Word: vernon
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Khan rode a wave of popularity through the U.S. Speaking before a joint session of Congress, he said: "The only people who will stand by you in Asia are the people of Pakistan ? provided you are prepared to stand by them." He boated up the Potomac to Mount Vernon with the Kennedys, flew to Lyndon Johnson's Texas ranch to write his name in fresh Friendship Walk cement. Vice President Johnson had met Ayub in Pakistan earlier that year and, in a rosy, fraternal glow, saw to it that a camel driver who reached for his outstretched hand...
...long while the pain was real; persistent obscurity, cancellations when his act bombed, endless bouncing from cellar to dive in search of a sympathetic audience. At last he found one. Its name was Steve Allen, who caught Vernon's act in Canada and booked him for his TV show. After Allen came Jack Paar, Ed Sullivan, Hootenanny-and success. Last week Vernon fans gathered at Manhattan's Hotel Plaza to pay homage to their anti-hero-the first stand-up comic to play the staid Persian Room in 41 years...
...Vernon, now 36, is the classic loser. His act, always in the same minor key, begins with an apology: "I'm only doing this because I couldn't get a job in my regular line of work. I'm a Viking." He lugubriously narrates his biography: "My grandfather was an old Yugoslavian guerrilla fighter. My grandmother was an old Yugoslavian guerrilla. My family was so underprivileged we used to get food from Europe. Finally I was adopted by a Korean family...
MUSTARD GAS." Nothing helped. At last, lonely and morose, he sought the companionship of a watermelon. "I figured if things didn't work out I could always eat it." But the watermelon died. And he was left alienated once again. Vernon's miseries will be worth $100,000 this year. And future bookings are pouring in. Still, Vernon is taking no chances, planning no new routines. "I've been a real loser too long," he says. "I'm sticking with failure. It's been good...
...only real smile around belonged to Pittsburgh Pirates' Manager Harry Walker. Sure, his top pitcher, Vernon Law (record: 16-9), had a sore elbow, and his top slugger, Willie Stargell (92 RBIs), was limping around on an injured knee. But the fifth-place Pirates had won ten out of their last 13 games-including four from the Giants, three from the Braves and two from the Dodgers. Insisted Walker: "With any kind of break, we'll win the pennant." Well, they might at that-since everybody else seems to be trying to lose...