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harry and HARRY

harry and HARRY

"Ladies and Gentlemen let me have the pleasure of introducing you to : harry & HARRY."
This was the same introduction we used for years. Starting out in grade school we performed free.
Then on to high school we were hired for children's parties, school and functions ,weddings and other private parties.
In college we pulled in extra monies at local bars by using fake Id's and then asking our pay in cash. The old metal tips can was always out and harry made sure it was used it well.
He had the spiel "Poor HARRY needs a new brace or an operation almost always the tips doubled or tripled the wages.
Old harry and I have been together since third grade. He came to my rescue one day when the school yard bullies had me cornered up on the monkey bars.
They had placed me up on the highest bar with no way my short legs could get me down and if I jumped I would have broken bones or possibly died on the spot.
You see I am a midget and barely 30 inches tall but harry was a big eight year old not only in tallness but heavy too.
He jumped right in and gave it good to those bullies and told them if they ever lay hands on me again he'd give em more... then he said "What's your name" and I said "Hebert !...Hebert Jackson...wadda gonna do about it?"... He laughs and says "I'm gonna change it to HARRY that's what... now jump down and I'll catch ya."
I jumped and he caught. We have been pals through thick and thin times and it will always be so.
No one ever bothered me again and harry and HARRY became a comedy team. He got the idea by watching the Howdy Doody show on television and decided that we might make some spending money.
He hated doing chores and mowing lawns and I was too small for this work. Since my big asset was my mind I thought he had a great idea and went along with him.
I never in my wildest dreams thought we would be a team for fifty years !
I was the one who could talk with his mouth nearly shut but harry, because of his greater size, had to be the ventriloquist while I was to be the puppet.
This was no easy task so we actually both talked and I inserted a mouthpiece under both my lips with an actual hinge to make me look like a real puppet.
We learned the proper mouth positions for both of us by trial and error.
We of course did not need to learn different voices or learn to throw our voices because we were actually two talking people made to look like one real human and one puppet.
The earlier years we slicked down my dark hair with vaseline and I had a goofy Western outfit and hat. I really looked like a puppet to the audiences.
Old harry was a natural at the jokes but he taught me wise cracks and how to look sad when he put the fake brace on my leg. We had a Western routine about me falling off a horse and stunting my growth. We had the audiences in stitches every time we performed.
We impressed and amazed the audiences all right. He played the human harry and I the smart wise cracking dummy HARRY. we really had our craft down good by the time we left college.
I became a business advisor and harry ,well harry became a jack of all trades. He went in for chef work but goofed around too much and never made it to the big hotels.
He was a good cook and if applied himself an excellent cook but his heart wasn't in the cooking industry.
He wanted to play...so we did and I kept the books straight and the bookings in order plus invested part of our earnings. We were in great shape.
Well until harry got afflicted with Alzheimer's disease.
He started forgetting his lines and the hand moves. then one day he just sat there and stares at me and says: "Who are you?"... I thought he was adding to the act without telling me. Then I saw other changes at home. So I got him to get into the van and thankful that we had adapted it for my small stature I took him to our doctor and a few weeks later he was diagnosed.
I am glad we had me to save and invest our monies earlier because now harry will have all the care he needs.
We did have one last show... I was the ventriloquist and harry the puppet. He performed well and his last words were "Goodbye HARRY ...we did well."