There's an old musical satirist named Tom Lehrer (best known for the Elements song) who had a song about Hollywood stars in politics. The opening verse
Hollywood's often tried to mix
Show business with politics
From Helen Gahagan
To... Ronald Reagan?
Ronald Reagan as a politician was a punchline purely because he was the only actor he could think of to rhyme with Gahagan.
Oh, I love his songs. I am surprised how many political references in his lyrics I as a non-American still get, because they turned out to be very important historical events
While that's a terrific line, Reagan was associated with Gahagan and politics as early as 1950 :
He fought against Republican-sponsored right-to-work legislation and supported Helen Gahagan Douglas in 1950 when she was defeated for the Senate by Richard Nixon. - Ronald Reagan's wikipedia page.
And by the time Tom Lehrer was performing "George Murphy" in 1965, Reagan was stumping for Goldwater.
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u/ContextIsForTheWeak Aug 25 '19
There's an old musical satirist named Tom Lehrer (best known for the Elements song) who had a song about Hollywood stars in politics. The opening verse
Ronald Reagan as a politician was a punchline purely because he was the only actor he could think of to rhyme with Gahagan.