Rant #1,538: The Show Must Go On

As the week ends, there are two notables passings to report from the world of show business.

Marty Ingels, the rubber-faced comedian who starred in the very short-lived "I'm Dickens, He's Fenster" sitcom and was ubiquitous across TV for the past 50 years in a variety of guises, passed this week.

Ingels was part of the crop of new comics who came to the scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a group that included Bob Newhart and George Carlin. While he became better known as an actor than as a comic, he would gain lasting fame and notoriety later on as neither an actor or a comic.

But during the first part of his life, he was a comedian, and his most famous episode on TV wasn't really that funny, although most people thought it was.

Ingels was on "The Tonight Show," and he was a frequent guest, as you never knew what this guy was going to say or do.

During one appearance, he appeared to be ill at ease, although the studio and home audiences thought it was part of his act. He ended up crawling on the floor, as the studio audience roared with laughter.

Later, it was announced that Ingels has suffered a nervous breakdown, and was literally going through its paces on national TV.

Nobody knew.

Later, he became an agent and met up with actress Shirley Jones. She had just come off a tempestuous marriage to Jack Cassidy, and somehow, the seemingly very staid and WASP-y Jones got close with Ingels, the overly nervous Jewish boy, and they married.

Although by all accounts this marriage was pretty stormy, too, Jones and Ingels were married for about 40 years upon his death. Her popularity allowed him to stay in the background, and stay somewhat sane, although behind the cameras, Jones supposedly had her hands full with Ingels, but somehow they stayed together for nearly four decades.

Cory Wells, the lead singer of one of the most popular acts of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Three Dog Night, also passed away this week.

Wells, Danny Hutton and Chuck Negron were journeymen singers and performers who joined together to make up the vocal portion of the band.

Their setup was very unique at the time, and still is.

Three lead singers up front, with a backing band, and the three lead singers either handled vocals together or individually. This clicked for Three Dog Night, and they had a spate of hits that were unrivaled during their peak time period, written by some of the best songwriting talent of the time: Laura Nyro, Randy Newman, Paul Williams, and Harry Nilsson penned their most popular songs.

Some of these tunes included "Shambala," "The Show Must Go On," "One," "Never Been to Spain" and many, many others.

They were highly criticized as being ultra commercial, the three lead singers generally didn't write their own material, and their music was trendy, but thought not to be long lasting.

They were certainly guilty of the first two musical "offenses," but as far as the last one, somehow, their music has endured.

They were the first rock act to play the now old Nassau Coliseum, and I saw them in concert a couple of times during the lean years of the 1990s.

Three Dog Night could still sing their hearts out even then, and somehow, this combination of voices continued to work even then, and when you hear those records today, they were among the finest product that the music industry produced during their prime time period, which means they will never be enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

So be it.

Speak to you on Monday.