I used to lead the kind of lifestyle where the Super Mario Bros. Super Show came up in conversation a lot, usually focusing on one of three subjects that also represent 100% of internet discourse about the show:
1) Mario being played by pro wrestler and music video veteran Louis Albano
2) Sometimes legend of Zelda was on it and those cartoons are a source of more enduring affection than the show itself
3) The end credits song where Mario tells you how to “do the Mario,” which is supposed to be a sort of dance but in my wife’s words “that’s just describing Him Walking.”
I’ve never met someone else who wanted to talk about Luigi.
For those who don’t know, he was a Canadian named Jack Westelman, aka Danny Wells, and he’a one of those guys who was in two episodes of everything in the 70s. The Mario show was a smash hit but it was only his second breakout show, after playing the bartender Charlie on The Jeffersons. He’d go on to narrate the HBO produced show Crashbox and play the king on Potatoes and Dragons.
He also made movies and while he didn’t usually have big roles he was in a lot of real hits, including ding Gus, The Shaggy DA, and Private Benjamin. He was in a Mel Brooks movie (Life Stinks). He was in Magnolia.
For a while there he was the face of K-Mart when that was something you’d want to be and also kmart was a going concern…
He passed away in 2013, ironically declared the Year of Luigi. Think about him a little this week, raise a glass to Charlie Day, and pour one out for “the Old Luigi.”
