Tony Webster - Tony Webster's Marriage Counselor 1963

Tony Webster	Birth Name aka Tony Webster II	Birthplace
Jan 09 1922 - Jun 26 1987 age 65	Official Site	IMDB

Comedy writer Tony Webster, fresh with the success of a hit album, "Marriage Counselor", aimed a velvet-tipped dart in the lofty direction of  "serious writers."

"What do you think a 'profound' writer is?" asked Tony, whose mother and stepfather, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Crane, live at 513 E. 28th Avenue, in Pompano Beach. "Just a comedy writer who couldn't get a laugh with his lines. So he turned 'profound' - that way the people couldn't catch him at it." In "Marriage Counselor" Tony touches all the bases of marital non-bliss.

"I mean, let's face it - this is a serious subject," said the man who speaks with the wisdom of two marriages and two divorces behind him. "But what I tried to do was make people identify with a situation in comic terms where it would be too painful on a serious level."

Thus there's the counselor  who's encouraged because the wife can still call her husband 'hon' - until she explains, "That's his name - Attila The Hun" and the elderly couple who approach the counselor on the occasion of their 75th wedding anniversary, apologizing,  "We'd get a Mexican divorce, but we're both afraid to fly." "Comedy" said Tony, pooh-poohing the 'profoundests' even more, "goes right past tragedy."

The Arthur Miller look-alike ("l think it'd be nice some day if people said Arthur Miller looked like ME")  was born and raised in St. Louis and attended the University of Missouri for two years before being drafted into the army. Since then he's written for the best comics in the business - including Sid Caesar and Phil Silvers.

He's proudest of his Emmy-award winning TV show of a few years ago, "Call Me Back" which starred Art Carney. "It was a one-hour monologue", Tony recalled, "and probably the only suicide ever shown on TV.  It has a lot of laughs, though. Most people remember the line of Carney on the phone asking whether Dr Schweitzer made house calls."

Humor aside, Tony has a real thing against quack marriage counselors.

"It's amazing,"  he says. "Anyone can put on a black suit and become one. You can't prescribe a pill without a license. but they have these guys who can prescribe for the mind without a thing. I could become one too, you know. Except I'd make the people sign a notarized release so that if their lives fell apart afterwards I wouldn't assume the responsibility."

"Do you wan to get married again?" I asked. "I hope so", he said, "I don't like to go swimming that much - at the club bar, that is." ~Earl Wilson, Miami News January 12 1964

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This is certainly a funny album! Many a happily married couple will get a chuckle or two out of most of the bands. A good deal of the material is suitable for air play and many of the cuts are less than 60 seconds long. The other material should be great t for parties or as a warning for those who are about to tie the knot. ~Billboard 1963-12-14

01  Opening

02  Sex Manuals

03  The Late John

04  Something in Common

05  Understanding a Husband's Career

06  The Promise

07  I Love You Truly

08  Hon

09  Red China

10  Know What I Mean

11  The One Flaw

12  Happy Anniversary

13  Immaturity

14  Henry and Catherine

15  Commuting

16  Relating to People

17  Woman's Best Friend

18  Oedipus Complex

19  Adam & Eve

20  The Panel Experts

21  Duke & Duchess

22  Woman Behind the Man

23  First Husband

24  Working Mother

25  Questions and Answers

 

	Verve Records – V/V6015040
	Stand-up
Enjoy!

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