Bob Einstein, alias Super Dave Osborne, has died

[Brother Buzz]

17. Son of Parkyakarkus

Born Harry Einstein on May 6, 1904 in Boston, Mass.
Died Nov. 24, 1958 of heart attack in Beverly Hilton, Calif.

Harry Einstein, a former newspaperman, achieved his fame in radio as a master of dialect, especially with his garbled Greek characterization of Parkyakarkus (“park ya carcass”). An appearance on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in the early 1930s attracted so much attention that he became a permanent fixture on the show.

Einstein appeared in 11 films from 1936 to 1945 as Parkyakarkus, which became much more than a stage name. He even applied to a New York court for permission to legally change it, contending that no one knew him by his actual name. The judge turned him down.

The comedian’s life came to a dramatic end at 54, when he suffered a fatal heart attack after finishing a speech at a Friars Club roast for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Witnesses told The Times that “it was the most hilarious speech of his career.”

The 1,000 Hollywood celebrities at the Beverly Hilton were still laughing when he finished the speech, suddenly stumbled and fell against Milton Berle. Berle called for a doctor and emcee Art Linkletter relayed the call over the microphone.



Albert Brooks and Super Dave Osborne's half-brother, Charles Einstein, was my neighbor back in the late fifties and early sixties. He moved to the SF Bay Area when the Giants relocated to San Francisco; besides being a novelist, screen writer, and biographer, he was a sports reporter, and the Giants was his bailiwick. Oh, and just for shits and giggles, he had a dufus dalmatian named Albert.