The spirits of Southern food: An interview with Col. Sanders and Duncan Hines (sort of)

Food lovers may swap recipes and restaurant suggestions, but few of them have a favorite culinary impersonator, perhaps because professional mimics don’t know enough about bygone kitchen figures to do them justice. But C.J. Sizemore has spent decades playing Colonel Harland Sanders, of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, while Jeff Moore recently perfected his portrayal of Bowling Green, Kentucky, native Duncan Hines for the city’s Duncan Hines Days festival. They recently joined The Food Section for a Zoom discussion of what they do and how they do it.

Hanna Raskin: It’s so neat to have two great Kentucky food folks — or at least people who know them well — here today. As a person who covers Southern food, I of course respect Duncan Hines as a food writer, and Harland Sanders as a fried chicken expert.

Mr. Sizemore, will you tell me how you got started in this impersonation business?

C.J. Sizemore: Well, I worked for the Illinois Department of Mental Health for my career. And I was at a group home, and this young man who was living there said, “You look like the Chicken Man!” [Laughing] I thought, “Well, that’s interesting.”

I contacted KFC and indicated that people thought I looked like The Colonel and would there be any problem in my starting to do him. They said no, and they even sent me some props. They sent me glasses and a bow tie. I couldn’t find a suit, so I bought a tuxedo and had it modified. That cost me about $500. [Laughing]

That was in 2000. From there, I did it on my own for 10 years, mm-hmm, and that’s when KFC contacted me. I was on vacation, down on the beach in Florida, and I got a call on my cellphone. They said, “Would you consider being an ambassador for us?” That started it.

HR: That’s great. Now, Mr. Moore, do you have a resemblance to Duncan Hines?

Jeff Moore: Unfortunately, no. I hope that I capture his spirit.

During the pandemic, a friend of mine said, “You need to look at creating some one-person shows.” She suggested Duncan Hines, and I thought, “Well, I’ll look into that cake mix.”

Then I did a little digging, and I really fell in love with the character. The gentleman is quite inspirational. He was a lot more than a name on a cake box.

HR: But I imagine you do your impersonation for people who have no idea who Duncan Hines was.

JM: Yes. Most people think he’s a fictional character. In fact, I start out the presentation (by saying), “I’m the real Duncan Hines. I’m a real live person.”

He was a traveling salesman, and he kept this little (restaurant) notebook, because health inspections and restaurant standards were few and far between. In 1935, his wife decided to send out a printed list of 167 restaurants across about 20 states. It started his career in publishing travel guides. He didn’t take endorsements; he didn’t take advertising. It was purely his high standards.

HR: And did he write about Colonel Sanders’ cafe?

JM: Yes, he did. In his 1949 edition, there is an entry for the Motor Court and Cafe just north of Corbin. It says it’s a good place to get country ham, biscuits and fried chicken on the way to the Smoky Mountains, or Cumberland Falls.

HR: Mr. Sizemore, you probably never need to introduce yourself.

CJS: Just two weeks ago, I was at a local grocery store. This fella stops, roll down his window, and says, “Did anybody ever tell you that you look like Colonel Sanders?” [Laughing] That’s very common.

Of course, people want to get their photo with The Colonel. He was a very friendly fellow, and so am I.

HR: Right, we know a lot about him. We know how he sounded and know he was a very colorful character. Do you try to imitate his language?

CJS: Fortunately for me, I was born in West Virginia, so I have that Southern accent. I’ve lived in the North ever since I was 18 years old, but when I’m doing The Colonel, then I start being The Colonel, y’know?

Someone will tell me, “Well, I was a lawyer.” And you know, The Colonel did a lot of things. So, I’ll pick up on that and say, “Y’know, when I was a lawyer, or when I worked on the railroad…” Yeah, it’s a great life.

HR: That’s interesting. Because I read his autobiography and understand that not everything he said or wrote about himself was true, but I guess you get to tell it the way he told it. Is that right?

CJS: That’s correct. Now, fortunately, when he was 79 years old, he changed from that way of life. But even after, uh, his conversion, sometimes he’d slip. [Laughing]

HR: That’s great. So, Mr. Moore, are there recordings of Duncan? Do we know what he sounded like or how he would’ve spoken?

JM: For Duncan to be able to do what he did, to be able to go into restaurants secretly, he wanted not to be recognized. He was a very humorous gentleman, but he was very low key. He was not flashy at all.

The one recording that I did find on YouTube was a guest appearance on “To Tell the Truth.” And, I was like, “Oh, good. I’m going to hear what he sounds like.” He answered just one question and said, “No.” The celebrity panel was too busy quizzing the other two fellas. It was kind of a downer that I didn’t really get to hear the way he put together his words.

HR: Knowing that he was low-key, do you have a go-to conversational topic?

JM: I try to pull them into the conversation, but mainly I just address how he got to be the man he became. At first, I thought, OK, he was married three times. This man was probably not a pleasant fellow to be around: You know, when you kind of rack up wives. But his first wife, Florence, who he loved very much, had cancer. So, he wasn’t a bad fella.

HR: Mr. Sizemore, have you had a similar experience? Do you feel you’ve gotten to know The Colonel a little bit more by impersonating him?

CJS: Yep, I know quite a bit about The Colonel now. I start out with when I was 5 years old and my daddy died, and I had to take over cause Mama was living in town. And I take it all the way up through (having) all kinds of businesses and two wives, y’know.

HR: Alright, we’ve got a lot of wives between the two of you. Speaking of wives, do people ever ask you questions that you can’t answer, either because you don’t know the answer, or it wouldn’t be appropriate?

CJS: If I don’t know the answer, I’ll make it up.

HR: [Laughing] Oh, that’s the great part of depicting a liar. Right. You know, they’ve scaled back The Colonel in advertising for KFC. Do you feel like he ought to have a more prominent role?

CJS: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, once they started injecting these other characters, having a woman be The Colonel, come on! [Laughing] Does that make sense?

HR: It’s interesting you say that, because I imagine one of the reasons they haven’t used The Colonel so much lately is he’s associated with some old-time views and conservative ways of thinking.

CJS: He is Mr. Kentucky Fried Chicken.

HR: Well, yes.

CJS: He was the most recognized person in the world.

HR: Well, that’s right. And you hear all the time about how internationally, and particularly in Asia, he’s such a revered figure. Have you had the opportunity to take this character abroad?

CJS: Absolutely. I did a commercial over in London, and it ran for five years. I liked it a lot. I liked the royalties.

JM: You were asking about not quite knowing how to answer a question. Now, you have to realize Duncan passed away in 1959, but there are still people around who knew him. (On one of my trolley tours), an elderly African American lady came up and grabbed my hand and said, “You and your wife, do you remember Agnes? Miz Agnes was an older lady friend of mine who worked for you all at your home and cooked in the kitchen.” She really thought I was him.

I said, “I think I do.” And her son, you know, patted me on the shoulder.

He was a man of his time. He smoked like a chimney, and in fact, he passed away from lung cancer. So, there are things about him that people probably wouldn’t approve of today. But there are lots of things that seemed to resonate with people.

HR: Right. I know where Mr. Sizemore stands on this, and I imagine as an impersonator you’re compelled to honor the historical record, but how do you address the fact that Hines was reviewing segregated restaurants?

JM: That’s always in the back of my mind. But at the time that he was starting his book, the Green Book was being developed. So, I’m hoping that he helped inspire that. And the money that he was making off this, he took portions of it and dedicated it to college scholarships in hotel and restaurant management. So, he was kind of walking the talk. Sort of.

HR: Now, I don’t know if you’d had the opportunity to talk with other impersonators, but I didn’t know if there’s anything you wanted to ask one another. Mr. Sizemore, you’ve been doing this for a long time: Any tips you might give to someone who’s starting out in the impersonation game?

JM: It is kind of a neat bookend that I’m just beginning the journey. Any help would be appreciated.

CJS: One of the wonderful things about doing this is all the people that you do get to meet. There are two of us that have contracts with KFC to do this. There are other wannabes, but we happen to be the two that have the contract. There have been previous men who have done this, but they have passed away.

When you’re out there, and people recognize you, they want to do things for you. Especially in airports, places like that, some guy will be next to me and want to buy my lunch.

I don’t do this for the money. I have a good retirement. It’s the opportunity to interact with the public. C.J. Sizemore, who’s going to talk to him? But The Colonel, everybody wants to talk to him.

When I started doing this, my wife did not approve. She just did not think it was a dignified thing for me to do. But after she flew first class a couple of times…

HR: Wait, are you getting upgraded cause you’re The Colonel?

CJS: Oh no, it’s in my contract. I put that in there. Especially when you’re doing foreign travel, it’s not fun being in the middle of 10 other people. You know? First class is nice. Kind of spoils you though, when you have to do your own travel. [Laughing]

HR: Do you and the other gentleman who portrays The Colonel interpret him the same way? Or do you have different interpretations?

CJS: We haven’t heard each other’s presentations.

HR: What? Wow!

CJS: [Laughing] No, no. Nope. We just haven’t.

HR: And when you talk about wannabes, does KFC just not need any more Colonels right now? Or are they not up to snuff?

CJS: Well, I think they picked the people they want to do it. Some of those guys don’t look a whole lot like The Colonel, in my opinion.

HR: Alright, well, I don’t want to keep you gentlemen all day. Is there anything else folks ought to know about what it is you’re doing?

JM: One thing I’d like to share is Duncan had a recipe for success. He says to take one part hard work, one part doing the work that you love, and then add in a generous portion of fun. And, and he really embodied that.

HR: That’s great. Mr. Sizemore, it sounds like that’s something The Colonel might have signed off on.

CJS: The Colonel worked hard, worked hard. He put in the hours.

JM: I think the appeal of both these gentlemen is they didn’t have easy lives. Their success came later.

CJS: He was out there on his own at 10 years old. Stepdad kicked him out. But he had a good life, The Colonel. The Colonel had a good life.

This story first appeared in The Food Section, a Charleston-based newsletter covering food and drink across the American South. To learn more about the James Beard Award-winning publication, visit thefoodsection.substack.com.