Schwanz Family Players

In the 1980s we purchased our first telephone answering machine.  The owners manual had script that could be used as the outgoing message, but it was quite boring.  So I started writing 30-second plays for the family to perform.  We had great fun.  Karla and Jason started drafting scripts.  We’d rehearse a couple of times, then gather around the answering machine to record on the cassette tape.   Here’s the entire library of recordings made over about six years in the order in which they were created.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Schwanz Family Players!

Santa’s Red Suit

Long Winter’s Nap

The Pig Sty

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Jason Comedy Show

Radio KJKJ

The Robots

The Answering Machine

The Heimlich Christmas

Twilight Zone

Grumps the Groundhog

The Sounds of Spring

Holiday Dressing

Ebenezer Schwanz

The Homestead

Fall Migration

Christmas Rap

Exercise Class

Beep Audition

Busy Tone

Summer Party

Teenage Driver

Vacation Plans

Hey Diddle Diddle

Rudolph’s Snowball Fight

Big 4-0

Brutus and the Insane Asylum

Refrigerator