First Family's Vaughn Meader Dies

Vaughn Meader. Two words that are now an answer to an obscure trivial pursuit question. But for a brief time in the early 60s, the name Vaughn Meader was a household word. He had an uncanny aural resemblance to Camelot's king and a sense of humor that connected with an American Public terrified by the threat of nuclear distruction and the cold war. In 1962, Meader recorded "The First Family", an album parodying the White House lives of John F. Kennedy and his family. It broke out on the national sean when Meader was performing in Detroit and became the most popular comedy album of it's time. It's tame by today's standards, but the record was so hot, it earned the young artist an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. Kennedy was said to have purchased 100 copies as gifts. But when the young president was assassinated a year later, Meader's star dissapated almost instantly. Lenny Bruce best summarized the comi-tragic course of Meader's life when he said, "They put two graves in Arlington -- one for John Kennedy and one for Vaughn Meader." "I got barroom heavy," Meader later told the New York Times. "I got into cocaine, heroin. And I went down South and drifted from place to place to place." He recovered and turned to music, performing as a bluegrass and country music artist. Meader's health failed him in recent years and it was emphysema that ended his earthly run on October 29th.