MYERS, PIERRE ELLIS (PETE, "MAD DADDY") (7 Apr.1928-4 Oct. 1968) served a brief but trend-setting stint as a Cleveland radio disc jockey at the beginning of the rock and roll era in the late 1950s. Born in San Francisco, CA., to Pierre and Gayle Myers, he trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and moved into the field of radio announcing in San Diego, Cal. Seeking to break into the Cleveland market, he found work first in Akron and then (Jan. 1958) with WJW in Cleveland as the nighttime disc jockey. He drew upon his acting experience to develop the persona of the crazy DJ, affecting a flowing black cape and such signature phrases as "mellow as Jello" and "Hang loose, Mother Goose." "Once he got into a character, it really took him over," said Bill Randle, one of his contemporaries on another station. Taken off the air by WJW for signing on with WHK before giving his contractual 90-day notice, Myers stayed in the public eye by parachuting 2,200 feet into Lake Erie from an airplane on 14 June 1958. He remained with WHK for about a year before moving to WNEW in New York. There he was given one test evening in his "Mad Daddy" role, but adverse reaction forced him to play it straight thereafter. Frustrated in his efforts to recapture his Cleveland fame, Myers shot himself to death a decade later. His first marriage to Sylvia Crane in 1955 ended in divorce. He was then married in Cleveland to Ann Boyce Myers on 29 Mar. 1958; he was survived by a later wife, Lisa Jordan Myers.
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