IJBFC Chat

[Brad from Georgia] "Jack, did you take violin lessons when you were little?" "Yes. Well, not very often. When I went for a lesson, my music teacher was Haydn."

[KayLhota] well, I suggested it because it is a personal favorite

[ed kienzler] and she asked me who my fav comic was i said jack benny...

[Michael] ranks right up there with when George hits Jack over the head with his violin

[Maxwell] It's one of Jack's best guest appearance.

[Laura Leff] Ed - And she said "who?"

[Maxwell] Or appearances

[ed kienzler] she knows who he is...

[Brad from Georgia] LL--It made me think of the story of Jack's performing as a gypsy violinist for the tourist bus.

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - Very true...very in keeping with his character.

[KayLhota] it's solid gold Burns and Allen, and Jack Benny

[Laura Leff] Brad - Oh right, when he did it for Lucy and got locked out.

[Michael] I love it when George starts ad libbing about his being a pickle salesman

[Laura Leff] Michael - There's one point where George says something to Jack, and the audience is laughing so much you can be pretty sure Jack was trying not to crack up.

[Brad from Georgia] I lost one of Jack's lines, an ad-lib, I think. Georgie is singing "Otche Chornya" and Jack throws away a line that sounds in part like "for sixteen years."

[KayLhota] even Meredith Willson's hopeless Italian maestro routine is funny

User josef has entered this room.

[josef] im back

[Laura Leff] WB Josef

[Michael] wb josef

[KayLhota] hi again Josef

[Brad from Georgia] Bueno sera!

[Maxwell] wg josef

[Laura Leff] Was afraid we scared you off

[ed kienzler] HE"S BACK!!!

[FrankLhota] LSMFT Josef

[josef] thanks. having some computer problems

[Laura Leff] Josef is no longer Hadyn

[Michael] he got the lead out (with apologies to Prof LeBlanc)

[Maxwell] I liked the LS/MFT joke.

[KayLhota] ouch, Laura

[ed kienzler] oh LL

User Mike Amo has entered this room.

[KayLhota] Hi Mike

[Brad from Georgia] Hi, Mike.

[Mike Amo] Hello again

[Laura Leff] Hey Mike!

[Maxwell] Hi Mike

[ed kienzler] hey mike

[Michael] Hi Mike

[Mike Amo] Wow!

[KayLhota] such a turnout for a summer night?

[Mike Amo] That's quite a welcoming committee for a wandering gypsy

[Laura Leff] I like Gracie's line about "if there's two people who look like they've been roaming the earth for hundreds of years, it's you two."

[Brad from Georgia] Did anyone catch Jack's line that I referred to? During George's rendition of "Dark Eyes"?

[ed kienzler] right kay

[Laura Leff] Kay - I know, go figure!

[Maxwell] I didn't catch it.

[Laura Leff] Brad - I heard it but didn't pay it a lot of mind.

[Maxwell] And I haven't had time to re-listen.

[Michael] same here

[Laura Leff] Something like, "Well that set it back sixteen years."

[Mike Amo] I played it a month ago, so I don't remember

[KayLhota] I'll have to give it another listen

[josef] me too

[Brad from Georgia] I tried re-listening, but between George and the audience reaction, I still couldn't clearly understand Jack.

[KayLhota] was it where Jack Benny was breaking up?

[Brad from Georgia] He sounded as if he were laughing as he spoke.

[Laura Leff] Kay - No, Jack says it after George sings Orchi Chornya

[KayLhota] okay

[Michael] when Jack is telling Meridith's fortune and he says she looks like.... I never quite got who she was supposed to look like

[Laura Leff] Michael - I think they were expecting that line to trail off to laughter

[Michael] ok

[Laura Leff] The only bug I've got about it is there is a serious dependence on the cheap jokes.

[Maxwell] But that was counterbalanced by a hefty dose of violin playing.

[Michael] which cheap jokes do you mean Laura?

[Laura Leff] Like Jack going back and forth between the exercises and "Gypsy Violin" all based on money.

[KayLhota] I thought that was cute

[Brad from Georgia] Meredith Wilson listened to George and Jack and thought, "That's not music, man. Hmm....Music Man....Hmmm...I ought to write a musical! I could call it 'West Side Story!'"

[Michael] I would think by this time it was what people expected of Jack's Character

[KayLhota] Funny one, Brad!

[Maxwell] My punch line would have been "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."

[Laura Leff] Michael - True, although I know that was also the source of Jack's complaint about being on other people's shows.

[Brad from Georgia] Wonder if Jack's writers worked on the show, or if the writers were Burns's and Allens's.

[Laura Leff] That they just threw in a lot of cheap jokes and left it at that.

[josef] you can kind of tell

[Laura Leff] Brad - i was wondering that too. George Balzer and Sam Perrin had worked for Burns and Allen before they came to Jack in 1943.

[KayLhota] probably the writers of the Band A show, but with George's input

[Michael] could both sets have worked on it?

[ed kienzler] yes

[FrankLhota] Possibly

[Brad from Georgia] Lots of times when Jack guested, you can tell he didn't have his own writers...just the run of cheap and standard Jack jokes. Like the bad joke on the Paar show closing about the toupee.

[Laura Leff] Michael - Possibly, or at least provided some material.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Yeah, great example.

[Laura Leff] Two questions for discussion

[Maxwell] The toupee joke on the B and A show was much better.

[KayLhota] oh, they would have had Jack from the first reading informing people politely what would work and what wouldn't

[Mike Amo] How much impact did they have on their lines if they didn't like what they were getting?

[Laura Leff] What's Jack's worst guest appearance elsewhere

[Mike Amo] lol, ty Kay

[Laura Leff] What's the best B&A appearance on Jack's show?

[Brad from Georgia] I have to say it was in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." There just wasn't enough of Jack.

[KayLhota] I like this one better than the show from November 1943

[Michael] I would say the best is the one where we learn just how Jack became stingy

[ed kienzler] right

[Laura Leff] Mike - Less on other people's shows than their own (c.f. story of Groucho on Jack's show)

[Mike Amo] I suspect it would be something from the 1930s, as they all had a more loose format then

[KayLhota] I haven't heard enough of Jack on Burns and Allen

[josef] I enjoyed Jack's guest appearance on B&A when Gracie decides to hit Jack over the head so he won't be stingy

[Brad from Georgia] It's hard to beat George on Jack's TV show when Gracie doesn't show up and Jack does her role in drag.

[FrankLhota] How many of you have seen Jack on "Laugh In"?

[Laura Leff] I have

[ed kienzler] me

[Mike Amo] me too

[Michael] just a few clips

[Maxwell] Me three.

[Laura Leff] Keep it moving, Mr. Benny, keep it moving!

[Brad from Georgia] I did, but can't remember anything other than I saw it.

[Mike Amo] But it's been a long time

[KayLhota] I saw it back in 1970 live, and we have the DVD so our son has seen it too

[Laura Leff] Frank - Are you saying it's Jack's worst guest appearance?

[Mike Amo] I remember that one, Josef

[FrankLhota] No, but may be his most unusual.

[Brad from Georgia] I can remember Arte Johnson's little German soldier breaking up a surprised Bob Hope with his mournful "Ve vaited for you effrey Christmas!"

[Laura Leff] Frank - Hmmm...now there's a challenge...his most unusual... hmmm...

[Laura Leff] That would have to be Plan X for me.

[josef] yeah I thought it was good. I also liked Jack's appearance on B&A's TV show when they were fighting. Not too many stingy jokes.

[KayLhota] well, the most unusual has to be His picture as the matador in the Jerry Lewis movie "Rock-a-Bye Baby"

[Laura Leff] There's a show with George and Gracie where Gracie thinks Dennis Day is brilliant. It's really cute.

User Maxwell has logged out.

[Michael] Is it me or did it seem like the stingy Jokes seemed to work best on Fred Allen's Shows?

[KayLhota] oops

[Laura Leff] Kay - I think that's a new one on me.

User Maxwell has entered this room.

[Brad from Georgia] LL--That one sounds like fun!

[KayLhota] hi back Max

[Maxwell] Oops

[josef] Yes, that's a good one too, Laura. Haven't heard it for sometime, though.

[ed kienzler] hi max

[Laura Leff] I'm just trying to remember the larger context of the show...

[KayLhota] Laura, I recently made some screen captures for the movie, so I will send the pics to you

[Maxwell] The one I mentioned on the message board that was on TCM this week was pretty unusual.

[Laura Leff] Kay - Great! I'll look forward to them.

[KayLhota] are you familiar with the movie, Laura?

[FrankLhota] I'm still waiting for Jack to finish the submarine joke.

[Laura Leff] Kay - No, I'm not a Jerry Lewis fan.

[Laura Leff] Frank - Har har

[Maxwell] So now we know LL is NOT French.

[Mike Amo]

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, we got the "To Be or Not to Be" DVD and I watched one of the shorts on it--where Jack is tight and climbs a ladder into the wrong apartment.

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - No, but I like Jacques Tati

[Laura Leff] And Robert Bresson

[KayLhota] okay-- the plot of the movie is that Marilyn Maxwell is a movie actress who was secretly married to a matador, and having done it in haste, she tore her marriage license

[Brad from Georgia] I thought it was funny that Jack referenced the other short, "Taxi Troubles," in it--"The last time I got married, a hack driver performed the ceremony."

[Laura Leff] Taxi Tangles

[Laura Leff] aka Cab Waiting

[Brad from Georgia] Right, Taxi Tangles, sorry.

[KayLhota] and was widowed and pregnant, which would kill her career

[Laura Leff] Sounds like Rita Hayworth

[KayLhota] so, she has Jerry Lewis, her home town boyfriend take care of her triplets

[KayLhota] while she makes a movie on location, keeping it all secret

[Laura Leff] Sounds like a rather scandalous movie plot for the time.

[KayLhota] for Jerry Lewis, it is one of his more tolerable

[Maxwell] Is there such a thing?

[Maxwell] A tolerable Jerry Lewis movie?

[Mike Amo] Nutty Professor, which scared me as a kid

[Brad from Georgia] I can see that on the poster, Kay: Roger Ebert: "Tolerable!"

[KayLhota] well, I suppose that is a matter of taste, but I found this one entertaining

[ed kienzler] several mentions of Laugh-in and jack on youtube

[FrankLhota] The Bellboy is more than tolerable.

[josef] I enjoyed Jerry Lewis with Dean, but never really cared for his single movies

[Maxwell] Mike I'll give you that one. I like it.

[Laura Leff] So Jack is her matador husband?

[Maxwell] Martin and Lewis were a much better live act than movie act.

[Brad from Georgia] Jerry should have teamed with Lou Costello when he broke up with Martin.

[josef] true. I enjoy watching their colgate comedy hours

[Laura Leff] Two comedians? Who's the straight man?

[Maxwell] Lewis

[ed kienzler] true

[KayLhota] yes, Laura. When the newspaper shows the picture, there is no doubt.

[Brad from Georgia] Umm....Tom Cruise?

[josef] one of them has Jack on it as a guest.

[KayLhota] A few strains of "Love In Bloom" on the score, so you can't miss the joke.

[Laura Leff] Kay - Gotcha. Go figure...

[KayLhota] anyway, that cameo wins my vote for most unusual

[FrankLhota] Tom Cruise and Lou Costello? Which one would be the straight man?

[Laura Leff] I like a bit of business Jack did on the Flip Wilson show where they're talking jive to him (Flip and Pearl Bailey) and Jack is trying to go with it.

[Laura Leff] Frank - They're about the same height.

[Brad from Georgia] Tom Cruise says it's him. Straight man! He insists!

[josef] haven't seen that one, Laura

[Michael] why does that remind me of the time Don Wilson & the Opera singer are talking Opera?

[ed kienzler] flip wilson was funny but his show was not

[Brad from Georgia] Flip needed better writers. The skits were heavy-handed, though well acted.

[Laura Leff] Michael - It's not quite the same...Flip and Pearl are telling Jack that they think highly of him, but saying it like, "You're far out" and so on.

[Michael] ok

[ed kienzler] they were on TV land a few years ago

[FrankLhota] I also liked the Marty Feldman bit.

[Laura Leff] Flip was on one of Jack's specials, sort of standing in for Rochester.

[josef] interesting

[Michael] that sounds like it would be weird

[Laura Leff] I'd have liked to see Geraldine fill in for Rochester. Or be Rochester's girlfriend.

[ed kienzler] very interesting

[Maxwell] Now cut that out!

[Laura Leff] Michael - Even more so, i think they were trying to do a take off on Ironsides, IIRC

[ed kienzler] watch it mac

[Laura Leff] I have this recollection of Jack in a wheelchair. But I may be confusing it.

[Laura Leff] Need to write more 39 Forever volumes some day and sort it out.

[Michael] sounds good to me

[Brad from Georgia] I'd buy it.

[Laura Leff] So what else about the show for this month?

[Maxwell] Me too.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Did you get your newsletters?

[Brad from Georgia] Yes, thank you!

[Laura Leff] Brad - OK, good. Sorry to have mixed it up before.

[ed kienzler] ironsides-raymond burr fort laramie

[KayLhota] I thought it captured George and Jack's musical enthusiasm

[Brad from Georgia] Haven't read the legal transcript one yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

[Michael] I never knew you could get "gold" rings in Cracker Jacks

[KayLhota] very much in character for their show characters

[Laura Leff] Yeah, they'd cheapened it to little plastic toys in my day.

[Maxwell] They had better surprises in Cracker Jack back in the day.

[Michael] same here

[Brad from Georgia] I thought the change in the Maxwell House slogan was funny: "Good to the last drop." "And that's good, too!" Sort of coffee overkill.

[Laura Leff] Look mom, I got a star sapphire in my Cracker Jax!

[ed kienzler] im rich!!!

[Brad from Georgia] Whut? Why, when I wuz young, we useta get Studebakers in Cracker Jack!

[Michael] and what's with the green ears & fingers?

[Brad from Georgia] Phony gold tarnishes.

[Laura Leff] A martian?

[Maxwell] Copper compound.

[josef] all i remember is a sticker or tattoo in a cracker jack box, and maybe a plastic ring

[Laura Leff] Brad - That's only in the extra large box.

[Michael] thought so

[Brad from Georgia] Like in "The Searchers": "She don't wear that necklace you give her much, 'cuz she says it makes her neck turn green."

[ed kienzler] tarrishes they showed one on atique roadshows tonight

[FrankLhota] To avoid choking risks, Cracker Jack now includes only paper prizes.

[Laura Leff] Frank - You're supposed to play with the toys, not eat them.

[Brad from Georgia] I thought they didn't have any prizes now. No wonder my Cracker Jacks have been so chewy lately,

[KayLhota] good one, Laura

[ed kienzler] GULP!!!

[Maxwell] I remember getting stuff like those plastic dealies that would show you two pictures depending on which angle you held them at.

[Michael] and when some kid gets a paper cut...... out go the prizes.....

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - I remember those.

[FrankLhota] What about the original Mr. Potato-head?

[Michael] me too

[Laura Leff] Michael -

[josef] very true, Michael.

[ed kienzler] a real potatoe

[Maxwell] Frank, the ones where you actually had to use a potato?

[ed kienzler] no "e"

[Laura Leff] Frank - Despite the name, not supposed to eat him either.

[Mike Amo] poetato

[Brad from Georgia] There used to be the darndest things in those boxes. I once got a little white plastic Scottie dog with a magnet in his butt. I always wondered what it was supposed to do.

[Maxwell] Ladies and gentlemen, Dan Quayle.

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - You beat me to it.

[ed kienzler] quayle i like rabitt

[Maxwell] Edgar Allen Poetato.

[Mike Amo]

[Michael] perhaps it was part of a set Brad?

[Laura Leff] Brad - I suppose it could mean he didn't need paper training.

[KayLhota] groan

[Brad from Georgia] Michael--probably, but I never got the counterpart.

[Maxwell] Another box had a magnet on the dog's nose.

[ed kienzler] ouch again

[Laura Leff] I've got a dog who has no nose...

[Brad from Georgia] How does he smell?

[Laura Leff] Terrible!

[Maxwell] badoomp boom

[Laura Leff] Brad - Thanks for being my straightman.

[Michael] *rimshot*

[ed kienzler] i have a nose but no dog (cat maybe)

[Brad from Georgia] Und so the Allies tremble.

[Laura Leff] But seriously folks...

[Maxwell] Too late for that, Laura

[Brad from Georgia] My daughter just moved to a new house--whilst she was walking her new dog, a big stray attacked and scratched her up pretty nastily.

[Laura Leff] You may have noticed that after years of the same groupings, I've created a new section on the Forum.

[Maxwell] Yes!

[Brad from Georgia] No!

[Michael] looks like Vaudeville has returned

[Brad from Georgia] I mean Yes!

[ed kienzler] she all right?

[Laura Leff] Michael - It never died here in the chat room.

[Laura Leff] Brad - yeah, she OK?

[Maxwell] I saw the reference to the inevitable Hans Conried.

[Brad from Georgia] ed--Yes, thanks, she wasn't bitten, but the dog jumped on her legs when she picked up her puppy.

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - I was waiting for Kay to see that...

User Michael has logged out.

[Maxwell] Oops!

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - Did you shoot him?

[ed kienzler] he's gone !

User Michael has entered this room.

[Laura Leff] Maybe he doesn't like vaudeville.

[Maxwell] I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot Hans Conried.

[KayLhota] what was the reference to Hans Conried?

[Brad from Georgia] Back to the new section. I honestly didn't notice it today.

[josef] never know

[Mike Amo] That would be a cool name for a movie...The Inevitable Hans Conried

[Laura Leff] Kay - See the new section of the Forum

[ed kienzler] who'd play him

[Maxwell] Hans Conried, of course.

[Laura Leff] Brad - I just did it a couple hours ago...you may not have seen it.

[ed kienzler] ouch!!!

[Brad from Georgia] How about a special section for all the captions I've suggested over the years that not once have won.....

[KayLhota] I'll have to do that later, because if I looked for it now, I'd lose the chatroom

[Laura Leff] The Insatiable Marquis De Sade

[Laura Leff] Oops, wrong movie.

[Maxwell] Kay: Open a different window.

[Maxwell] Then you won't lose the chatroom.

[KayLhota] oh, that might work!

[Maxwell] It does.

Maxwell does it all the time.

[Laura Leff] Brad - They're all still out there. Somewhere. Though.

Michael should have thought of that

Laura Leff waits breathlessly for Kay to see the new Forum section.

[Laura Leff] Seems we all are

[KayLhota] where is the new forum section?

[Maxwell] At the bottom.

[Laura Leff] At the bottom of the forum listing

[KayLhota] at the bottom?

[Laura Leff] Look for "Other stuff we like"

[Maxwell] at the bottom.

[Michael] I'm not seeing it

[Laura Leff] Where the magnet is

[ed kienzler] a funny thing happened on the way to the Forum

[KayLhota] all that does if put me in the chatroom

[Laura Leff] Log into the forum, then look at the listing

[Brad from Georgia] 'Tain't there for me.

[KayLhota] brilliant one ed

[ed kienzler] thanx...

[Maxwell] Brad Clear your cookies.

[Michael] me either Brad

[Laura Leff] Forum -> Bulletin Board -> Log in

[Laura Leff] Brad Toss your cookies

[josef] ok

[Laura Leff] Group tech support

[ed kienzler] bake those cookies

[Brad from Georgia] Just tried. "Contact Us" is still at the bottom.

[Maxwell] If they're chocolate chip, I want one.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Not that far down. Under Jack Benny today

[Maxwell] Look in the menu for the forum.

[Laura Leff] If they're tossed, I'll pass.

[KayLhota] oh that is funny, Laura

[Maxwell] Not below it.

[FrankLhota] Aneheim -> Asusa -> Cucamonga

[ed kienzler] raisin spice ummmm

[Maxwell] Oatmeal raisin....

Michael will check it out l8r

[KayLhota] I'll gladly offer up a post for the enevitable Hans Conried

[Maxwell] Or peanut butter!

[Laura Leff] Kay - In the words of Mr. Rogers, "I knew you would."

[ed kienzler] girls scouts thin mints

[Brad from Georgia] Got it. I didn't open the Forum. Funny thing happened to me....

[KayLhota] I blush, but accept this fact gracefully.

[Maxwell] You met Zero Mostel?

[Laura Leff] So anyhow, I figured that we always like talking about non-Benny things here in the chat

[ed kienzler] zero my hero

[Laura Leff] so I'd make a place where you can talk about them any time.

[Brad from Georgia] Isn't Zero Mostel that lo-cal Jewish wine?

[ed kienzler] phil silvers was in the movie version

[Brad from Georgia] And Buster Keaton.

[Laura Leff] I'm loving "Upstairs Downstairs" right now and would probably share it.

[Laura Leff] Brad - That's Zero Manischevivivitz

[Brad from Georgia] If our college ever does "Forum" again, I'm trying out for the Buster Keaton role.

[Maxwell] Was that Keaton's last movie?

[ed kienzler] yes

[Maxwell] You want to run around the seven hills of Rome?

[Brad from Georgia] Maxwell--yes. They actually used a double in some long shots because Keaton was too ill.

[ed kienzler] i think so

[FrankLhota] "war Italian Style"

[Laura Leff] Haven't seen it.

[Maxwell] Yeah, he had lung cancer, I think.

[Brad from Georgia] How many geese in a gaggle?

[Laura Leff] He was a smoker.

[KayLhota] seven

[Brad from Georgia] Keaton died from lung cancer, but they never told him he had it.

[ed kienzler] how many gaggle into a geese

[KayLhota] wasn't it seven to a gaggle of geese?

[Laura Leff] Depends on how big the goose's throat is.

[FrankLhota] A gaggle is a google of geese.

[Brad from Georgia] A gag to giggle a goose.

[ed kienzler] AFLAC!!!

[Laura Leff]

[Brad from Georgia] "Love likes a gander, and adores a goose."

[Laura Leff] A gag to goose a giggle

[Laura Leff] Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

[KayLhota] old one, but I love it

[Maxwell] A gaggle of geese were playing this gig....

[ed kienzler] giggle a goose into a gaggle and watch the tail wiggle

[ed kienzler] waggle

[Brad from Georgia] The Quing and the Keen were quirling at quoits at a meadow behind of the mere...

[KayLhota] though mainly the meadow was middled with moe

[Laura Leff] Wow...I think I lost track of where we are...the air is so thin here...

[KayLhota] an hirectical hitherto hear

[Michael] I think I'm heading off to Allen's Alley now

[Brad from Georgia] Yay, Kay! Dogbone it, I think I love you!

[KayLhota] bowing to Brad

[ed kienzler] is that yogi really says on the AFLAC commercial

[Laura Leff] Careful Brad, her husband is here.

[Brad from Georgia] I loves him, too.

[Maxwell] Watch it Brad. Frank's here.

[Mike Amo] Brad, was reading back...they never told him

[Laura Leff] What is that, Naked Lunch?

[Maxwell] For once you beat me, Ms. Leff....

[Brad from Georgia] Nah, Pogo.

[Brad from Georgia] Unadulterated sheer Walt Kelly.

[ed kienzler] pogo stick?

[Laura Leff] Aha...makes sense.

[KayLhota] As main go oh so Pogo go Key Largo

[Brad from Georgia] Pogo the Possum. "We have met the enemy an' he is us."

[ed kienzler] in to fargo

[Maxwell] I miss Pogo.

[KayLhota] I was just begining to get it when he died

[ed kienzler] or henry who never spoke

[Maxwell] I don't miss Nancy and Sluggo.

[Brad from Georgia] "Oh, MAM-ie minded Mama, 'til one day in Singapore...a sailor MAN from TurkeSTAN come knockin' at the door..."

[Maxwell] I do miss Aunt Fritzie.

[Laura Leff] I read some of the late Pogos, and it reminded me of the comment about Wagner's music: "It's much better than it sounds."

[KayLhota] brilliant!

[Laura Leff] I think it must have been better earlier on.

[ed kienzler] who was the nancy's drawer other than ernir?

[Brad from Georgia] We still get Nancy in our local paper. Fritzi has become a music journalist covering country-western stars. In a nice way, I mean.

[ed kienzler] some guy named plasmino

[Laura Leff] Or Nancy Drew, for that matter.

[KayLhota] Jerry Scott did it for a while

[Maxwell] Nancy drew what?

[Brad from Georgia] Now, now, a gentleman don't discuss Nancy's drawers.

[Laura Leff] Ed - Sounds like the X-Men.

[ed kienzler] nancy drew herself in a dvd movie

[KayLhota] Frank and I are both blanking on the guy's last name

[Laura Leff] Magneto's sidekick Plasmino

[Maxwell] Nanchy drew herself a bath.

[Maxwell] Or Nancy

[FrankLhota] rest

[ed kienzler] a bad dvd flick

[FrankLhota] His name was Gilcrest

[ed kienzler] ryan

[KayLhota] Guy Gilcrest

[ed kienzler] oh seacrest

[Laura Leff] Gasoline Alley

[ed kienzler] hey great comic and radio show

[Brad from Georgia] Guy and Brad Gilchrist (spelling counts) are now responsible for Nancy.

[Laura Leff] I just said that to see if anyone went anywhere with it.

[Maxwell] Ah! A before and after for Wheel of Fortune: Gasoline Alley Oop!

[KayLhota] thank you Brad

[Michael] am running a little late so goodnight folks...... see you all next month hopefully

User Michael has logged out.

[ed kienzler] bye mike...

[KayLhota] wow, that was a fast getaway

[Laura Leff] Bye *SLAM*

[Brad from Georgia] The strip "Nancy" has changed very little. Same jokes for many years, like "Blondie."

[Maxwell] Are we on the third or fourth generation of Youngs yet drawing Blondie/

[Maxwell] ?

[ed kienzler] blondie/dagwood 78 years and still strong

[KayLhota] that can happen over 80 years

[Brad from Georgia] Dunno. I wonder where Dagwood gets them shirts with jes' one button in the middle.

[Laura Leff] There's a mindblowing Tijuana Bible of Blondie that you'd swear was drawn by Gig Young himself.

[FrankLhota] Before Gilcrest, they had an artist who tried to re-design Nancy, but it didn't work.

[Brad from Georgia] Chick Young, Laura.

[ed kienzler] a sewing shop

[Laura Leff] Brad - Thank you.

[Brad from Georgia] No problemo.

[Maxwell] Yeah, after Ernie Bushmiller died, Nancy's looks went to pot.

[Brad from Georgia] Actually, Chic Young. Spelling counts.....

[KayLhota] yes, she looked too much like Bosko the Talkink Kid as a girl

[Brad from Georgia] Maxwell--after Bushmiller died, her artist went to pot.....

[Laura Leff] Brad - OK, that's why I did the crossover. Soundalike with the same letter on the front and back (Chic vs. Gig)

[ed kienzler] a story of their (Blondie) 75th anniversary mentions no radio show at all

[Brad from Georgia] I always mix up Gig Young and....some other actor.

[Brad from Georgia] Not Roland Young...

[Laura Leff] Ed - What about the movies?

[Maxwell] Or as Mad Magazine had in a parody of comic strips (at the start of Blondie): "Blondie...who's no young chick."

[Laura Leff] Barbie isn't either, and has the same build.

[ed kienzler] they mention movies and TV but no OTR

[Brad from Georgia] Wonder if Dagwood's parents have died yet? They were rich.

[Laura Leff] Ed - That's a shame.

[ed kienzler] they still diown him

[Brad from Georgia] OTR don't get no respect.

[Maxwell] Mr. Dithers must be about 150 years old by now.

[Laura Leff] Just like Rodney Dangerfield.

[josef] thats true brad

[FrankLhota] Mr. Dithers is now a cyborg.

[KayLhota] ouch, Frank

[ed kienzler] i have the copy from sept 2005 of the news article of it

[Maxwell] People who wrote the article probably think radio was always the way it is now.

[Laura Leff] Blondie meets the Jetsons

[josef] My thing is I wish more people my age knew about otr. Got my roommate in college into Jack Benny, though

[KayLhota] well, they both featured Penny Singleton

[ed kienzler] true LL

[Brad from Georgia] True story: in grad school, I had to do a paper on William Faulkner. I tracked the doctor in Yoknapatawpha County through a dozen novels and about twenty short stories, and discovered he was still in practice at the age of 142.

[Maxwell] How about Arthur Lake?

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - Like shows I've seen on standup comedy where everyone asserts it was invented by Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce.

[ed kienzler] Penny Singleton

[FrankLhota] Mel Blanc could voice Mr. Dithers using the Maxwell noises.

[KayLhota] dying, Frank!

[Maxwell] Frank So true!

[Laura Leff] Josef - Actually, Sirius radio is a good source for exposing people to it.

[josef] okay, thanx

[Maxwell] LL or people who think jazz was invented by Miles Davis in 1960.

[ed kienzler] except they cut out the commercials something i think is important to OTR

[Brad from Georgia] Maybe we could get the rights and do a modern version of "Blondie" for Sirius Radio. We could get Eddie Carroll to do Mr. Dithers.

[KayLhota] especially to the Jack Benny show

[Maxwell] I love old radio commercials.

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - Yes, very true.

[josef] it was funny my roommate had no idea who Jack was, and I started playing his shows at night while i studied. he liked it.

[FrankLhota] Sirius and internet radio is great for specialty markets such as OTR.

[ed kienzler] what is ma perkins without oxydol?

[Laura Leff] Ed - Dirty.

[ed kienzler] LL OUCH

[josef] that's tru, Frank. I found out about OTR from my dad, got curious, went onlines, and found a bunch of stuff.

Laura Leff is snickering

[Maxwell] What I like about Jack's shows is that they're easy to introduce newbies to OTR because there is so much timeless humor and so little topical humor.

[Brad from Georgia] My daughter caught the Jack Benny bug by seeing Eddie in "Laughter in Bloom." Now she's got about a dozen CDs of Jack's radio shows.

[Mike Amo] Sorry, lots happening here and not able to look in much...is OTR on Sirius?

[Laura Leff] Mike - Sure is!

[ed kienzler] yes

[Maxwell] Ma Perkins w/o Oxydol is: "----------'s own Ma Perkins."

[josef] Very true, Max.

[FrankLhota] Internet radio has something for all tastes. Where else can you find a 24 hour polka channel?

[Mike Amo] Cool

[Laura Leff] Frank - And who's want to...

[ed kienzler] larry welk 24 hours a day

[Laura Leff] who'd want to...

[Maxwell] Where would you want to find a 24-hour polka channel?

[Brad from Georgia] Frank, there's one on TV--oh, oh, I thought you said 24-hour POKER channel.

[Laura Leff] All Welk, all the time.

[ed kienzler] ha

[Maxwell] I liked Welk's appearance with Jack.

[KayLhota] spew!

[Brad from Georgia] Wunnaful, wunnaful.

[FrankLhota] I'm forever blowing bubbles...

[ed kienzler] myron on the accordian

[KayLhota] I came that close to wetting my computer.

[Brad from Georgia] "Open it yourself, I'm sick of bubbles."

[Maxwell] Hey! You can't totally knock Welk...he employed guys like Dick Cathcart, Peanuts Hucko, Pete Fountain, and Bob Havens.

[ed kienzler] dick cathcart pete kelly's blues

[Laura Leff] Not to mention Bobby and Sissy when they were too old to be Mouseketeers.

[Maxwell] ed Dat's da one!

[Brad from Georgia] "Thank-a you, thank-a you. And now somethin' a little new. We gonna get-a down, get-a funky."

[Laura Leff]

[ed kienzler] he also appeared on a 1953 dragnet movie

[Maxwell] LL That was Barbara Boylin (Boylen?)

[Laura Leff] Whenever they yell, "Get down!" on a Doctor Who (seemingly mostly in Jon Pertwee's tenure)

[Maxwell] At least post Mouseketeer.

[Brad from Georgia] "We just-a want-a the bubbles, ma'am. Just-a the bubbles."

[FrankLhota] Search YouTube for Laurence Welk as a hippie.

[KayLhota] can I interupt with what program will we listen to next month?

[Laura Leff] we always start laughing because we envision all the actors starting to groove and some seventies wow-wow jive music playing

[ed kienzler] brad BAD!!!

[Maxwell] There is a great tape of Dick Dale and some gal named Gail, singing One Toke Over the Line.

[Laura Leff] Frank - Oh my...got to not go for the mental image...

[Laura Leff] Kay - Go for it

[Brad from Georgia] "This is-a the city. It's got two major precincts. A-one, a-two...."

[Laura Leff] Ms Rand, just hand over the bubble.

[Maxwell] Introduced by Myron Floren and Welk calling it a "modern spiritual."

[KayLhota] we have to keep with the guest shots.

[KayLhota] There are his appearances on Screen Guild

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - Maybe they were confusing drugs with alcohol in "spiritual"

[Brad from Georgia] Preferably one like this weeks, not just a brief walk-on.

[FrankLhota] One has to wonder if they knew what "One toke..." was about. Otherwise they'd follow up with "Afternoon delight"

[KayLhota] Lux Radio, and Ford Theater

[Maxwell] Gail Farrell.

[Brad from Georgia] I thought "Afternoon Delight" was about that Turkish sticky candy.

[Maxwell] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3ecDYxOkg

[ed kienzler] or sunrise serande

[Laura Leff] Or Midnight at the Oasis

[ed kienzler] woops wrong spelling

[FrankLhota] And the song "I need a new drug" was about Serutan.

[ed kienzler] hunt and pick that's me

[Brad from Georgia] When I was a kid, I used to get up and watch "Sunrise Semester." I thunk it would make me smart.

[KayLhota] ouch, Frank!

[Laura Leff] Or Yhtapmys

[ed kienzler] i remen

[Mike Amo] Me 2 Brad,

[ed kienzler] iremember sunrise semester

[Mike Amo] I also watched a great show called Test Pattern every morning

[Laura Leff] Kay - OK, let me take a look at what I've got.

[Brad from Georgia] At least I learned how to pronounce the names of the Greek gods.

[Maxwell] I loved Test Pattern!

[Laura Leff] Cheech: What are you watching man?

[FrankLhota] When is "Test Pattern" coming to DVD?

[ed kienzler] or the indian in the corner

[Laura Leff] Chong: It's a movie about an Indian, but it's really, really boring.

[Brad from Georgia] M. Night Shyamalan directs "The Test Pattern." In a surprise ending, the Indian turns around.

[Mike Amo] ty LL

[Laura Leff] Brad - Har har

[Brad from Georgia] That was a rerun from last month's chat.

[Laura Leff] BRB

[KayLhota] There is the Orson Welles Campbell's program

[ed kienzler] why did they pick an indian for the test pattern anyway?

[Brad from Georgia] Campbell's will serve no soup before its time.

[Maxwell] It was made in Cleveland?

[ed kienzler] it's like bob and tom's time channel skit

[KayLhota] I was blanking on the name. "June Moon"

[Brad from Georgia] Ed--Actually, it was Iron Eyes Cody who posed for the test pattern, and it turned out he was Italian.

[Brad from Georgia] Kay--Yes, "June Moon"

[KayLhota] wow, Brad!

[FrankLhota] Paprika, Paprika, the spice of my life!

[ed kienzler] oh i thought he was in the final credits

[Maxwell] Brad Oh, the irony

[Laura Leff] "I see dead Indians"

[KayLhota] Frank! You're reading my mind!

[KayLhota] I guess this is what happens to old married couples!

[FrankLhota] No, I goggled your mind.

[Laura Leff] Didn't we do June Moon a year or two ago?

[Brad from Georgia] Cody kept his secret to the day he died, more or less. His relatives were all from Louisiana, and they spilled the beans after he passed away.

[KayLhota] Yes, I would say you did.

[KayLhota] Yes, Laura. I knew it rang a bell.

[ed kienzler] ding dong

[KayLhota] So, "June Moon" is out.

[KayLhota] There are plenty of other programs.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Was he the Indian who crashed Nixon's viewing on CSpan?

[Mike Amo] More coolness, ty Brad

[Brad from Georgia] LL--don't think so. You'll remember him as the Indian who surveys litter beside the road and weeps a single tear.

[Laura Leff] Brad - No, same guy.

[ed kienzler] yes

[Mike Amo] And from many Clint Eastwood movies

[KayLhota] How about Jack Benny on Groucho's Pabst program?

[Brad from Georgia] Okay, I stand corrected. Nice to know!

[Laura Leff] Supposedly, IIRC, Cspan was showing, I think Nixon lying in state

[Maxwell] Didn't we do that one a year or two ago?

[KayLhota] did we?

[Maxwell] Or did I just listen to it on my own?

[KayLhota] I don't remember ever discussing it in a chat.

[Maxwell] Oh! Maybe Chuck Schaden played it! I think that's it.

[Laura Leff] And then this guy comes over to the camera and says who he is, and then starts doing some kind of dance before he's hustled off hastily by security guards.

[FrankLhota] Nixon and Jack Benny only have one connection: "Laugh In"

[Maxwell] Maybe that was Ronnie "Woo Woo" Wickers.

[Brad from Georgia] August is political convention time. Any guest shots with politics/politicians as part of the theme?

[ed kienzler] that is correct

[Laura Leff] Frank - Well, Jack voted for Nixon.

[Brad from Georgia] LL-Nobody's perfect.

[ed kienzler] godd one

[Laura Leff] Brad - Makes me think of the Friar's roast with Adlai Stevenson.

[Maxwell] So did my in-laws.

[ed kienzler] woops again

[FrankLhota] Nixon should have returned the favor by making Jack the scretary of Treasury.

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, yeah. Man, that Adlai was one hilarious dude. (that was ironical)

[KayLhota] old joke, Frank

[Laura Leff] August is also Olympics month. I can post the show where Jack has an Asian planting rice in the shallow end of his pool.

[Brad from Georgia] Frank--Reagan did that in "Back to the Future."

[Laura Leff] Brad - Actually, he was. I've got a book of his quotables.

[Laura Leff] The way of the egghead is hard.

[Maxwell] LL That cracked me up!

[Brad from Georgia] LL--I know he was very witty. But then he ran against Eisenhower, who had the unbeatable slogan.

[Laura Leff] yeah, yolks on you...

[FrankLhota] Alice Cooper also voted for Nixon, but I'm not sure where he'd fit into the cabinet.

[Laura Leff] I like Ike - Hooray for Adlai

[ed kienzler] or if he remembered

[Laura Leff] Frank - Head of ATF

[ed kienzler] ALF

[Brad from Georgia] Just as McCain does today, Eisenhower toured the states...but on a three-wheeler. "I Like Ike's Trike Bike." Couldn't beat that.

[ed kienzler] ?

[Maxwell] One of my first memories of a national convention is Eleanor Roosevelt nominating Stevenson at the 1960 Democratic Convention.

[Laura Leff] Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms

[FrankLhota] Head of BATF? Naw, that position should go to Ted Nugent.

[Laura Leff] 1960?

[ed kienzler] i know that

[Maxwell] Yup. He lost.

[Brad from Georgia] I sort of remember the Pope nominating Teddy Roosevelt at the Republican convention held on the bottom of the sea. But I'm kinda old.

[Laura Leff] Stevenson ran against Kennedy?

[ed kienzler] Mclean?

[FrankLhota] In the primaries

[Maxwell] I think he had like 5 delegates.

[Laura Leff] No kidding.

[Laura Leff] Talk about sticktuitiveness

[Laura Leff] Adlai Stevenson said "Don't give up the ship"

[FrankLhota] Can I still vote for Harold Stassen?

[ed kienzler] the titanic

[ed kienzler] you bet

[Maxwell] Adlai said on his deathbed, "Don't ever let McLean get his own TV series."

[Laura Leff] I liked the entry for "In my day" some years back...

[Maxwell] Too bad he didn't pay attention.

[Laura Leff] "In my day, we didn't have Strom Thurmond!...Oh wait a minute, yes we did."

[ed kienzler] at least twice

[Laura Leff] So what else Benny-wise is on folks minds?

[ed kienzler] Strom?

Laura Leff hears crickets

[Brad from Georgia] LL--I'm blanking on that short on the "To Be or Not to Be" DVD--where Jack is the intoxicated fellow climbing into the wrong apartment. Remember it?

[Maxwell] *chirp chirp*

[KayLhota] I'm still trying to come up with an idea for next month's show

[Mike Amo] My 190-mile pending drive is on my mind

[Laura Leff] Brad - You know, I've been meaning to see that. Um...we've got the script on the Web site

[Brad from Georgia] Mike--I'd be thinking about gasoline in yur place.

[Laura Leff] Let's see if I can get it without losing the chat

[KayLhota] I have the DVD and I have seen the short

[Mike Amo] Nahh, filled the tank last night for only $69

[josef] Yeah, I need to pick up To be or not to Be and actually watch it.

[KayLhota] it's a snooze being early sound

[Laura Leff] The Rounder

[KayLhota] yes, you need to see "To Be or Not to Be"

[FrankLhota] You should have bought only one gallon.

[Brad from Georgia] LL--It was very unBennylike in many ways, more like something written by P.G. Wodehouse. Jack a young sport, boozing it up--right, the Rounder!

[josef] I've seen a clip from it a while ago.

[KayLhota] "The Medicine Man" is un-Benny like

[Mike Amo] I need to pack some Jack Have all the audio tapes

[Maxwell] Sounds kind of like an event from the life of Buster Keaton.

[Laura Leff] I read the script and had a pretty good idea of what it probably looked like.

[Brad from Georgia] He climbs into a single woman's apartment by mistake...it happens she needs a husband for business purposes, and she offers Jack a job as her "show husband" for five hundred a month.

[Laura Leff] I'm actually rather fond of "Broadway Romeo"

[Brad from Georgia] He holds out for five-fifty, but he starts feeling tender toward her and helps save her from making a big mistake.

[Laura Leff] *sound of Gypsy Violin playing*

[Laura Leff] Sounds almost like something better suited to Charley Chase.

[KayLhota] good one, Laura

[Brad from Georgia] It's funny early Benny...with little flashes of Jack's later character. He's so suave, though, in a dimwitted way, like Bertie Wooster.

[ed kienzler] or a CHARITY CASE

[Maxwell] That DOES sound Charley Chase-like

[josef] I really enjoyed this month's show

[Laura Leff] Oh side comment...at the UK dinner, someone mentioned the name of Steve Stoliar

[Brad from Georgia] I did, too. Good balance of Jack, George, and Gracie.

[Maxwell] Hmmm...Jack as Bertie, Rochester as Jeeves....

[KayLhota] oh yes, he worked for Grouch Marx

[Laura Leff] And absolutely everyone at the table, with the exception of Dan who gets a by, knew exactly who he was.

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - That could be cute.

[Laura Leff] It's just fun to be among people who know who Charley Chase is, or Steve Stoliar, etc.

[Brad from Georgia] He wrote a Peanuts special, didn't he?

[Laura Leff] Brad - Who?

[KayLhota] we're quite the group, aren't we, Laura?

[Maxwell] When I was a kid, there was a guy on local TV named Johnny Coons. He used to show silent Charley Chase comedies.

[Laura Leff] Kay - Sho nuff!

[Brad from Georgia] Steve Stoliar. Or is he the one who wrote the book "Inside Groucho's House" or some such?

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - He couldn't go on air with that name any more.

[KayLhota] Yes, Steve.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Raised Eyebrows

[Maxwell] That was his real name.

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - I can still see someone strongarming him into changing it.

[Brad from Georgia] Right! I read that. Sad.

[Maxwell] Trivia: What name did Charlie Chase use as an alias when directing?

[Laura Leff] Brad - I keep wanting to read it, just have a big pile of reading to finish first.

[FrankLhota] Charles Parrot

[Maxwell] *dingdingdingding*

[Laura Leff] Maxwell: Allen Smithee?

[Maxwell] His brother also used the name Parrot when directing, too.

[Mike Amo] I own an Alan Smithee movie

[KayLhota] Charles Parrot was his real name

[Brad from Georgia] Alan Smithee reviews movies for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. He gives prizes to people who ask him stumper questions. I won a pair of Speedos.

[Laura Leff] Mike - Which one?

[josef] yeah

[Laura Leff] Brad - What was the question?

[Mike Amo] I can't remember the name, but it was one in which Jon Cryer was in Washington, DC, I think as some kind of lower budget Ferris Bueller

[Brad from Georgia] I asked him what scenes, in what order, did Orson Welles use from four Shakespeare plays in writing "Chimes at Midnight."

[Mike Amo] Brad

[Laura Leff] Brad - Dang

[Brad from Georgia] The speedos were from that movie "The Life Aquatic." My wife doesn't like for me to wear them.

[Laura Leff] Brad - You know, I wasn't going to go there.

[Brad from Georgia] Especially while mowing the lawn.

[Mike Amo] It actually was good, so I was surprised the Director was Alan Smithee

[Maxwell] If they're size 56, I'll take them off your hands.

[Brad from Georgia] Maxwell--They weren't. At first. Before I tried them on.

[Laura Leff] The Life Aquatic. Was it a Jacques Cousteau movie?

[Maxwell] It's the biography of Aquaman.

[KayLhota] good one, Laura

[Brad from Georgia] LL-a take-off on Jacques Cousteau, I think. Didn't see it.

[Laura Leff] Is Aquaman still alive?

[Laura Leff]

[Maxwell] Jacque Clousseau: Underwater Detective

[Brad from Georgia] I can imagine it: "Ze sea. She is the muzzair of us all. So beeg. So blue. And most of all...wet."

[Mike Amo] On Craig Ferguson's show, he is

[Brad from Georgia] Wasn't there a porn actress named Cousteau? I think I met her once.

[Laura Leff] I presume Space Ghost: Coast to Coast is no longer on...

[FrankLhota] No new "Space Ghost..." episodes have been done for years.

[Maxwell] Brad You may be right about that.

[Laura Leff] My, we've strayed a long way from Jack Benny.

[josef] sure have

[Laura Leff] OK, let's connect the circle...

[Mike Amo] Was Jack ever on Space Ghost?

[Brad from Georgia] It was at a convention. She looked so scrubbed and freckled and all. I was really surprised later when someone asked, "Do you know what she does for a living?" and told me.

[Maxwell] Desiree Couteau

[Laura Leff] If Jack were to encounter a superhero, who would it be?

[josef] I think.....

[Brad from Georgia] Max--Yes! That was her. I would not have pegged her....um, let me rephrase that. I was surprised at her way of making a living.

[FrankLhota] No, but Steve Allen did Space Ghost, and Brak did the last "Man on the Street" interview.

[Maxwell]

[Brad from Georgia] LL--Treasuryman!

[Laura Leff] Frank - Oh, that must have been good...

[ed kienzler] wow

[Mike Amo] He might meet with Bruce Wayne to find out why he lives such a free-spending lifestyle

[Maxwell] I googled her.

[Maxwell] Er...did a search for her.

[josef] If jack Benny encountered a superhero, it would be the flash. he could give him a run for his money.

[Mike Amo] lolmFrank

[Laura Leff] I'm trying to come up with something like Batman needing to try to break into Jack's vault

[Mike Amo] -m

[Brad from Georgia] Or The Guardian. "Don't worry, I'll save you--why, hello, Mr. Benny." "Ed!" "Shh. That's my secret identity."

[Laura Leff] Brad - Oh, that's good!

[FrankLhota] Did Steve Allen ever do radio?

[KayLhota] yes he did, Frank

[ed kienzler] hey i hear my name being use in vain sort of

[Laura Leff] Would seem like Jack and Superman would go together because they're contemporaries

[Maxwell] Frank Yes, he did.

[Laura Leff] Jack is mentioned in a more recent Superman comic

[josef] that's true, Laura. Or Jack and the Shadow.

[Maxwell] He'd need the Green Lantern to see his way down to the vault.

[josef] which one, Laura?

[Laura Leff] Is the Shadow really a superhero?

[Maxwell] He had the power to cloud men's minds....

[josef] now that I think of it, no.

[Maxwell] Does that make him super?

[Laura Leff] Josef - It's one of the alternate history ones. Dan knows more about it than I do.

[josef] ok

[Brad from Georgia] "Only one thing can weaken me, Mr. Benny. Kryptonite." "Hmmm. I'm sort of that way. But the thing that weakens me is ___" (It's the Match Game!)

[FrankLhota] The first superhero was "The Scarlet Pimpernel"

[Laura Leff] spending

[Maxwell] Is he here, or is he there?

[ed kienzler] scarlett pumpernickel?

[Brad from Georgia] Ith getting tho you have to KILL yourthelf in thith town to thell a movie.

[Maxwell] Pumpernicket isn't scarlett unless it has ketchup on it.

[Laura Leff] Am I the only one going for the Match Game?

[ed kienzler] daffy duck

[Mike Amo] Well, Jack was the Whistler

[Brad from Georgia] No, the Fiddler.

[ed kienzler] the fiddler

[Mike Amo] Yes <insert cheesy grin>

[Laura Leff] Maybe the Flash grabs Jack's violin and runs off with it

[ed kienzler] a great skit

[FrankLhota] The NAB does not like the original ending of "The Scarlet Puppernickel"

[Laura Leff] Mary slaps down Wonder Woman

[Brad from Georgia] Jack could be a hero: The Walking Man. "What seems to be the trouble here?" "Huh? Oh, that was hours ago, it's all over. Where were you?" "Well....it's a long way."

[Maxwell] Neither does the NBA.

[ed kienzler] or the cba nfl or afl

[josef] yeazh, maybe prof. LeBlanc paid the flash to steal Benny's violin and the money Jack owes him.

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, I liked Mel's bit on tonight's show! Meant to say that, didn't. Mea culpa.

[Laura Leff] The guy turns into The Hulk because he's sick of Jack's violin practicing.

[Laura Leff] Mel's got a couple parts on tonight's show.

[josef] yeah that'd be great.

[Brad from Georgia] "Hulk CONDUCT!"

[FrankLhota] The NAB objected to "The Untouchables" because of the voilence, and "The Jack Benny Show" because of the violins.

[KayLhota] good one, Frank

[ed kienzler] OH boy

[Laura Leff] Wah wah wah wahhhhhhhh

[ed kienzler] rimshot

[Laura Leff] There is a very cute TV episode where Jack gets arrested for playing the violin to cure his insomnia.

[Maxwell] In the words of Go-Go Dodo: "Lame puns are pound for pound your best entertainment value."

[ed kienzler] actually jack was pretty good a playing am i right LL?

[Maxwell] Good enough to play in a theater orchestra.

[Laura Leff] Ed - Well, that dependds on your yardstick of playing.

[Laura Leff] I asked Isaac Stern that over breakfast once...

[Brad from Georgia] "I has nothin' but scorn for them dirty politicians! Cheap scorn!" "Okay, Mister--how much a ear?"

Laura Leff shameless drops names

[Maxwell] Was he able to hold it down?

[FrankLhota] Yup, but playing a bad violinist was funnier.

[ed kienzler] well not the pphiladelphia philharmonic'

[Laura Leff] Stern confirmed that "what you saw is what you got" with Jack. He wasn't a concert violinist--not a serious one.

[ed kienzler] and he played for charities

[Laura Leff] There's a great bit he does with David Frost about how he can "cheat" with the violin

[Brad from Georgia] Is there a record of the orchestras for which Jack did benefits? I have a reason of my own for trying to track down the date of one.

[Maxwell] So as I said, good enough to play in a theater orchestra.

[Laura Leff] and make it sound better than he really is.

[Laura Leff] Brad - I've got a listing of a lot of them.

[Brad from Georgia] I can't remember if this one was in Baltimore or Boston, but I think it was one or the other of those.

[Laura Leff] He was better than you or I would be just picking up the violin and playing it.

[ed kienzler] true ll

[Laura Leff] Brad - Got a year? Or a place?

[Laura Leff] Ed - Does that answer your question?

[ed kienzler] sure does

[Laura Leff] Brad - Or someone from the same bill?

[ed kienzler] he was on a welk show once

[Laura Leff] I've got to see that Welk show one of these days.

[Brad from Georgia] LL-No, sorry, unless I can locate my friend from fifteen years ago to tell me! I'm guessing it would be 1963-1970 or thereabouts.

[Laura Leff] OK, let me see what I've got. Baltimore or Boston.

[Laura Leff] BRB

[ed kienzler] check out PBS maybe it will hit your area LL

[Laura Leff] Oh I think we've got it in the video library. Just not enough hours in the day.

[Brad from Georgia] I finally got my Hirschfeld print and my Jack Benny autograph matted and framed. Looks very cool.

[Laura Leff] Baltimore Merriwether Post Pavillion 1971

[Laura Leff] That's all I've got so far for Baltimore, except for 1935

[Brad from Georgia] LL-Yes, that must be it! I'm going to track down Butch and ask him to tell me the whole story again (he was a very junior member of the orchestra).

[Brad from Georgia] Maybe he'll give me permission to do a little piece for the JBT.

[Laura Leff] Oddly enough, all my Boston listings are 1955 or earlier.

[Laura Leff] But it's by no means a complete list.

[Laura Leff] August 9-14-1971

[Maxwell] Benny on the Welk show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3ecDYxOkg

[KayLhota] I can't help you. I don't have early Boston lists

[Maxwell] Oops...no longer available.

[Brad from Georgia] I can vividly remember Butch's story about the fried-egg sandwich, but I know he must have told me more about Jack. He did say that Jack looked frail at first, but when the spotlight hit him he was a trouper and magically became thirty years younger!

[Laura Leff] With Henry Mancini

[Mike Amo] I thought Jack was fine...his bits with Giselle MacKenzie are priceless

User josef has logged out.

[Brad from Georgia] Yes, that must be the one!

User josef has entered this room.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Yes, that's a familiar refrain!

[Laura Leff] Brad - Hey, glad to be of service.

[Mike Amo] Jack played at Merriweather? @#$% Too many years too soon...that was close

[Laura Leff] I was putting together that list from Jack's files of his concert appearances.

[Laura Leff] I even got a list of the commitments he had that had to be cancelled due to his illness.

[Laura Leff] Just need to put it into the database so it's organized. Some day. When I have lots of time.

[Laura Leff] yeah right

[Brad from Georgia] Gee, nearly ten o'clcok here. I guess I'd better turn in. Thanks, all! You know, I've learned some things here tonight. I don't much care for "South Park," for one, but I've learned some useful things too. See you later!

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

[Laura Leff] Have a good one, Brad!

[Mike Amo] Want to ask from way earlier, how did Buster Keaton not know from his doctors that he had lung cancer? His family kept it from him, or the doctors?

[Maxwell] So long Brad

[KayLhota] I never heard, Mike, but I imagine that the Doctors and Mrs. Keaton withheld the seriousness

[Maxwell] Mike Back then a lot of times they wouldn't tell patients they had cancer. They did that to my grandfather.

[Laura Leff] Mike - I've got to pass on that one...not sure...

[KayLhota] of his sore throat

[ed kienzler] good night chet good night david

[Mike Amo] Brad mentioned it I think

[KayLhota] and he had a heavy cough

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, Mike--I read in a biography that Keaton had chronic bronchitis, and when his doctor told his wife about the cancer, she begged him not to tell Buster, and he didn't.

[Mike Amo] ty

[Mike Amo]

[Mike Amo] That would have sat in my head for a month

[KayLhota] that's it, Brad. That makes sense

[Brad from Georgia] And now, good night.

[Laura Leff] Ah! Caught Brad before he went out the door...

[Mike Amo] Nite Brad

User Brad from Georgia has logged out.

[Maxwell] And there he goes!

[Laura Leff] Shall we wrap up then? Anything else?

[KayLhota] Buster Keaton did know, though he never discussed it, either.

[Maxwell] Laura: Two words.....

[Laura Leff] Ah here we go

[josef] I think it's good to wrap up

[Maxwell] Gunhild Carling

[Mike Amo] Mom died 7 weeks ago, LL, but she enjoyed the Benny stuff right up to that Sullivan video

[Laura Leff] Yup. I should just do that after a chat sometime.

[KayLhota] no one has had any thoughts about next months guest shot?

[Laura Leff] Mike - So glad we could keep her happy!

[KayLhota] Command Performance?

[Maxwell] Just type her name at YouTube and you'll get lots of choices.

[KayLhota] This Is Our Best?

[Mike Amo] Anything anywhere with Charlie McCarthy and JB?

[ed kienzler] bye to all from the land of lincoln...

[Laura Leff] Kay - What say I make it a surprise based on the samples you've suggested?

[josef] kay, if it's up for next month, I'll liosten to it.

[Maxwell] I'm still here from IL.

[Maxwell] See ya ed!

[KayLhota] I'm looking forward to your surprises, Laura!

[josef] course I'll listen to anything benny

[Mike Amo] Works for me, LL

[Laura Leff] I'll do my best!

[Laura Leff] Take care all...see you in August!

[Maxwell] LL Good idea.

[KayLhota] see you in August

[Mike Amo] Take care folks

[Maxwell] So long!