IJBFC Chat - August 6, 2006

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

Welcome

Laura_Leff has joined the chat.

[Steve_-shimp-] (knock wood) Kay!

[Kay_Lhota] Hi Laura

[Steve_-shimp-] Hi LL

[Maxwell] Hey LL!

[Laura_Leff] Hi folks!

[Maxwell] Now we can get started!

[Laura_Leff] How's everyone tonight?

[Kay_Lhota] yeah! Awesome episode this month!

[Maxwell] Keeping cool.

[Steve_-shimp-] Just fine, now that I'm out of the heat wave!

[Kay_Lhota] yeah, the heat broke to bearable here in MA

[Maxwell] Yeah, now I know when Jack bought the camel!

[Kay_Lhota] LOL Maxwell

[Steve_-shimp-] One hump or two, did we ever find out?

[Laura_Leff] Yes, I was struck that they carried that joke into the show

[Maxwell] I think it was two because it got better mileage.

[Laura_Leff] They did a variation on that bazaar skit in the 2-13-44 Benny radio show.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - But it's cooler than Cairo.

[Kay_Lhota] it's a fascinating program.

[Steve_-shimp-] True enough...but that's a DRY heat.

[Steve_-shimp-] So did Jack's writers do the USO material?

[Maxwell] Imagine getting a bunch of GI's to sit through a USO show at 1:30 a.m.

[Laura_Leff] I wonder how much of it was similar to their camp shows. I know of bits in the camp shows that weren't in the radio show, but

[Laura_Leff] not vice-versa

[Laura_Leff] Steve - It certainly sounds that way, but I'm not positive.

[Maxwell] I would imagine that the regular camp shows would have had the singers/musicians perform more than one tune.

[Kay_Lhota] it's such a combination of the kid of bits that were from the show, but fresh with the different cast

[Laura_Leff] I was meaning to listen to the names used in the Relay gag, as they often used writer's names.

[Laura_Leff] Fred Foy vs. Don Wilson

[Steve_-shimp-] Well, this one seemed truncated - they had the journalist coming on at the end and then the broadcast just ends.

[Maxwell] I remember a few of them were Arabic.

[Steve_-shimp-] Fred was a lot like Don, actually. Eerie doppelganger.

[Maxwell] Yeah, they cut him off.

[Laura_Leff] I was amazed that they had the technology for intercontinenal audio trunks

[Kay_Lhota] yes, I thought that too.

[Maxwell] Well, they had Ed Murrow doing live broadcasts from London in '40.

[Laura_Leff] Max - Very good point

[Maxwell] They used shortwave, iirc.

[Kay_Lhota] so, these shortwave broadcasts were possible

[Laura_Leff] Max - Yes, I think you're right. That would account for some of the audio swirling intermittently

[Kay_Lhota] was it transcribed in NY?

[Maxwell] Yup. Especially since it was summer. Shortwave isn't as good then as in winter.

[Laura_Leff] That hotel gag about where Jack is staying was very reminiscent of his gags about hotels in Palm Springs

[Laura_Leff] Kay - Can't tell. No ID on the end.

[Maxwell] Yeah, the auto court gag.

[Laura_Leff] And the Colman reference is 2 years before the Colmans started appearing on Jack's show.

[Steve_-shimp-] I liked Larry Adler a lot in this, LL, you knew him well - any anecdotes about this tour/show?

[Kay_Lhota] I didn't know that you knew him

[Laura_Leff] Steve - I can't remember any specific to this broadcast, but I really need to interview Fred Foy about it. He's still around.

Alex_Buck has joined the chat.

[Laura_Leff] Kay - Larry and I corresponded for a number of years. I interviewed him when I was in London in 1998.

[Laura_Leff] Hi Alex!

[Maxwell] Hi-ya Buck

[Steve_-shimp-] Hi Alex

[Alex_Buck] Hello All. Good to be back

[Kay_Lhota] Hi Alex

[Steve_-shimp-] That was a great "Begin the Beguine"

[Laura_Leff] I'm pretty sure he did the same number on Jack's show as well.

[Kay_Lhota] he was an astounding player

[Maxwell] I'd forgotten how good a "mouth organ" player he was.

[Kay_Lhota] he did play it on the Hollywood Canteen episode and the Gaslight one

[Steve_-shimp-] And, according to Jack, much to George Burns' irritation "The Greatest Comedian of All Time"

[Laura_Leff] Move over Jerry Murad.

[Maxwell] I've got to find a copy of him playing Rhapsody in Blue.

[Maxwell] Didn't Jerry Murad fire him?

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - I have that on a CD

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - You'd think I'd know that from reading his autobiography, but I had chicken pox at the time and don't remember much.

Barbara has joined the chat.

[Kay_Lhota] Hi Barbara

[Laura_Leff] Hi Barbara!

[Maxwell] Hi Barbara

[Steve_-shimp-] Hi Barbara!

[Alex_Buck] Hello Barbara

[Maxwell] I think I remember reading that.

[Barbara] Hi everyone. Sorry to be late.

[Laura_Leff] Larry didn't have a copy of his own autobiography, so I sent him one.

[Kay_Lhota] wow

[Maxwell] Nobody is ever late here...just less early (and his band of renown).

[Kay_Lhota] LOL

[Laura_Leff] LOL

[Laura_Leff] Short people = Les Hite

[Laura_Leff] So Barbara and Alex, any thoughts on the Cairo show?

[Alex_Buck] I kid you not, we had a client who had an engineer by the name of Les Care

[Barbara] I'm wondering who wrote this show. Jack's team of 4 writers started in 1943, but I don't think they went to Cairo.

[Kay_Lhota] ouch

[Steve_-shimp-] What's the title of Larry Adler's autobiography?

[Laura_Leff] Steve - It Ain't Necessarily So

[Alex_Buck] I thought it was an interesting example of how Jack could carry a show regardless of who his cast was

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - We were wondering the same. But they reused some of the script on the 2-13-44 show.

[Steve_-shimp-] That could be the start of an Abbott and Costello routine, LL, but I'll just jot it down!

[Barbara] I see they got Mary in there by letter.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Was more in relation to his inclusion in Red Channels, etc., but applies to many things

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - As opposed to Mary reading a letter from her mother

[Steve_-shimp-] Yeah, that's a switch!

[Barbara] Yes.

[Maxwell] Including his association with Gershwin, I'm sure.

[Barbara] Didn't he say "doll" at the end?

[Kay_Lhota] yes, that was a good way to bring her character in

[Laura_Leff] I think Jack did that a couple times when Mary was "in Palm Springs" and missing a show

[Maxwell] Yes, he did.

[Laura_Leff] Max - Of course.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - I remember him saying it at some point, but the end was about the journalist and cut off

[Barbara] Larry Adler couldn't stand Mary, so I'm sure he never called her doll.

[Kay_Lhota] LOL

[Maxwell] I think it might have been after he read the letter.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - He had reason (but I guess so did a lot of people)

[Barbara] I thought it was a good show, and Jack seemed to be quite upbeat.

[Laura_Leff] You can hear Jack laughing at the start of the bazaar skit

[Maxwell] I can't imagine being upbeat at 1:30 a.m.

[Kay_Lhota] yes, very at ease

[Barbara] You're right Max, and in that heat too.

[Alex_Buck] I wonder howthe Cairo coffee was

[Laura_Leff] Max - I'm a night owl, and I've recorded a few of my Yesterday USA spots late like that.

[Maxwell] I used to be oen.

[Maxwell] oen

[Maxwell] one

[Maxwell] Sheesh...

[Laura_Leff] Not any more. :)

[Kay_Lhota] maybe they had a siesta during the hot afternoon

[Barbara] Wasn't his troupe called "Five Jerks from Cairo?"

[Kay_Lhota] Jack Benny seemed wonderful with the show and to the audience

[Laura_Leff] There's a photo of Jack with his shirt off in one of the books that was taken during this trip.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Correct. And the son of the guy who was their pilot contacted me a few months back.

[Kay_Lhota] really?

[Barbara] Was that of him lying in bed in the tent, Laura?

[Alex_Buck] I liked the gag about him playing his violin for the sphinx

[Laura_Leff] The photo was taken during the trip, not the book

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - That's it

[Kay_Lhota] I saw a film of that many years ago.

[Laura_Leff] There are some photos here and there of Jack posing with African natives and playing the violin for them.

Scott_in_KC has joined the chat.

[Laura_Leff] Hey Scott!

[Barbara] Jack seemed so relaxed that I wonder if he was glad to get away from the usual routine.

[Maxwell] Hi Scott

[Alex_Buck] Evening Scott

[Steve_-shimp-] Hi Scott

[Kay_Lhota] Hello Scott

[Barbara] Hi Scott.

[Scott_in_KC] Hi from hot Kansas City....It is 105 F.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - We're talking about the Cairo show

[Steve_-shimp-] If this was from mid-September, had the regular radio season already started? I can't recall when the usual start dates were

Bermuda_Grassreek has joined the chat.

[Laura_Leff] I'm glad the heat wave moved out of here.

[Maxwell] I'd think any performer would love a GI audience like that.

[Laura_Leff] hello Bermuda!

[Kay_Lhota] It was a month before the season opened

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Hello Laura, hello all

[Steve_-shimp-] Hi Bermuda!

[Maxwell] Hi Bermuda

[Kay_Lhota] Hi Bermuda

[Scott_in_KC] I see. You would have a show from there when it is so hot here. :)

[Barbara] Jack loved a GI audience, as did Bob Hope.

[Kay_Lhota] Jack seemed to really play warmly and well to them

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Speaking of heat, did Jack really say "170 degrees" at the end?

[Barbara] I assume he enjoyed a few extra curricular activities there.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - It's to let you know how much worse it could be.

[Kay_Lhota] yeah!

[Alex_Buck] I think I heard this weekend that 137 is the record anywhere

[Laura_Leff] Bermuda - Maybe that's the humisery index

[Maxwell] Alex, that sounds about right.

[Barbara] Yes, I don't know as it ever reached 170 anywhere. It may have felt like it.

[Scott_in_KC] Laura, did they ever do shows together, Jack and Bob?

[Laura_Leff] Scott - Camp shows, you mean?

[Scott_in_KC] Yes, Laura.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Well, it might have beem a bit of wartime hyperbole

[Maxwell] Well, on the Weather Channel they put a thermometer on the hood of a car the other day: 173.

[Kay_Lhota] they certainly did to guest spots for each others' shows

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Ouch!

[Laura_Leff] Scott - Not as far as I know. I think they had different troupes in different areas. But maybe some day my research will turn

[Laura_Leff] up something

[Maxwell] That was in NYC.

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - Maybe they put it on Jack's Maxwell just before the tea was ready

[Scott_in_KC] <<< Wondering if the old Maxwell could have handled this heat.

[Maxwell] They used to take it to Palm Springs.

[Steve_-shimp-] Were any other of Jack's USO tours broadcast domestically like this?

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Nothing's jumping to mind immediately.

[Steve_-shimp-] A real rarity then!

[Laura_Leff] Some clips from Movietone News and such.

[Scott_in_KC] True, Max.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Did they not announce the broadcast in advance for security reasons?

[Bermuda_Grassreek] I noticed at the start they said they were preemting regular programming

[Laura_Leff] Bermuda - Since Italy had surrendered, I don't know that Cairo was that dangerous of a place then.

[Steve_-shimp-] The weird thing is they say "somewhere in Egypt" and then specify Cairo and some more detail.

[Maxwell] The war in Africa was over by then, I think.

[Laura_Leff] I'd imagine that they had to insure that they had a good, solid shortwave connection.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Yes, the war in Africa ended in May

[Laura_Leff] Steve - That sounded more like salesmanship to me.

[Maxwell] The unit they were entertaining for was supply.

[Kay_Lhota] really?

[Kay_Lhota] that's so interesting to learn that.

[Barbara] Jack said once he was so impressed with Egypt and later Israel that he wanted to take Mary there, but it doesn't sound like she

[Barbara] would enjoy those plces.

[Laura_Leff] Interesting to hear how similar this was to camp shows Jack was doing domestically on his radio show

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Supplying Russia was one of the hardest jobs for Americans in the war outside of combat...

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - In Jack's words "Mary doesn't travel well"

[Bermuda_Grassreek] One route (Murmansk) was incredibly cold, and the other (through the Caucasus) was incredibly hot

[Barbara] That's true, Laura, but in the camp shows he did have some regular cast members.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Yes, but meaning the overall structure and some of the gags were similar.

[Barbara] Did she do anything well, Laura, except shop?

[Kay_Lhota] ouch

[Steve_-shimp-] *meow*

[Scott_in_KC] Laura, was that announcer the same Fred Foy who did "The Lone Ranger"? How come Donsy did not go? Heat would have affected him?

[Maxwell] Yup.

[Maxwell] And the Dick Cavett show.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Being the idle rich, to quote a family letter about her.

[Laura_Leff] Scott- Yup, same Fred Foy. I would bet that Don had summer shows to do domestically.

[Barbara] Jack always seemed looser on the away shows than he did in the studio, at least to me.

[Maxwell] Foy's voice speaking with Jack sounded a whole lot different than his radio voice.

[Maxwell] Or should I say "radio announcer's voice"?

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - I wonder if since you're doing the same show over and over, it's more like vaudeville. You know the timing and can

[Steve_-shimp-] Good point Barbara. Jack fights his giggles a little less than in the studio shows.

[Laura_Leff] relax into it.

[Scott_in_KC] I think Fred Foy is still alive, or not?

[Maxwell] Yes, he is.

[Laura_Leff] Fred Foy is still alive.

[Scott_in_KC] Wow!

[Maxwell] He was a fixture at ABC for years.

[Barbara] That's true. He always seemed very relaxed in the Vegas shows and theaters.

[Barbara] Jack said he didn't care for the name, Fred. I'm sure he had Allen in mind.

[Maxwell] You bet.

[Steve_-shimp-] Is Fred Foy related to the vaudeville Foys that Bob Hope did the movie about?

[Laura_Leff] A lot of comedians talked about how hard it was to transition from vaudeville to radio, where your material was used up every

[Laura_Leff] week

[Laura_Leff] Steve - I think so, but I'm not positive.

[Alex_Buck] You know, I stumbled upon Fred Allen's entry on wikepedia and there are several of his shows free for the down loading

[Maxwell] The only thing I've found about Foy's background so far is that he was from Detroit.

[Kay_Lhota] then he isn't one of the Seven Little Foys

[Maxwell] But I don't know how reliable that is. I do know he worked for WXYZ there, obviously.

[Laura_Leff] Welcome to WYXIE Wonderland

[Scott_in_KC] How come the other cast did not join Jack in the Middle East? Summer break?

[Laura_Leff] I have a book about radio announcers called "Golden Throats and Silver Tongues" which may have more info.

[Steve_-shimp-] At 170 degrees, Phil Harris ignites, Scott.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - Well, Mary wouldn't have wanted to travel like that. And the rest probably had other gigs.

[Laura_Leff] Phil touring with his orchestra, Rochester doing nightclubs, and Dennis fathering children.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Busy, busy, busy

[Scott_in_KC] Fred Foy broadcasted on WXYZ in Detroit (before my time). LOL Laura!

[Alex_Buck] yeah, fathering children in 170F heat just doesn't sound fun

[Maxwell] Yup. Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, Challenge of the Yukon (Sgt. Preston).

[Barbara] I'm from Detroit and I remember WXYZ very well. That's true, Alex.

[Laura_Leff] I was interviewed on WXYZ a long time ago

[Scott_in_KC] Barbara...I used to live in dinky Marshall, MI.

[Maxwell] That was probably after Brace Beemer worked there.

[Alex_Buck] Speaking of which - I've got kids I need to get bathed and in bed. We'll catch you all next month

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Is WXYZ still around?

[Barbara] I can't imagine any of the cast would have wanted to go.

[Kay_Lhota] bye Alex

Alex_Buck has left the chat.

[Laura_Leff] Take care, Alex!

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Night, Alex

[Scott_in_KC] I have that interview, Laura, or the one you did on WOWO.

[Barbara] Bye, Alex!

[Maxwell] Yup. WXYZ is still there. I've heard it on my way through MI.

[Laura_Leff] Bermuda - I would imagine...I think if it went off the air, it would be big news.

[Barbara] Scott, I was from dinkier Pleasant Ridge.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - Really? Gosh, that was back in 1983. Forgot that I did one on WOWO!

[Maxwell] Yeah, it was huge when WMAQ went off the air in Chicago because so many of the network radio shows were produced there.

[Laura_Leff] I was from urban metropolis Grand Rapids.

[Scott_in_KC] ^5 Barbara.

[Maxwell] So I'm sure the same thing would happen with WXYZ.

[Laura_Leff] Isn't it amazing that KDKA is still around?

[Barbara] Is that Pittsburgh?

[Maxwell] Yup.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Yes, used to be on the Westinghouse Building when they were broadcasting the 1920 election returns.

[Maxwell] KYW is still around. It was one of the first (if not THE first) station in Chicago...but it moved to Philadelphia in the late '

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Let me guess...it's got a talk format now

[Laura_Leff] I imagine they may have moved since than.

[Maxwell] '20s is what that was supposed to say.

[Laura_Leff] Isn't WLW out of Cincy still around, or recently resurrected?

[Bermuda_Grassreek] I was surprised one night in the car to happen across the "nation's station", WLW

[Maxwell] Yup...It's been around all the time.

[Laura_Leff] Bermuda - There's an echo in here

[Laura_Leff] I've got 1940s WLW magazines.

[Maxwell] 700 kHz for WLW. We get it after sunset here.

[Barbara] Bermuda, are you related to the Grease Racks?

[Scott_in_KC] Laura, I have a rather compe KCMO lling question for you. Do you think Jack would have joined these chats were he alive today?

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Yes, the grease racks

[Barbara] No, Jack would not have. It would be nice if Joan would, tho.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] We put together a musical in the 70s...perhaps you've heard of it

[Laura_Leff] Scott - I'm sure he would have appreciated them, but I don't know if he would have joined them.

[Steve_-shimp-] Computers might have been a bit much for Jack, he had trouble with light bulbs.

[Scott_in_KC] KCMO here.....regional clear channel, not national.

[Scott_in_KC] I just wonder if he was truly aware how great he was.

[Maxwell] My uncle used to listen to KCMO all the time when he drove his truck in that general direction.

[Laura_Leff] Maybe as a "guest appearance".

[Scott_in_KC] LOL Steve.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - I think if he had allowed himself that thought, it would have turned him into Al Jolson.

[Laura_Leff] If you know what I mean.

[Kay_Lhota] ouch

[Barbara] I asked George Balzer once if Jack knew how big a star he was. He said he did, but he didn't lord it over people.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] I love one of WLW's programs, "Moon River"...a great late night show

[Scott_in_KC] :) Laura.

[Laura_Leff] That's part of the beauty of Jack...he never lost sight of the fact that he put his pants on one leg at a time

[Laura_Leff] just like the rest of us.

[Kay_Lhota] and he was always nice to everyone he met

[Barbara] Too bad e never saw that, Laura.

[Laura_Leff] I just got yet another seminal Benny story about him being in a parade, and then asking to see the

[Laura_Leff] local talent show. They just sat in the back, and he encouraged the performers from the audience.

[Laura_Leff] Impressed the dickens out of everyone for him being such a swell guy.

[Laura_Leff] BTW, the wild turkeys are here again this month.

[Barbara] Someone said Jack would go to the opening of a meat market.

[Laura_Leff] I think they come in tribute to Phil Harris.

[Maxwell] I could go for a wild turkey right now.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Only if they paid him to play. :)

[Barbara] Right.

[Kay_Lhota] I heard a story recently by a shopowner here in MA. That this guy's mother was in the kitchen at one of Jack's parties

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - There are three of them in our back yard.

[Steve_-shimp-] Do they just come for the chats?

[Laura_Leff] Kay - As a cook?

[Kay_Lhota] and that Jack put in an appearance entertaining the help.

[Maxwell] And all we get are rabbits.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Oh no, they're here all the time.

[Kay_Lhota] Yes, she had come in as a caterer

[Scott_in_KC] Max, you, you....you Phil Harris you.

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - And I have two rabbits here in the living room.

[Steve_-shimp-] lol

[Bermuda_Grassreek] We've got plenty of skunks around campus

[Maxwell] And of course our beagle ignores those.

[Kay_Lhota] Jack entertained in the kitchen and when he learned that she had a 12 year old son at home

[Kay_Lhota] he gave her clothes that his grandson had outgrown

[Kay_Lhota] I'm guessing that the grandson would have been Michael

[Laura_Leff] See, that's just "so Jack".

[Barbara] I have always wished I had gotten something of Jack's when he died. Even a pair of socks. But who do you ask?

[Laura_Leff] Kay - Depends on what year it was, I guess.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - Too bad you didn't (I presume) go to the auction after Mary's death.

[Laura_Leff] Someone recently sent me a shirt that had belonged to Jack.

[Kay_Lhota] Well, Steve, the shopowner is somewhere around my age, so his being 12 would have been around 1969

[Laura_Leff] Had the initials "JB" embroidered on it and everything.

[Barbara] No, I'm not sure as I knew about it. Did you go, Laura?

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - I was only 14 at the time, so wasn't in the loop on it.

[Laura_Leff] Kay - OK, that would have been Michael probably.

[Laura_Leff] Barbara - But I know there are assorted members of the club who picked up an item or two there.

[Steve_-shimp-] six hundred cases of uneaten Jell-O?

[Kay_Lhota] LOL

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Not at Don Wilson's house...

[Kay_Lhota] LOL

[Bermuda_Grassreek] No, that would've been part of Dennis's estate

[Laura_Leff] Once on a research trip, Joan let me stay in a guest house at her place. And there were books that had been in her parents'

[Laura_Leff] library. It was funny, because a couple of them had been skits on the show.

[Kay_Lhota] "I Stand Condemned"

[Scott_in_KC] Did they ever have time to....read?

[Laura_Leff] I'd just kind of pull them down and rifle the pages, wondering if Jack ever referred to the book while they were writing the sho

[Laura_Leff] Scott - Jack wasn't a big reader.

[Kay_Lhota] Was Mary?

[Kay_Lhota] Was Joan?

[Laura_Leff] Supposedly he had a copy of Gone With the Wind but gave it away after a year because he couldn't get past it.

[Kay_Lhota] LOL

[Scott_in_KC] Was it because his lack of education or simply no time?

[Laura_Leff] Kay - Mary possibly, although I don't know for sure.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - No time, really...or not enough interest.

[Kay_Lhota] mary seemed to know how to fill her time.

[Laura_Leff] Other priorities.

[Steve_-shimp-] One of the books, Irving Fein's maybe, says Jack always had a stack of books he started, and was interested in, but he rarely

[Steve_-shimp-] finished them.

[Kay_Lhota] oh, that makes sense.

[Laura_Leff] Kay - I found notes from her daily diary after Jack's death on her daily stuff.

[Steve_-shimp-] I sympathize!

[Scott_in_KC] It must be a surreal feeling, touching something Jack touched, Laura.

[Laura_Leff] it's all stuff like, "Have the upstairs hallway rug cleaned"

[Laura_Leff] "Talk with cook about menus"

[Laura_Leff] "Order flowers for den"

[Kay_Lhota] all house stuff. Nothing about observations or feelings.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - It can be. I make a point of always wearing his bar mitzvah ring when I'm doing the newsletter.

[Steve_-shimp-] That ring must be doing something right!

[Scott_in_KC] Appointment with Professor La Blanc?

[Kay_Lhota] LOL Scott

[Laura_Leff] Just sort of a talisman in hopes that he'd approve of whatever goes into the newsletter.

[Maxwell] I'm sure he would.

[Kay_Lhota] I'm sure that Jack would.

[Steve_-shimp-] Most definitely.

[Laura_Leff] Kay - Oh, it's nothing personal. Just busy work.

[Scott_in_KC] Thank you, Kay.

[Laura_Leff] Kay/Steve - Thank you.

[Laura_Leff] Max - You too

[Laura_Leff] Nothing personal = Mary's notes

[Kay_Lhota] Mary probably couldn't deal with her feelings.

[Kay_Lhota] She would have had to admit that she was depressed.

[Steve_-shimp-] OK, this is horrible, but...

[Laura_Leff] It's interesting how some people had gotten used to being "Jack Benny's (whatever)"

[Steve_-shimp-] Wouldn't Mary have been great in one of those sixties "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" type shockers?

[Laura_Leff] Florence was permanently depressed after Jack's death.

[Kay_Lhota] Jack touched so many people.

[Laura_Leff] And Mary became rather reclusive, but was so even before Jack's death.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - That might be too close to being true...too scary

[Kay_Lhota] Mary may have been phobi about leaving the house

[Steve_-shimp-] Could've been a career boost, but I don't think she wanted one!

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Nah, she was pretty out of it by that time. And she'd only done the one movie on her own.

[Scott_in_KC] I am not an expert, Laura, but Mary and Jack had seperate bedrooms? TMI?

[Laura_Leff] I still laugh at her billing as "Jack Benny's 'Pest-Girl'"

[Laura_Leff] Scott - That's correct.

[Steve_-shimp-] Was that billing in vaudeville?

[Scott_in_KC] That's sad.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Sort of, it was when they were doing the theatre appearances after the start of the radio series

[Kay_Lhota] I always think of Mary as a sad person, Scott.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - Not necessarily. Many couples in that age did.

[Scott_in_KC] Me too, Kay.

[Laura_Leff] I think Ida and Eddie Cantor did.

[Maxwell] Yup. My grandparents did after my grandfather became seriously ill...Kept separate bedrooms after he recovered until he died.

[Laura_Leff] George and Gracie did not, but they did have separate beds.

[Steve_-shimp-] My Grandparents did, they had seven kids, so it can work out all right.

[Maxwell] It was fairly common.

[Laura_Leff] I think it was part of being wealthy enough to afford a place big enough for separate rooms.

[Scott_in_KC] My parents shared the same bed until my dad passed away 20 years ago next month.

[Kay_Lhota] My parents did as they aged. They liked having more room of their own to spread out.

[Laura_Leff] There was a door that could close off their two rooms from the rest of the upstairs. They could go back and forth between their

[Laura_Leff] rooms, but keep others out.

[Laura_Leff] At least in the Roxbury house, that's how it was.

[Barbara] I hope they used that door on occasiSorry to be away, but I had a phone call. I am going to leave you now, but it's been great.

[Laura_Leff] Have a good one, Barbara!

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Night, Barbara!

[Maxwell] So long Barbara!

[Scott_in_KC] <<< Never could understand the Hollywood lifestyle.

[Kay_Lhota] they watched TV together

[Kay_Lhota] night Barbara

[Steve_-shimp-] Goodnight, Barbara!

[Barbara] Love you all!

[Scott_in_KC] Good night, Barbara.

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

[Kay_Lhota] I'm sorry that I've missed the last few chats

[Maxwell] Well, I'm gonna be surprised by what Benny show is on locally this week. I haven't checked.

[Scott_in_KC] A Benny wise is a Benny shaved.

[Kay_Lhota] I was sick on July 9 with a cold and fever

[Maxwell] Last week was Dennis's surprise party.

[Laura_Leff] Kay - No apology necessary...we have no exclusive on you. :)

[Steve_-shimp-] Though we like having you here Kay!

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Sympathies, Kay

[Kay_Lhota] nope, but I would have prefered to have felt well

[Kay_Lhota] thanks Bermuda

[Kay_Lhota] I like coming to these chats

[Laura_Leff] And we like having you, Kay!

[Kay_Lhota] I also haven't had the chance to rave about Volume 2

[Maxwell] Cold and fever? What kind of excuse is that? :D :D

Barbara has left the chat.

[Laura_Leff] Laughter's the best medicine you know.

[Maxwell] Don't worry. I did that for you.

[Kay_Lhota] indeed

[Kay_Lhota] I'm glad you did my raving.

[Maxwell] Well, I am a raving lunatic.

[Steve_-shimp-] Volume 2 is great! (Just to re-emphasize)

[Laura_Leff] I've still got two free damaged copies of Vol 2 if anyone needs/wants them.

[Scott_in_KC] We can get Rochester to dote on you, Kay.

[Laura_Leff] Thank you!

[Kay_Lhota] oh, I'd feel better if nurse Van Jones showed up for me!

[Laura_Leff] I'm glad it's done. Plop-plop-fizz-fizz-oh what a relief it is.

[Maxwell] I'm waiting for the TV volume.

[Steve_-shimp-] I've got a left-field question ...

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - That's Volume 3, but will take a while.

[Scott_in_KC] LOL Kay. I wish he were my Valet.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - OK, Manny.

[Maxwell] I just want to be alive when you finally finish it.

[Steve_-shimp-] Anyone know if Frankie Remley was with Phil's band from the beginning of his tenure on the Benny show?

[Bermuda_Grassreek] I think I'd prefer Anna Lee to nurse me, thanks

[Laura_Leff] Steve - As far as I know, yes.

[Steve_-shimp-] I was listening to a 1937 show where they just referred to "the guitarist"

[Laura_Leff] I think Frankie was one of the original members of Phil's band.

[Steve_-shimp-] No "Remley",and Phil mentions they need him because he's the guy who "Marcels" Phil's hair.

[Kay_Lhota] LOL

[Maxwell] Okay, here's a related one....

[Maxwell] Was he still playing with Mahlon Merrick into the '60s. I've heard him mentioned in two shows recently ca. 1961-62.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Yes, i remember noting that as well. This is also why I thought it was Frankie, since they'd "selected" him for the jok

[Steve_-shimp-] Then Jack says "Oh, THAT'S what you do!", clearly ad-libbing to Remley, or so I thought.

[Steve_-shimp-] I shoulda checked 39 Forever!

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - I would imagine so, but I'll know better when I work on Volume 3. He showed up regularly in the programs

[Laura_Leff] Playing himself, or in the Zeke Benny skits, etc.

[Maxwell] He was under the table last week...a familiar position.

[Laura_Leff] Speaking of cast members who did war tours with Jack, Frankie went to Korea with Jack.

[Scott_in_KC] ....with Phil, Max?

[Maxwell] Nope. This was post-Phil (TV) so no mention of him. Just Remley.

[Laura_Leff] Remley stayed with Jack after Phil left.

[Maxwell] Except for Walter Tetley playing him on Phil's show. Kind of like being split in two.

[Maxwell] Not Watlet Tetley...Sheesh1

[Kay_Lhota] Don't you mean Eliott Lewis?

[Laura_Leff] Elliott Lewis

[Maxwell] Elliott Lewis.

[Kay_Lhota] echo

[Laura_Leff] There's an echo in here

[Maxwell] Brain cramped.

[Laura_Leff] in here

[Laura_Leff] in here

[Laura_Leff] yo-de-layhee-hoo

[Maxwell] I was thinking about Tetley regarding something else recently.

[Scott_in_KC] Speaking of TV, Laura, your book should arrive tomorrow. Again, thanks for all you do!

[Kay_Lhota] What, Maxwell?

[Laura_Leff] Scott - And thank you!

[Maxwell] I was just looking up some stuff as far as what he'd appeared in, etc. for my own amusement.

[Laura_Leff] TEst

[Maxwell] A-.

[Kay_Lhota] he did a lot as an actor

[Laura_Leff] Tea as well

[Maxwell] You would have had an A+ exceept for the capital E.

[Scott_in_KC] Walter Tetley was on Bullwinkle, too...I think. I think he was Sherman.

[Laura_Leff] Max - LOL

[Maxwell] Right.

[Kay_Lhota] I remember bill Scott refered to him as the World's tallest midget

[Maxwell] That was one of the things i was looking up.

[Kay_Lhota] he sounds the same

[Kay_Lhota] he is in the movie "The Villain Still Pursued Her"

[Scott_in_KC] LOL...and Bill Scott was Bullwinkle J. Moose....right?

[Laura_Leff] Has anyone ever released Rocky and Bullwinkle on DVD? Seems like a good opportunity

[Maxwell] (And you can tell how old I am by the fact that I think of it as "Rocky and His Friends."

[Kay_Lhota] And he is in Abbott and Costello's "Who Done IT""

[Steve_-shimp-] Oh, yeah, all the seasons are out, LL.

[Maxwell] Scott: Right.

[Laura_Leff] I think Larry Adler was the world's oldest child prodigy. Or maybe that was Oscar Levant

[Scott_in_KC] Laura...I saw them at Barnes & Noble. :)

[Kay_Lhota] all the seasons are not out, Steve

[Maxwell] Could have been either.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Ah, I'll have to look for them.

[Kay_Lhota] I've still waiting for the next one

[Steve_-shimp-] Or, several are!

[Steve_-shimp-] Too many DVDs out, not enough $.

[Kay_Lhota] they are nice, but they got rid of the original music

[Scott_in_KC] Max, me too!

[Laura_Leff] We just got a big honking TV and have been enjoying things like Lord of the Rings on it. But I couldn't

[Laura_Leff] resist putting a JB DVD on it to see Jack near life-size.

[Steve_-shimp-] Kay, that is too bad about the music! Didn't want to pay for the rights, I assume.

[Maxwell] You need to make it stop honking.

[Steve_-shimp-] LOL max

[Maxwell] Geese and horns are supposed to do that. Not TVs.

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - Our refrigerator is running too

[Kay_Lhota] no, they didn't want to pay for music that they didn't own

[Scott_in_KC] In color, too, Laura?

[Laura_Leff] Music rights are one of the trickiest things in licensing.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - Yeah, decided to finally spring for color.

[Maxwell] Color? It'll never last!

[Kay_Lhota] LOL

[Laura_Leff] There's a joke about that in the commercials of the First Farewell Special.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] I've read the mangling of the music on the Rocky & Bulwinkle sets was deliberate

[Kay_Lhota] I wish I could remember more of that farewell special

[Laura_Leff] When talking with studios about the Benny material, the very first question they ask is "How much music do they contain?"

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Something like, the theme used was Jay Ward's favorite of all the music used on the show

[Kay_Lhota] I saw it once

[Steve_-shimp-] Maybe the turkeys in LL's yard are attracted by the honking TV...

[Scott_in_KC] I heard a firm in Chicago is making 3-D TV with stereophonic sound....available in a couple of years.

[Laura_Leff] Steve - No, the TV would have to gobble then.

[Scott_in_KC] LOL Steve

[Scott_in_KC] ...and Laura.

[Maxwell] Great....3-D HD.

[Laura_Leff] There was a song in The Bandwagon about something like that.

[Maxwell] I guess I'll finally have to trade in the old Muntz.

[Maxwell] STEROPHONIC SOUND....

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - You're mad, man.

[Kay_Lhota] Silk stockings

[Maxwell] (Insert your own echo)

[Maxwell] Yeah, Silk Stockings.

[Laura_Leff] Kay - Oh, was it Silk Stockings? Misplaced.

[Maxwell] Cole Porter.

[Laura_Leff] You know what I'm talking about.

[Scott_in_KC] I guess it is high time to throw out my 78s and Philco radio.

[Kay_Lhota] if there is anything I am an expert on, it's musicals

[Kay_Lhota] especially the MGM musicals

[Scott_in_KC] GMTA Max.

[Laura_Leff] What? No more VACUUM TUBES! For SHAME!

[Maxwell] You've got a Philco? I still have my Atwater-Kent.

[Laura_Leff] Bah. Cat's whiskers.

[Laura_Leff] and a coil around a crisco can

[Maxwell] I did help my son build a crystal set.

[Laura_Leff] I have a crystal set kit, but haven't had time to build it yet.

[Maxwell] It picked up WJOL here in Joliet just like it was in the same city.

[Maxwell] which it is.

[Laura_Leff] LOL

[Bermuda_Grassreek] My Philco replica at the office plays radio show MP3s from the computer...with the help of an FM microtransmitter

[Laura_Leff] Hey, this isn't Benny, but I just picked up a 1926 book of Sam n Henry. Their radio scripts from that time.

[Kay_Lhota] wow

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Cool, Laura

[Maxwell] Man, I wish I could play mp3s at work. But then that might kind of interfere with my teaching.

[Laura_Leff] A member tipped me off on Ebay.

[Scott_in_KC] Max...I get better reception on it than I do on my fancy stereo system.

[Kay_Lhota] I got a portable MP3 CD player for my birthday.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Headphones, Max :-)

[Maxwell] Back when S&S were the rage on WGN.

[Maxwell] S&H

[Maxwell] And I don't mean green stamps.

[Laura_Leff] Maxwell - Yup...it's copyrighted to the Chicago Tribune.

[Kay_Lhota] I can still remember a commercial about Green Stamps

[Laura_Leff] I can still remember licking green stamps.

[Scott_in_KC] What are green stamps, Max? J/K

[Kay_Lhota] "There's More for you in '62 with S and H Green Stamps"

[Maxwell] I can remember my mom buying stuff with Green Stamps.

[Laura_Leff] I have a suitcase that we bought with green stamps

[Laura_Leff] A 50-center had its very own page in the book.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Probably better stuff that you could get with Raliegh coupons...

[Maxwell] Nicky Chevrolet used to give Green Stamps with every car sold. Can you imagine licking those?

[Scott_in_KC] Laura, you sound like a true female Jack Benny.

[Laura_Leff] Bermuda - I was recently seeing ads for those on Naked City shows.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - Blame my parents. I was just helping them.

[Scott_in_KC] ^5 Laura

[Kay_Lhota] yes, I did that too. I used to glue the stamps into the book

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Cool, Laura, I love it when they leave the commercials in those old shows

[Laura_Leff] Bermuda - They've put them on separate tracks, which is good because Naked City shows are very gritty and would be jarring to go

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Ah, I see

[Kay_Lhota] after I did it for a year or so, my Mom told me that I could buy something from the catalogue since I'd been so good at keeping

[Maxwell] They've shown a couple of Burns & Allen shows locally here where they kept the commercials that were integrated into the story..

[Kay_Lhota] up with the books

[Laura_Leff] from this intense drama to watching the Brylcreem puppets dance around

[Scott_in_KC] Bermuda...Then you would like the movie "Good Night and Good Luck."

[Kay_Lhota] so, I bought these 20 stereo headphones

[Maxwell] Harry comes into the kitchen to talk to Gracie and she's whipping up something with her B.F. Goodrich tires.

[Kay_Lhota] $20

[Maxwell] No...Carnation Mile.

[Laura_Leff] Kay - what would you do with 20 headphones?

[Maxwell] Milk.

[Laura_Leff] You've only got one head

[Kay_Lhota] my goof

[Bermuda_Grassreek] The Ed Sullivan Beatles' shows on DVD have the commercials left intact in them

[Steve_-shimp-] It sounds like everyone hear has heat stoke!

[Scott_in_KC] Laura, maybe she has 40 ears.

[Steve_-shimp-] here

[Steve_-shimp-] including me!

[Maxwell] I just have dyslexic fingers.

[Kay_Lhota] the headphones were huge, like earmuffs.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - That's a lotta corn

[Scott_in_KC] LOL...touche.

[Laura_Leff] Kay - At least they had pads unlike the vintage 1920s ones I have that are just hard rubber against your ear

[Bermuda_Grassreek] I remember the big honkin' headphones...

[Laura_Leff] Hard to hear the music over the honking

[Maxwell] Were they attached to Laura's TV?

[Kay_Lhota] my Grandpa worked for Goodrich

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Used to listen to my sister's circa 1970 stereo that way...gave me a headache

[Laura_Leff] The vintage ones have metal rods that stick up on the sides, and you can slide the earpieces up and down to adjust.

[Maxwell] I had these big ol' Super-X Pro B Vs...they must have weight 10 lb.

[Laura_Leff] But those metal rods make you look like a martian. Pretty cool.

[Kay_Lhota] I got a laugh when my walkman died, so I used a huge portable cassette player and those huge headphones

[Maxwell] LL, my Super-X's had those.

[Steve_-shimp-] Yeah, there's a great picture of Jack holding Joan while he's wearing the martian headphones as well.

[Laura_Leff] A lot different than today's little earbuds

[Kay_Lhota] the set up played great, but I looked like the before using

[Kay_Lhota] ad

[Laura_Leff] Steve - Really? I'm not sure that i've seen that

[Maxwell] I remember when Arthur Godfrey did a simulcast of his radio show on TV, he'd have those huge headphones on.

[Scott_in_KC] I am glad you are discussing this stuff because I used to think I always wandered off-topic.

[Maxwell] This conversation just resurrected that memory from 50+ years ago.

[Steve_-shimp-] I'm sure you have, it might have even been a photo caption contest once. I'll look around to see where I remember it from.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - Nah, we all do. After the first hour, I'm more open to it.

[Kay_Lhota] getting back to Jack Benny, I was listening to the Orson Welles pitch hitting shows today

[Bermuda_Grassreek] (puts on some polka music)

[Scott_in_KC] This is really cool...I am NOT complaining.

[Maxwell] What pitch did he hit? Fastball, curve, slider?

[Laura_Leff] Come on, PAPI! Hit it out of the park!

[Maxwell] LL: BOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Laura_Leff] LOL

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Boo, Red Sox!

[Laura_Leff] Come on Kay, I need some defense here.

[Kay_Lhota] it's interesting to hear a guest host, especially the way they shaped the jokes for Orson's hammy style

[Scott_in_KC] Orson Wells: "No wino will be served befoire his time."

[Maxwell] Anymore Red Sox stuff and I'll sing the White Sox fight song.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] I enjoyed the extent to which Welles was willing to make fun of his image...

[Laura_Leff] Whiiiite Soxxx....we one once and that's about it.....Whiiiiite Soxxxx...

[Laura_Leff] ;)

[Kay_Lhota] hey, I like both teams. I was glad thathe White sox won the world series

[Bermuda_Grassreek] I would like to have seen that movie of his, "All Previous Thought"

[Scott_in_KC] BG...and he had a BIG image.

[Laura_Leff] I still wonder how they settled on Orson Welles, of all people.

[Kay_Lhota] yes, that is a curious question

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Was he friends with Jack?

[Laura_Leff] But when Jack was out another time, they used another dramatic actor (whose name is escaping me)

[Maxwell] He was from just down the road from Waukegan.

[Kay_Lhota] Herbert Marshall

[Scott_in_KC] <<< "Rosebud."

[Laura_Leff] Bermuda - It sounds like it from their byplay

[Maxwell] Was it Herbert Marshall?

[Laura_Leff] Kay - Thanks

[Maxwell] D'oh!

[Bermuda_Grassreek] I agree, Laura

[Laura_Leff] I remembered the HM, but no more than that.

[Kay_Lhota] Orson may have been available and anxious to do radio

[Laura_Leff] Kay - What, to come back after the War of the Worlds fiasco?

[Kay_Lhota] I think his series "Ceiling Unlimited" had dropped him as the host

[Maxwell] HM...could've been Heinie Manush.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] These shows were after RKO had gone on the attack against him

[Scott_in_KC] Kay, he had a great voice, like James Earl Jones.

[Laura_Leff] Hermione Mingold

[Kay_Lhota] yes, a lot had been going on for Orson at the time

[Laura_Leff] Scott - ironic that you say that, because he was considered for the voice of Darth Vader

[Laura_Leff] Before Jones got the role

[Kay_Lhota] maybe he did Jack Benny as a damage control thing

[Bermuda_Grassreek] That makes sense, Kay

[Kay_Lhota] and it gave him the idea to do his Almanac series

[Laura_Leff] That's entirely possible

[Scott_in_KC] Laura...That's scary.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - I just learned that yesterday watching a documentary on the making of Star Wars

[Kay_Lhota] I don't know the why of his being on Jack Benny's show, but there was mention of it in a biography I read of Orson Welles

[Bermuda_Grassreek] "We will destroy no planet before its time"

[Kay_Lhota] LOL Bermuda

[Laura_Leff] Luke, I am your father.

[Scott_in_KC] That is ironic, Laura, since he was Professor Pearson in "War of the Worlds."

[Laura_Leff] With his size, he could probably hve done his own breathing.

[Kay_Lhota] LOL

[Laura_Leff] Scott - You know, I never thought of that!

[Bermuda_Grassreek] LOL, Laura

[Scott_in_KC] Jack Benny as Luke Skywalker.

[Kay_Lhota] I love the way that he laughs in the 1940 Hunchback episode

[Maxwell] I think of Jack as being more of the Han Solo type.

[Laura_Leff] The breakup over his blooper is a wonderful moment in Benny radio history

[Kay_Lhota] it is infectious

[Laura_Leff] Max - Nah, that's got to be Phil

[Maxwell] Mary as Princess Leia.

[Steve_-shimp-] OK, folks, I need to head out. Sorry I've been a bit quiet, I'm multitasking! A Pleasure as always.

[Laura_Leff] take care, Steve!

[Kay_Lhota] see you steve

[Steve_-shimp-] Plus, I feel the Jet Benny topic is coming up so I am going to duck out!

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Night, Steve

[Steve_-shimp-] :)

[Maxwell] G'night Steve.

[Laura_Leff] Dennis as Chewbacca?

[Scott_in_KC] Have a great school year, Steve!

[Laura_Leff] Steve - I can't blame you.

Steve_-shimp- has left the chat.

[Maxwell] Phil as Chewy...with a pompadour.

[Maxwell] (However it's spelled.)

[Scott_in_KC] Our school starts next week.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Maybe...just maybe...by the next chat there will be a hint of fall in the air...sigh...

[Laura_Leff] Eddie Anderson as Lando Calrissian (sp?)

[Kay_Lhota] oh my

[Scott_in_KC] Rochester as...Hmmmmmm?

[Laura_Leff] Bermuda - Hope not. Makes me sad.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - The Billy Dee Williams role

[Maxwell] And the Maxwell as the Death Star.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] It will be sweet relief here in OK, Laura

[Laura_Leff] Mel Blanc as Yoda

[Scott_in_KC] Yep, I thought so.

[Maxwell] I picture Mel Blanc's Yoda with a Daffy Duck voice.

[Laura_Leff] Actually, there was a comment in the documentary that implied that Mel Blanc actually tested for the voice of C3PO

[Scott_in_KC] Mary as Princess Leha (?)

[Laura_Leff] And that Mel told them that the actor had a fine voice for the role

[Kay_Lhota] Mel Blanc did the robot Twiki in the Buck Rogers TV series

[Laura_Leff] So who's Darth Vader?

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Orson Welles and Mel Blanc in Star Wars...my, how different it could have been..

[Laura_Leff] FRANK NELSON

[Maxwell] Oh Darth!

[Laura_Leff] It suddenly came to me like a bolt from the blue

[Kay_Lhota] [scream]

[Maxwell] YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS?

[Maxwell] Don Wilson as R2D2.

[Scott_in_KC] "Use the Force, Jack......"

[Laura_Leff] Joe Kearns as Obi Wan Kenobe...because Ed was so old

[Maxwell] The Sportsmen Quartet as the Ewoks.

[Laura_Leff] So if Phil is Chewbacca, who's Han Solo?

[Kay_Lhota] and Joe Kearns died so early on

[Scott_in_KC] Fred Allen as, what, Laura?

[Maxwell] The emperor.

[Laura_Leff] Fred Allen as that pinch-faced guy

[Kay_Lhota] Jack Benny as Han. You got that earlier

[Laura_Leff] yeah, that's it

[Laura_Leff] So Dennis is Luke?

[Kay_Lhota] Fred as the evil Emperor?

[Maxwell] Yeah.

[Scott_in_KC] LOL Kay!

[Maxwell] Dennis as Luke is perfect!

[Laura_Leff] Actually.....you're right.

[Laura_Leff] It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to superimpose the Benny characters on other shows

[Kay_Lhota] Benny Rubin as Boba Fett

[Laura_Leff] Star Wars, Star Trek, Pulp Fiction, etc.

[Scott_in_KC] You guys did not like my suggestion of Mary as Princess Leha?

[Maxwell] I said that, too, Scott.

[Maxwell] So it has been moved and seconded.

[Laura_Leff] Dang...I just forgot the name of the double-talker guy from the 30s

[Scott_in_KC] GMTA Max ^5

[Kay_Lhota] Cliff Nazarro

[Laura_Leff] Kay - Thanks

[Laura_Leff] Cliff Nazarro as Jabba the Hut

[Kay_Lhota] LOL

[Laura_Leff] Actually wait...that could be Don's role

[Kay_Lhota] LOL yes

[Maxwell] So who is R2D2?

[Scott_in_KC] Meyer and Emma (?) K. as Luke's parents?

[Kay_Lhota] a vacuum cleaner?

[Laura_Leff] MAxwell - Schlepperman

[Maxwell] Bingo!

[Laura_Leff] Or kitzel. Take your pick

[Maxwell] Kitzel as C3PO.

[Kay_Lhota] I like Schlepperman

[Laura_Leff] Actually, maybe Kitzel would be a good C3PO

[Maxwell] Or vice versa.

[Scott_in_KC] Laura, Jack would have been a great C3PO...always worrying.

[Laura_Leff] Scott - I can see that.

[Maxwell] Jack would never have allowed himself to be cast in a supporting role.

[Scott_in_KC] But not a big role.

[Maxwell] There'd be a big argument over it before the skit started.

[Laura_Leff] BRB

[Scott_in_KC] Mr. Billingsly would have been.... <scratching head>

[Maxwell] Hmmm...

[Kay_Lhota] let me give that some thought

[Maxwell] Yeah...

[Maxwell] That's a toughy.

[Scott_in_KC] ...and the Blue Fairy (Please be nice...I rather like Mary Kelly).

[Laura_Leff] The Death Star?

[Kay_Lhota] ouch

[Maxwell] No, that's the Maxwell.

[Kay_Lhota] no! The Maxwell is the Millinium Falcon

[Laura_Leff] That's the Rattle Trap

[Maxwell] True.

[Laura_Leff] Kay - Actually, that's pretty much what they did in Jet Benny

[Kay_Lhota] did they?

[Laura_Leff] *Sigh* Yeah

[Scott_in_KC] The Maxwell would have been a space cruiser. Present company accepted.

[Laura_Leff] And Rochester was an android

[Laura_Leff] It looks pretty much like a tube of glue that someone painted up badly

[Maxwell] Yeesh!

[Maxwell] Shoot! I gotta fun...time for the Revolution on the History Channel.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Night, Maxwell

[Laura_Leff] It's pretty awful. I don't want to think about it. *Curling into fetal position*

[Kay_Lhota] night Maxwell

[Laura_Leff] Have a good one, Maxwell!

[Maxwell] Remember the August comedy shows: www.nostalgiadigest.com. Jack is in 2 weeks.

[Maxwell] Adios!

[Kay_Lhota] hey, whenever you see a lousy piece of writing , you can do a better one

[Laura_Leff] So should we call it a wrap for this month?

[Scott_in_KC] You guys have wicked (in a good sense) imaginations.

Maxwell has left the chat.

[Bermuda_Grassreek] And I'd better scoot as well...Chrlie the Pup is getting anxious for his evening walk

[Laura_Leff] OK. Well, good chat everyone! We'll see you in September!

[Bermuda_Grassreek] (calls it a wrap)

[Kay_Lhota] thanks I have had a great time

[Laura_Leff] Same here

[Bermuda_Grassreek] Night, you all, and have a great August!

[Laura_Leff] Stay cool everyone!

[Scott_in_KC] Tale care all. Pray for peace.

[Kay_Lhota] thanks

[Kay_Lhota] indeed