DICK SHAWN died on April 17, 1987

A charismatic entertainer, Shawn was (along with Jonathan Winters) picked to be one of the big stars in comedy when he hit his stride in the 50's. It was all a matter of finding a way to harness his talent for zany characters and weirdly hip free-form. For average viewers, he only succeed twice in the next thirty years: as the horrifyingly zany Hitler in "The Producers" and a distraught hippie in "Mad Mad Mad Mad World."

Although he didn't make many film or TV appearances over the years, Shawn did tour often over the years and periodically performed a one-man show that mixed songs, sketches and even pantomime.

Shawn once said, "I think of my relationship with any audience as a love affair. It lasts only a little while but I always look forward to a happy ending. For both of us." He was performing at the University of California at San Diego one night. He was telling a gag about nuclear war. He was his manic self as he began to imagine the holocaust. Nobody would survive, he explained, except the audience in the little sheltered theater! Then he shouted, "And I would be your leader!"

He fell forward, flat on his face. He lay there while the audience laughed. Shawn's son Adam was in the audience and he knew this was no act.

In writing about Dick Shawn's death, New York Post columnist Cindy Adams recounted what the comedian said about trying to find the right audiences for his brand of comedy: "I can't work places like Vegas or the Catskills where people are belching. Maybe I belong in colleges. At least if I die, I die in front of intelligent people who know what I'm talking about."

PARKYAKARKUS died on November 24, 1958.

An ethnic comedian on radio ("The Eddie Cantor Show") he is now best known as the father of Albert Brooks (nee Albert Einstein) and "Super Dave" Osborne (nee David Einstein).

In 1958 "Parky" appeared on the dais at a Friars roast for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.He got bigger laughs than most of the famous speakers.

He was rolling along, joking about the Friars club: "...But in spite of all this kidding we have managed to put together a pretty good club made up of the very cream of show business people...outstanding doctors, many famous lawyers, several fine judges, and quite a few defendants...If one should be interested in nature, we have a splendid bird-watching group. No matter what time you come into our club, you'll always see two or three of our members standing around looking for pigeons.... So Desi, we sincerely hope that you'll be using the facilities of our club very often. And Lucy, while ladies nights at the Friars are traditionally Thursdays and Saturdays, we love you so you can come any time. Thank you very much."

"Parky" received lavish applause.They were still applauding when Parkyakarkus slumped against Milton Berle and then leaned forward. Berle shouted, "Is there a doctor in the house?"

The audience laughed -- until a few doctors rushed to the dais.But for Parkyakarkus, the end of life was pure laughteer, and he went out hearing the pure joy of an audience's response.

It was left to Desi Arnaz to soberly declare: "This was an evening that comes to you once in a lifetime. It means so much, then all at once it doesn't mean a damn thing." And so Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball crept on toward decrepitude, no longer wanted when they finally succumbed. So Parkyarkus had the last laugh over his more famous friends.

Albert Brooks said in 1991, "The interesting thing to me was that he finished. He could have died in the middle. He could have done it on the way over there. But he didn't. He finished. And he was as good as he'd ever been in his life."

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