Give It Up for The Galloping Gourmet

[mizducky]

I didn't watch the Galloping Gourmet very often in my youth, but when I did it sure made an impression.

I vividly recall one episode in which he verbally evoked the impact of a certain type of wine grape (I think it was Gewurztraminer) in the most hysterical way. If memory serves he instructed his audience to imagine standing barefoot in a vineyard clutching huge bunches of the grapes in either hand, digging one's feet deep into the dirt, mashing the grapes into one's gaping mouth, and letting out a primal roar of gratification. All of this demostrated with the appropriate gestures, facial expressions, and vocalizations. I recall being really impressed by his willingness to act so totally *unhinged* on a daytime TV show, let alone a cooking show.

I must confess that I too, don't find his new cleaned-up health-conscious incarnation anywhere near as entertaining than his old crazed booze-fueled self. Even now that I'm doing a semi-regimented healthy-eating thing myself. But then, I have that problem with a lot of other healthy-eating TV shows I've sampled. (And besides, that's sidling off into a whole other topic...)

I think Kerr's entrance routine always included vaulting over a chair. I'm not recalling whether he always had a glass of wine in his hand as he jumped. I do recall identifying it in my mind, not with the serenely placid Misterrogers, but with Dick Van Dyke's entrance on his old sitcom show--only whereas Dick would always do a pratfall, Graham was too debonair to be caught falling down on the job, so to speak. (Ironically, they also shared that ol' booze problem at the time, at least from what I understand ... )

Edited February 21, 2006 by mizducky (log)

[MarketStEl]

Well, Melissa, I guess those of us in our forties were old enough to remember Graham Kerr, who I also caught on non-school-day weekday afternoons.

I'm afraid my memories of the program are all a blur, as though I had been drinking right along with the Galloping Gourmet.

On the other hand, I do remember this: He had the field to himself on commercial TV. Everything else around his time slot was chat shows like "The Mike Douglas Show." (I've now walked past the building where that show was taped too many times to count. ObFood: It now houses Brasserie Perrier on its street floor. It was built in 1937 to house the radio station predecessor of its originating TV station.) It was a good thing he came on in the afternoon; had he come on in the morning, I might never have seen him, for I wouldn't dare miss my favorite game shows. (I'm still a "Jeopardy!" aficionado with a serious "The Price is Right" jones who wishes Monty Hall were still around.)

No other commercial TV station in Kansas City aired cooking shows during the day, and after Kerr went off the air, neither did WDAF-TV. They were all content to leave that genre to the "educational" TV station, which we couldn't get until we bought an "all-channel" portable TV set somewhere around 1968.

Which is a shame, for he did prove that cooking can be rollicking entertainment.