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Lord Richard Buckley (Richard Myrle Buckley; April 5, 1906 - November 12, 1960, New York City) was an American stage performer, recording artist, monologist, and hip poet/comic. Buckley's unique stage persona never found more than a cult audience during his life, but anticipated aspects of the Beat Generation sensibility, and influenced figures as various as Bob Dylan, Ken Kesey, Tom Waits and Dizzy Gillespie.

Life

Born to English immigrants in Tuolumne, California, Buckley's earliest years are unclear, although he's referred to as an "ex-lumberjack".^[1] By the mid-1930s he was performing as emcee in Chicago at Leo Seltzer's dance marathons at the Chicago Coliseum,^[2] and worked his own club, Chez Buckley, on Western Avenue through the early 1940s.^[3] During World War II Buckley performed extensively for armed services on USO tours, where he formed a lasting friendship with Ed Sullivan.

In the 1950s Buckley hit his stride with a combination of his exaggeratedly aristocratic bearing (including waxed mustache, tuxedo and pith helmet) and carefully enunciated rhythmic hipster slang. Occasionally performing to music, he punctuated his monologues with scat singing and sound effects. His most significant tracks are retelling of historical or legendary events, like "My Own Railroad" and "The Nazz". The latter, first recorded in 1952, describes Jesus' working profession as "carpenter kitty." Other historical figures include Gandhi ("The Hip Gahn") and the Marquis de Sade ("The Bad-Rapping of the Marquis de Sade, the King of Bad Cats"). He retold several classic documents such as the Gettysburg Address and a version of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." In "Mark Antony's Funeral Oration", he recast Shakespeare's "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" as "Hipsters, flipsters and finger-poppin' daddies: knock me your lobes."

In 1959 Buckley voiced the beatnik character Go Man Van Gogh in "Wildman of Wildsville", an episode of the Bob Clampett animated series Beany and Cecil. The character reappeared in several episodes made after Buckley's death, when he was voiced by Scatman Crothers.

Buckley adopted his "hipsemantic" from his peers Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Redd Foxx, Pearl Mae Bailey, Count Basie, and Frank Sinatra, as well as Hipsters and the British aristocracy.

Buckley enjoyed smoking marijuana. He wrote reports of his first experiences with LSD, under the supervision of Dr. Oscar Janiger, and of his trip in a United States Air Force jet. Ed Sullivan reflected "...he was impractical as many of his profession are, but the vivid Buckley will long be remembered by all of us."^{[citation needed]}

Lord Buckley made an amusing appearance on Groucho Marx's popular TV programme "You Bet Your Life" where he recited a few lines of his monologues.

Death

On October 19, 1960, he was scheduled to play club dates and another appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in New York managed by Harold L. Humes, but his cabaret card was seized, purportedly because of a 1941 arrest for marijuana possession. The card was necessary to appear in nightclubs and were often withheld for political reasons, and as a way to solicit payoffs. He attempted to get the card reinstated and more than three dozen major figures in the entertainment and arts world were present for a hearing on the matter.

Buckley died November 12, 1960 at New York City's Columbus Hospital as the result of a stroke.^[4] His final New York appearance at the Jazz Gallery in St. Mark's Place had been halted by the police because of "falsified information" on his cabaret card application.

A hearing held two days afterward developed into a confrontation between Police Commissioner Stephen Kennedy and Buckley's friends and supporters, including Quincy Jones, George Plimpton and Norman Mailer. The scandal of Buckley's death, attributed at least partly to his loss of the card, led to the removal of Kennedy in 1960 and the abolition of the cabaret card system by 1967, some 7 years later.^{[citation needed]}

Lord Buckley's funeral was on November 16, 1960 at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel on 88th Street in New York City. Lord Buckley was cremated at the Ferndale Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

Recording artist

Lord Buckley recorded over 15 long playing albums in a studio setting. His original vinyl releases, as complied by Walt Stempek and Oliver Trager,^[5] include:

Hipsters, Flipsters and Finger Poppin' Daddies Knock Me Your Lobes, RCA Victor, catalog #'s LPM-3246 (10" 33 rpm LP) and EPB-3246 (7" 45 rpm two EP record set), 1955
Euphoria, Vaya Records, catalog # VLP 101/2, 1955
Euphoria Volume II, Vaya Records, catalog # LVP-107/108, 1956
Way Out Humor, World Pacific, catalog # WP-1279, 1959
Buckley's Best, Liberty, catalog # LBS 83191E, 1960
Parabolic Revelations Of The Late Lord Buckley, Pye Records/Nonesuch, catalog # PPL 208, 1963
The Best of Lord Buckley, Crestview Records, catalog # CRV-801 (mono), 1963
Lord Buckley In Concert, World Pacific, catalog # WP-1815, 1964
Blowing His Mind (and yours too), World Pacific, catalog # WP-1849, 1966
The Best of Lord Buckley, Elektra Records, catalog # EKS-74047, 1969
The Bad Rapping of the Marquis De Sade, World Pacific, catalog # WPS-21889, 1969
a most immaculately hip aristocrat, Straight Records / Reprise, catalog # STS-1054 / RS-6389, 1970

"The jingle-jangle morning" in "Mr. Tambourine Man" is a sentence Bob Dylan claims to have taken from Lord Buckley^[6]

References

^ http://www.salon.com/people/feature/2002/06/26/buckley
^ http://www.lordbuckley.com/LBC_Home/LBC_Home_A_Primer.htm
^ The Last Carousel By Nelson Algren, page 219
^ New York Times obituary, "Richard Buckley Dies; Entertainer, 54, Was Known as the Hip Messiah", November 13, 1960. Pay availability only. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
^ http://www.lordbuckley.com/LBC_Lobes/LBC_Discography/LBC_Vinyl/LBC_Vinyl.htm
^ Sounes, H. (2001). Down the Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan. Doubleday. p. 182. ISBN 0-55299-929-6.

External links

LordBuckley.com includes biographical material, discography and an extensive archive of writings by and about Buckley.
Wig Bubbles Wig Bubbles has some accurate transcribings of Lord Buckley's hipsemanticisms.

Bibliography

Trager, Oliver. Dig Infinity: The Life and Art of Lord Buckley, Welcome Rain Publishers (2002), hardcover, 416 pages, ISBN 978-1566491570

Template:Persondata

[1] ttp://www.salon.com/people/feature/2002/06/26/buckley

[2] ttp://www.lordbuckley.com/LBC_Home/LBC_Home_A_Primer.htm

[3] The Last Carousel By Nelson Algren, page 219

[4] New York Times obituary, "Richard Buckley Dies; Entertainer, 54, Was Known as the Hip Messiah", November 13, 1960. Pay availability only. Retrieved 2010-12-21.

[5] ttp://www.lordbuckley.com/LBC_Lobes/LBC_Discography/LBC_Vinyl/LBC_Vinyl.htm

[6] Sounes, H. (2001). Down the Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan. Doubleday. p. 182. ISBN 0-55299-929-6.

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@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 Born to English immigrants in [[Tuolumne, California]], Buckley's earliest years are unclear, although he's referred to as an "ex-lumberjack".<ref>http://www.salon.com/people/feature/2002/06/26/buckley</ref>  By the mid-1930s he was performing as emcee in Chicago at [[Leo Seltzer]]'s [[dance marathon]]s at the [[Chicago Coliseum]],<ref>http://www.lordbuckley.com/LBC_Home/LBC_Home_A_Primer.htm</ref> and worked his own club, ''Chez Buckley'', on Western Avenue through the early 1940s.<ref>The Last Carousel By Nelson Algren, page 219</ref>  During World War II Buckley performed extensively for armed services on USO tours, where he formed a lasting friendship with [[Ed Sullivan]].
 In the 1950s Buckley hit his stride with a combination of his exaggeratedly aristocratic bearing (including waxed mustache, tuxedo and pith helmet) and carefully enunciated rhythmic hipster slang.  Occasionally performing to music, he punctuated his monologues with [[scat singing]] and sound effects. His most significant tracks are retelling of historical or legendary events, like "My Own Railroad" and "The Nazz". The latter, first recorded in 1952, describes Jesus' working profession as "carpenter kitty."  Other historical figures include [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi|Gandhi]] ("The Hip Gahn") and the [[Marquis de Sade]] ("The Bad-Rapping of the Marquis de Sade, the King of Bad Cats"). He retold several classic documents such as the [[Gettysburg Address]] and a version of [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s "[[The Raven]]." In "[[Mark Antony]]'s Funeral Oration", he recast [[Shakespeare]]'s "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" as "Hipsters, flipsters and finger-poppin' daddies: knock me your lobes."
+In 1959 Buckley voiced the [[beatnik]] character Go Man Van Gogh in "Wildman of Wildsville", an episode of the [[Bob Clampett]] animated series [[Beany and Cecil]]. The character reappeared in several episodes made after Buckley's death, when he was voiced by [[Scatman Crothers]].
 Buckley adopted his "hipsemantic" from his peers [[Cab Calloway]], [[Louis Armstrong]], [[Redd Foxx]], [[Pearl Mae Bailey]], [[Count Basie]], and [[Frank Sinatra]], as well as [[Hipster (1940s subculture)|Hipsters]] and the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[aristocracy]].