Remember in "The Bookie Barber" when Barney says to Andy, "You're almost as funny as Floyd, you know that? Why don't you two team up, call yourselves Frick and Frack?" Well, I never knew who Frick and Frack were. But today I was reading an article by a man who used to be a professional ice skater, and he referenced the ice skating comedians Frick and Frack. So I went to Wikipedia and found some additional information, as follows:
Frick and Frack were two Swiss<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland> skaters who came to the U.S. in 1937 and joined the original Ice Follies<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Follies> show as comedy ice skaters. "Frick" was Werner Groebli (April 21, 1915 - April 14, 2008), born in Basel<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basel>. "Frack" was Hansruedi (Hans Rudolf) Mauch, (May 4, 1919 - June 4, 1979), also born in Basel<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basel>. Frick and Frack were known for skating in Alpine Lederhosen<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lederhosen> and performing eccentric tricks on ice, including the "cantilever spread-eagle", created by Groebli, and Mauch's "rubber legs", twisting and bending his legs while skating in a spread eagle position. Only a few skaters have successfully performed the duo's routines since. Michael Mauch, the son of Hans, once described the origin of their names: "Frick took his name from a small village in Switzerland; Frack is a Swiss-German<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_German> word for a frock coat, which my father used to wear in the early days of their skating act. They put the words together as a typical Swiss joke." Frick and Frack found fame with the Follies, a revue promoted by Eddie Shipstad and his brother Roy, which began in 1936 and ran for almost 50 years. They also reached a worldwide audience when they began appearing in films, including the Monogram Pictures<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monogram_Pictures> production Lady, Let's Dance<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady,_Let%27s_Dance> in 1944<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1944_in_film>. Their association lasted so long, and they were at one time so well known, that their names became a household term in many languages. "Frick and Frack" has become an English slang<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slang> term used in two ways. One is to refer to two people so closely associated as to be indistinguishable; the other way is as a term of derision for any two people, on par with calling one person a "Bozo<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bozo_the_Clown>" or three people "Stooges<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Stooges>". Maybe some of you already knew who Frick and Frack were, but if you didn't, I thought you might like to know. I found it interesting. And now I'll understand what Barney means! Thelma Lou (Janet) _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
