Y’know, this must be the very first thread on WKRP wherein guys havent’ been drooling over Bailey.
I almost started a thread about this because it didn’t look like anyone else had. I’m glad I was wrong.
I loved WKRP and he was such a big part of it. I used to work at a recording studio many years ago and he had an acting school a few doors down in the same complex. I never had the opportunity to meet him but many of my co-workers had and said that he was just the nicest guy.
Rest in Peace, Gordon. Thanks for the laughs.
Until this thread I had no idea that the Maytag repairman, Mr. Carlson from WKRP, and the guy that tried to molest Gary Coleman were one and the same.
Was he in the “Diff’rent Strokes” episode where an older man shows Arnold and his buddies some girlie magazines and then has them take their shoirts off to play “Cowboys and Indians” so something?
I think the Ferryman’s jingle said it best…
“Do-do-do-do-do-do bye bye”
I concede humbly about “As God is my witness”- I came here to do so before all the cites because I just saw it on VH-1s I LOVE THE 70S.
syncrolecyne, Jump was the replacement when the actor who originally played the Maytag repairman died, his name escapes me. But Jump had been the man in the ads for many years.
And that was indeed him in that very special episode of Diff’rent Strokes you remember. Jump was so typecast in my mind, I didn’t like making the association of Arthur Carlson also being a child molester. Maybe that’s what the producers wanted, a recognizable, likable actor known of affiable roles to put the scare into us little kids.
The original Maytag Repairman was character actor Jesse White.
I mention Gordon Jump’s death to a couple of co-workers and then said “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.” One proceeded to spray coffee all over everything and then choke. The other one looked at me and him like we were nuts.
I explained the scene to him, and he couldn’t stop laughing. I love that scene because you don’t see anything. It’s all listening and commentary in the studio. Not an easy setup.
Yeah, wild turkeys can fly a little, not particularly well, but some (and still not from 3000 feet), but weren’t these Thanksgiving-type turkeys? I think they have been selectively bred (for maximum meat production) so that they can no longer even breed (themselves). I think even if you dropped them from 10 feet, they’d probably fly about as *well as a set of car keys.
*Thanks to Tom Wolfe–“The Right Stuff”
I love The Right Stuff. I’ve read the book a few times. I have the movie. Heck, I worked as an extra in the movie! (Didn’t make it on-screen though. 
) I spent my teen and early adult years in the Antelope Valley. I worked at Edwards AFB for a few years. I’m a pilot. I’ve seen Chuck Yeager up-close. My dad picked him up in the desert when his ultralight went down. I remember Wolfe’s vivid description of “burned beyond recognition”, and I have been around the “arthritic” joshua trees.
But I don’t remember the car key line. What’s the passage; or at least, what was it referring to?
He was a great character actor. I remember seeing him on Green Acres a few times, and who can forget his “Sheriff Tinkler” on Soap.
Johnny Fever to the Big Guy - “I’m talking about this disco-bondage-headgear thing”
And that, boys and girls, is what is called Good Writing.
Well, it’s been almost 20 years for me, but I believe it was in reference to the F-104, and maybe Chuck Yeager, who was test-piloting it. (I’m more confident about Yeager than the jet type.) Wolfe, referring to the short wings said something like “it glided about as well as a set of car keys.”
And let us not forget Mr. Jump’s classic portrayal of the Apostle Peter in The Mormon Temple Film (i.e. the film that was made to be shown in LDS temples during the endowments ceremony to explain the significance of the ceremony – before the film was made, live actors were used in each temple).
The temple endowment ceremony is supposed to be extremely spiritual and sacred, but I’ll admit I always found it hard not to laugh when “Mr. Carlson” made his appearance. It’s too bad the makers of the film didn’t know that Gordon Jump would later become a very successful comedic actor.
[Why this film is listed on the IMDB is beyond me, but it’s there nonetheless…]
Barry
Mmmm-Bailey Quarters
The ‘Piece of Chilief’ scene Jump did in Soap was among the best in the series.
I also could have sworn he was the man in the field that Jack Nicholson asked directions of in Five Easy Pieces when he was on his trek to visit his dying father. Considering I just saw this late the other night on Bravo and specifically looked through the closing credits, I figured it would be a simple match-up on the IMDb. But alas, no. Anyone else know if I’m hallucinating or not? Perhaps I just need more sleep.
Regardless, RIP Big Guy. You were wonderful in everything I saw you in. Really impecable comic timing. Flying turkeys indeed.
Ah, Gordon Jump. He was indirectly responsible for one of the all-time funniest things ever written on this board:
(From this thread. I don’t know exactly why that line strikes me as so dern funny, but there ya go.)
RIP, Gordon Jump!