Props used by 1950s television comedian Ernie Kovacs, including a gross of whoopie cushions, 25 joy buzzers, 5 black-eye producing telescopes and eyeglasses with images of eyes on the lenses, are being sold this weekend by a Dallas collectibles auctioneer.
Kovacs always wore the eyeglasses when he was in character as drunken poet Percy Dovetonsils.
The three gorilla masks used in comedy bits involving the "Nairobi Trio" will also be part of the auction online and in Dallas at Heritage Auction Galleries. Doug Norwine, director of music and entertainment at Heritage, said in a news release that the items are consigned by the estate of Kovacs and his late widow, actress and singer Edie Adams, who left 12 cases of Muriel cigars.
Adams died in October at 81. Kovacs died in a car accident in 1962 at the age of 42. Norwine, director at Heritage who is selling the stuff, is still alive.
Other items in the auction of music and entertainment memorabilia include items consigned by the daughter of "Frankenstein" actor Boris Karloff, Norwine said.
Those items include original photo negatives of Frankenstein's Bride in the nude from the 1933 film "Bride of Frankenstein" and a huge sausage worn in the pants of the monster, still preserved in a jar.
