Many record collectors know that the career of JFK impersonator Vaughan Meader came to a sudden and final end in November of 1963--that countless copies of "The First Family" still exist attest to Meader's widespread (though short-lived) popularity.
Catskills comedian Bernie Berns also parodied the young president, but with entirely different and much crazier premise--what if the First Family were Jewish instead of Catholic? And participated in fox hunting?
I grew up in Evanston, just north of Chicago. The school I attended was predominantly Jewish--on Jewish holidays, there were about three of us left in the class. In the seventh grade, I was so jealous of the lavish parties my friends had for their Bas Mitzvahs that they all decided to let me have my own Bas Mitzvah in the girl's bathroom just off the auditorium so I wouldn't feel left out. But even as an honorary Jew, "Bernie Goes to Washington"'s schtick and Yiddish references mostly left me in the dust. But the guy is still hilarious, even if even if you don't own the Rosetta Stone for Yiddish--he moves back and forth effortlessly between JFK's Boston accent, and broad parodies of the Jewish relatives, DeGaulle, Khruschev, and other leaders of the day.
Online information about Bernie Berns is sparse indeed--you can read his recollections of the tough life of a comedian in Miami Beach clubs
here, but beyond that good luck finding any info about the guy.
Bernie Goes to Washington - Bernie Berns
Jay Gee Records JGM 2047 (c. 1963)
