# Name that 1950s television character actor! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 4, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-1950s-television-character-actor/803577 "2017-12-04T21:07:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-1950s-television-character-actor/803577/1 "2017-12-04T21:07:28Z")
Someone posted an old photo on Facebook of their parents at a department store from old-timey days. The photo had a counter person who reminded me of an old 50s comedian. He was a frequent-enough guest star that I was aware of him, but for the life of me, I can’t think of his name. This guy had a standard gimmick: a person on a 50s TV show, let’s just say Jackie Gleason, walks up to a seemingly un-manned counter in a store hoping to get some help. After ringing a bell to summon help, the guy would dramatically spring up from the other side of the counter (he’d been crouching down) and exclaim “EEE-yessssss???” They’d then go through a routine where he’d make a series of unhelpful, ridiculous suggestions and goofy double entendres. I think “the Simpsons” even did a character based off him at one point. What was that guy’s name? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-1950s-television-character-actor/803577/2 "2017-12-04T21:15:21Z")
[Frank Nelson.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Nelson_(actor)) First! ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-1950s-television-character-actor/803577/3 "2017-12-04T21:52:50Z")
Who started the character on radio and was imitated in a few Bugs Bunny cartoons long before the Simpsons animated him. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-1950s-television-character-actor/803577/4 "2017-12-04T22:49:15Z")
Although he appeared on a lot of shows, his primary claim to fame was the Jack Benny Show. There was a running gag that every time Jack would go to a store he would be waited upon by the same guy. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-1950s-television-character-actor/803577/5 "2017-12-04T23:20:39Z")
Did he guest on the Dick Van Dyke Show once? ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-1950s-television-character-actor/803577/6 "2017-12-04T23:23:53Z")
Didn’t he do a McDonald’s commercial in the early eighties? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-1950s-television-character-actor/803577/7 "2017-12-05T00:17:48Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > Didn’t he do a McDonald’s commercial in the early eighties? I think you’re right, if he’s facing the camera in “pitchman” mode, and says something like “Ooh, DO I !”; I wondered who he was for years. Until your post. If that’s who he is. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-1950s-television-character-actor/803577/8 "2017-12-05T00:21:23Z")
Bingo. Google quickly gave me a 1981 Mac’s commercial with FN at the end. It’s not the commercial I remember, but it’s the same guy wearing the same costume. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYs1KB8el2U) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-1950s-television-character-actor/803577/9 "2017-12-05T00:23:21Z")
> [@caligulathegod](#): > > Although he appeared on a lot of shows, his primary claim to fame was the Jack Benny Show. There was a running gag that every time Jack would go to a store he would be waited upon by the same guy. And I saw one show where Nelson complained that everyplace he had a different job, this one guy (Benny) always came up to his counter as if he were following him around! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-1950s-television-character-actor/803577/10 "2017-12-05T02:00:33Z")
He was on _The Flintstones_ at least twice: Once, as a clerk in a store where Fred buys a bowling ball. My brothers and I were fascinated with how he was non-stop with the snappy answers. We imagined that he spent all his spare time reading wisecrack books. And another time, he was “the only caterer in town - that’s why I’m such a wiseguy!”