In alt.flame.jesus.christ Velvet Elvis vomited out...

I always thought that it was bullshit, but I'd heard that banana cream
story at such a young age I always wondered if there were any truth
behind the story. I'd never heard any of those other "gags" that people
claimed he'd done. The way I heard it was that he told the joke while
using a banana cream pie as a visual aid. That make sense to me - he was
always throwing cream pies. The whole thing was told to me like "Did you
hear about Soupy Sales getting fired??" - and them telling me the joke
that was over my head at the time.

Around the same time - and probably by the same bunch of kids from a
family of Mexicans that lived a few doors down from me - I was asked if
I'd heard that Superman was dead? Horrified because I watched the show
all the time, I said no. They explained that the guy who played Superman
had gone crazy and had begun to believe that he really was Superman.
He'd walked to the edge of a tall building and had tried to fly. SPLAT!

I remember that as I walked away my mind was fascinated with the thought
that someone could assume a role and get so lost in it that you'd jump
from a building. Now that I think about it, maybe that where my interest
is psychology comes from. Reeves had died in June of 1959 when I was 3
1/2 - I was around 4 1/2 when those kids told me. In that year's time an
urban legend was born and made it's way around the United States (and
further, I'm sure)and made it's way to my little street in small town
West Virgina. Back then it would have traveled slow - by letter,
telephone and radio. Really damn slow compared to us today with the
Internets.