Jose Jimenez
|
|
Jose Jimenez was a fictional character created and performed by comedian Bill Dana on the Steve Allen Show in 1959 and who became increasingly popular during the 1960's. This character introduced himself with the memorable line: "My name...Jose Jimenez".
During the course of his Jose Jimenez acts, Bill Dana (who was of Hungarian-Jewish ancestry unlike the Hispanic character he played) took his character through various roles including elevator operator, sailor, and submariner until settling into the most famous occupation that Jose would hold: astronaut.
Perhaps surprisingly, the character of Jose Jimenez caught on amongst the seven Mercury astronauts and Dana became good friends with the astronauts. "Okay, Jose, you're on your way!" Deke Slayton quipped as Alan Shepard's famous first flight launched, in reference to the astronaut parody.
For his role as Jose the Astronaut, Dana was officially made an honorary Mercury astronaut.
As time passed, Dana realized that such ethnic humor by a person not of that ethnic group was becoming taboo. In 1970 he announced that he would no longer effect the Jose Jimenez character. In 1997 Dana received an image award from the National Hispanic Media Coalition.
External links
- A short bio on Dana with info about the Jimenez character (http://www.olywa.net/randyandsteve/billdana.htm)