IJBFC Chat - July 9, 2006

(Name of message originator in [] brackets at the beginning of each line)

Welcome

Laura_Leff has joined the chat.

[Ozzie_Nelson] Hit the fload button

[Brad_from_Georgia] Hi, LL!

[Laura_Leff] Hi folks!

[Maxwell] Hey LL

[Laura_Leff] How's everyone doing tonight?

[Ozzie_Nelson] If you click on fload, the frame to the left goes away

[Maxwell] I'm tense and anxious. Listening to the White Sox vs. Red Sox game.

[Ozzie_Nelson] float

[Brad_from_Georgia] Doing well, thanks. Taking a break from working on a new children's mystery novel

Barbara has joined the chat.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Hello, Barbara!

[Maxwell] Hi Barbara

[Laura_Leff] Hey Barbara!

[Barbara] Hi everyone!

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - I wish I could get that game...

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - I just bought my tickets for two As vs. Red Sox games.

[Brad_from_Georgia] If it's a tie, do they come out Pink Sox?

[Maxwell] I went to a minor league game here in town that started an hour later than the Sox game, and I've been home close to 3 hours.

[Laura_Leff] So is everyone staying cool today?

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - What's the score?

[Maxwell] Tied at 5.

[Barbara] Not really. It's hot down here.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Yeh, not bad in North Georgia--low 80s today, cloudy.

[Maxwell] 18th inning.

[Laura_Leff] Wow!

[Laura_Leff] Dan and I were just enjoying the warm day on the back patio.

[Maxwell] Mid-80s here.

[Laura_Leff] I think it's high 70s or low 80s here.

[Maxwell] Spent part of the afternoon in the sun at the ballpark and just as it was getting bad, the shadows came over us.

[Laura_Leff] So who listened to the show for this month?

[Maxwell] I did last week.

[Brad_from_Georgia] We'll be heading down to Orlando for our daughter's birthday later. It's hot down there.

[Maxwell] The main thing I remember is, "I paid for it!"

[Brad_from_Georgia] I listened to the show today, on the way to a meeting in atlanta.

[Laura_Leff] Brad - Just in time for hurricanes.

[Barbara] I did. Jack was good, but I've never been a great Eddie Cantor fan.

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL--bite your tongue! Amy fell off a bridge today and hurt herself--lucky it was a puppet bridge--she's a marionette puppeteer.

[Laura_Leff] Someone had brought up Eddie Cantor last month, and I figured it might be interesting to hear them both together.

[Laura_Leff] Brad - Yikes. Hopefully she got tangled in the strings.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Poor Jack. It's always hard to follow a Marx Brother. I got the feeling they were really pressed for time by his part in the sho

[Brad_from_Georgia] w.

[Barbara] It was fun to hear them together along with George and Gracie.

Steve__shimp_ has joined the chat.

[Maxwell] Hey Steve

[Laura_Leff] I know people have asked in the past about whether Jack brought his writers when he guested

[Steve__shimp_] Hi All

[Laura_Leff] Hey Steve!

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-she's banged up a bit--bruised rib and legs. The paramedics say she didn't break anything, though.

[Laura_Leff] I'm pretty sure he didn't in this case.

[Laura_Leff] Brad - Thank goodness!

[Steve__shimp_] Holy cow, what happened?

[Maxwell] LL, that was my first thought.

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-didn't sound like Jack's wriers at all.

[Barbara] His persona was so well established that probably any writers could write that small part for him.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Steve--my daughter, a puppeteer, took a bad step on the puppet theater "bridge" and fell about 6 ft to the floor.\

[Laura_Leff] I know why I didn't think it was his writers, but what about it made you think that? Would rather hear your opinion than go

[Laura_Leff] asserting my own

[Steve__shimp_] Yikes, Brad - sending good mojo your daughter's way!

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-It was too repetitive, for one thing. Jack's writers did variations on a gag, but over time, not all at once.

[Steve__shimp_] Here's my thought on Jack guesting on others' shows...

[Brad_from_Georgia] Thanks for the good mojo, Steve!

[Maxwell] Yup..."I paid for it!"

[Barbara] Don't you think Jack's writers might have checked it over.

[Steve__shimp_] I've noticed they go STRAIGHT for the cheap/vain/violin jokes....

[Maxwell] Over and over it seemed.

[Steve__shimp_] Whereas on Jack's regular show those creep in bit by bit.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - They might have, although Jack was always the editor.

[Steve__shimp_] It's as if the writers for whatever the guest show is know what got the big boffs on Jack's show

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Yeah, that's exactly where I was coming from.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Steve--exactly. And who DIDN'T see the punch line of Jack expecting a tip coming?

[Steve__shimp_] But they didn't get that it needed the buildup.

[Barbara] That's true, Laura, but I think he respected their opinions.

[Laura_Leff] Brad - Heck, I saw that from the moment he came in.

[Maxwell] Yup.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Oh he definintely did. Do you think they checked over this material?

[Maxwell] LL, going into the 19th.

[Barbara] I would think they did.

[Laura_Leff] So here's a challenging question...

[Brad_from_Georgia] Would've been funnier if Jack had said he picked up the telegram from the message guy, got the tip from Cantor, and then handed

[Laura_Leff] When Groucho appeared on Jack 's show, they cut him once because he wouldn't work with the stuff the writers gave him.

[Brad_from_Georgia] the quarter to Rochester.

[Barbara] Once when Jack guested on the Burns & Allen show, Jack had a few words with George.

[Laura_Leff] Would that have made Jack more conscious of not questioning others' writers?

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-Maybe. I think in a major appearance, Jack would have been more careful about the writing, though. This was a cameo.

[Laura_Leff] I know he maintained control over cast members' appearances because he didn't want their characters hurt by someone else's writr

[Laura_Leff] writerss

[Steve__shimp_] Barbara, can you expand on what Jack's issue with the B&A appearance was?

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Say more about Jack talking with George

[Barbara] Jack was used to making his own decisions and didn't like it too well when george told him what to do. He said "I'll do it your

[Brad_from_Georgia] Whoa, I just accidentally erased the whole page!

[Laura_Leff] Brad - Don't click the eraser.

[Barbara] Sorry it didn't all print. "I'll do it your way on your show, but when you come on my show, you'll do it my way."

[Laura_Leff] Brad - Only did that for you. Not for the rest of us.

[Steve__shimp_] Jeez, Jack must have had fits working on Lucy's show, she was a major control freak.

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL--Didn't mean to--was aiming for the reduce icon--had the type TOO big.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Oh there are stories about that

[Steve__shimp_] You can see a bit in the Here's Lucy DVD rehearsal footage.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Someone reported that after Jack guested on a Lucy show, he told friends "She needs serious therapy."

[Barbara] Jack said he thought Lucy needed a psychiatrist.

[Steve__shimp_] I am guessing he did a lot of those out of loyalty to Milt Josefsberg as much as friendship with Lucy.

[Laura_Leff] I'd heard that Jack had told someone--can't remember who now--"I don't think I can work with Lucy any more" after a particularly

[Laura_Leff] bad episode.

[Barbara] Jack wanted to hang on to a table when he was standing on one foot. Lucy wouldn't let him, and Jack fell.

[Steve__shimp_] I noticed that there's one season of The Lucy Show that has Dennis, Jack, Phil, Sheldon Leonard and a few other Benny alums.

[Laura_Leff] Lucy had him doing something late in life, standing for a long time, and IIRC Jack had...yeah that's it.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - I'd bet that's Milt's influence.

[Brad_from_Georgia] If you meet Eddie Carroll, ask him to tell you about HIS guest spot on Lucy. :D

[Laura_Leff] Brad - Gosh, I think I've heard that story, but can you summarize?

[Steve__shimp_] Lucy's in almost all of the post-1965 Jack Benny specials though, isn't she?

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Several of them.

[Laura_Leff] There's one where she comes on and says, "How dare you do a special without me!" and slaps Jack.

[Barbara] One of the most expensive shows on TV at the time was when Jack and Lucy stepped into the quicksand.

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-Lucy told Eddie to walk across a set in exactly 14 (or whatever) steps. He did Benny: "Well! If you WANTED a Method actor,

[Brad_from_Georgia] you should've HIRED one!"

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Yes, where Lucy has the vault built for him.

[Laura_Leff] Brad - Oh! I haven't heard that story!

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-He says Lucy "brayed" when he did it.

[Laura_Leff] I thought there was one where he did a Benny impersonation and her guard came down and she was OK then.

[Laura_Leff] I heard a story about her on an airplane.

[Laura_Leff] The stewardess was asking for her drink order, and Lucy said to whomever was next to her--her secretary or somebody--

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-Yes, Eddie says she was MUCH friendlier with him after the impromptu Benny bit.

[Barbara] She was a great entertainer and businesswoman, but she lacked tact.

[Laura_Leff] "Tell her I don't TALK to the HELP."

[Steve__shimp_] Wow.

[Steve__shimp_] Here's another Lucy/Jack thing I was thinking about

[Brad_from_Georgia] Gee, and her a card-carrying member of the Communist party. She didn't connect with the proletariat well, did she/

[Laura_Leff] That's part of what made Jack stand out so much. He always talked to just about anyone. I still get stories from ushers and

[Steve__shimp_] Lucy's shows are so insanely formulaic, especially post-I Love Lucy...

[Laura_Leff] sandwich delivery boys about Jack stopping to talk with them.

[Barbara] Back to Eddie Canter, I thought the best part of the show was him singing some of the oldies.

Haybud_K._Meer has joined the chat.

[Steve__shimp_] I was wondering if it is actually a heck of a lot harder to write a Benny format show, that is very loosely structured

[Maxwell] Hi Haybud

[Brad_from_Georgia] Barbara--I agree. I like Cantor as a singer more than as a comic.

[Laura_Leff] Hello Haybud!

[Haybud_K._Meer] Hello, y'all

[Steve__shimp_] As opposed to something with a definite "plot". I can see it being more difficult either way.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Howdy, Bud!

[Steve__shimp_] Hey Haybud!

[Laura_Leff] Steve - I'd guess the hard thing is not to go directly for the laugh, the way they did in this Cantor show.

[Brad_from_Georgia] The problem with Jack's show was to work within the characters but keep it fresh.

[Steve__shimp_] Brad, which I think they largely succeeded with - but Lucy got kinda stale!

[Laura_Leff] Jack - cheap joke Mary - smartaleck remark Phil - drunk joke Dennis - silly joke, etc.

[Brad_from_Georgia] On the Cantor show, even the Mad Russian seemed "off". Bad reading on the Hitler line, fr'instance.

[Laura_Leff] Brad - So I'll pose a challenging question on that (keeping it fresh)

[Steve__shimp_] LL, but, the show hangs together well - without a pure 'three act structure'.

[Maxwell] But I'll bet they got a lot of free cream cheese....

[Brad_from_Georgia] ...to go with their General Electric blankets.

[Laura_Leff] The shows from about 1952 on were basically Hal and Al splicing sections out of old scripts on the weeks when they did the TV sh

[Laura_Leff] show

[Barbara] I think Cantor comes across as rather arrogant. They say short people tend to do that, but I'm sure that doesn't apply to any o

[Barbara] of you if you're short.

[Laura_Leff] So where's the line between material reuse (e.g., Anaheim-Azusa-Cucamonga, Si-Sy) for nostalgia and keeping it fresh?

[Brad_from_Georgia] Short? I've got about ten bucks right now.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Good duck there. ;)

[Maxwell] The line for me is when it ceases to be funny.

[Maxwell] And I guess that's pretty subjective.

[Steve__shimp_] LL, it's hard to answer that because we're so accustomed to the rerun...

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-for one thing, on Benny often the familar lines came about in a surprising way.

[Steve__shimp_] Three years between gag recycling is still pretty fresh when compared to Nick at Nite reruns...

[Brad_from_Georgia] Also, the writers were great at reusing a gag but with some new variation in it.

[Steve__shimp_] True, Brad.

[Brad_from_Georgia] And then of course, the cast was HUGELY talented at coaxing laughs from familiar lines.

[Laura_Leff] It's the old laugh at recognition vs. laugh at surprise.

[Barbara] I think gags were reused all the time, but if you put a new twist on them, they become funny again.

[Laura_Leff] vs. laugh at seemingly inevitable conclusion

[Steve__shimp_] And, the best ones are indeed the combo of both - the old gag with the new twist.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Yes--lots of times you know what's coming--and Jack pauses, and the audience anticipates and laughs ahead of the line.

[Laura_Leff] You've probably all heard me talk about the orchestra leader bit which went all the way back to "A Few Minutes with Jack Benny"

[Laura_Leff] in vaudeville

[Maxwell] No, I haven't.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Once or twice, I've heard Jack say, "Hmm, I don't even need to say that line, do I?"

[Laura_Leff] Case study: When You Say I Beg Your Pardon Then I'll Come Back To You

[Steve__shimp_] But, it especially works with the Benny character, because the whole thing is built of up of anticipated gags.

[Barbara] Jack didn't think he was funny. I guess he wasn't at parties.

[Steve__shimp_] Cheap, violin, toupee - the audience was ALWAYS anticipating the laugh even when it wasn't 'recycled'

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Clarify...Jack didn't think who was funny?

[Maxwell] And it works at home, too, Steve. I've been watching the Benny reruns shown here on Sunday nights, and a lot of times I know...

[Laura_Leff] There was a great line where the audience laugh obliterated the end of a Phil Harris line, and Jack says something like

[Maxwell] exactly what's coming and I laugh in anticipation and then even harder with the payoff.

[Laura_Leff] "Y'see Phil, they know you so well you don't even need to finish the line!"

[Steve__shimp_] Max, I am jealous you are in a market where they are rerunning the show!

[Brad_from_Georgia] Jack rode those moments well--unlike Cantor: "Hurry up, we're late already1"

[Laura_Leff] Speaking of Phil Harris, there are wild turkeys walking through our backyard right now.

[Brad_from_Georgia] (that was sposeta be a exclamatoryation mark, yall)

[Maxwell] We're lucky. We have a low-powered Chicago station that is on Comcast. It has a Nick at Night type format.

[Steve__shimp_] LL, is Jack on trial again?

[Brad_from_Georgia] In Eddie Carroll's show at our campus, he got a building laugh as he told a story, and said, "Oh, you see where this is going

[Laura_Leff] No, they're alive at the moment.

[Brad_from_Georgia] already, do you?"

[Steve__shimp_] whew! three month reprieve..

[Brad_from_Georgia] On the show, Groucho didn't seem very freewheeling either, except in a couple of apparent ad libs.

[Steve__shimp_] As much as we seem to be panning this Cantor show, I would give my eyeteeth to have been in that studio audience!

[Brad_from_Georgia] I thought it was funny Steve--just not high-lariously so.

[Laura_Leff] Groucho was never very good in radio until he did "You Bet Your Life"

[Barbara] I thought it was a good show, Steve. We're just "critiquing."

[Brad_from_Georgia] I thought Cantor was very stiff in the commercial lead-in, btw. Jack had fun with the commercials1

[Laura_Leff] His appearance playing chess with Jack feels like he's in a straitjacket.

[Steve__shimp_] Just to see almost all my favorite OTR comedians would've been amazing, that's all.

[Brad_from_Georgia] why can't i get a ! when I want one/

[Barbara] Is Sal Hepatica still around?

[Steve__shimp_] Brad, here're a few !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-Oh, yes, with the obligatory California rain gags.

[Steve__shimp_] should last the rest of the chat ;)

[Laura_Leff] Has anyone seen anyone with the smile of health lately?

[Maxwell] I haven't seen Sal Hepatica since I was a kid.

[Maxwell] That would be in the '50s or '60s.

[Steve__shimp_] Such a great name for a child...

[Haybud_K._Meer] I think Sal Hepatica is gone...

[Laura_Leff] Is Ipana still around?

[Barbara] They were quite discreet, but it sounds like a laxative doesn't it?

[Maxwell] I don't think it's around either.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - It is a laxative.

[Maxwell] That lasted at least into the '60s.

[Haybud_K._Meer] Here's a word on their behalf -- http://www.adclassix.com/a3/37shlaxative.htm

[Laura_Leff] Funny to think of "how to sell a laxative"

[Laura_Leff] Sort of like "How to sell Viagra/Levitra" today.

[Maxwell] It's a lot easier now than it was then!

[Steve__shimp_] I am sure Harry Von Zell was relieved (no pun intended) to move on to Carnation milk with Burns and Allen

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Maybe the cows were contented because they took Sal Hepatica

[Maxwell] Yeah, milk and tires are a lot easier to sell than a laxative.

[Barbara] He was relieved if he took Sal Hepatica.

[Steve__shimp_] It's hilarious how oblique they had to be!

[Maxwell] Didn't Pabst sponsor Cantor later?

[Laura_Leff] Pabst was sponsoring Groucho at this time

[Barbara] Jack made mention of a "boy" for Cantor.

[Haybud_K._Meer] Sal Hepatica and Ipana were both made by Bristol-Myers, who sponosred Fred Allen for a stretch

[Laura_Leff] I have a magazine ad hanging on my wall with Groucho featured for Pabst.

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-I think Rush Limbaugh should be Viagra's new spokesman....

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - As did everyone...another example of repeated gags

[Laura_Leff] Brad - Nah, he got his illegally.

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-He's a hardened criminal!

[Barbara] Cantor got a lot of mileage out of that.

[Laura_Leff] Brad - I could go a lot of places with that, but I'll resist.

[Maxwell] I think that's a good thing, LL.

[Steve__shimp_] Might get everyone viaggravated.

[Laura_Leff] I'll levitra well enough alone.

[Maxwell] Living Levitra Loco....

[Laura_Leff] So while we're in this vein, what other OTR products were hard to sell?

[Steve__shimp_] I could imagine product related bloopers could cause some REAL censorship problems with Sal Hepatica.

[Steve__shimp_] Gotta be a lot more careful than with Jell-O

[Laura_Leff] There were certainly no ads for, say, Kotex.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Don Wilson: Jell-O in seven delicious flavors, cherry, strawberry, raspberry, orange, lemon, lime, and viagra.

[Haybud_K._Meer] (tries to imagine Don Wilson reading a Viagra commercial)

[Steve__shimp_] LOL Brad

[Brad_from_Georgia] Haybud--well, there ya go.

[Haybud_K._Meer] (fails in the attempt)

[Brad_from_Georgia] Don: Nothing gives you a lift like good old Jell-O.

[Laura_Leff] Oh speaking of censorship and Benny...

[Steve__shimp_] THAT's what the Blue flavor Jell-O is!

[Steve__shimp_] Nothing like the most flaccid product possible in a Viagra flavor!

[Laura_Leff] Someone sent me a copy of notes from a confidential Hollywood studio head meeting on

[Barbara] I'll bet the censors read over the Sal Hepatica commercials very carefully. They wouldn't have to do it now.

[Laura_Leff] continuity and censorship

[Brad_from_Georgia] Don: We have a letter from Mrs. Elmyra Dogget: My husband loves Jell-O. Forgive the shaky handwriting....

[Laura_Leff] And there was a comment about having a problem with an 11/42 Benny show.

[Barbara] What was the problem, Laura?

[Haybud_K._Meer] Somebody did start making Ipana again, however...there are a couple of places you can buy it from

[Laura_Leff] I looked it up in 39 Forever and had a note about Mary having a line about "I wish I had a nickel for every rivet I caught

[Laura_Leff] in my bucket"

[Laura_Leff] Was at a military base and got a real dirty laugh.

[Haybud_K._Meer] Yow!

[Steve__shimp_] So it got cut from the recording?

[Maxwell] Yeah, I can see where that might be a problem with the censors and a hit with the military.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Oh no, it's in the show!

[Laura_Leff] I still wonder if the joke about Errol Flynn being in bed with a cold (a COLD) caught heck.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Gee, what did they do when the song "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" came out/

[Steve__shimp_] I wonder about Mary's real-life sense of humor.

[Barbara] Hasn't ExLax been around a long time too. People must have had problems in those days.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Did she have one?

[Steve__shimp_] We know quite a bit about Jack's but not much about Mary's...

[Steve__shimp_] Well, 'tis a good question LL.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - All that lard and what have you.

[Brad_from_Georgia] I have to get a new keyboard. My ! is a 1 and my ? is a / lately.

[Laura_Leff] My ! has a 1 in it

[Maxwell] Sounds like your shift key needs Viagra.

[Barbara] I never heard of Mary having a sense of humor.

[Laura_Leff] Brad - Have you heard the Kermyt Schaffer blooper about that?

[Brad_from_Georgia] Ex-Lax has been around for ages. It's phenolphtalein in a chocolate base, or used to be.

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-don't think so--what was it?

[Laura_Leff] The wild turkeys are still pecking around my window

[Maxwell] Not anymore. Phenlophthalein has been identified as a carcinogen.

[Laura_Leff] Brad - DJ announces the song as "My Hole Has a Bucket In It"

[Laura_Leff] I guess he took too much Sal Hepatica

[Barbara] One of the shows had a line about "laying someone out" and Mary didn't like doing it. She did tho.

[Haybud_K._Meer] Laura, I think I missed something earlier...why are you surrounded by wild turkeys?

[Brad_from_Georgia] Maxwell-thought so. LL- lol

[Steve__shimp_] "Get a little brown before we lower you down", Barbara!

[Laura_Leff] Haybud - Because I live across from a regional park. There are three of them...looks like a hen and two chicks. Or a Tom

[Laura_Leff] and two small hens

[Maxwell] They think she's Tippi Hedren.

[Maxwell] Hedrin? Hedran?

[Barbara] Turkey dinner tonight.

[Haybud_K._Meer] Ah, I see

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Oh...get a little brown before they lower you down.

[Haybud_K._Meer] Just as long as there aren't large numbers of them gathering ominously

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - I wouldn't mind being mistaken for her.

[Steve__shimp_] I had to do a survey once in the real Bodega Bay where they filmed that, and the seagulls are a bit nerve-wracking!

[Maxwell] I would.

[Barbara] You do look alike, Laura.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Gack, my mom used to make us swig mineral oil to keep us regular. Just the thought would do it.

[Laura_Leff] Haybud - And screeching in an audio-enhanced fashion.

[Haybud_K._Meer] "The turkeys is coming!"

[Laura_Leff] The oysters in Bodega Bay are the best. Dan and I go up there on the odd occasion.

[Steve__shimp_] It's a fun little area. The Tides restaurant is nice, that's in the movie too but vastly altered.

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-You mean like Arbor Day, Napoleon Retreat Day, occasions like that/

[Laura_Leff] The big turkey looks about as big as the one Jack runs across the train station carrying in a TV show.

[Maxwell] Those are pretty odd occasions.

[Laura_Leff] Brad - Actually, I was thinking more like Lag B'Omer and Yom Ha'Atzmut

[Laura_Leff] Guy Fawkes Day

[Brad_from_Georgia] Few weeks ago the emu farmer up the road lost one of his charges, and there was an emu roaming around the neighborhood.

[Brad_from_Georgia] I didn't see it though.

[Laura_Leff] There they go...

[Maxwell] Peter Falk's Day.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Maxwell-That's the one that keeps coming back after you think it's gone, right?

[Maxwell] Yup.

[Laura_Leff] So here's a bizarre thought...

[Laura_Leff] What would have been the favorite holiday of each of the Benny characters?

[Maxwell] That Red Sox-White Sox game lasted 6 hours and 19 minutes.

[Barbara] We know what Dennis' would be.

[Steve__shimp_] Jack - Halloween...trick or treat, need I say more?

[Brad_from_Georgia] Jack: Ben Franklin's birthday: "A Benny saved is a Benny earned."

[Haybud_K._Meer] Phil - New Year's Eve

[Laura_Leff] I was thinking of the anniversary of the first mint

[Maxwell] Mary: Sadie Hawkins Day.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Jack: Phil just got back from a New Year's Eve party. Of course, tonight is April 3.

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - Good one

[Brad_from_Georgia] Don: Thanksgiving, of course. With lots of luscious Jell-O.

[Steve__shimp_] Don: Guy Fawkes' Day... he's the know-it-all who actually can explain it!

[Laura_Leff] Don't give up that ship...

[Laura_Leff] How about Rochester?

[Laura_Leff] Every day's a holiday?

[Barbara] Jack asked Don if he wanted a leg, thigh, breast or wing, and Don said, "Yes please."

[Brad_from_Georgia] Rochester? June 19.

[Steve__shimp_] I was just thinkin' that one Brad, he keeps hoping, but it never comes!

[Laura_Leff] ???

[Barbara] Martin Luther King day for Rochester, but it wasn't a holiday back then.

[Steve__shimp_] June teenth, day that many slaves first heard of the Emancipation Proclamation

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Oh oh OHHHHH

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-Juneteenth is the national Black "fourth of July," a celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation.

[Ozzie_Nelson] Martin was a kid then, duh

[Laura_Leff] Right right...didn't know the date of it.

[Laura_Leff] Professor LeBlanc - Bastille Day

[Brad_from_Georgia] However, Roch might have celebrated March 15 (tax day back then)--because of course he didn't owe!

[Maxwell] How about Dennis?

[Steve__shimp_] St. Paddy's O'Course!

[Laura_Leff] St. Patty's day

[Maxwell] Of course!

[Barbara] St. Paatrick's day of course/.

[Laura_Leff] So what was Jack's?

[Haybud_K._Meer] But knowing Dennis, he would have gotten the date wrong

[Laura_Leff] Oh Halloween...OK.

[Maxwell] Another possibility for Jack: Feb. 14.

[Brad_from_Georgia] Mel: "Meestair Bennee, today is Bastille Day, which commemorates violence. You 'ave made me hate violins!"

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - I like that one better, actually.

[Laura_Leff] So what else Benny-wise is on everyone's mind?

[Barbara] Any trivia question today, Laura?

[Laura_Leff] Carmichael - Ar-bear Day

[Steve__shimp_] Just a heads-up that liketelevision.com is streaming some Benny TV shows....

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Give me a topic, I'll give you a question.

[Steve__shimp_] Including the Lettermen episode which I hadn't previously seen.

[Laura_Leff] Steve- Oh yes, they've had those up about 6 years now.

[Haybud_K._Meer] Laura, I saw a newsreel short on TCM last month in which they commemorated a man who had led a food drive to Europe...

[Laura_Leff] Steve - I interviewed Tony Butala about that years ago.

[Haybud_K._Meer] And suddenly on screen there he was...Dreer Pooson!

[Steve__shimp_] And I just found them! I'm as quick as Dennis on some of these...

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Check out our links page ;)

[Laura_Leff] OK, here's a trivia question...I think this is right...

[Laura_Leff] Who was on opposite Jack in 1943?

[Barbara] Oh boy. How about Jack's movies?

[Brad_from_Georgia] Opposite Jack? Wasn't Mary on the other side of the mike/

[Laura_Leff] Yeah...from 1942 to 1947

[Laura_Leff] Brad - Har har...on an opposite network.

[Maxwell] Sundays at 7:00 EST?

[Maxwell] CBS or Blue/ABC?

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - The years dictate that. But it was ABC.

[Maxwell] I don't know. I wasn't even thought of then.

[Laura_Leff] I only know this because I did the research recently for my Yesterday USA show.

[Steve__shimp_] Ma Perkins?

[Laura_Leff] Hint?

[Steve__shimp_] I have no idea so I'll guess randomly...

[Laura_Leff] Steve - No, she was weekdays

[Steve__shimp_] Hint, please!

[Laura_Leff] News

[Maxwell] Oxydol's own Ma Perkins, America's mother of the air.

[Barbara] Kate Smith?

[Laura_Leff] Nope

[Maxwell] Walter Winchell.

[Laura_Leff] Nope

[Steve__shimp_] Walter Winchell and Jerry Mahoney ;)

[Maxwell] H.V. Kaltenborn.

[Laura_Leff] Max - I don't think he was on ABC

[Laura_Leff] Nope

[Maxwell] Nope. He was on NBC.

[Laura_Leff] Turkeys are still here

[Maxwell] Is that a hint?

[Brad_from_Georgia] FDR and the Fireside Chat Boys

[Laura_Leff] Nope

[Maxwell] Ed Morrow and his Band of Renown.

[Laura_Leff] Hint: news and commentary

[Laura_Leff] Nope

[Haybud_K._Meer] Stand By for Crime?

[Maxwell] Still sounds like Winchell.

[Haybud_K._Meer] (I've never heard it, but I love that title)

[Brad_from_Georgia] Ed Murrow

[Laura_Leff] Nope

[Laura_Leff] Ed Murrow was CBS

[Steve__shimp_] The News Hour with Baby Snooks

[Brad_from_Georgia] Not according to Keefe Brassellee....

[Laura_Leff] Steve - *snicker* Nope

[Barbara] They wouldn't dare put anybody on at that hour.

[Maxwell] Bishop Sheen.

[Laura_Leff] Brad - Really?

[Maxwell] News and Comment.

[Maxwell] Gallagher and Sheen.

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-Nah, I didn't read enough of that lousy book to even hit the news...

[Laura_Leff] Max - No, although Mutual was programming some religious programs opposite Jack for a while.

[Laura_Leff] Brad - If you want to pass it along, I'd be happy to have it in my library.

[Maxwell] Alex Drier.

[Laura_Leff] 1942-43 Mutual did Old Fashioned Revival Hour and Voice of Prophecy against Jack

[Laura_Leff] Nope

[Haybud_K._Meer] One Man's Family?

[Brad_from_Georgia] LL-Okay, I'll send it. Braselle couldn't write for sour turkey poop, though.

[Laura_Leff] Big hint?

[Brad_from_Georgia] Please.

[Maxwell] Yeah.

[Laura_Leff] Brad - I think I'll have some of that around here as well. Thanks!

[Laura_Leff] His name's already been mentioned in this chat.

[Haybud_K._Meer] Sal Hepatica?

[Barbara] Groucho?

[Steve__shimp_] LOL

[Laura_Leff] He was against Jack from 1942-47 on ABC.

[Maxwell] Groucho Marx News and Comment!

[Laura_Leff] Max - I'd tune into that.

[Laura_Leff] Forerunner of Jon Stewart

[Laura_Leff] Nope...no one's said it yet

[Brad_from_Georgia] Sal Hepatica, private eye. There's no problem he can't work out....

[Maxwell] I'm too lazy to scroll back.

[Haybud_K._Meer] It Pays to Be Ignorant?

[Maxwell] Harry Von Zell: And now ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States, Hoobert Heever.

[Laura_Leff] He wasn't opposite Jack any more by the time his name was mentioned on the Benny show

[Haybud_K._Meer] Drew Pearson?

[Laura_Leff] Or...well...*sort of* mentioned

[Laura_Leff] HAYBUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

[Brad_from_Georgia] Woops, my injured daughter is calling with a report on her health--gonna go talk to her. Catch you later, everyone!

[Maxwell] Dreer Pooson!

[Haybud_K._Meer] Alias Dreer Pooson?

[Laura_Leff] Take care, Brad!

[Laura_Leff] Our best to her!

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[Steve__shimp_] Good luck to daughter Brad!

[Steve__shimp_] So, what was Pearson's format, I know nothing about him really.

[Maxwell] Remember Jack Anderson?

[Laura_Leff] The All American Boy?

[Maxwell] He was Pearson's protege. Washington insider.

[Steve__shimp_] I think I voted for him in our Weekly Reader 1980 presidential ballot, I was 7.

[Laura_Leff] Oh right, that was Jack Armstrong... ;)

[Maxwell] No, the newspaper columnist...wrote a lot of stuff dealing with Watergate.

[Laura_Leff] Drew Pearson wrote about Watergate?

[Barbara] It's interesting that you mentioned Tony Butala. I think we used to know him and his wife. Had 4 boys, I believe.

[Maxwell] No, Anderson...

[Maxwell] Anderson was Pearson's successor.

[Maxwell] Who's on first?

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - He was pretty drunk when I interviewed him (har har...it was a long party), but it was pretty memorable for me.

[Steve__shimp_] But Pearson did basically political commentary? Or was it more straight news, or parody?

[Barbara] I wonder what Pearson's audience rating was. Of course it was the war years.

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - Eddie Anderson wrote about Watergate?

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Actually, I have that...

[Maxwell] Pearson would have been a combination of news and commentary from a Washington insider's point of view, I would imagine.

[Laura_Leff] 42-43 he had a 6.2

[Laura_Leff] 43-44 it was 6.4

[Steve__shimp_] Thanks Max. We know he wrote about Jack's new suit!

[Laura_Leff] 44-45 it was 10.3

[Haybud_K._Meer] I'm sure Jack's show was much funnier

[Laura_Leff] 45-46 is was 9.5

[Laura_Leff] 46-47 was 6.6

[Laura_Leff] And that's all I have because that was when he was opposite Jack.

[Haybud_K._Meer] All I know is when my Mom sat down to dinner with her family on Sunday evenings, they did *not* listen to Drew Pearson

[Maxwell] Peaked during the last part of the war.

[Laura_Leff] In 1934, Jack was opposite California Melodies (CBS) and Mischa Levitsky (NBC Blue)

[Steve__shimp_] And to think he survived the competititon!

[Laura_Leff] OK...here's another trivia teaser...

[Laura_Leff] When Jack moved from NBC to CBS,

[Maxwell] You big tease, you!

[Laura_Leff] Who had the Sunday at 7 slot before him?

[Laura_Leff] On CBS

[Laura_Leff] And who got the Sunday at 7 slot on NBC after him?

[Maxwell] Hmmmm...it couldn't have been 60 Minutes....

[Laura_Leff] (This is hard stuff...I might not know it if I hadn't just researched it for YUSA.)

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - Har har

[Barbara] Wasn't Red Skelton one of them?

[Haybud_K._Meer] H.V. Kaltenborn?

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Nope

[Laura_Leff] Haybud - Nope

[Laura_Leff] They were both sort of music shows

[Maxwell] Stop the Music!

[Laura_Leff] Max - Nope...that was opposite Fred Allen

[Maxwell] That's right...Didn't it knock Allen off the air?

[Laura_Leff] Max - Sure did.

[Laura_Leff] Guesses?

[Maxwell] To think that Bert Parks was once more popular than Fred Allen...

[Haybud_K._Meer] Eddie Cantor?

[Laura_Leff] Haybud - Nope.

[Laura_Leff] More pure music, not comedy

[Barbara] Edgar Bergen?

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - No, he was on at 8.

[Maxwell] Cities Service Band of America.

[Barbara] Kate Smith again?

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - But actually I think Bergen got Jack's slot after he went off in 1955.

[Laura_Leff] Nope

[Laura_Leff] Hint?

[Maxwell] Now Citgo Band of America.

[Maxwell] Yeah.

[Haybud_K._Meer] Phil Spitalny's All-Girl Orchestra?

[Barbara] Bing Crosby?

[Laura_Leff] Haybud - You're not too far off from one of them.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Nope

[Maxwell] Ina Ray Hutton.

[Laura_Leff] Hint: One was country, one was orchestra/big band

[Laura_Leff] Both male leads

[Barbara] Tommy Dorsey?

[Maxwell] Ina AND Ray Hutton.

[Laura_Leff] Nope

[Haybud_K._Meer] The Al Jolson Show?

[Laura_Leff] Haybud - Kraft Music Hall...nope.

[Maxwell] Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge?

[Laura_Leff] Max - Nope...that was a summer replacement of Jack, though.

[Laura_Leff] I think...or maybe it was just Phil hosting it.

[Maxwell] That's why I thought of it, I guess.

[Laura_Leff] No guesses on country?

[Haybud_K._Meer] Perry Como?

[Maxwell] National Barn Dance

[Maxwell] If not, how about the Local Barn Dance.

[Barbara] Spade Cooley.

[Laura_Leff] Haybud - Actually, he was opposite Jack in 1943-44 with a 15-minute show. But no.

[Laura_Leff] Max - Good guess, but no.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Nope

[Laura_Leff] Bigger name

[Barbara] Bob Crosby.

[Maxwell] Gene Autry's Melody Ranch.

[Laura_Leff] MAXWELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Maxwell] YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Maxwell] I'm Back in the Saddle Again....

[Laura_Leff] Gene Artery (as my mother used to call him) was on CBS and yielded the Sunday at 7 slot to jack

[Haybud_K._Meer] Oh yeah, him

[Laura_Leff] So who took over at NBC?

[Maxwell] That's what Pat Buttram used to call him.

[Maxwell] Gene Artery.

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Steve__shimp_ has joined the chat.

[Maxwell] Welcome back Steve. Long time, no see.

[Barbara] I'm glad I won't be kept in suspense any longer since I do have to leave for pizza. Thanks for the company everyone

[Laura_Leff] Here's a hint, because he's not a big name like Dorsey, etc.

[Maxwell] Bob Chester.

[Steve__shimp_] Hi all, connection conkout. What question are we answering?

[Laura_Leff] Enjoy, Barbara! Always good to see you.

[Haybud_K._Meer] Night, Barbara

[Steve__shimp_] Bye

[Steve__shimp_] Barbara

[Maxwell] G'night Barbara

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Who took over Sunday at 7 on NBC

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[Steve__shimp_] Oh, it's some horrible amateur hour program

[Laura_Leff] And the hint is....H

[Maxwell] Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights

[Laura_Leff] A bigger hint is HH

[Laura_Leff] MAXWELL AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Steve__shimp_] There you go Max!

[Maxwell] I beat your hint.

[Laura_Leff] Good job!

[Maxwell] As a lover of both Gene Autry and big bands, I thank you.

[Maxwell] Les Paul played at one time with HH.

[Laura_Leff] Unfortunately, it didn't yield the Heidt of his popularity, with a 7.5 to Jack's 26.4 rating.

[Steve__shimp_] I get Horace Heidt and Henry Height mixed up.

[Maxwell] I think Bobby Hackett did, too.

[Laura_Leff] Not to mention Les Hite

[Maxwell] He led the New Sebastian Cotton Club Orchestra.

[Maxwell] Les Hite, that is.

[Laura_Leff] Buddy Hackett played with Horace Heidt?

[Maxwell] I think he did near the start of his career.

[Maxwell] Before Miller.

[Maxwell] Bobby...not Buddy.

[Maxwell] Now I'm getting all confoozled.

[Laura_Leff] And I thought he just sang Shipoopi (inadvertently put a "t" on the end of that in the original typing)

[Maxwell] At least it was an "I"

[Laura_Leff] Just imagine Buddy Hackett and Phil Harris doing "The Music Man".

[Laura_Leff] I can only imagine the backstage antics

[Maxwell] With Kate Smith as Marian.

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - She had a very large volume.

[Maxwell] In more ways than one.

[Steve__shimp_] I wonder if that'd be a fire hazard with Phil & Buddy both being so flammable...

[Laura_Leff] It would be positively incendiary.

[Maxwell] Imagine them doing a duet of "Old Black Magic." "I hear your name, and I'm aflame."

[Steve__shimp_] Getting way back to the Eddie Cantor broadcast - don't know if this was addressed

[Haybud_K._Meer] I'd just love to sit and twirl around a radio dial for about a week in 1943...

[Laura_Leff] I can keep throwing out trivia, or was there anything Benny-wise that anyone wanted to discuss?

[Steve__shimp_] But how close were Jack and Eddie Cantor in real life?

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - More like "Show Me the Way To Go Home"

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[Laura_Leff] Steve - Eddie lived next door to Jack.

[Maxwell] Hi ya Buck

[Laura_Leff] They were friends.

[Laura_Leff] Hi Alex!

[Alex_Buck] Hello all. Its good to be back.

[Steve__shimp_] Really!

[Steve__shimp_] Next to the Roxbury house?

[Laura_Leff] Lucy was on one side (1000 N. Roxbury) and Eddie was on the other.

[Laura_Leff] At least for a time.

[Laura_Leff] Yeah, not the Colmans. Sorry folks.

[Haybud_K._Meer] Laura, I have a Jack question I've wondered about for some time...

[Alex_Buck] I missed out on the first part of this topic - are we talking Eddie as in Rochester

[Laura_Leff] OK, shoot.

[Maxwell] Cantor

[Laura_Leff] Alex - Eddie as in Cantor

[Steve__shimp_] Eddie Cantor Alex, and, hi!

[Alex_Buck] Gotchya

[Haybud_K._Meer] I listend the other month to the 1942 show right after Carole Lombard died, the one Jack was missing from...

[Laura_Leff] Haybud - Right

[Laura_Leff] Yes, that's the first apperance of the Sportsmen

[Laura_Leff] Did I anticipate your question?

[Haybud_K._Meer] And I was intrigued that about the twenty minute mark, an announcer's voice - not Don Wilson - interrupts to repeat that Jack...

[Haybud_K._Meer] ...would not be on the show that day

[Laura_Leff] Yes, I do kind of remember that.

[Haybud_K._Meer] And I wondered who the heck that was...a local guy? Were radio stations getting calls about Jack's absence?

[Laura_Leff] Haybud - That would be my guess. People were trying to tune in the Benny show and all they could find was music.

[Laura_Leff] Since the local station would know that they were getting tons of calls and you wouldn't want to do it

[Haybud_K._Meer] They never announced why he wasn't on the show, I take it?

[Laura_Leff] from the network feed, it was probably a local announcer.

[Steve__shimp_] Weren't there New York feeds for the opening commercials, at least the Lucky Strike years...

[Laura_Leff] Haybud - No, I don't think they did. Just that "Jack can't be with us tonight" or words to that effect.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - The auctioneer commercials were done from New York for most of the time,

[Laura_Leff] eventually moved over to LA in a different studio, but I don't remember exactly when.

[Steve__shimp_] Carole Lombard never really appeared on the show as I recall...

[Laura_Leff] So any time you hear Kenny Delmar, it's New York. He was also on Fred Allen, who always originated from New York.

[Haybud_K._Meer] Lombard's death was banner front page headlines that weekened...did *anybody* put two and two together?

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Nope. Just To Be or Not To Be.

[Steve__shimp_] But I was listening to a 1936 show where she supposedly calls Phil Harris (you don't hear her voice)

[Laura_Leff] Haybud - It's possible that they didn't, since the movie wasn't released yet.

[Steve__shimp_] I was wondering if Jack knew Lombard before To Be or Not to Be.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Right, that was in his early character days.

[Ozzie_Nelson] Well, I've got to run to the malt shop to look for David and Ricky. Goodnite.

[Steve__shimp_] Yes, the suave Ladies' man!

[Steve__shimp_] Bye Ozzie

[Alex_Buck] This may have been brought up already - but didn't the networks put Eddie Cantor up against Jack for the same timeslot for awhil

[Maxwell] G'night ozzie.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - I think so, since I think that she and Clarke were regular guests at Jack's house.

[Laura_Leff] Have a good one, Ozzie!

Ozzie_Nelson has left the chat.

[Laura_Leff] Alex - Not that I can find.

[Haybud_K._Meer] It was the first non-war story to dominate the headlines since Pearl Harbor

[Laura_Leff] Alex - Your timing is good, though, because we were talking about what was on opposite Jack.

[Haybud_K._Meer] Although it was, I guess, indirectly a war story

[Alex_Buck] That would have been a tough competition

[Maxwell] Wasn't Cantor on Wednesdays?

[Laura_Leff] Having lived in Fort Wayne for six years one night, it's hard to believe that such a glamourous lady came from there.

[Laura_Leff] It's a pretty small town.

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - He was at the time of this airing, but I know he was on Sundays at some point.

[Laura_Leff] Song was "I Love to spend each Sunday with you..."

[Haybud_K._Meer] Amos 'n' Andy was on after Jack for some years, wasn't it?

[Alex_Buck] Rats! Kids just found me. Gotta go. Will try to check in next month.

Alex_Buck has left the chat.

[Steve__shimp_] I may have missed this during my connection loss, but was there anything comedy-wise put up against Jack that thrived?

[Maxwell] I thought it was each Wednesday with you....

[Laura_Leff] That was fast

[Steve__shimp_] Just a cameo from Alex!

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Nope. They never really put comedy against him.

[Steve__shimp_] That's what I figured, you'd counter-program something for a different audience.

[Laura_Leff] News, sports, music, religion, mysteries, game shows.

[Maxwell] Livestock reports....

[Laura_Leff] Oh! I thought Kate Smith was on opposite Jack at some point...just found it.

[Laura_Leff] 1944-45 on CBS.

[Laura_Leff] In 1946, Mutual started doing mystery shows against Jack.

[Steve__shimp_] Didn't Kate Smith sell Jell-O for awhile as well?

[Laura_Leff] Mysterious Traveller, Sherlock Holmes, The Falcon, Peter Salem

[Laura_Leff] Steve - She probably ate it, but don't know if she sold it

[Haybud_K._Meer] I love reading how, in 1941, NBC Blue programmed "Bible Week" and "Inner Sanctum" side by side

[Steve__shimp_] LOL

[Laura_Leff] Haybud - LOL

[Maxwell] Great combination!

[Steve__shimp_] I love it when my bible CREEEAKS when I open it....

[Laura_Leff] Jack Benny and Your Money Today

[Haybud_K._Meer] lol

[Maxwell] *rimshot*

[Laura_Leff] Alexander Woolcott and It Pays To Be Ignorant

[Laura_Leff] Ma Perkins and Gangbusters

[Laura_Leff] Just thinking up incongruous pairings

[Laura_Leff] Symphonic Strings and Spike Jones

[Maxwell] Hey! Remember Spike had the "Other Orchestra"!

[Steve__shimp_] Gracie Allen and "You Are There"

[Steve__shimp_] or not all there...

[Maxwell] Gracie Allen and the Quiz Kids.

[Laura_Leff] Suspense and Life Can Be Beautiful

[Haybud_K._Meer] Stand By for Crime and Strike It Rich

[Laura_Leff] The Falcon and The Hartz Mountain Canaries

[Steve__shimp_] LOL

[Steve__shimp_] I love the Hartz Mountain Canaries, btw...

[Steve__shimp_] I am a sucker for any kooky animal act.

[Laura_Leff] I have at least one of their records

[Steve__shimp_] Probably the only one appropriate for radio!

[Maxwell] You don't think Swain's Cats and Rats would work on the radio?

[Steve__shimp_] If you put 'em with the canaries!

[Laura_Leff] Fink's Mules got kicked off the air

[Steve__shimp_] *rimshot*

[Steve__shimp_] What animal act should Jack work with?

[Steve__shimp_] besides those chimps...

[Laura_Leff] Rochester: "I used to be with the Hall Johnson choir...until Johnson threw me out in the hall!!"

[Laura_Leff] Skating penguins

[Maxwell] I picture him working with the gas man and Carmichael.

[Steve__shimp_] I saw an old kinescope of "You Asked for It" with a ping-pong playing cat.

[Laura_Leff] That must have been amusing *trying to picture it*

[Maxwell] I think I've seen that.

[Steve__shimp_] Yeah, and I've seen a basketball-playing raccoon in real life in Arkansas...

[Maxwell] Of course when I was a kid, you asked for it was on the air first run.

[Laura_Leff] On a totally unrelated note, since I just thought of it...

[Maxwell] How about a tic-tac-toe playing chicken?

[Laura_Leff] Dan and I have been watching several DVDs of "Naked City". It's a really fantastic series.

[Laura_Leff] And not even dirty.

[Maxwell] Half hour or one hour version?

[Laura_Leff] Oh, I've seen that chicken.

[Laura_Leff] One hour version.

[Maxwell] Horace McMahon and Paul Burke version.

[Laura_Leff] They're all from 1961-63 for the ones we've seen.

[Laura_Leff] That's it.

[Haybud_K._Meer] Oh, I'd like to get that one

[Maxwell] Yeah, it was a half-hour show with a different cast before that.

[Laura_Leff] Some really, really gripping stuff.

[Maxwell] Yeah, it was a very good show.

[Laura_Leff] And some kooky stuff, but those episodes aren't as good as the others.

[Laura_Leff] And some great performers.

[Maxwell] Well, "There are 8,000,000 stories in the naked city. Some are better than others."

[Haybud_K._Meer] Speaking of which, has 77 Sunset Strip ever been put out on DVD?

[Laura_Leff] Just figured I'd pass that along since we all like old stuff

[Steve__shimp_] I'll have to check it out!

[Laura_Leff] Max - ROFLMAO

[Maxwell] Hmmm...it was running recently on a cable network that we can no longer get here.

[Laura_Leff] I'd like to get some Playhouse 90 or US Steel Hour

[Maxwell] The sad thing is that I remember this stuff first run.

[Haybud_K._Meer] I'm through watching old shows on TV...too many edits

[Laura_Leff] Some of the early live stuff

[Steve__shimp_] I cancelled my cable like 3 years ago and won't subscribe again, at least till they put Jackson on the air!

[Laura_Leff] Steve - I'll see what I can do.

[Maxwell] We have him here. Nyaaaaah!

[Haybud_K._Meer] I think kinevideo.net has a few of the early TV live dramas

[Steve__shimp_] Grrr.

[Steve__shimp_] Is that a hint of things to come LL?

[Laura_Leff] Haybud - Aha....will check them out.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Not yet, although I am talking loosely with Universal.

[Laura_Leff] I had someone there who was interested, but trying to circle back with them.

[Haybud_K._Meer] It's homemade stuff, but it's watchable quality

[Steve__shimp_] singin' "One of these days...."....

[Laura_Leff] So what else? Or should we call it good for this month?

[Maxwell] Well, I'd just like to say I finished both volumes of 39 Forever. Loved them.

[Maxwell] Couldn't put them down.

[Laura_Leff] Fantastic! So glad to hear that!

[Steve__shimp_] Yeah, me too LL, they are great!

[Haybud_K._Meer] Jack never did broadcast in July or August, did he?

[Laura_Leff] I don't think of them as actual "reads", since they're not narrative.

[Maxwell] And thanks for the autograph on the broken one.

[Steve__shimp_] I am an obsessive index-user with both of those.

[Laura_Leff] But I guess they are!

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - No problem.

[Maxwell] Sure, you follow the development of the show.

[Laura_Leff] I have four more coverless seconds on Volume 2...need to put that on the Forum.

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - Yes, I can see that. And that's exactly what I intended it to show. Glad to know it fulfills the goal!

[Maxwell] Also for anyone who is interested, next month on Chuck Schaden's show, the enire month is comedy.

[Laura_Leff] And it's so familiar that I can give you a tidbit and you can imagine what the show was.

[Maxwell] Yup.

[Steve__shimp_] Hey, LL, I know it isn't in the pipe anytime soon, but how do the next volumes play out in your mind, TV, stage, movies?

[Laura_Leff] Well very good. Thanks!

[Maxwell] I'll post something about that in the forum around the end of this month.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Vol 3 is TV, Vol 4 is everything else (including stage and movies). But we're talking years in the making.

[Maxwell] There's at least one Benny show during that month.

[Maxwell] Don't take too long. I want to live to see them!

[Steve__shimp_] Definitely worth the wait - so including guest shots on other TV shows?

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - I'm enjoying so much doing horticulture instead of writing books that it may be a while.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Yes, guesting on TV and radio. Volume 4

[Maxwell] Well, you know what Dorothy Parker said about horticulture.

[Steve__shimp_] Cool.

[Laura_Leff] I've done a lot around the house...made a giant shade garden that I've wanted for yeasr.

[Steve__shimp_] Hey, I had my own Jack Benny moment that is sort of horticulture related...

[Laura_Leff] Max - I know I've heard it, but don't remember it now.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Yeah...?

[Steve__shimp_] I go hiking out a LOT in our beautiful Virginia woods...

[Maxwell] "You can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think."

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - That's right. I was close to it, but couldn't get it.

[Steve__shimp_] and, there are all kinds of wonderful wild berries growing here, so I figured "why pay for this stuff in the store?"

[Laura_Leff] Not poison sumac or something, was it?

[Steve__shimp_] and before you know it, I had picked about six quarts of FREE berries and made jam out of them two weeks ago!

[Steve__shimp_] Nope, I've got botanical training so I know the good ones...

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Now, if you start selling them at the local farmer's market, then you'll REALLY be Jack!

[Haybud_K._Meer] lol

[Steve__shimp_] Yeah, not quite up to commercial production yet, but my toast is good through spring!

[Laura_Leff] I'm sure Jack would be proud.

[Maxwell] I can see it now: Shimps Berry Farm.

[Laura_Leff] Well, hey folks, hope you've had as good a time as I have this evening.

[Steve__shimp_] O boy...

[Laura_Leff] Max - No it's Knott.

[Haybud_K._Meer] A fine way to spend a Sunday evening...

[Steve__shimp_] Yeah, nice chat this evening. Are we good for another month?

[Laura_Leff] I think so. So hope to see you all in August! Stay cool!

[Maxwell] Yeah, and don't schedule August when I have tickets to a Sox game like you did in June!

[Laura_Leff] The turkeys say adieu...

[Steve__shimp_] OK everyone, good night all!

[Laura_Leff] Max - I'll try not!

[Haybud_K._Meer] Night, all of youse!~

[Maxwell] Good night LL, Good night all.