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A Memory from Christmas Past

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Contributed by: Jan Davisson on 12/9/2007

The holiday season always reminds me of the Angels of the World, a project I embarked on in the late 70's which consumed my life for almost 20 years and which raised money through the sale of Christmas ornaments to help support programs at the T&M Ranch in Indiantown. My brother Bill Taylor had founded the ranch to teach work and life skills to high level mentally challenged adults, preparing them to live independently in the community. Currently the program is administered by Seagull Industries for the Disabled and the Annual Grand Slam KDW Fishing Tournament in Jupiter is a major fundraising effort for their clients.

Recently I visited Seagull Industries' workshop location in Riviera Beach and saw some of the former T&M ranchers working there. It triggered a funny "Christmas angel" memory involving ventriloquist Jimmy Nelson and his puppets, Danny O'Day and Farfel.

Here's a bit of background to help you recall Jimmy Nelson. He first reached national prominence as the spokesman for television's Texaco Star Theater starring Milton Berle. He and his puppet Danny O'Day wore twin Texaco gas attendant uniforms during the commercial breaks. But his really memorable and long-running TV commercials were made for Nestle's. Farfel was the dog who sang "N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestles makes the very best... Chaw-klit!"

Now do you remember him?

I first met Jimmy Nelson in 1978 when I worked with him doing a promotion for Jupiter radio station WRYZ FM. Several years later, I approached him to be an honorary spokesman for the Angels of the World campaign. I invited him to visit the ranch to see the ranchers making the angels. Jimmy and his two puppet friends, Danny O'Day and Farfel, created quite a stir when they arrived at the T & M Ranch. Jimmy collected a large audience as he unpacked Danny O'Day and started assembling him. The ranchers were fascinated and weren't shy about asking Jimmy questions: "Where does Danny sleep?" "Does it hurt when you put his head on?" "Does he go to school?" "What does he like to eat?"

When Danny was finally ready to "talk", he started flirting with me. He told me how he had missed me, how pretty I looked and asked me out on a date. The ranchers didn't know what to make of this conversation. They were intrigued that Danny was asking me out as they knew that I was married. They all knew my husband Paul who often visited the ranch and most of the ranchers were willing to tattle to Paul about this flirty conversation. Comments flew back and forth between Danny and the ranchers. If you've never had an opportunity to make conversation with a dummy (the wooden kind), you've missed a strange experience. Once you start talking with the puppet, it comes alive and you find yourself conversing as if it were a real person.

Finally, I had to put Danny in his place and remind him that I was a married lady and couldn't accept his offer to take me out to dinner. The ranchers were quite relieved and
attempted to get him interested in one of the female ranchers instead. Unfortunately, Danny was leaving town after our visit to the ranch and couldn't take the young lady on a date.

To this day, I get tickled whenever I remember the look of wonder on the faces of the ranchers talking with Danny O'Day. It all came back to me this past week when Seagull Industries' clients painted ornaments for the WJTW Christmas tree for the Equality of Life auction, when I saw the excitement of the artists as they showed us the beautiful ornaments and expressed their concern about why WJTW's Gal on the Go, Kathy Greene wasn't with us. Their hugs, their laughter and our thanks made this a very special day.

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