A singing telegram is a message that is delivered by an artist in a musical form. Singing telegrams are historically linked to normal telegrams, but tend to be humorous. Sometimes the artist is in costume or formal clothing.
A singing telegram artist delivering a birthday messageA video detailing the day in the life of a singing telegram artist in New York City.
Western Union, the American telegraph company, began offering singing telegram services in 1933. That July 28, a fan sent Hollywood singing star Rudy Vallee a birthday greeting by telegram. George P. Oslin (1899–1996), the Western Union public relations director, decided this would be a good opportunity to make telegrams, which had been associated with deaths and other tragic news, into something more popular. He asked a Western Union operator, Lucille Lipps, to sing the message over the telephone, and this became the first singing telegram.[1] While Oslin created the singing telegram because he thought "that messages should be fun," he recalled that he "was angrily informed I was making a laughingstock of the company."[2]
As relatively few telegram recipients had telephones, most telegrams, including singing telegrams, were first delivered in person. The popularization of the telephone in the 1960s reduced telegrams in general. By 1972, Western Union was receiving a small number of requests for singing telegrams and was seeking regulatory approval on a state-by-state basis to eliminate the offering.[3] Western Union suspended its singing telegram service in 1974, but independent singing telegram companies, specializing in often costumed personal delivery of gift messages, have kept up the tradition.
A DIY singing telegram is a specially written song all about the person in karaoke DVD form, so that any singer anywhere in the world can deliver the fully personalised singing telegram.[citation needed]
Kissogramedit
A kissogram, also called kissagram (short for kissing telegram), is a message delivered along with a kiss,[4] usually arranged as a fun surprise for a person for a special occasion. Message deliverers can be hired either by themselves, or as part of an agency. A kissogram is usually presented by a performer dressed in a costume or uniform such as a police officer, nurse, French maid or nun.[citation needed] This term was used in the TV program Doctor Who during the early 2010s to describe the profession of The Doctor's companion Amy Pond.[5]
Stripogramedit
A stripogram or strippergram[6] is a form of message delivery in which a stripper will perform a striptease while singing or dancing. This type of entertainment became popular in the 1970s in the US and spread to Europe during the 1980s.[7] Typically a Strip-O-Gram is most often a form of gift given for a birthday, anniversary or bachelor party. A common practice is for the stripper-gram to be dressed in an outfit of one kind or another and to act out some charade connected with this, before commencing their act – for example a police officer 'arresting' somebody, a lawyer pretending to serve papers, a jilted bride and so on (sometimes this charade will be relevant to something the intended 'victim' has experienced, such as a divorce, or brush with the law). Usually a Strip-o-gram entertainer is accompanied by a chaperone, who plays her music, holds on to the money, tips and secures her safety, unlike an escort, who comes alone and does more of a one on one with the celebrant. Nowadays some agencies or performers do both to secure a bigger pay out.
^thecelebratedmisterk (2012-03-11), Newsroom Stripper, archived from the original on 2021-12-12, retrieved 2018-03-23
External linksedit
Singing Telegrams Deliver Messages with a Melody Voice of America, 27 July 2005
George P. Oslin
April 11, 2024
singing, telegram, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, january,. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Singing telegram news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2012 Learn how and when to remove this template message A singing telegram is a message that is delivered by an artist in a musical form Singing telegrams are historically linked to normal telegrams but tend to be humorous Sometimes the artist is in costume or formal clothing A singing telegram artist delivering a birthday message source source source source source source source source A video detailing the day in the life of a singing telegram artist in New York City Western Union the American telegraph company began offering singing telegram services in 1933 That July 28 a fan sent Hollywood singing star Rudy Vallee a birthday greeting by telegram George P Oslin 1899 1996 the Western Union public relations director decided this would be a good opportunity to make telegrams which had been associated with deaths and other tragic news into something more popular He asked a Western Union operator Lucille Lipps to sing the message over the telephone and this became the first singing telegram 1 While Oslin created the singing telegram because he thought that messages should be fun he recalled that he was angrily informed I was making a laughingstock of the company 2 As relatively few telegram recipients had telephones most telegrams including singing telegrams were first delivered in person The popularization of the telephone in the 1960s reduced telegrams in general By 1972 Western Union was receiving a small number of requests for singing telegrams and was seeking regulatory approval on a state by state basis to eliminate the offering 3 Western Union suspended its singing telegram service in 1974 but independent singing telegram companies specializing in often costumed personal delivery of gift messages have kept up the tradition Contents 1 Variants 1 1 Kissogram 1 2 Stripogram 2 See also 3 References 4 External linksVariants editA DIY singing telegram is a specially written song all about the person in karaoke DVD form so that any singer anywhere in the world can deliver the fully personalised singing telegram citation needed Kissogram edit A kissogram also called kissagram short for kissing telegram is a message delivered along with a kiss 4 usually arranged as a fun surprise for a person for a special occasion Message deliverers can be hired either by themselves or as part of an agency A kissogram is usually presented by a performer dressed in a costume or uniform such as a police officer nurse French maid or nun citation needed This term was used in the TV program Doctor Who during the early 2010s to describe the profession of The Doctor s companion Amy Pond 5 Stripogram edit A stripogram or strippergram 6 is a form of message delivery in which a stripper will perform a striptease while singing or dancing This type of entertainment became popular in the 1970s in the US and spread to Europe during the 1980s 7 Typically a Strip O Gram is most often a form of gift given for a birthday anniversary or bachelor party A common practice is for the stripper gram to be dressed in an outfit of one kind or another and to act out some charade connected with this before commencing their act for example a police officer arresting somebody a lawyer pretending to serve papers a jilted bride and so on sometimes this charade will be relevant to something the intended victim has experienced such as a divorce or brush with the law Usually a Strip o gram entertainer is accompanied by a chaperone who plays her music holds on to the money tips and secures her safety unlike an escort who comes alone and does more of a one on one with the celebrant Nowadays some agencies or performers do both to secure a bigger pay out See also editGorillagram TelegramReferences edit Liz Sadler July 7 2002 Special delivery The singing telegram endures Columbia News Service archived from the original on November 8 2006 George Oslin 97 creator of the singing telegram Chicago Tribune p 11 October 31 1996 Western Union Tuning Out Singing Telegram The New York Times p 27 July 29 1972 Definition of kissogram OxfordDictionaries com Archived from the original on March 4 2016 Retrieved 2010 04 18 New Who companion has kissogram job Digital Spy 2010 01 18 Retrieved 2018 03 23 strippergram Wiktionary en wiktionary org Retrieved 2017 09 30 thecelebratedmisterk 2012 03 11 Newsroom Stripper archived from the original on 2021 12 12 retrieved 2018 03 23External links editSinging Telegrams Deliver Messages with a Melody Voice of America 27 July 2005 George P Oslin Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Singing telegram amp oldid 1194708478 Variants, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
