I love what they used to call "novelty records." There's no firm definition of the term but it mainly described a record you were supposed to laugh at rather than dance to or "make out" to. I have two examples here, both of them recorded by Fletcher Peck.
Here is just about everything I know about Fletcher Peck: He was born Adrian George Greenberg but he went under several different monikers and had different combos and groups. "Fletcher Peck" was the name he settled on when he began appearing on Broadway Open House, the late night TV show that was the forerunner to The Tonight Show. He was all over early television including appearances with Steve Allen on Tonight, which is what The Tonight Show was called when Steverino hosted it.
Fletcher Peck was also big in jazz clubs and night clubs. Like Spike Jones, he learned to play real good before he started playing real funny. And I know he's no longer with us…but that's about all I know. If the readers of this blog respond like they usually do, there will be a post here shortly in which I report some of the info that someone out there has sent me about Mr. Peck.
Here are audio links (no picture) to my two favorite Fletcher Peck recordings, which I believe were on opposite sides of one record. First up, we have "The Guy With the Voodoo"…
And here we have "I'm a Fool For Beans," which is — as you might imagine — a song about being a fool for beans. Enjoy…