives in the basement of Doug and Carrie's house. Quick to take offense, he shouts frequently and often unnecessarily, and often comes up with absolutely absurd, irregular or illogical money-making scams.
Arthur frequently makes bizarre claims (for example, that he invented the moist towelette, and claiming that Charles Schultz based Charlie Brown on Arthur's life). He also steals change from Doug's nightstand. Arthur is walked by a dog walker named Holly Shumpert (Nicole Sullivan), and his best friend is Mickey (Ford Rainey).
Arthur is a believer in communism: in the episode "Steve Moscow" he claims that the Soviet Union was a "workers' paradise," and in the episode "Strike Out", he says that he was once enrolled at a socialist summer camp.
Along with the banning of Halloween, Arthur also attempts to ban a long list of other things from the Heffernans' house, including red pens, soft cheese, non-American VCRs (but not DVD players), mentioning Franklin D. Roosevelt's paralytic illness, and miniature Kit Kats.
[edit] Bizarre beliefs
Arthur has claimed that Dick Clark stole the idea for New Year's Rockin' Eve from him, but not the "rockin' part."[3] He also accuses Carrie of "always taking Dick Clark's side."[4]
Arthur often sits in the dark. "I find it sharpens my other senses," he has claimed.[5]
He prefers English Muffins to Wonder Bread, although he does like Wonder Bread because of the "cute balloons (later identified as colored dots) on the package."[6]
Arthur is the long time relative of Adam Kennedy, living in Crown Point, Indiana. He has referred to him numerous times in the show as being his Campaign Manager, while running for Chairman at the Senior Center.
[edit] Footnotes
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