April 15, 1984: Comedian Tommy Cooper dies, on live British national television.
Thomas Frederick Cooper was born on March 19, 1921 in Caerphilly, Wales, outside the Welsh "national" capital of Cardiff. When he was 3 years old, the family moved to Exeter, Devon, not far from his mother's hometown, and he developed a "West Country" English accent instead of the Welsh one his father had. At the age of 8, an aunt bought him a magic set, and that was his start in show business.
During World War II, he served in the British Army's Royal Horse Guards, and he joined a performing-arts troupe similar to America's USO. His service brought him to Cairo, Egypt, and he was supposed to wear a pith helmet in his act. But he forgot it. He saw a waiter, and took the waiter's fez (a type of hat common in Egypt and Turkey), put it on his own head, and got a laugh. After he was discharged (or "demobilised," as the British would say), he kept up the magic and comedy act, and continued wearing a fez, advertising himself as "Cooper the Trooper."
In 1947, he married Gwen Henty, although from 1967 onward, he had an extramarital relationship with his personal assistant, Mary Fieldhouse. He and Gwen had 2 children. Son Thomas John became an actor, under the name Thomas Henty.
He also had a daughter named Victoria, who said, "Dad had a list of jokes, so he would sit at the dining table. And he used to get me to go through the jokes, and mark them, red, amber or green. He loved laughing. That's all he wanted to do, make people laugh. He got such joy when people laughed."
An imposing presence at 6-foot-4, he liked to take the stage wearing a tuxedo and a fez, and say, "Good evening," and then turn to the stage manager and say, "Have we got time for more?" Like American comedian Carl Ballantine, part of his act was being a bad magician, although he would occasionally throw in a trick that worked to keep the audience on their toes. He was also famously a bad juggler, and used many other props in his act. Like American comedian Chevy Chase, one thing he was good at was pratfalls.
Like American comedians George Carlin and Jackie Vernon, he was adroit with wordplay and puns:
* "Two fish in a tank, one says to the other, "You drive, I’ll man the guns."
* "Police arrested two kids. One was drinking battery acid, the other was eating fireworks. They charged one, and let the other off."
* "I slept like a log last night. I woke up in the fireplace."
* "My wife and I were married in a toilet. It was a marriage of convenience." (In Britain, a "toilet" is the entire restroom, not just the bowl and tank.)
* "I went to buy some camouflage trousers, but I couldn’t find any." (Sounds like a Steven Wright joke.)
* "Two aerials meet on a roof, fall in love and get married. The ceremony was rubbish, but the reception was brilliant." (Sounds like the old joke about the danger of drinking varnish: "It'll be a sad end, but a great finish.")
* "A man said to the doctor: 'I've broken my arm in several places.' The doctor said, 'Well, don't go there any more." (Sounds like another old joke: First man: "I'm stiff in the joints." Second man: "Well, stay out of those joints!")
Unfortunately, like Chase, Carlin, and so many other comedians, he was a substance abuser. He drank more than Dean Martin and Foster Brooks combined seemed to do (Martin actually didn't drink much, and Brooks swore he never touched a drop in real life), and he smoked more cigars than Groucho Marx and George Burns. By the 1970s, he was one of the most famous comedians in the world, but his health had already begun to suffer. British network Thames Television dropped his show in 1980.
But Thames' weekend counterpart, London Weekend Television -- both absorbed into ITV in 2002 -- was still willing to work with him. On April 15, 1984, he was booked on the variety show Live from Her Majesty's, which, as the title suggests, was broadcast live from Her Majesty's Theatre in Westminster, London. An audience of 12 million people watched.
Its host, as usual, was the Liverpool-based comedian Jimmy Tarbuck. The way the act was supposed to work, Tarbuck would hide behind the curtain, and hand Cooper the props he needed. Tommy's son Thomas was also backstage. A beautiful blonde handed him a robe, and he put it on over his tux, and said, "Thank you, love."
They turned out to be his last words. After fastening the robe, he held his arms out, as if to begin his act. Then he fell backwards, and landed on his rear end, leaning against the curtain. The audience thought it was another pratfall, and laughed. A few seconds later, he fell from a sitting to a lying position. Still, the audience laughed.
Finally, Tarbuck realized it wasn't part of the act, and signaled to the show's director, Alasdair MacMillan. MacMillan cued the orchestra to play for an unscripted commercial break. The screen went blank, while LWT's master control contacted stations to start transmitting commercials.
Cooper was taken to Westminster Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. He was 63 years old. Although his death was not revealed to the evening news broadcasts, the incident was the leading item on them. His death was officially reported the next morning.
In 1988, Thomas Henty died at age 32, as a result of hemophilia. Gwen died in 2002. In 2014, a documentary was broadcast, suggesting that, in addition to carrying on a parallel relationship with his personal assistant, Tommy Cooper was an abusive husband and father. His daughter Vicky, having refused all interview requests for 30 years, finally spoke up, saying that the documentary described a man she never knew. She knew about the affair and the drinking, but said he was never abusive.
The age of 63 is too young to die, and no one should have to die with 12 million people watching. On the other hand, Tommy Cooper was still making people laugh as he left this world. He literally died while doing what he loved. Nearly 40 years later, watching old clips on television and the Internet, people are still laughing at his act. He would have loved that.
*
April 15, 1984 was a Sunday. England's Football League would have played the day before, except this was a week of an international break, when national teams played each other, later to be known as an "Interlull."
But in America, there were Major League Baseball games played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-1 at Yankee Stadium. Ken Griffey Sr. drove in both Yankee runs, near the game's beginning and at its end: He doubled home Willie Randolph after a leadoff single in the bottom of the 1st inning, and singled home Toby Harrah and Lou Piniella in the bottom of the 10th inning. Dave Righetti was the winning pitcher, in relief of Ron Guidry.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-5 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Eddie Murray went 0-for-2 with 2 walks and an RBI. Cal Ripken Jr. went 3-for-3 with 2 walks, but no RBIs.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-4 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1-0 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. The only run came in the bottom of the 1st, when George Hendrick grounded to 2nd, allowing Lonnie Smith to score. Bob Forsch (4 1/3rd innings), Dave Rucker (2), Jeff Lahti (1) and Bruce Sutter (1 2/3rds) combined on a 7-hit shutout.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-2 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Robin Yount went 0-for-3 with a walk. Paul Molitor appeared as a pinch-runner, for Ted Simmons, who went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. George Brett was injured, missing the 1st 20 percent of the season, including this game.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers, 2-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-5 at the Astrodome in Houston.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-4 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
* The San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-6 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Jack Clark and Jeffrey Leonard both hit home runs off Fernando Valenzuela in the 6th inning. Both teams scored 2 runs in the 9th inning. Chili Davis led off the top of the 11th with a double, and was singled home by Joel Youngblood for the winning run.
* The California Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 12-8 at the Oakland Coliseum. The Halos got home runs from Reggie Jackson, Brian Downing, Rob Wilfong and Juan Beníquez. Rod Carew went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-4 and didn't steal any bases, but drove in a run with a groundout.
* The Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers were rained out at Fenway Park in Boston. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 6. The Tigers won the opener, 9-7. The Red Sox won the nightcap, 10-2.
* The New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs were rained out at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 7. The Cubs swept, 8-6 and 8-4.
* The Montreal Expos and the Philadelphia Phillies were also rained out, at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. (It didn't have a permanent roof yet.) This also became an August 7 doubleheader. The Phils won the opener, 6-2. The Expos won the nightcap, 3-2. Between the 2 games, Mike Schmidt went 2-for-7 with a home run, 2 walks and 3 RBIs. Pete Rose, in his brief time with the Expos, only appeared in the opener, as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.
There were 3 games played in the United States Football League. The New Jersey Generals lost to the Arizona Wranglers, 20-3 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. The Philadelphia Stars beat the Chicago Blitz, 41-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. And the Birmingham Stallions beat the Michigan Panthers, 28-17 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.
The NBA was between the regular season and the Playoffs. There were 4 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals, 3-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat their Provincial rivals, the Quebec Nordiques, 2-1 at the Montreal Forum.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota North Stars, 3-1 at the St. Louis Arena.
* And the Edmonton Oilers beat their arch-rivals, the Calgary Flames, 3-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
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