Did You Know? 5 Perry Como Facts

by Lara on November 5th, 2007

Perry Como statue Perry Como was born in Canonsburg, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh, which also happens to be the birthplace of Bobby Vinton. Vinton always told people he was from Pittsburgh, but Como was proud to say he was from Canonsburgh. A statue of Perry Como was erected in the middle of the town with a base that reads, “To this place God has brought me.” but it was after Como’s death, so he never got to see it. This could be a good thing, because the statue “sings” by playing recordings of Como’s music.

Como was referenced in the series finale of Seinfeld, in which Jerry Seinfeld, Kramer, George Costanza, and Elaine Benes’s attorney Jackie Chiles tells Costanza: “I want the jury to see Perry Como! No one’s gonna convict Perry Como!” Chiles wanted Costanza to look like a friendly man, and not a felon, in his court appearance.

Como’s sugary Christmas track “Christmas Dream”, complete with warm lyrics and charming German schoolchildren as the chorus, was used in the holocaust / Nazi-pursuit film “The Odessa File”, forming a memorably ironic, bitter and satirical introduction to the film as Jon Voight drives through a modern brightly lit Hamburg at Christmas.

The comedy show SCTV featured a popular sketch with Eugene Levy as “Perry Como: Still Alive!” in which the singer was portrayed as so laid-back that he sang while lying down. The sketch became well enough known to have been mentioned in obituaries, which reported that Como had been greatly amused by it.

In January 1994, Como went to Dublin for what would be an auspicious moment in his long career of more than sixty years. 1993 would have marked his fiftieth anniversary with the RCA Victor label. Como’s Irish Christmas was produced for the American public television system and despite looking aged and unwell, has been re-broadcast annually since 1994. At the show’s conclusion, Como apologized to his Dublin audience for a performance he felt was not up to his usual standards.