Nipsey Russell

Nipsey Russell
Birth name	Julius Russell
Born	September 15, 1918(1918-09-15) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Died	October 2, 2005(2005-10-02) (aged 87) New York City, New York, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up comedy, television, film
Nationality	American
Years active	1950–1996
Influences	Michael Gough, Dean Martin, Pat Hingle, James Brown, Milton Berle, Foster Brooks, Orson Welles, Redd Foxx
Influenced	Michael Jackson, Mike Tyson, Nipsey Hussle, Bernie Mac

Julius "Nipsey" Russell (September 15, 1918 – October 2, 2005)^[1][2] was an American comedian, best known today for his appearances as a guest panelist on game shows from the 1960s through the 1990s, especially Match Game, Password, Hollywood Squares, To Tell the Truth and Pyramid. His appearances were distinguished in part by the short, humorous poems he would recite during the broadcast. These lyrics became so closely associated with Russell that Dick Clark, Bill Cullen, Betty White, and others regularly referred to him as "the poet laureate of television." He also had a leading role in the film version of The Wiz. Russell was also a frequent guest on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts.

Early life

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Russell went to Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta and attended the University of Cincinnati for one semester in 1936.^[3] He served as a medic in the United States Army during World War II, enlisting as a private on June 27, 1941, and returning from Europe in 1945 as a second lieutenant.^[4][5] He got his start in the 1940s as a carhop at the Atlanta drive-in The Varsity, where he increased the tips he earned by making customers laugh. He was discovered after he began performing in nightclubs in the 1950s. He subsequently made many "party albums," which were essentially compilations of his stand-up routines.

Early career

In the mid-1950s Russell joined forces with the popular movie comedian Mantan Moreland for a stage act, replacing Ben Carter as Moreland's dapper straight man. Moreland would engage Russell in conversation, only to be interrupted by Russell, who in turn was interrupted by Moreland:

Moreland: Guess who I saw? I saw old —

Russell: Is he back again? I thought he was —

Moreland: He was, but he got out.

Russell: Is that so?

Moreland: Yeah, he was over —

Russell: Is that so?

Soon the entire conversation was conducted in incomplete sentences, with each man anticipating or contradicting the other. Moreland and Russell's act can be seen in two all-black-cast compilation films, Rhythm and Blues Review and Rock and Roll Revue; a variation of the act, performed by Tommy Davidson and Savion Glover, was featured in Spike Lee's 2000 film Bamboozled.

In the late 1950s, Russell appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, which led to a supporting part as a New York policeman in the sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? in 1961. In 1965 he became a co-host of ABC's Les Crane Show. During the 1970s, he was a co-star in the ABC sitcom Barefoot in the Park and appeared regularly on The Dean Martin Show and The Dean Martin Comedy World. Scattered appearances on television series followed, as well as occasional guest-host stints on The Tonight Show during the Johnny Carson era. Previous versions of this article have stated, without reference, that Russell is the originator of the line: "Beauty is only skin deep — but ugly goes right to the bone!" The line, "Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone," is generally attributed to critic/poet Dorothy Parker.^[6]

Game show career

Russell became the first black performer to become a regular panelist on a weekly network game show when he joined ABC's Missing Links in 1964. Another ABC show, Rhyme and Reason, had poetry for a premise, making Russell's participation a necessity:

Host: Conny Van Dyke looks like a girl I once dated...

Russell: And now, all my dreams are strictly X-rated!

Host: Jack said to Jill as they went up the hill...

Russell: We're not going for water — I hope you're on the pill!

In 1971 he started as a featured panelist on To Tell the Truth, which led to his being hired for The Match Game when Goodson-Todman Productions revived it two years later. He also served as panelist on the 1968 revival of What's My Line? Producer Bob Stewart featured him regularly as a panelist on Pyramid throughout its 1970s and 1980s runs. Russell would also host the short-lived 1985 game show Your Number's Up as well as the early-'80s revival of Juvenile Jury.

During his appearances on game shows, at some point in the broadcast the host would give the floor to Russell, who would recite a self-penned poem from memory, looking straight into the camera. These poems from 1980s episodes of The $25,000 Pyramid and The $100,000 Pyramid and even one from the 2004 Hollywood Squares are typical of his style and wit:

The girl who would make my life complete

need not be young and fair;

Just be a nymphomaniac

and a multimillionaire.

(Note: At that Betty White replied, "I'm not a multimillionaire but one out of two ain't bad.")

What is the secret of eternal youth?

The answer is easily told;

All you gotta do if you wanna look young

Is hang out with people who are old.

If you ever go out with a schoolteacher,

You're in for a sensational night;

She'll make you do it over and over again

Until you do it right.

The young people are very different today;

And there's one sure way to know;

Kids used to ask where they came from;

Now they'll tell you where you can go!

I got a new girlfriend,

No guy could ask for more,

She’s deaf, dumb, oversexed

And owns a liquor store!

Before we lose our autonomy

And our economy crumbles into dust

We should attack Japan, lose the war

And let Japan take care of us.

The opposite of 'pro' is 'con'

This fact is clearly seen

But if 'progress' means move forward

What does 'Congress' mean?

Hurricanes are named after women

Because they start on the very same plan

Start up over nothin', make a whole lotta noise,

And can't be controlled by man!

Washington threw a silver dollar

Across the Potomac one day

Since then politicians in Washington

Have been throwing our money away.

I am a bachelor, and I will not marry

Until the right girl comes along

But while I'm waiting, I don't mind dating

Girls that I know are wrong.

Pyramid is the best show on TV.

Dick Clark is surely the best emcee.

They won the Emmy, they pay a high fee

How 'bout a few bucks for the audience and me?

Show business should really change its style from the vulgar and the crude.

People on stage should be properly dressed. The audience should be nude.

More people are killed on the roads than they are on the battlefield.

It's not the tiger in the tank, it's the jackass behind the wheel.

When Russell appeared on Family Feud during a special game show emcee week, he had two poems to give:

Playing Family Feud today

Are some talented women and men;

Lost their jobs giving money away,

So now, they're trying to win!

Each day we turn another page.

You know you're reaching middle age

When your pimples and your rashes

Turn to wrinkles and hot flashes.

He was a trained dancer, influenced in his youth by legendary performer Jack Wiggins. Russell put these talents to use in the 1978 musical The Wiz as the Tin Man. He also appeared on the big screen in 1994's adaptation of Car 54, Where Are You?, reprising his role as Anderson, who had now been promoted from sergeant to captain.

Later career and death

During the 1990s Russell gained popularity with a new generation of television viewers as a regular on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Russell would often appear during comedy sketches between scheduled guests and deliver his trademark rhymes.

Russell's final TV appearance was as a panelist for one week (specifically, a game show-themed week) on the final season of the Tom Bergeron version of Hollywood Squares.

He died in 2005 in New York City, after suffering from stomach cancer. He was cremated and ashes were scattered into the Atlantic Ocean.

References

1. ^ Nipsey J. Russell, born 15 September 1918, died 2 October 2005. Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index (Death Master File).
2. ^ U.S. Census, 1 January 1920, state of Georgia, county of DeKalb, city of Atlanta, enumeration district 180, page 4-A, family 75, Julius Russell, age 1 year 2 months.
3. ^ Gail Fredensborg, Associate Registrar, University of Cincinnati, 9 January 2006.
4. ^ National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 [database online]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2005.
5. ^ Passenger list of the S.S. General Harry Taylor, Port of New York, 13 September 1945, p. 233.
6. ^ http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs193i/hw/hw1/quotes.txt.

External links

• Nipsey Russell at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Christine Jorgensen, 1957.
• CBS 2: Nipsey Russell Dies At 82 [sic]
• Rhyming Funnyman Nipsey Russell Dies - The Washington Post
• Nipsey Russell, a Comic With a Gift for Verse, Dies at 80 [sic] - The New York Times
• A Tribute to Comedian Nipsey Russell - audio clip from NPR's All Things Considered, October 4, 2005
• Nipsey Russell at Find a Grave

Persondata
Name	Russell, Nipsey
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1918-09-15
Place of birth	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Date of death	2005-10-02
Place of death	New York City, New York, U.S.