On the November 5, 2011 broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion," the first since Tom Keith died on October 30, his radio compatriots stepped to the microphone and said a few words of tribute to their friend and colleague.
Rich Dworksy demonstrated two sounds that Tom Keith invented: the sound of a woman walking, in high heels, and the definitive sound of her stopping and turning on her heel, which he accomplished by sprinkling sand on his sound effects table.
Sue Scott talked about his ability to do anything, fix anything, and make you laugh while he was at it. He was methodical about everything, wanting to get it just right. As she said on Minnesota Public Radio's Midday Show on November 1, she was happy for him that he had gotten his hubcap sound to work just perfectly, on his very last Prairie Home show, October 22, at the Fitzgerald Theatre (he had stopped going on the road with the show about ten years ago).
His boss, Garrison Keillor, called into the Midday Show but could not speak at first. After a long pause, Keillor said that Tom would be missed not only on the air, but backstage as well. Calling him "the soul of kindness," Keillor said it was Tom Keith who made Prairie Home Companion "feel like a family" in the way he treated everyone, especially first-time guests.
To Be A Child of God Each Day - My Light Must Shine Along the Way
The cast of Prairie Home Companion sang those lines from "Life's Evening Sun," (also known as "A Beautiful Life" by William M. Golden) as if to remind themselves, and us, that only a few days before the heart attack from which he died on the the way to the hospital, Tom Keith was doing what he did best, performing sound effects on live radio, from the horses on "Lives of the Cowboys," to the sound of car wheels spinning on ice, to a singing walrus and a dentist's drill.
He was making people happy.
Garrison Keillor had known Tom Keith for forty years. They met in 1971 when both were working the morning show at Minnesota Public Radio. As Keillor pointed out in his PHC website eulogy of Keith, the man who was the voice of Buster the Show Dog also had a fine human voice for radio acting.
From Larry, the Basement Dweller, to Maurice, the Oh-So-French Waiter at Cafe Beouf
Tom Keith was the man who thrilled live audiences as well as radio listeners. Keillor noted that kids, especially, got their parents to bring them for live sessions of "A Prairie Home Companion" so that they could watch Tom work his magic.
"Boys watched him closely," Keillor said, to see how he made the sound of water dripping, a helicopter landing, a shotgun volley.
His fellow sound-effects man, Fred Newman, created a vibrant picture for Washington Post reporter Emily Langer:
Tom Keith played his table of sound props "like a piano."
In addition to his PHC gig, Tom Keith continued with Garrison Keillor's old live morning show up until 2008. As Garrison described it, "he took the name Jim Ed Poole, did the sports segment, and talked about his pet chicken, Curtis, who lived with him at the Hotel Transom."
Dale Connelly, who took over Keillor's role on the morning show, went on to do Heartland Radio. Dale and Tom's final show together was on December 11, 2008, live from Tom Keith's home town theater, the Fitzgerald, in downtown St. Paul.
Central Presbyterian Church, nearby, served a pancake breakfast, seating 600 people at a time.
Tom and Dale's guests, some of whom had been standing in line since 2:30 a.m., were encouraged to wander in and out of the four-hour show, since they could also listen from the church. They were also admonished not to put off their morning chores, although few of the throng could be persuaded to leave.
Their loyalty was rewarded by getting to hear "Jim Ed" do one more round of commercials for the show's spoof sponsors, including the "Bowser Bed," a vibrating pad for dogs, very reminiscent of ads for "Bertha's Kitty Boutique" on the old Prairie Home Companion in the 1980s.
The best way to say a proper goodbye to Jim Ed Poole, a.k.a. Tom Keith, is to listen to all four hours of that finale of the Morning Show and imagine the hundreds of people lined up outside to hear him one last time. Some of the musicians Tom had given air time, so valuable to their careers, provided the most poignant moments.
Prudence Johnson sang Bob Dylan's "Restless Farewell" to express her melancholy on that December morning. "And the corner sign says it's closing time/so I'll bid farewell and be down the road."
Greg Brown also came by for a musical goodbye, improvising on "Been a long time coming/gonna be a long time gone/ who's gonna help me through my chores/who's gonna give me all the scores?"
What Good is Radio Without You?
It ended with Peter Ostroushko, plunking out the plaintive melody of "You Are My Sunshine" on his mandolin and beginning to sing, "The other night, guys, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I heard you on the air."
And then the people in the theater, and the church, and the streets of St. Paul, and all over Minnesota, and beyond, joined him in what came next. "When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken . . . ."
Sources
"Remembering Tom," A Prairie Home Companion, November 5, 2011
The Midday Show, Minnesota Public Radio, November 1, 2011
"Tom Keith, sound-effect man on 'Prairie Home Companion,' dies", by Emily Langer, The Washington Post, November 1, 2011
The Morning Show, Minnesota Public Radio, December 11, 2008.
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