Verne Langdon is a musician, composer, singer,[1] songwriter, keyboardist, producer, actor, puppeteer, radio personality, professional wrestler, wrestling promoter, mask maker, circus clown, makeup artist[2], and writer. He is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). He is the creator and founder of Slammers Wrestling Gym.[3]
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Music
He was an early pioneer co-host of the Coca-Cola HiFi Club on a 50 kW Northern California radio station in 1960. He later hosted a radio show (Langdon After Dark) on the same radio station through 1962. He has recorded over twenty albums, all with international distribution, and has written or produced albums for John Carradine, Jaye P. Morgan, Boris Karloff, Mae West, Korla Pandit, Beatrice Kay, Johann Sebastian Bork, and Jonathan Winters. Langdon's performance instruments include the Steinway grand piano, Hammond B-3 Electronic Organ and theater pipe organ, harpsichord, calliope, and celesta. His musical compositions have been heard in circuses, arena presentations, parades, television and radio shows, major motion pictures, and The Smithsonian Institution. Verne Langdon produced LP Vinyl and CD recordings including Key Of Sea, Forever, In Time,Candlelight, Remembering Korla Pandit, John Carradine Hollywood On Parade (single track), Jaye P. Morgan Lately!, Verne Langdon Out Of Love, Fairies In The Moonlight,Baby Sleep Sweet, April Stevens Carousel Dreams, Beatrice Kay Livin' In The Sunlight, Music For Magicians, An Evening With Boris Karloff And His Friends, John Carradine Poe With Pipes, Horrific Halloween Spooktacular, Music For Zombies, The Phantom Of The Organ, The Vampyre At The Harpsichord, Johann Sebastian Bork Fugue You!, Johann Sebastian Bork Get Lei'd!, Music For Dead Things, and Circus Clown Calliope! Vols. 1&2 and in June of 2006 Old Folks was released, a single track CD for which Verne Langdon wrote both the words and music, performed by Jonathan Winters. In 2006 he recorded the Carnival Of Souls Collection, a compilation of various versions of the song for which he wrote both the words and music and which he sings as the Title Song for writer/director Edgar Arce's (2007) film of the same name. He is currently in production at this time (2007) on a CD of new torch songs, and so far this year (2007) produced the newly-released Korla Pandit Buried Treasure/Juan Rolando Cocktail Hour 2-CD set and the Black Gardenias Collection (his latest release.)
Film and television
Langdon co-owned Don Post Studios from 1963 to 1968.[4] He was a makeup lab technician for Planet of the Apes and sequels of that film, and was a clown makeup consultant to Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey Circus clown college in 1971. With Jay Stein and Terry Winnick, he produced The Land Of A Thousand Faces in 1975 and Castle Dracula in 1980 for Universal Studios Tour. He also co-produced Stan Freberg's Federal Budget Review for PBS in 1980.
Collaborations
Verne Langdon has collaborated with Milt Larsen, Stan Freberg, Charlie Paakkari, Kelly Mann, Brian Friedman, and Jonathan Winters.
References
- Langdon at BoxOfMonsters.com
- Verne Langdon at Allmusic.com
- Verne Langdon at the Internet Movie Database
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