From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Fri Apr 19, 2002  1:14 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Dickie Goodman
 
DICKIE GOODMAN

Born Richard Dorian Goodman, 19 April 1934, Brooklyn, New York City
Died 6 November 1989, Fayetteville, North Carolina

Together with his partner, Bill Buchanan (1930-1996), Goodman is the
originator of the novelty "break-in" record, featuring snippets of the original
versions of Top 40 hits interwoven throughout the recording. The first one
of these, the mother of all break-in records, was "The Flying Saucer, parts
1 & 2" (1956). Set against an Orson Welles-type "War of the Worlds"
framework, it featured Goodman as a reporter named John Cameron
Cameron, broadcasting the landing of a spaceship from Mars. In spite of
legal action from a number of record companies, "Flying Saucer" went to
# 3 on the Billboard charts. Employing a similar interview style, Buchanan
and Goodman scored follow-up hits with "Flying Saucer the 2nd" and "Santa
and the Satellite". After Buchanan's departure in 1959, Goodman continued
his hit run with a series of topical releases. Where other hitmakers whose
success is based on a gimmick usually have a (very) short career, Goodman
kept making break-in records almost until the end of his life, and scored 17
chart entries between 1956 and 1977. In 1975 he had another Top 10 hit (# 4)
with "Mr. Jaws", inspired by the Spielberg movie. Goodman also worked
as a jingle writer for 20th Century Fox and as a comedy writer for the Ed
Sullivan Show and for a number of stand-up comedians. He died of a
self-inflicted gunshot at his son's home. His wife had left him and he had
a serious gambling addiction.

CD: Dickie Goodman's Greatest Fables (HTCD 33205-2). 81 minutes
and 35 seconds (! longest CD in my collection) of break-in records is
a bit much to swallow in one session, but it's a comprehensive collection,
39 tracks from 1956-1986. It includes "Return Of The Flying Saucer '97"
by Dickie's son Jon Goodman, who compiled the CD.
Further reading (Goldmine article):
http://members.aol.com/boardwalk7/goodman/goodman.html