Sunday, October 14, 2018

RINGMASTER #3


Posted by Chic Silber at 10/14/2018 12:11:00 AM

3 comments:

Chic Silber said...


Awaiting comments from Roger

(It's very early in Yuma)

14 October, 2018 10:18
Chic Silber said...


I met Parley on thr Miller Johnson show

well before Cliff Vargas took it over

I think Cliff had promoted the show

14 October, 2018 22:19
Roger Smith said...

It's too long a story, but...

Mabel Stark and I had just finished our morning cagework routine, in June of '66, when up walks the Baer family--Parley, Ernestine Clarke Baer, and daughters Kim and Dale. Mabel introduced us, and thus began a friendship with Parley that culminated with my becoming his 24/7 caregiver in his Tarzana, California home, the last 14 months of his life. He died at 88, on November 22, 2002, at Motion Picture Hospital, in Woodland Hills, with ten of us present.

Parley's career is best seen on IMDb, and in Old Time Radio sites. In a nutshell, which is a great disservice to the man, his career as a character actor spanned 70 years. He didn't mind not being a star. As he told me, "To the public, I'm Old What's-His-Name up there, but the name stars have come and gone, and I'm still working." Indeed, he did. Fans of GUNSMOKE remember Chester, the character made famous on TV by Dennis Weaver. Parley created and named the role ten years previously when the show originated on CBS radio. He was Mayor Roy Stoner on the ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, and voiced Ernie Keebler, the cookie elf in the commercials for 32 years. A stroke in 1997 robbed him of his speech and ended his career. He was attempting to regain his abilities when, on his 86th birthday, in 2000, his beloved Ernestine died while he was holding her hand. At her passing, he closed all recovery efforts and only wanted to pass on and join her. For Parley, this meant two more very long years. They rest together in Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

15 October, 2018 18:58

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