Pictured is radio and television personality Professor Backwards.James Edmondson, Sr. (June 10, 1910 – January 29, 1976), also known as Professor Backwards, was a vaudevillian/comedian who appeared on TV from the 1950s to the early 1970s, most notably on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, and The Mike Douglas Show, where he appeared more times than any other guest. In addition to traditional stand-up comedy, Edmondson's act featured his ability to write in script that was upside down and/or backwards, spell and pronounce words backwards, and read an inverted blackboard correctly.On January 29, 1976, Edmondson was dropped off at his home by Randy Koehl, his sixteen year old driver and friend, who lived next door. Koehl then drove a woman in Edmondson's Cadillac convertible Eldorado to a house in East Point. Koehl stated the woman was acting oddly. He stated he had never seen her before. After returning the car, he went home.The next day, Edmondson was accosted at his College Park residence by three men, one of them armed with a pistol. After a demand for $5000, Edmondson produced a check for $300; afterwards, the gunman decided to wait overnight with Edmondson until the local bank opened, at which time, the intruders escorted Edmondson into his automobile and "drove around for an hour"[1]. When the car was stopped, three of the four men (including Edmondson) exited, and the life of "Professor Backwards" ended with three gunshots to the head. All three assailants were eventually arrested, charged with murder and armed robbery, convicted on both charges, and sentenced to life imprisonment.The trigger man, Michael Gantt was just paroled in May, 2009, by the Georgia Department of Corrections.Edmondson's death was satirized by Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live when, as the Weekend Update News Anchor, Chase said (paraphrasing here): "Professor Backwards, the entertainer who had the bizarre ability to speak backwards, was killed today in College Park, Georgia. Passersby apparently ignored the Professor's cries of 'Pleh! Pleh!'"Source: Wikipedia
Photo measures 8 x 10 in.
