IJBFC Chat

IJBFC Chat - November 2, 2008

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

[Maxwell] One of our teachers was in the infinite reboot at school Friday.

[Brad from Georgia] I had horrible problems with Norton's antivirus software a few months back. Finally had to uninstall it and get a substitute.

[Brad from Georgia] Hi, Laura!

[Laura Leff] Welcome back Kay...we missed you last month

[KayLhota] I'm on a borrowed laptop while Frank is trying to fix our computer

[KayLhota] thanks Laura

[Brad from Georgia] My Mom was ill last month, and I was over at her house the night of the chat. No Internet connection.

[Maxwell] Hope your mom is better.

[Laura Leff] Ah yes, we missed you too Brad.

[Laura Leff] So who do you think Jack would have voted for? Obama or McCain?

[Laura Leff] JUST KIDDING

[KayLhota] ack

[Brad from Georgia] I think Jack would have voted for Obama. And Rochester, too!

[Laura Leff] I was just dial flipping and couldn't get away from the election

[Maxwell] Jack would have voted for John Obama or Barack McCain.

[Brad from Georgia] Has anyone else been receiving those annoying recorded political phone calls?

[Laura Leff] So we can have a respite here

[KayLhota] I wonder if Jack would be glad that he doesnt have to vote

[Laura Leff] Brad - I think we just got one, but we hung up on it.

[Brad from Georgia] Our state supposedly outlawed them, but we're getting a dozen or so a week!

[Maxwell] Brad, not here. Our state has been decided since Obama won the nomination.

User ed has entered this room.

[KayLhota] hi Ed

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - Ah yes, you're in Illnois

[Brad from Georgia] Including one for McCain which came, I kid you not, at 2:30 a.m.

[Laura Leff] Hi Ed!

[Maxwell] Hey Ed.

[Brad from Georgia] Hi, Ed

[Maxwell] Yup.

[ed] Hi again folks

[Laura Leff] I've gotten solicitations for donations from both Obama and McCain. So I guess they know I'm an independent.

[Brad from Georgia] Before we get into the show for tonight, I just got the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol 6 for my b'day.

[Laura Leff] Just to tie it in with the historical period...I expected this campaign to be like Kennedy and Nixon.

[Maxwell] I'm registered with a party but my wife isn't, so she gets all the solicitations.

[KayLhota] happy birthday

[Laura Leff] But it feels more like Stevenson and Eisenhower in the debates.

[Brad from Georgia] Lotsa Jack Benny connections on it, including a neat 80-minute special on Mel Blanc! Thanks, Kay!

[KayLhota] 80 minutes!

[Laura Leff] Brad - Is that the one with Mouse that Jack Built?

[KayLhota] that's wonderful

User Steve :shimp: has entered this room.

[Maxwell] Hey Steve!

[Laura Leff] Hi Steve!

[Steve :shimp:] Hi Everyone!

[KayLhota] Mouse that Jack built was on Volume 4

[Brad from Georgia] LL--No, but it has about three or four cartoons with a Benny connection.

[KayLhota] Hi Steve

[ed] steve hi there

[Laura Leff] Brad - Which ones?

[Brad from Georgia] One is "Meet John Doughboy," which has Jack and a terribly drawn Rochester in the Maxwell.

[Brad from Georgia] Another is the wonderful "Page Miss Glory," in which the eponymous heroine, a movie moppet, winds up things by saying, "Play, Don!"

[KayLhota] love the cartoon

[KayLhota] the song is so catchy

[Laura Leff] Ah yes...seen Doughboy but only heard about Glory.

[Laura Leff] I've heard about it so much that I feel like I've seen it.

[Brad from Georgia] The Mel Blanc feature is narrated by Maurice LaMarche, and begins with news footage of the 1961 wreck. Wonder he even survived!

[KayLhota] wow

[Brad from Georgia] Noel Blanc provides a great deal of commentary, and of course, there's some footae of Jack and Mel together, both in radio and TV.

[KayLhota] he did c

[KayLhota] oops

[Brad from Georgia] Don't worry, Kay--I left the g out of footage.

[Maxwell] Footae sounds classy.

[Steve :shimp:] Since I came in late, this is a new DVD?

[KayLhota] he was in a coma. it was miraculous that he loved

[Laura Leff] Footae pajamas

[Maxwell] Or lived

[KayLhota] lived

[Brad from Georgia] Hey, Steve--Yes, the Looney Tunes Golden Collection 6.

[Brad from Georgia] One whole disk of WWII cartoons.

[Steve :shimp:] Aha, thanks for the clarification.

[Steve :shimp:] What is that movie about coma lovin'?

[KayLhota] I am struggling on a borrowed laptop. my typing will be dreadful.

[Maxwell] I can't type on laptops. Not used to the keyboard.

[Brad from Georgia] Steve: Coma Coma Coma Chameleon?

[ed] not have as bad as mine kaylota

[KayLhota] good one brad

[Laura Leff] Steve - Talk to Her by Pedro Almadovar

[Steve :shimp:] Oh, my, I was kidding, but I figure Almodovar would do something like that!

[Laura Leff] Steve - If you ever see the movie and remember this exchange, you'll be blown away by the connection!

[Laura Leff] But anyhow...

[Laura Leff] So how about the show for tonight!

[Steve :shimp:] Good one! Kooky.

[Brad from Georgia] Well...not the most glittering of its era

[KayLhota] it has a goofy charm to it

[Maxwell] The show got me in a Thanksgiving mood.

[Brad from Georgia] But some great moments.

[Steve :shimp:] Was that Dennis doing Fred Allen?

User ed has logged out.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Nope...Ollie O'Toole

[KayLhota] oops

User ed has entered this room.

[KayLhota] hi ed

[Laura Leff] I had to look it up myself.

[Brad from Georgia] I liked Mel as Norman Krasna: "He's bisney."

[Steve :shimp:] Ah, OK, I didn't read the 39 Forever entry, trying to test myself!

[Laura Leff] Steve - I cheated.

[Brad from Georgia] I guess that was Mr. K's valet, though.

[ed] i am still here guys sorry

[Laura Leff] I'm still struck that they played that inside joke about Krasna for so long.

[Laura Leff] But here's the kicker on it...

[KayLhota] do tell

[Maxwell] Moose need hatracks, too.

[Laura Leff] George Balzer swears in his autobiography that Sam Perrin wrote the Moose-Hatrack line, not Krasna.

[Brad from Georgia] Literary trivia: Henry David Thoreau's last words were "Moose. Hatrack." (Actually, "Moose. Indian." But that's not funny.

[KayLhota] oh no! Oh my Good Gosh!

[Laura Leff] He even points it out, saying something like, "Sam Perrin wrote that line, no matter what anyone else says."

[ed] moose and squirrel

[Laura Leff] Brad: any particular reason for that? Accusing the people who killed him?

[Brad from Georgia] No, he was working on a book when he fell ill, and in his final delirium he kept mentioning subjects he planned to cover.

[Maxwell] Actually he had a mousse and some Indian corn before he died.

[KayLhota] oh

[Maxwell] He died before he could say corn.

[Maxwell] I like my version better.

[Brad from Georgia] If you look it up, he has about forty "final words." He was a while a-dying. The most credible account, though, is "Moose. Indian."

[Steve :shimp:] Styling mousse?

[Laura Leff] Moose Indian Squirrel Edward Everett Horton

[KayLhota] Did you know that Norman Krasna married Al Jolson's widow, Erle?

[Maxwell] June Foray and Bill Scott.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Talk about hearing a different drummer...

[Brad from Georgia] I agree with Jack, by the way, that Mary's timing was slack on tonight's show.

[Laura Leff] Kay - Yep

[ed] great radio voice miss foray

[Laura Leff] Oh, that comment about Notre Dame is a giveaway that George and Sam wrote the first half of the show.

[Maxwell] And still alive the last I checked.

[ed] yes she is

[Brad from Georgia] "I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately. Also, the law was looking for me."

[KayLhota] interesting, Laura.

[Laura Leff] Brad -

[Steve :shimp:] I liked the group "That's What I like About the South" commercial.

[Laura Leff] George Balzer was a huge Notre Dame fan. Left his scripts there.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Yeah, throwback to the Jello commercials of the late 30s!

[Brad from Georgia] It's a little-known fact that Thoreau spent, on the average, only 3 nights a week in his house on Walden Pond.

[Laura Leff] Brad - I didn't know Thoreau was a party animal.

[Steve :shimp:] The remainder were at the Holiday Inn.

[Laura Leff] That or his wife got angry regularly...

[Brad from Georgia] He was a frequent guest of the Emersons, and when the weather was inclement, he went back home to Concord to stay.

[Brad from Georgia] He stayed in the cabin for longer periods later on, however.

[Laura Leff] I figured he might be hanging out at the Emersons

[ed] and he stood around fainting in front of Cal ripken

[Steve :shimp:] How is the weather in Clement?

[Laura Leff] It's bad.

[Brad from Georgia] Steve--Everyone complains about it, but nobody does anything about it.

[KayLhota] Yeah, New England weather.

[Maxwell] You can have New England weather.

[Steve :shimp:] You get just outside of Clement, and it clears up, oddly enough.

[Laura Leff] YOu know, thinking about it, Mary actually doesn't have a lot to do on this episode.

[Maxwell] Since you're in New England, I fell that's pretty generous of me.

[Brad from Georgia] But tonight's show...Jack recycled the "Turkey Trial" more than once, didn't he? I recall one TV show with Raymond Burr as Perry Mason.

[Maxwell] Or feel for that matter.

[KayLhota] I do have New England weather!

[Laura Leff] She's not in the second half, and has only sporadic lines in the first half.

[Maxwell] Brad, I was thinking about the Perry Mason show, too.

[Steve :shimp:] I have a theory about the Mary truncation ...

[Laura Leff] This was definitely recycled from 1943 with Kitzel's participation...even a couple common lines, I think.

[Laura Leff] Steve - What's the theory?

[Steve :shimp:] Not a great one, but I think there are several of these scripts where she was reduced to basically a cameo.

[Steve :shimp:] I think people have conflated "reduced Mary" stage fright with "voiceover Mary" stories...

[Laura Leff] Very much agreed.

[Steve :shimp:] I bet they wrote her down when she was getting nervous.

[Laura Leff] I remember there was a stretch for a while where she's got very little to do.

[Laura Leff] I'd have to pull 39 Forever to remember the specifics, but I think there was a period of several months where she has a lot of absenteeism.

[Steve :shimp:] So if she could muster up the nerve for a minute or two bit and get off stage, maybe that was easier for her.

[Brad from Georgia] Wonder if she hadn't rehearsed? Her timing seemed more like a cold reading.

[Laura Leff] Brad - That would be hard to believe, since Jack was such a stickler for perfection.

[ed] did mary ever show up in the TV version perhaps in the backround of exrtras-say in a christmas scene?

[Laura Leff] I can't see him allowing anyone to do a cold reading, especially since he coached Mary a lot.

[Brad from Georgia] Mary was in a number of the TV shows.

[Laura Leff] Ed - I doubt it. Mary was either a main character or not there. She refused to be on live shows.

[Maxwell] It's kind of funny, but I remembered Mary being in the TV shows a lot more than she actually was. I found that out when I actually started watching some of the '50s shows.

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, I misunderstood ed's question! Duh!

[Laura Leff] Then again, Dennis and Phil have relatively small parts too.

[Laura Leff] On the show, um, I mean.

[Laura Leff] For tonight.

[Steve :shimp:] Dennis' bit seems about average.

[Brad from Georgia] Umm....

[Laura Leff] You know what I mean.

[Maxwell] Well, by '47 Phil was only doing the first half, right?

[Steve :shimp:] And, Phil would be rushing off to his own show.

[Steve :shimp:] What maxwell said.

[KayLhota] Phil sometimes vqanishes after the first half

[ed] to do his show

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - Well, let's think...Phil wouldn't have had to run between CBS and NBC yet.

[KayLhota] yes so he could run to NBC

[Laura Leff] Although he did go to warm up his audience.

[Maxwell] No, but he did the warmup for his show, didn't he? At least he did later because I've heard tape of that.

[Maxwell] What LL said.

[Brad from Georgia] I thought he warmed them up by passing out bourbon.

[ed] with a good stiff drink?

[KayLhota] he did later

[Steve :shimp:] Right, there's about a 15 min warmup for the Harris Faye shows.

[Brad from Georgia] Who warmed up the Benny audiences?

[ed] elliott lewis-funny and very witty

[Steve :shimp:] Some bum Jack gave 50 cents to.

[Maxwell] John L.C. Silvoney?

[ed] mel in a great skit

[Maxwell] *crash*

[ed] introduced the show

[Brad from Georgia] How did audiences work back then? Did they pay, or was it free, like with TV today?

[Maxwell] It was free like TV.

[ed] free

[KayLhota] wasn't it free,

[KayLhota] thought so

[Steve :shimp:] Jack occasionally makes gags about people getting in free.

[ed] i think there is some kind of rule

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, great-the Simpsons is doing a "Great Pumpking, Charlie Brown" parody....

[KayLhota] yes, we have it on

[Steve :shimp:] Like the bit with Mel wanting to win gameshow prizes in one of the TV shows.

[KayLhota] groan

[Laura Leff] Back to Brad's question, Phil did the warmup of Jack's audiences too.

[Laura Leff] Check out Barb Thunell's article in the last Times issue.

[Maxwell] How about after Phil left?

[ed] the grand pumkin

[Maxwell] I can't picture Bob Crosby doing a warmup.

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - Not sure about that...I should ask her!

[KayLhota] yes, Ed. We have it on too

[ed] sigh!!!

[Brad from Georgia] Yeh, I think the audience would be at best cool after a Bob Crosby warmup.

[Laura Leff] I wonder about Dennis doing it...that could be fun...

[KayLhota] he would have been cute and energetic

[Laura Leff] Then again, on Jack's first television special, it shows him warming up the audience.

[Brad from Georgia] When we saw "A Prairie Home Companion" in the Fox Theater, Garrison Keillor came out thirty minutes early and warmed up the audience

[Brad from Georgia] by sitting on the edge of the stage, legs dangling, and chatting with everyone.

[Maxwell] Brad, he did when we saw him in Chicago, too (with Studs Terkel).

[Brad from Georgia] May he rest in peace.

[Maxwell] He and Mike Royko were my two favorite Chicagoans.

[ed] the grand pumkin sounds like frank nelson

[Brad from Georgia] He does!

[Brad from Georgia] Kodos and Kang are gettn' down at the elementary school hop!

[KayLhota] the voice people on this show seem to have a knack for celeb voices

[Maxwell] There was a guy in some U.S. Cellular ads a year or so ago who sounded just like Frank Nelwon.

[Maxwell] Or Nelson

[Laura Leff] I've never gotten much into Keillor. How would you compare his work to Jack's? Just thinking that if he's going for the OTR feel, there may be some connection.

[Brad from Georgia] Or Isaac Nelson. He invented the Apple Newton.

[Maxwell] Ozzie's long lost brother Isaac!

[Maxwell] I wouldn't compare Keillor's work at all with Jack's.

[Brad from Georgia] He liked Jack's show immensely when he was growing up in the late forties. Keillor told us that the whole family gathered 'round the radio for Jack's show.

[Maxwell] Of course I quit listening to Keillor when he moved to NYC.

[Brad from Georgia] I don't think Keillor has anywhere near the same vibe as Jack. He does occasionally have some of the self-deprecating humor.

[Maxwell] Keillor is a story teller.

[Laura Leff] What little I've heard sounds like Vic n Sade on downers.

[Brad from Georgia] Well, I like Keillor--I've taken a writing class from him and have written for the show occasionally (not in the last three or four years though).

[Maxwell] Maybe the Guy Noir (is that the name?) stuff might be like some of the Benny murder mysteries.

[Brad from Georgia] Yeh, it's Guy Noir. Maybe a little, but not quite as character-driven as Jack's; more gag-driven (that's odd to say, and maybe not quite what I mean).

[Steve :shimp:] I tend to listen to Keillor a lot, because I can't stand much BUT NPR on the radio, but he doesn't do a whole lot for me.

[Maxwell] I still catch him occasionally, but I'm not motivated to listen every week like I used to be.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Perhaps situation-driven? But then you need known characters to react to the situation.

[Brad from Georgia] He's gone to the News from Lake Wobegon well for a long time now.

[Maxwell] I miss guys like Butch Thompson, though.

[Brad from Georgia] LL-Yes, there are few recurring characters in the Noir sketches.

[KayLhota] I never got into Garison Keillor much myself, either.

[Laura Leff] OK, so I'm not alone...

[Maxwell] I used to love Buster the Show Dog...so much so that our beagle is named after him.

[Laura Leff] Keep in mind that I'm not saying I don't like him. I haven't heard enough to really decide.

[KayLhota] I used to hear it in the 1980's, but I found it sort of meandering

[Laura Leff] But what little I heard didn't inspire me to dedicate myself to deciding.

[Brad from Georgia] He's kind of an acquired taste, I think. First time I heard him (just accidentally tuned him in), I could NOT figure out why the audience was laughing at him.

[Steve :shimp:] Still, I congratulate Keillor on maintaining a comedy-variety radio show that is popular. I just wish there were others able to do that as well.

[Laura Leff] Sort of like Minnesota's version of the Grand Ole Opry

[Brad from Georgia] That's exactly what he set out to create, LL.

[Maxwell] Except the emphasis is more on jazz and folk music.

[Laura Leff] OK...so apparently I "got" the concept!

[Brad from Georgia] He had written his first successful magazine piece (for the New Yorker) on the Grand Ole Opry.

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - Any Gunhild Carling on it?

[Maxwell] LL I don't think Gunhild has made it out to the hinterlands yet. Just NYC.

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, I spoke to Heather Henson last month--she said her dad Jim (the Muppeteer) was a tremendous Jack Benny fan.

[Laura Leff] So anything else on tonight's show? Just want to make sure if we've exhausted that route.

[KayLhota] oh, I believe that, Brad.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Oh absolutely. He wanted to do a special with the muppets and Jack.

[Brad from Georgia] Well, I was impressed by the quality of the turkey-gobbling the cast maintained.

[Steve :shimp:] Well, what do you think I am with this worm in my mouth, an apple?

[Steve :shimp:] I just had to say that line 'cause I laughed at it.

[Laura Leff] I think that was inspired by being on the Tonight Show with Jack.

[Maxwell] Especially Bea Benaderet and Frank Nelson.

[KayLhota] yes, the gobbling was

[KayLhota] yes maxwell

[Laura Leff] And plenty of gobbling from Mel.

[Laura Leff] Has anyone here gone through having a live turkey before Thanksgiving?

[Maxwell] I guess I hold Mel to such a high standard, I expected it to be great from him. (And it was.)

[Brad from Georgia] "Well, what did you THINK I was with this worm in my mouth--Turkey Pooson?"

[Laura Leff] Turkey Pooson = Turkey Manure?

[KayLhota] oh Brad!

[Maxwell] Turkey manure sounds like something you'd have for leftovers about five days after Thanksgiving.

[Brad from Georgia] Say, why don't we write that Jack Benny show with Jack and the gang doing "War of the Worlds" for next Halloween?

[Brad from Georgia] It would be a hoot.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Who would play whom?

[Brad from Georgia] Jack would play the Orson Welles character--Professor Pooson, of course.

[Steve :shimp:] Dennis as a martian.

[KayLhota] this year was the 70th anniversary of that broadcast.

[Laura Leff] Who would say "2X2L calling CQ..."

[Maxwell] Frank Nelson as the field general in NJ.

[KayLhota] SAm Hearn as Wilson the rube

[Brad from Georgia] Mel would do the 2X2L...and follow up with the Woody Woodpecker laugh.

[Laura Leff] Who gets to play the radio commentator at Grover's Mill...

[Laura Leff] Brad - Oh I like that idea.

[Brad from Georgia] That would be Philsey, the radio commentator.

[Brad from Georgia] "That's what I like about the crater!

[Laura Leff] They're bursting into flames! Oh, there was something BAD in that hooch!

[Brad from Georgia] We'd keep returning to the Starlight Room, where Ramon Raquello and his orchestra would always be in the middle of "Love in Bloom."

[Laura Leff] I guess Phil can double role as Ramon Raquello and his orchestra...

[Steve :shimp:]

[Laura Leff] So what is Mary?

[Maxwell] Phil Raquello and his Orchestra.

[KayLhota] reading letters from her mother in New Jersey?

[Steve :shimp:] LL - Martian Death Machine

[Maxwell] Phis Harraquello.

[Laura Leff] Actually, Don would probably do a good job as the radio commentator...

[Brad from Georgia] Fred Allen would be the Last Broadcaster "Folks, they're crossing Fifth Avenue...they are delayed for a few moments by panhandlers..."

[Laura Leff] Brad - LOL!!!

[Maxwell] Phil

[Brad from Georgia] Don: They seem to have no proper bodies...they quiver like a big mound of Jell-O....

[Maxwell] You'd think I was the one on the laptop.

[Maxwell] Stwawbewwy, Waspbewwy....

[Laura Leff] I am on a laptop, but I'm used to it...

[Laura Leff] Turkey Pooson flavored Jell-O

[Brad from Georgia] And we HAVE to come up with something good for Rochester....

[Laura Leff] Hmmmm

[Brad from Georgia] I have it! Rochester could be the Governor!

[Laura Leff] It's been some years since I heard it

[Brad from Georgia] (who was supposed to be FDR)

[KayLhota] I'm not used to a laptop and I have this real fear that service pack 3 will destroy our computer

[Maxwell] Secretary of the Interior.

[Laura Leff] Doesn't the last guy on earth meet someone?

[Brad from Georgia] Right, Secretary of the Interior!

[Laura Leff] Assuming Jack plays the last guy on earth

[Brad from Georgia] Professor Pooson meets a soldier who wants to get into one of the war machines and become king of the world.

[KayLhota] Frank Nelson as the miliatman?

[Laura Leff] it would be hillarious for him to run into Rochester

[Brad from Georgia] I like Frank as a Martian.

[Maxwell] Are you a Martian?

[Brad from Georgia] "Who did you THINK I was with these tentacles? Squidward?"

[Brad from Georgia] Not a good line, but...

[Steve :shimp:] You all remember this show better than I do! I think I've only listened to it straight through once or twice. I must be some kind of OTR slacker.

[Laura Leff] Well what do you think I am with this green face? George Washington?

[KayLhota] oh my

[Steve :shimp:] LL

[Brad from Georgia] Might turn out to be a mistake...the Martians actually didn't MEAN to invade Earth, but Venus.

[KayLhota] My brother and I listened to the show when I borrowed the LP from my High School library in 1973

[Laura Leff] Steve - Don't feel too bad. I go so deep on Jack that it doesn't leave a lot of time for listening to anything else OTR.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Cue Abbott and Costello...

[KayLhota] good one Laura

[Steve :shimp:] I need to find a good audio quality version of WOTW. I think the one I have on tape is pretty scratchy.

[Brad from Georgia] Great closing lines. "Professor, are you just going to let them go on to Venus?" "Well, I THOUGHT about stopping them...but nah, let them be Abbott and Costello's problem."

[KayLhota] love it!

[Laura Leff] Steve - That should be pretty easy. Ask on the Forum and I bet a lot of people can help.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Applause!

[Steve :shimp:] Yeah, I am sure one's out there.

[Brad from Georgia] The CD version has been digitized and normalized, but it's still clicky.

[Maxwell] I've heard some pretty good quality versions over the past few years.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Of course, you'd need people to know about A&C Go to Mars, and that they actually went to Venus instead...

[Brad from Georgia] True, LL.

[Steve :shimp:] I'd guess the original transcription discs had the hell played out of them.

[Laura Leff] I still think the line works, though.

[KayLhota] well, I know about that.

[Brad from Georgia] Not everyone is a comedy ner--uh, afficionado.

[Maxwell] And some of us are comedy nerds.

[Laura Leff] Nerd. I'm a comedy nerd.

[KayLhota] yeah, brad. I am a maga nerd

[Brad from Georgia]

[Laura Leff] Has everyone seen the clip for how to convert your TV to digital that has the Jack Benny reference?

[Steve :shimp:] It's funny, I used to like A&C, but as the years have gone by, Lou Costello grates on me more and more. I'm not sure why.

[KayLhota] no

[Steve :shimp:] No, what is the clip?

[Maxwell] No, I haven't seen it.

[Brad from Georgia] At the Halloween party we attended, I mentioned the IJBFC, and EVERYONE knew who Jack was! They all agreed we need comedy more like that nowadays....

[Laura Leff] Steve - I used to be seriously into them in my teens, but for whatever reason I've kind of drifted from them. I know Dan can't stand Lou Costello,.

[Brad from Georgia] Haven't seen the clip, either.

[Maxwell] Steve, You still can't beat the wordplay bits, of which Who's on First is the best.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Awroyt! Good going!

[Laura Leff] OK,, BRB. Let me get you this link. You'll want to see this.

[Brad from Georgia] We just watched "A&C Meet Frankenstein" a couple of days ago.

[Steve :shimp:] Yeah, the wordplay is funny. It is just the man-child thing with Lou I find irritating, a la Jerry Lewis.

[KayLhota] I watched that too, Brad

[Laura Leff] Brad - That was the first of their movies I saw. I prefer stuff like "Time of Their Lives" though.

[Maxwell] Like M&L I prefer A&C doing bits rather than movies.

[KayLhota] "Time of Their Lives" is one of my favorites, laura

[Brad from Georgia] For my film class, one of these days I'll show the original "Frankenstein," then "A&C Meet Frankenstein," then "Young Frankenstein."

[Steve :shimp:] Hmm. BRIDE needs to be in there too!

[Maxwell] If you're going to show Young Frankenstein, you also have to show Bride of Frankenstein.

[Steve :shimp:] I think it's a dark comedy.

[Steve :shimp:] Max and I on the same wavelength again!

[Brad from Georgia] Yeah, but then I'd have to show "30-Foot Bride of Candy Rock....."

[KayLhota] yes, and Son of, or you won't get the Inspector with the false arm gags

[Maxwell] As usual.

[Laura Leff] Also show "Gods and Monsters"

[Brad from Georgia] There's the whole semester!

[Maxwell] Now we have a 3-day film festival.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Oh why punish them like that...

[KayLhota] yes

[KayLhota] I downloaded the A and C radio scripts from TobaccoDocs the other day

[Brad from Georgia] The current class (which I'm not teaching) is watching "Grave of the Fireflies" next week. I can't stand that film.

[Brad from Georgia] Not because it's bad, but because it makes me cry so much.

[KayLhota] why can't you stand it, other than it is heartbreakingly sad?

[KayLhota] yes.

[Maxwell] As an anecdote, show them Duck Soup with Rufus T. Firefly.

[KayLhota] Hail Freedonia

[Maxwell] Or an antidote.

[Brad from Georgia] That's it, Kay. I actually break down into wrenching sobs.

[Laura Leff] http://www.hulu.com/watch/36608/talkshow-with-spike-feresten-cable-psa#s-p1-st-i1

[Brad from Georgia] Schindler's List affects me the same way.

[Laura Leff] Grave of the Fireflies? Like Rufus T. Firefly

[Laura Leff] Oops...I'm late to the party on that one.

[Laura Leff] What's it about?

[KayLhota] it's a Japanese film about a brother and sister at the end of the war

[KayLhota] the little sister dies of malnutrician

[Laura Leff] Brad - Yes, I embarassed Dan by sobbing in the lobby after that movie.

[Laura Leff] Kay - Like Hannibal Rising

[KayLhota] oh, it is a heartbreaking story. Based on a true one.

[Brad from Georgia] I hate to admit it, but I tear up so easily in movies.

[Laura Leff] Yikes. I actually do like heavy stuff, but I think I'll wait to watch that one.

[KayLhota] Well told in animation.

[Maxwell] "Will all of this make Jack Benny come back?"

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - That's it.

[Brad from Georgia] Once when I was teaching three hundred miles away from home for the summer, I watched "The Great Muppet Caper" and started weeping just thinking how much my toddler at home would love it.

[Maxwell] Was that from Mad TV or something?

[Laura Leff] I don't know. Joan sent it to me.

[KayLhota] that's sweet, Brad.

[Maxwell] Funny stuff.

[Brad from Georgia] My students thought I was nuts. I had to explain I was just homesick.

[Laura Leff] Brad - I used to be very closed emotionally and wouldn't let myself cry at movies. Now that I've gotten over that, I'm sometimes rather embarassed and how easily I can "tip over"

[KayLhota] you should never have to apologize for that, Brad

[Steve :shimp:] Yeah, that part where Kermit dies from malnutrition IS sad.

[Maxwell] There are some movies that make me cry every time I see them.

[Brad from Georgia] I cry at the end of "My Dog Skip," when the arthritic old dog can't make it onto the bed, and the grumpy dad (who never wanted his kid to have a dog) tenderly picks him up and puts him on the pillow

[Laura Leff] I can't watch a Disney movie without crying.

[KayLhota] I cried today listening to a 12 year old perform brilliant classical piano. We gave him a standing O

[Steve :shimp:] OK, My Dog Skip got me too!

[KayLhota] I had tears rolling when he took his obws

[KayLhota] bows

[Maxwell] Hell, I cry during the Wizard of Oz when Judy Garland sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

[Laura Leff] Benny fans are a bunch of softies.

[KayLhota] I'd say so, with no apologies for that

[Brad from Georgia] I cry when Bugs Bunny dies in "What's Opera, Doc?" Sadly, I did not cry when "Opus" expired today.

[Laura Leff] There was a United commercial recently where the wife is going on a trip and gives her heart to (presumably) her husband

[KayLhota] Opus expired?

[Laura Leff] Then he gives it to her when she gets back. For whatever reason, that made me cry.

[Laura Leff] Opus like Bloom County?

[KayLhota] I didn't read today's Opus cartoon.

[Laura Leff] (I guess because I've gone through that so much travelling for my job.)

User ed has logged out.

[KayLhota] oops

[Maxwell] I didn't know they were still drawing Bloom County.

[KayLhota] we lost ed again

[Maxwell] Bad wireless connection in the vault.

[KayLhota] not bloom county but a Sunday "Opus" cartoon

[some loss]

[Laura Leff] Max - Or they were looking for color photos of Jack and were hard-pressed to find many of them.

[Maxwell] LL True.

[Laura Leff] Brad - There's someone on the phone trying to buy tickets under false pretenses!

[Maxwell] Sounds like a Bob Newhart bit.

[Brad from Georgia] Eddie was tickled that we came that far. Of course since then we've seen him several times, including in our home town.

[Maxwell] You're coming from...Georgia...

[Laura Leff] I guess no one here was in the right vicinity to see his Thousand Oaks benefit a couple weeks ago...

[Steve :shimp:] Sigh, still haven't seen Eddie do his thing.

[Laura Leff] Probably me more than any of you.

[Brad from Georgia] I wish I could have seen it, LL! I like traveling to CA, but we can't afford it more than about once every other year.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Oh that's right...you weren't involved in the convention...

[Maxwell] Joliet's a little from from Thousand Oaks.

[KayLhota] I've never seen him perform

[Laura Leff] Kay - Gosh, and you missed his show right in your neighborhood. Darn.

[Brad from Georgia] And this year we're overloaded at school. I'm teaching SIX classes, five of them comp classes.

[Brad from Georgia] Just no time for traveling.

[KayLhota] yeah, I missed it

[Laura Leff] You know, there's a Benny item...

[Laura Leff] Dan and I looked at each other after hearing Jack do his bit for the PTA on tonight's show...

[Laura Leff] Shocking how timely that still is.

[Brad from Georgia] Nothing has changed.

[Steve :shimp:] Very true.

[Maxwell] Well, teachers ARE making a little more than they were in 1947.

[Laura Leff] I wonder what it is in adjusted dollars.

[Maxwell] But they still leave the profession in droves.

[Brad from Georgia] Hey, LL-I could do a bit for the Times on "Producing 'Laughter in Bloom.'"

[Laura Leff] Brad - Sure, that would be great! Next issue is in December.

[Maxwell] I know when I started in 1973, I was making $8100/year.

[Brad from Georgia] If I have time...

[Maxwell] Now a starting teacher in a rural district in can make about $30,000.

[Laura Leff] Brad- Understood.

[Maxwell] More in urban districts.

[Brad from Georgia] Heh, Max, ye're a youngster. When I first started, they paid us in beads and shells.

[Laura Leff] And blankets with smallpox

[Maxwell] I was translating wampum into dollars.

[Brad from Georgia] So that's what happened to my complexion.

[Maxwell] I think my brother made under $5000 when he started.

[Brad from Georgia] "Lookit, kid, why are you complaining? Save your money, in three months you can buy Manhattan Island."

[Laura Leff] Actually, that would be fun...recast the Thanksgiving story with the Benny characters

[Laura Leff] Dennis as a Moose Indian...

[Laura Leff] Jack and Phil as pilgrims

[Brad from Georgia] My late father never threw anything out, and afer his death, I was shocked to see how little he made to support a family of six.

[KayLhota] brilliant!

[Maxwell] Mel as a Mexican.

[Brad from Georgia] And James Stewart could be a guest star: "I'm an Indian toooooo...."

[Laura Leff] Rochester as...hmmm...

[KayLhota] yes, Maxwell

[Laura Leff] Maybe Rochester as an Indian, Dennis as their big chief.

[Maxwell] (I love the idea of Si-Sy in the Thanksgiving story)

[Laura Leff] How did this Aztec get all the way up here?

[Laura Leff] Fly

[Laura Leff] Fly?

[Laura Leff] Si

[Maxwell]

[KayLhota] love it

[Brad from Georgia] Uh, Chief...don't your people usually wear loincloths? Ooooh....LOINCLOTH!

[Laura Leff] Brad -

[Laura Leff] Mix up history a bit and have Mary be Pochahontas

[KayLhota] why not?

[Brad from Georgia] "My people thank you for this magnificent feast." "Thank you, Chief, thank you. You can take care of this whenever you're ready."

[KayLhota] you could even have her arguing about that when the parts are handed out

[Brad from Georgia] Couldn't she be Priscilla Alden?

[Laura Leff] Mel still as the turkey

[Maxwell] Don as Miles Standish.

[Laura Leff] Don't give up the ship

[Maxwell] Naturally talking about the Jell-o at the feast.

[Laura Leff] Don't give up the Mayflower

[Brad from Georgia] "Priscilla...that's sort of a revealing dress. The Chief is staring at you." "Why don'cha speak for yourself, John?" "Well....he's sort of staring at me, too."

[Laura Leff] Brad - Good one

[Laura Leff] So much for the Puritans

[Laura Leff] Rochester saying the line, "We didn't land on Plymouth Rock...Plymouth Rock landed on US!"

Maxwell found out a couple of years ago he had an ancestor on the Mayflower.

[Laura Leff] You had an anteater on the Mayflower?

[Brad from Georgia] "This good. What is it?" "That's Manishevivitz."

[Laura Leff] Jewish Puritans

[Steve :shimp:] with cimmeron rolls?

[some loss]

[KayLhota] I'm not used to the tme change. I'm fading out here.

[KayLhota] I'm going to cut out early. Goodnight, gang!

[Maxwell] It's an hour earlier, Kay.

[Brad from Georgia] Yeah, me, too, Kay. I think I'm gonna call it a night soon.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Most male rabbits who haven't been neutered early tend to be oversexed.

[Steve :shimp:] Goodnight Kay!

[Maxwell] Good night Kay.

[Laura Leff] Good night, Kay!

[Brad from Georgia] It gets dark earlier, though.

[KayLhota] thanks, it's been fun.

[Brad from Georgia] We noticed the rabbit's gender when he began, um, molesting our cats.

[Laura Leff] Should we call it good for this night of free association?

User KayLhota has logged out.

[Maxwell] I took a four hour nap yesterday and another three hour nap today.

[Laura Leff] Nothing like a good siesta

[Brad from Georgia] All of whom had been spayed and who obviously didn't appreciate his attentions.

[Maxwell] When I nap, I NAP.

[Steve :shimp:] What, call it good with dogs typing, and rabbits molesting cats? It doesn't get much more Jack Benny than that!

[Laura Leff] Then again, I've seen our girl rabbits jump on top of our boy rabbits.

[Brad from Georgia] Well, before this gets blue, I'll say...goodnight, folks. See you next month!

[Laura Leff] Yes, I'm sure Jack would approve.

[Laura Leff] Have a good one, Brad!

User Brad from Georgia has logged out.

[Steve :shimp:] Later Brad1

[Maxwell] I'm good for the night too...but first....

[Laura Leff] Do you think we ticked off Ed?

[Steve :shimp:] OK, should we go with the consensus and call this good?

[Maxwell] GUNHILD CARLING!

[Laura Leff] What, again?

[Maxwell] Just force of habit.

[Laura Leff] Gotcha.

[Laura Leff] At least it doesn't show up on a drug test.

[Maxwell] What's up for December?

[Steve :shimp:] I don't think so Laura, sometimes chat zonks happen. I've winked out on a couple.

[Laura Leff] Good question. What *is* up for December?

[Maxwell] Gotta do a Christmas show.

[Laura Leff] Feels like a Christmas shopping show is too easy.

[Maxwell] How about a Christmas week show?

[Laura Leff] Did we do having the Colmans over for dinner yet?

[Steve :shimp:] Always a good choice.

[Laura Leff] I can't remember if we've done that in previous years.

[Maxwell] We had the one with Mel as the English butler.

[Laura Leff] Well, that's it then.

[Laura Leff] You're right. I thought we might have.

[Laura Leff] OK, let me see what I can do.

[Laura Leff] Thanks for stopping, gentlemen!

[Maxwell] I kind of like the idea of a Dec. 24 or 25 show.

[Steve :shimp:] Good night folks! Talk to you soon.

[Maxwell] Good night!