(December 9, 1924-September 29, 2008)
Born in St. Louis, Missouri
Organist at the Fox Theater in St. Louis (1952-74)
Collected vacuum cleaners and owned 150
Frequent guest on 'The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson' (77 appearances), 'The Mike Douglas Show' (89 appearances) and other 70s talk shows
Subject of the documentary 'The Happiest Man in the World' (2005)

He became obsessed with vacuums and could identify different models by sound.
If he heard an unfamiliar sweeper while walking down the street, he would knock on the door and ask to see the vacuum.
During his first appearance on 'The Tonight Show,' he got lost on his way to makeup, locked himself out of the building, and re-entered the studio late and soaked in perspiration.
As he then demonstrated vacuums from his collection, parts fell off them.
He said of his vacuums, 'They don't always work right. Sometimes, I don't work right either.'

The main reason his vacuums fell apart was that stagehands had put the wrong handles on the machines.
He became so popular that he expanded his repertoire by demonstrating other gadgets that also often didn't work, much to Carson's amusement.
He kept most of his 150 vacuums, some of which dated back to 1910, in working condition and used a different one each week to clean the carpets.

Credit: C. Fishel

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For 2009, as of last week, Out of 25 Votes: 52.00% Annoying
In 2008, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying

• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 15]
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