IJBFC Chat - April 5, 2009

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

[Brad from Georgia] Hi, Frank! On your laptop tonight?

[Frank J. Lhota] Ye ...... s

[Brad from Georgia] Sorry, I was answering a question from Mrs. from Georgia. I'm in my home office for a change, on the desktop.

[Frank J. Lhota] User Don Wilson has entered this room, leaving no space for anyone else.

[Brad from Georgia] I thought he was on the other side of the street! Oh, wait....he is!

User Maxwell has entered this room.

[Maxwell] Hey Brad, Frank!

[Brad from Georgia] Hiya, Maxwell!

[Frank J. Lhota] Jello folks.

[Maxwell] How's the weather in GA?

[Maxwell] It's in the 30s and raining here...and expecting snow overnight.

[Brad from Georgia] I liked tonght's Easter show. Yum tum tum ta tum "Happy Easter."

[Maxwell] I like any show where Mary sings.

[Brad from Georgia] We've got light rain, in the fifties, but it's supposed to drop down to freezing in a couple of days!

[Maxwell] White Sox already called off opening day tomorrow.

[Brad from Georgia] Our drought has officially broken, by the way. Our lake, which has a "normal" level of 1071 feet (above sea level, not depth) is now only ten feet low instead of 21!

[Maxwell] That's good to hear. That drought seemed to last forever.

User KayLhota has entered this room.

[Maxwell] Hey Kay

[Brad from Georgia] Hi, Kay!

[KayLhota] Hi. Brad Max

[KayLhota] Frank I can say hi to out loud

[Maxwell] I was thinking along similar lines.

[KayLhota] yeah!

[Brad from Georgia] I'm lucky to be able to chat tonight. I'm in our college's cast for "Romeo and Juliet," and this is the only night for the next three weeks that I'm not either rehearsing or in the actual run.

[Frank J. Lhota] In Mass, we've had quite a bit of rain this week; we're trying to be more like California.

[KayLhota] what part are you playing?

[Brad from Georgia] I'm Romeo's pop, Mr. Montague.

[KayLhota] lovely

[Brad from Georgia] I'm playing him like Frank Nelson.

[KayLhota] how?

[Brad from Georgia] Not really. Director wouldn't let me!

[Maxwell] Oooooo GOODIE!

[KayLhota] I'm not surprised.

[KayLhota] but, in rehearsal, you'd be breaking me up

[Brad from Georgia] Capulet: Are you Montague? Me: Well, who did you THINK I was in these tights? Errol Flynn?

[KayLhota] too funny

[Frank J. Lhota] I once saw a production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" where Mr. Bigly was played Frank Nelson style.

[Brad from Georgia] I wouldn't mind playing that role.

[Brad from Georgia] I like small parts.

[KayLhota] he would have been good in that role

[Frank J. Lhota] Romeo: Apathacary! Apathacary: YEEEEEEEESS!

[KayLhota] you're killing me, Frank!

[Maxwell] Now I'm picturing that scene as Frank and Jack.

[Brad from Georgia] You know that Eddie Carroll and Frank Ferrante once were in "The Odd Couple," and played Felix and Oscar as Jack Benny and Groucho Marx!

[Maxwell] Oh, Apothecary....

[KayLhota] oh, man

[Brad from Georgia] I wanted to play the Apothecary, in fact. "Put this in any liquid soever and drink it straight, and it shall be your end though you had the strenth of twenty men. Side effects are rare but include dry mouth, itchy scalp, smelly feet, and living."

User Laura Leff has entered this room.

[KayLhota] I came across a mention in book that Hilliard Marks partly wrote that Hilliard was Felix and Jack was Oscar

[KayLhota] Hi Laura

[Brad from Georgia] Hi, Laura!

[Laura Leff] Hi folks!

[Maxwell] Hey Boss

[Laura Leff] Kay - Oh, the Benny biography by Marcia Borie?

[Frank J. Lhota] Romeo: Is this poison effective? Apothecary: OOOOOOOOH IS IT!

[KayLhota] yes

User steve -shimp- has entered this room.

[Maxwell] Hey steve

[Brad from Georgia] Hiya, Steve!

[steve -shimp-] Hi Evabuddy

[Laura Leff] Kay - Hilliard and Mary's contributions to the book are mainly relegated to the places where they're being directly interviewed, just FYI.

[Laura Leff] Hi Steve!

[KayLhota] We should paste up the conversation before Laura arrived and email it to her

[Laura Leff] Sure, that would be great!

[Brad from Georgia] Somebody do that as knows how.

[Maxwell] My email isn't open.

[steve -shimp-] What'd I miss? Geez, it's a minute after eight!

[Laura Leff] Click on that part of the screen, do Ctrl-A, then Ctrl-C it into an E-mail.

[Laura Leff] Or rather Ctrl-V it into an E-mail.

[Brad from Georgia] We were talking about my theatrical career, Laura. I'm in "Romeo and Juliet" for our college as Montague, Romeo's pop.

[steve -shimp-] Congrats Brad!

[KayLhota] what is your email, Laura?

[Laura Leff] Brad - Ah yes, I remember you mentioning that last month. How's it going?

[Frank J. Lhota] Jack Benny to Frank Nelson: "Doest though bite your thumb at me?" Frank: "No, I'm a late teether"

[Maxwell] president@jackbenny.org

[Laura Leff] president@jackbenny.org

[steve -shimp-] Hey Max has the same e-mail as Laura!

[Laura Leff] Is that why I keep getting his mail?

[steve -shimp-] Does he send the bills to you?

[Maxwell] That explains EVERYTHING!

[Laura Leff] They do seem to stay there...

[Brad from Georgia] It's going fine, Laura. We begin performances a week from tonight--this is my only off night for about three weeks!

[Laura Leff] Is it community theatre, or what?

[Brad from Georgia] College theater, with some community actors.

[Maxwell] You need to start the play like the opening to Mr. First Nighter.

[Brad from Georgia] In my last scene, I come in to find everybody dead and tell the Prince that my wife is dead too. I knew my lines long berfore anyone else ('cos I don't have very many).....

[Laura Leff] And here comes Lord Capulet...do you have a few words for our listening audience?

[Brad from Georgia] ...so one night I SANG my lines, to the tune of "Greensleeves": Alas, my liege, my wife is dead....

[Maxwell] hahahahahaha

[Maxwell] I'm cracking up here.

[steve -shimp-] Lord Capulet would like to remind you that half the price of every cigarette you buy supports your local, state, and federal government.

[Laura Leff] So remember, kids, smoking is good for the economy!

[Maxwell] Ironic opening to tonight's show considering the fact that the Feds just raised the cigarette tax.

[Frank J. Lhota] Don, announce Juliet's betrothal, but first put in a good word for Lucky Strikes.

[Laura Leff] So just keep tearing up those cigarettes instead of smoking them.

[steve -shimp-] And it's a lot more free, smooth, and easy on the draw than that poison Romeo and Juliet took.

[Brad from Georgia] Another night the director started talking to another actor as I was starting the line, so I said, "Alas, my liege, my wife is dead tonight. Grief of my son's exile hath stop'd her breath. So do you know any chick interested in an older man? I'm available

[Maxwell] But she must be so round, so firm, so fully packed....

[Laura Leff] Come on, it's the 1560s...why can't these kids just smoke pot instead of killing themselves?

[Frank J. Lhota] It's amazing that cigarette prices were 50% tax even back then.

[Brad from Georgia] I think the funniest moment came when Friar Laurence said, "For doting, not for loving, pupil mine. O $#!7, I have forgot the very next line."

[steve -shimp-] If it was the 1580s, they'd be so coked up no one would care about this silly family feud.

[Brad from Georgia] I did like tonight's show. Yah tum te ta tum te tum, Happy Easter....

[Laura Leff] Thanks for the transition back to tonight's show!

[KayLhota] the singing was so cute

[steve -shimp-] Jack's bad singing always makes me laugh. He's still better than me though!

[Laura Leff] Mary's deep, Parliament singing voice.

[KayLhota] and, Arthur Q. Bryan's bit was hysterical

[Brad from Georgia] It's a shame that Arthur Q Bryan died in 1959. He would have been great if he could have been cast as Dirty Harry! "Do ya feel wukky, punk?"

[Maxwell] Wucky Stwikes.

[KayLhota] oh, he was very good

[Laura Leff] He was used several times on the show...easy voice to spot. Even easier than Joe Kearns.

User Frank J. Lhota has logged out.

[Laura Leff] Absolutely no one else sounds like that.

[Maxwell] Just listen for Doc Gamble.

[KayLhota] Mary's voice was deep but in pitch

User Mike Amo has entered this room.

[Brad from Georgia] "Do you want some aspiwin?"

[Brad from Georgia] Hi Mike!

[Laura Leff] Hi Mike!

[Mike Amo] Jello folks

[steve -shimp-] Hi Mike

[KayLhota] Hi Mike

[Maxwell] Hi Mike

[Brad from Georgia] After Bryan passed away and Mel Blanc started doing Elmer, it was never the same--rarely even close, to my ear.

[Maxwell] Hal Smith also did Elmer in a cartoon or two.

[KayLhota] Mel Blanc didn't like to do imitations

[Mike Amo] I never make it, but I'm at a working computer, awake (I think), and not in Africa

[Laura Leff] So just a general question...Mel Blanc did so many voices for WB. Why, other than simple talent, was Bryan the one seeming holdout who did a different voice?

[Brad from Georgia] Ya know, I've heard Bryan as Doc Gamble on "Fibber McGee," but I can't recall his voice at all!

[KayLhota] I'm not sure I understand your question, Laura.

[Brad from Georgia] Laura--I know! Elmer was actually physically modeled on Bryan in the first cartoons. That's why they ballooned him up.

[steve -shimp-] Good question. June Foray makes sense since she could do more feminine voices than Mel.

User Frank J. Lhota has entered this room.

[Mike Amo] Hi Frank

[KayLhota] hi again Frank

[Laura Leff] Brad - OK, thanks! I did notice the physical resemblance when I saw a film of Bryan.

[Brad from Georgia] They wanted the voice to match the physical reprentation.

[Laura Leff] So Mel looks like Foghorn Leghorn and Yosemite Sam?

[Laura Leff] (Not to mention Bugs Bunny?)

[Maxwell] The Elmer Fudd name was originally used in a cartoon with Egghead, who is generally accepted as being the direct ancestor of Elmer.

[Maxwell] But who looks nothing like Elmer.

[KayLhota] a lot of actors did voices for the WB cartoons, but Mel got sole credit because of the good deal he got

[Brad from Georgia] I've mentioned it before, but a jolting moment in the radio version of "It's a Wonderful Life" occurs when Bryan speaks as Clarence the Angel..in Fudd's voice.

[Laura Leff] Egghead is the ancestor of Elmer, or the character with Egghead is?

[KayLhota] yes, that is unnerving, Brad

[Maxwell] Egghead supposedly evolved into Elmer.

[Brad from Georgia] Egghead was the remote ancestor of Elmer--he is identified as Elmer Fudd in a stencil on the side of a scooter in one cartoon.

[Laura Leff] cwawence?

[Frank J. Lhota] Bob Clampett orinally wanted Elmer Fudd to look like Don Wilson.

[KayLhota] when he says, "You wished it so"

[steve -shimp-] I loved him on BATMAN

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - OK, thanks for the clarification.

[Laura Leff] Frank - No kidding!

[Brad from Georgia] But when they decided to create a hunter nemesis for the wabbit, someone thought of Bryan's double-you laden voice and they sent for him and redesigned the character completely.

[Laura Leff] Frank - But when was that? It had to be early 30s, and Don wasn't that well-known yet.

[Maxwell] Elmer started out looking more like his modern version, but then (I think) Friz Freleng decided to model him more on Bryan's girth.

[Maxwell] Elmer didn't come into being until the late '30s.

[steve -shimp-] No offense to Donsie, but there isn't much about him other than size that would make an appealing cartoon model.

[KayLhota] What I didn't realize until recently was that Bryan was doing that voice a lot on radio. "Waymond Wadcwiffe"

[steve -shimp-] On Jack's TV show his face is always so frozen that he looks like an early Botox test case.

[Mike Amo] He's kind of Santa-like to me

[Brad from Georgia] Maxwell--I think it was Bob Clampett, but even in the first appearance, Elmer's face was modeled on Bryan's. The nose is vewy wewy red.

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - OK, got it. By that time, Don was known. I think of the early 30s Porky Pigs that were basically a ball with a head.

[Maxwell] might have been Clampett.

[Frank J. Lhota] No, that was early forties. And besides, I was just joking about the fact that the early Bob Clampett Elmer was really fat.

[Mike Amo] And the head is vewwy big

[Brad from Georgia] I did like Mary's singing and Jack's, uh, laid-back Midwestern scat-singing!

[steve -shimp-] flat scat singing?

[Maxwell] That's the way we scat around these parts.

[KayLhota] it's a charming episode, and I haven't heard as much from that period

[Laura Leff] Well, he was from near Chicago, so maybe that gives him some license.

[KayLhota] I'm still catching up on 40's episodes

[Brad from Georgia] I've heard a lot of Benny shows lately, so I can't remember which one it was, but in one of the shows Jack breaks character and asks the audience, "Gee, isn't this a silly way to earn a living?" Fits this show.

[Maxwell] I'm waiting to retire. Then I'll listen to all that are available.

[Laura Leff] It's one of the last really good episodes, because Phil was about to leave and Jack's TV show was going to ramp up.

[steve -shimp-] Did anyone ever live in a town where they HAD an Easter Parade? That seems to have dropped from civic life before my time.

[Brad from Georgia] I find this show charming, too, despite the fact that I love the loosey-goosey feeling of some of the earlier-era shows.

[Maxwell] My town was too small to have an Easter parade.

[Brad from Georgia] I don't remember any Easter parade in our town, ever. Egg hunts, yes, parades no.

[Frank J. Lhota] Looking at my 401K, I may have to delay retirement until my next life.

[KayLhota] Yes, my town had a big Easter Parade when I was growing up. But it was a week or so before Easter

[Laura Leff] It is, as I'm sure 39F owners know, a heavily recycled show from 1949.

[steve -shimp-] There are other radio shows from about this time that talk about them, similar vein, with the whole town in their Sunday best walking around.

[Brad from Georgia] Maxwell--in Marshall, Michigan there's a big Halloween parade. About everyone in town's in it! So after one block, the leading marchers peel off and become spectators, then in the next block the next batch peels off....

[Laura Leff] My school had a Halloween parade where all the kids dressed up in their costumes and walked around.

[steve -shimp-] We had kids Halloween parades in my town in Mich too.

[Laura Leff] It must be a Michigan thing.

[Maxwell] They must love parades in Michigan.

[steve -shimp-] I guess we're more Satanic up there. Halloween, yes, Easter, no.

[Maxwell] We used to have a parade on May 1.

[Laura Leff] Western Michigan

[KayLhota] Or a midwest thing. Park Ridge IL had a Halloween costume parade when I was little

[Laura Leff] Too *@($@ cold on Easter, sometimes.

[Maxwell] "Loyalty Day" (to combat the threat of Communism)

[steve -shimp-] True that!

[Brad from Georgia] It's interesting that Jack had so much fun with two Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter. Though I think he actually was going back to the roots of jolly Yule and the Eostre celebration of new life.

[Maxwell] We also had a parade for the high school homecoming.

[Brad from Georgia] Is there currently an Easter Parade in Hollywood?

[Laura Leff] Well, the hare and egg are the symbols of one of the fertility goddesses...

[steve -shimp-] But which came first?

[Maxwell] Mary's mink.

[Brad from Georgia] I remember always getting a new set of Sunday clothes for Easter to wear to church.

[steve -shimp-] the hare or the egg that is?

[Laura Leff] Brad - Yes, but not like this. I think it's a little more tawdry...

[Brad from Georgia] Maxwell--That was a great gag, wasn't it? Really well paced and the payoff was perfect.

[Maxwell] Yup...I think that was my biggest guffaw as I listened.

[Laura Leff] Probably the egg, because you need Rogaine to make hare last.

[Brad from Georgia] You know that "tawdry" is short for "St. Audrey," the tackiest saint in the canon.

[steve -shimp-] LL - OUCH!

[KayLhota] groan

[Maxwell] She was married to St. Jackie, wasn't she.

[Maxwell] ?

[Laura Leff] St. Jackie Mason

[KayLhota] ewww

[Brad from Georgia] I dunno. It's sort of charming in itself to think of people dressed to the nines (and three sheets to the wind in Phil's case) and promenading on a sunny Sunday in spring.

[Mike Amo] I wondered myself...checked Google...other than Irving Berlin's 1948 film, the Easter Parade was a popular tradition in many cities during the 1880s-1950s

[Brad from Georgia] The song is much older than the movie, isn't it?

[steve -shimp-] I agree Brad, it's one of those corny things of a byegone age that's a bit sad it's gone.

[Laura Leff] I wonder how it started.

[steve -shimp-] Like a maypole or something.

[KayLhota] yes, the song is old.

[Maxwell] Easter Parade?

[Maxwell] It was written in the '30s.

[Maxwell] Clifton Webb originally sang it.

[Laura Leff] When no one had the money to buy the clothes

[KayLhota] For the musical review "As Thousands Cheer"\

[KayLhota] "Heat Wave" came from the same revue

[Laura Leff] She certainly can can-can

[Maxwell] Yup...the "plot" was that each number was connected to a section of the newspaper.

[Brad from Georgia] I'd like for the Georgia Legislature to parade down the street on Easter, so the rest of us could pelt 'em with eggs.

[steve -shimp-] ooooh, BOILED!

[Maxwell] Easter Parade was for the rotograveur (sp?) section.

[Brad from Georgia] Got to go have dinner! I'll check back later.

[KayLhota] see you Brad

[Frank J. Lhota] What is a rotograueur anyways?

[steve -shimp-] Bye Brad

[Laura Leff] have a good one, Brad

[Maxwell] You should eat earlier....So long Brad.

[Maxwell] I think it was a photosection.

[Maxwell] space between photo and section.

[Laura Leff] I thought it was a section of the newspaper like a magazine that had a lot of pix

[KayLhota] rotograveur? I always thought it was the photo section of the newspaper

[Maxwell] Yeah.

[steve -shimp-] I call them when my drain is clogged up.

[Maxwell] That's three of us who agree.

[KayLhota] good one Steve

[Maxwell] And steve thinks its a plumber.

[steve -shimp-] No, that's Gladys Zybisco

[Laura Leff] Maybe it's pictures of a plumber

[Maxwell] Steve has plumbed the depths.

[Frank J. Lhota] Rotograveur sounds like something invented by Ron Popiel.

[Maxwell] No, that's Jane Withers.

[Mike Amo] LOL, I have to do the same as Brad...I'm at my sister's, and she and the kids are having dinner

[Laura Leff] Stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plumb

[steve -shimp-] It's a device for digging circular graves.

[KayLhota] have a good dinner Mike

[Maxwell]  

[steve -shimp-] For your dead octopus.

[Laura Leff] Eat well, Mike~

[Maxwell] So long Mike. Bon appetit.

[steve -shimp-] Bye mike

[Frank J. Lhota] Maybe Rotograveur is an oxy cleaner.

[Maxwell] Bite your tongue, Frank.

[Mike Amo] I was impressed that Jack and Mary seemed to encounter everyone from the show...even Gladys

[Laura Leff] Now that I don't understand at all.

[Laura Leff] Gladys?

[Mike Amo] Kind of like Allen's Alley

[Laura Leff] Mabel and Gertrude

[steve -shimp-] No Frank Nelson...

[Mike Amo] Oops, the operators

[Mike Amo] Hans Conried did not show up either

[KayLhota] well, Hans couldn't be in everything

[steve -shimp-] Hans Conried ALWAYS shows up, at least in this room  

[Laura Leff] And I thought he was inevitable

[Frank J. Lhota] Apothecary! Do you sell Rotograeur? Apothecary: Oh Mr. Benny, PLEASE!

[Laura Leff] Maybe he was in the studio audience

[Maxwell] In this case it was inevitable that he didn't show up.

[Mike Amo] They're hollerin'...I'll bring back Grape Nuts

[Laura Leff] Or Jell-O

[Laura Leff] So what else about tonight's show?

[Laura Leff] Interesting to have Dennis' song so late in the show

[KayLhota] Sheldon Leonard's bit was a hoot

[Laura Leff] I went back to the script to see if that was planned.

[steve -shimp-] Dennis' line about getting "proper credit" gave me an aha moment.

[Maxwell] Essentially it finished the show.

[Frank J. Lhota] I liked the musical interludes.

[Maxwell] But what better way to close the show than Easter Parade?

[Laura Leff] If it had been a movie, the last shot would have been a crane shot pullback of Dennis singing on a street corner with his hands up, as everyone else paraded around him.

[steve -shimp-] Has anyone noticed on Jack's TV show, the regular cast NEVER get an on-screen credit? I find that kind of bizarre.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Star Trek

[steve -shimp-] ?

[Laura Leff] Well, they get it at the end of the show

[Frank J. Lhota] Credits were not as big a deal on early television.

[steve -shimp-] No, that's the thing. Don, Mary, Roch, Dennis - never get credits when they are on.

[steve -shimp-] Even into the sixties.

[Laura Leff] Yes, you're right. I forgot that the supporting cast got fast credits at the end.

[Maxwell] Well, there's a reason Mary didn't get credit in the '60s...

[Laura Leff] She would have bought too much?

[steve -shimp-] Yes. Supporting cast does.

[KayLhota] ouch Laura

[Maxwell] LL That, too.

[Frank J. Lhota] Radio credits were even more minimal, given that the audience would not listen to a lengthy list of names.

[steve -shimp-] It's interesting to me though, the main cast was so well known, they never get a credit.

[steve -shimp-] So there's never even an issue, say, as to how Eddie Anderson was billed.

[Laura Leff] But they get credit at the top of the show in Don's announcement.

[Laura Leff] On radio

[steve -shimp-] On radio though, not TV. Usually Don gives the guest star on TV.

[Laura Leff] Well, let's think about this for a minute. Does the whole cast of other shows get credits?

[steve -shimp-] Yes, usually!

[Laura Leff] I haven't seen "Your Show of Shows" lately

[KayLhota] depended on the series

[Maxwell] One rather odd thing they did on a lot of shows in the '50s that stopped sometime around 1960 was for the announcer to read a list of the supporting cast with the names not shown.

[Maxwell] Appearing on tonight's show were....

[KayLhota] I've never seen intact episodes of Your Show of Shows to see the credits

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - Don did that sometimes on TV.

[steve -shimp-] Yeah, I've heard that Maxwell. I assume that was to spare expense of printing up new end titles each week.

[Maxwell] That's my guess, too.

[Laura Leff] How about Milton Berle? Was Arnold Stang in the credits? (I don't know)

[Maxwell] I remember that particularly for Burns and Allen.

[KayLhota] I don't know

[Frank J. Lhota] "Your Show of Shows" is now often shown with the musical numbers removed.

[Maxwell] Probably because they still show reruns of that here.

[Laura Leff] What other shows were contemporary in the early 50s?

[Brad from Georgia] I'm back, full of zucchini quiche.

[steve -shimp-] I could check, but that would mean watching some of Berle's shows...

[KayLhota] on I Love Lucy, the supporting cast was spoken on air at the end

[Laura Leff] Steve -   Not a Berle fan, eh?

[steve -shimp-] But the I Love Lucy parallel would be like Vivian Vance and William Frawley. Who WERE credited.

[Maxwell] Berle's show was pretty bad.

[Laura Leff] Kay - Not always...I saw Sam Hearn on a show, and watched all the way to the end and he got no crefdit.

[steve -shimp-] It's obnoxiously painful to watch, I have to say.

[Brad from Georgia] But he gave Arnod Stang a showcase....

[Maxwell] steve They're given written credit with the "new" opening title. I don't remember if they were in the '50s with the original titles.

[Frank J. Lhota] Berle: "Apothecary!"

[steve -shimp-] I think they were, because TV Land started using modified "original" credits a few years ago.

[Brad from Georgia] Stang: Woddya want/

[Maxwell] The stick figure credits?

[steve -shimp-] Yeah

[Maxwell] Cool!

[steve -shimp-] They blocked out "Philip Morris" and put a vintage looking "TV Land" logo in there.

[Brad from Georgia] Stang: So you want I should sell you perzon?

[steve -shimp-] Not the "Heart" credits.

[Maxwell] They quit using those when CBS started showing the show in their daytime lineup.

[Maxwell] Which brings up another thing that peeves me.

[Brad from Georgia] Hey, my daughter got in the movies! Unfortunately, it was a police film of her running a red light...we're out seventy bucks for the fine.\

[Maxwell] Ouch!

[KayLhota] ouch, Brad

[Brad from Georgia] Sorry, Max, state yo' peeve.

[Laura Leff] Mazel tov

[Brad from Georgia] Thanks. She was in a show in Atlanta, "The Phantom Limb," a laff riot about serial child killer Albert Fish, and she was late that day. The left-turn arrow had just gone red when she turned.

[steve -shimp-] Get that girl a Maxwell they don't go that fast.

[Maxwell] One of our TV stations (the one that shows Jack in fact) is showing reruns of the half-hour Gunsmoke episodes, but they're using the "Marshall Dillon" opening and theme that CBS put in when they showed reruns while the hour show was still running....

[Maxwell] I want the Gunsmoke theme, darn it!

[Brad from Georgia] I used to know the lyrics to the "Gunsmoke" theme.

[KayLhota] so, you hate the altered titles. I don't blame you

[Laura Leff] Is there a chance there was a sponsor bug or mention in there?

[Brad from Georgia] I've forgotten them now, so I just sing "Easter Parade" to the "Gunsmoke" tune.

[Frank J. Lhota] On TV, what model and year did they use for the Maxwell?

[Brad from Georgia] A 1923 Maxwell super sport.

[Laura Leff] Altered Benny titles peeve me off too. Makes it hard to look at a show and know, at a glance, the era it's from.

[Brad from Georgia] (I'm lying. I don't know cars at all.)

[KayLhota] good one, Brad

[Laura Leff] Frank - I sat in it.

[steve -shimp-] A lot of them have a "1954" copyright note on the title card, then it's a show from like 1960!

[Laura Leff] Brad - No, you're right (IIRC)...1923 Maxwell.

[KayLhota] I did see a maxwell in 1970 on the tour at Universal

[Maxwell] Kay They've also left out all of the program intros with Dillon walking in Boot Hill cemetary and doing a voiceover.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Yep, that's it exactly!

[Frank J. Lhota] Thanks Brad. Now will Obama make GM produce more Maxwells?

[Maxwell] I thought Maxwell became part of Chrysler.

[Frank J. Lhota] OK

[Brad from Georgia] I'm glad they don't update the radio Benny shows with new introdutions. "AGGHHHH...IT'S the jack benny PROGRAM, starring JACK benny, AGGGGHH, Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Dennis day, and YOURS TRULY, Bobcat Goldthwaite."

[Laura Leff] Yeah, what Maxwell said.

[steve -shimp-] Maxwell-Fiat hybrids are going to be big next year.

[KayLhota] funny Steve

[Laura Leff] All-electric Maxwell

[steve -shimp-] That sounded more like Pee Wee Herman to me Brad.

[Maxwell] I need to change my name. I keep getting a cuckoo every time somebody mentions a particular brand of car.

[steve -shimp-] we'll just putt-putt-cough-wheeze from now on.

[Brad from Georgia] You could start your own "Laurel and Hardy" theme, Max.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Then again, a syndicator back in the 80s did hack some of them up pretty good!

[Maxwell] Brad, not a bad idea.

[Frank J. Lhota] "Pop open the hood of your Maxwell-Fiat, and notice how the engine is so firmly packed."

[Maxwell] When I was young I resembled Stan. Now I'm closer to Ollie.

[KayLhota] funny Frank

[Brad from Georgia] And it's economical! It uses no gas, but runs on any of the six delicious flavors of Jell-O!

[Laura Leff] Jack promotes American Motors Cars on one of his specials. I really liked the irony.

[Maxwell] It runs best on raspberry.

[steve -shimp-] The Maxwells of the seventies!

User yhtapmys has entered this room.

[Laura Leff] Hi Yht!

[KayLhota] Hi Yht

[steve -shimp-] yip yip yhtapymys

[Maxwell] yeH yth!

[yhtapmys] Hi Alura

[Maxwell] yht

[Maxwell] grrr...

[Brad from Georgia] Max--same here, alas. In high school for Halloween a chubby chum and I went to the dance as Laurel and Hardy. Our dates hated us for that 'cos we had to stay together most of the night for it to make sense.

[Laura Leff] That's alluring...

[Frank J. Lhota] Hey, maybe Crysler can bring back the Gremlin.

[Brad from Georgia] Hi, Yht~

[Laura Leff] Bring back the Dodge Dart!

[Maxwell] Or the Hudson Hornet!

[Laura Leff] Bring back the Yugo!

[Brad from Georgia] Frank-I don't think they worked out very well. You couldn't gas them up after midnight.

[steve -shimp-] Invent the Dodge Lawn Dart!

[Brad from Georgia] Or get them wet.

[KayLhota] FUNNY Brad!

[yhtapmys] Just makes sure that lawn dart isn't wet...

[steve -shimp-] The Ford Mogwai was a better seller.

[yhtapmys] ...it'll make the grass reek!

[Laura Leff] Bring back the Edsel!

[Maxwell] The car that looked like it was sucking on a lemon.

[Laura Leff] Steve - That sounds like a good car for Arthur Q. Bryan to sell.

[Brad from Georgia] We had a '73 Dodge Dart slant 6. We drove it for 240,000 miles. Gosh, we got sick of that thing. Tried to kill it. Never changed the oil. It kept on going.

[Brad from Georgia] My dad drove a Hudson Hornet back in the fifties. Man, I loved that car!

[Frank J. Lhota] It was a zombie dart.

[KayLhota] that says a lot for that model car that it was the thing that wouldn't die

[Maxwell] The Nash had seats that would fold down into a bed.

[Laura Leff] Not even when you wanted it to.

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - Well, that's why they called them Ramblers.

[Brad from Georgia] Yes, the slant 6 was a famously hardy engine. Trouble was, the seats were wearing out, the roof lining was so brittle it tattered if you brushed it, the body was rusting through..but the engine kept chugging along.

[steve -shimp-] They call us here in this chat room ramblers

[KayLhota] oh Max. On those long car trips that would have been comfy

[Laura Leff] Bring back the Chevelle!

[Brad from Georgia] We used to hop in our un-airconditioned Dodge Dart and tool down to Florida for vacations. It's a wonder we didn't bake to death.

[Maxwell] Every teenager in America wanted one.

[KayLhota] I can imagine

[Laura Leff] So if Jack was replacing his Maxwell today, what would he buy?

[Frank J. Lhota] Remember the Gremin's so called back seat? I think it would be fair to say that it seats 2 1/2 people.

[steve -shimp-] A Pinto.

[Maxwell] A Chevy Vega

[Brad from Georgia] I remember once Barbara and I were driving through Florida in 100-degree plus weather; the lovebugs were out, coating the windshield; we got so thirsty we stopped at a gas station and each of us drank a whole quart of chocolate milk.

[Mike Amo] I miss my '61 Olds

[Brad from Georgia] I think Jack might go for one of those new Indian cars.

[Laura Leff] I'm trying to remember the Chevy Vega

[Maxwell] LL Think rust.

[KayLhota] My Dad had one, laura. It rusted so much

[Maxwell] They all had rust.

[Laura Leff] Nuff said.

[steve -shimp-]   Maxwell!

[steve -shimp-] So true.

[Maxwell] And the aluminum block warped.

[Maxwell] On my honeymoon in the case of my Vega.

[KayLhota] cute little car

[Laura Leff] Maybe a used Yugo.

[Frank J. Lhota] Ecologists could promote fuel economy by making stickers reading WWBD? (What Would Benny Drive?)

[Laura Leff] But it would probably create too much smog and kill the atmosphere.

[steve -shimp-] It's funny, auto paint must really have improved, or they're making them all out of plastic, but you rarely see RUSTY cars like you used to.

User Frank J. Lhota has logged out.

[Maxwell] Went through three heater cores in 75,000 miles with that Vega....

[Brad from Georgia] Worst car I ever owned, hands down, was a Chevrolet Corvair. Engineint he rear. When you turned into your driveway, you spun like a top.

[Laura Leff] I remember in Michigan, the first thing my parents did after buying a car was take it to Ziebart for rust protection.

User Frank J. Lhota has entered this room.

[steve -shimp-] which I always heard was a scam

[Mike Amo] My Olds F-85 got 12 miles to the gallon

[Brad from Georgia] While I was eating, did we discuss Professor LeBlanc in tonight's episode?

[Maxwell] My dad always had his car undercoated.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Nope, hasn't been mentioned yet.

[Frank J. Lhota] Not yet.

[Brad from Georgia] Oh. What did you think of Professor LeBlanc?

[Maxwell] Bring him up Brad.

[Mike Amo] How about Sheldon Leonard?

[steve -shimp-] Is there something edited out after Prof. LeBlanc?

[Maxwell] Better him than your supper.

[steve -shimp-] There's a die-down in applause then a gap.

[Frank J. Lhota] Prof LeBlanc: Apothecary!

[KayLhota] It sounded like there were some cuts

[Laura Leff] Steve - No, it's just a bad edit in the transcription.

[Brad from Georgia] It sounded a couple of times as if the show had been recorded on disks with some kind of overlap.

[Laura Leff] Or probably that whomever was copying it off the transcription discs forgot to edit out that silence.

[steve -shimp-] Right, I was confused because it runs the whole 29:30.

[Laura Leff] I checked the script on that one too.

[KayLhota] okay

[Brad from Georgia] Mel Blanc as the Apothecary: "But Mr. Romeo--I made such a nice package of the poison--and now I gotta unwrap it and--and--(sobs)"

[Laura Leff] In fact, the show ran slightly long and PSA from Don for the Red Cross was cut.

[Laura Leff] So what else about LeBlanc?

[Brad from Georgia] "Look for the big Red Cross when you've been injured and need blood, friends. It's a grand way to pump corpuslces into your system!"

[KayLhota] Mel Blanc's bits are always my favorites.

[Brad from Georgia] corpuscles.

[Laura Leff] At the sign of the flying horse

[Laura Leff] First there's a captain, then there's a lietenant, then there's a corpuscle.

[steve -shimp-] The Red Cross now has six delicious flavors, A, B, AB, O, and something about Rhesus Monkeys.

[Brad from Georgia] I like the way deadpan Mel keeps breaking Jack up.

[Laura Leff] There was another time in the show where it sounded like Jack was breaking up, but I can't remember it.

[Brad from Georgia] Oh--Mark Evanier, cartoon historian, accuses Mel of being Not a Very Nice Man when it comes to Bob Clampett. Mel and Chuck Jones both apparently held a grudge against Clampett.

[Laura Leff] You just hear the audience laughter going on, and I think it's laughing at Jack laughing.

[steve -shimp-] Jack's always chuckling at Kitzel...

[Laura Leff] Brad - For what?

[Brad from Georgia] LL--Yes, I noticed that too.

[KayLhota] Oh, there are stories about Bob Clampett from a lot of people

[yhtapmys] I talked to him once, Kay. He seemed like a nice guy to me.

[Frank J. Lhota] Tex Avery also had a beef with Clampett over the issue of who created Bugs Bunny.

[KayLhota] Daws Butler and Stan Freberg had their issues with him

[Maxwell] The answer is simple: Bugs Hardaway.

[Brad from Georgia] LL--Jones got miffed when Clampett claimed sole credit for creating Bugs Bunny; Mel when Clampett downplayed the importance of the voice and disputed Mel's version of seeing a sketch and then coming up with the "tough little guy" voice.

[Laura Leff] Kay - Him being Clampett?

[KayLhota] Frank and I met Bob Clampett as well, and yes, he was nice

[KayLhota] yes, Clampett, Laura.

[Brad from Georgia] Chuck Jones never liked him, evidently, and bad-mouthed him in a good many interviews.

[Maxwell] Clampett still made the best Bugs cartoon ever.

[Frank J. Lhota] I agree that Clampett, in person, comes across as likeable.

[KayLhota] yes, and Bob Clampett to his credit never bad-mouthed anyb ody

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - Which was?

[Maxwell] Falling Hare.

[Brad from Georgia] Evanier agrees that Clampett was more-less a nice guy, and implies that Mel (and Chuck) could be petty and vindictive.

[Laura Leff] I still like Rabbit Rampage.

[KayLhota] Brad, I have heard that Chuck Jones could hold a good grudge

[steve -shimp-] Mel told everyone to kiss his ass on his license plate.

[Laura Leff] I heard there were some egos between Mel and Frank Nelson, but the story's had some telephone done to it, so I don't know how true it is.

[KayLhota] and I read that in the 1930's at the animation studio one of the artists drew a sketch

[Brad from Georgia] Jones was very charming when we met him--and he went nuts over our kids. 'Course, they were dressed as Marvin Martian and Daffy Duck at the time, but still.

[Frank J. Lhota] Tex Avery did have a fair for Bugs, it is a pity that he didn't get to direct him longer.

[KayLhota] of Jones and Clampett walking back to back so that neither could back-stab the other

[Laura Leff] I'm sure there was a good bit of creative sharing during that time

[Mike Amo] Maxwell, was the the barber one?

[Laura Leff] which probably had a lot of people coming up with similar ideas

[KayLhota] well, as an audience member, I love the work of all of them, and I don't care who got along or didn't

[Maxwell] Falling Hare?

[Maxwell] That was the one with the gremlin.

[Brad from Georgia] No, I'm not lying. My kids won first prize in costumes as Marvin Martian and Daffy Duck at the World Science Fiction Convention in 1987. Barbara made the costumes.

[Laura Leff] Sort of like the question of who invented radio, television, or the telephone.

[KayLhota] yes, Laura.

[Frank J. Lhota] Friz Freling also had a beef with Clampett. Clampett encouraged Friz to make a disasterous move to MGM.

[steve -shimp-] Marconi, Jack Benny, Alexander Graham Bell.

[KayLhota] In Mel Blan'c book, he said that he got along with everyone except Gale Gordon

[Maxwell] No, Don Ameche invented the telephone!

[Mike Amo] I guess it would happen over that many years working that closely...how did Disney's people get along?

[Laura Leff] Ub Iwerks

[KayLhota] Disney's studio was a much tighter ship

[Frank J. Lhota] I've heard that Gale Gordon could be a bit snippy off screen. Lucy liked working for him, however.

[Maxwell] Iwerks even left Disney to create Flip the Frog, and we all know how successful that was.

[steve -shimp-] Flip the Frog is legendary in my family.

[Brad from Georgia] Walt "Pogo" Kelly liked the artists at Disney, hated the old guy himself. He walked out in the forties.

[Maxwell] Disney had a pretty bitter strike iirc.

[yhtapmys] It's human nature. Not everyone's going to get along with the same people. So you'll hear different stories about them.

[Frank J. Lhota] Iwerks was a great animator, but he was not great with stories.

[Brad from Georgia] The Nine Old Men at Disney apparently were pretty much a happy family of animators, but they got stuck in their ways.

[KayLhota] Selby Kelly was an inker at Disney when Walt Kelly was an animator, and she said that

[KayLhota] any fraternizing between inkers and animator could get you fired so they didn't meet until the left Disney

[Mike Amo] Wow, that IS a tight ship

[Brad from Georgia] Maxwell--yep, the strike was divisive. I read that they had to get Disney out of the country before they could settle it by negotiation, because he would concede a point, stew about it, blow up, and rescind his decission.

[Laura Leff] No sex please, we're Disney

[Frank J. Lhota] A number of the founders of UPA were Disney people who left around the time of the strike.

[Maxwell] Frank, right.

[Laura Leff] Brad - So who proxied for Disney in negotiations?

[Brad from Georgia] There was one animator that the courts decided Disney had improperly fired, and Disney took him back on...and gave him a desk but refused to let him do any work!

[KayLhota] and nobody has a bad word about Jack Benny

[Brad from Georgia] LL--Roy Disney.

[Mike Amo] I have to read that Disney bio I have...never any time

[Laura Leff] Brad - Ah, got it.

[Brad from Georgia] Except that guy who won the "I Can't Stand Jack Benny" contest....

[yhtapmys] Laura, it was probably Gunther Lessing.

[yhtapmys] He was the corporate lawyer.

[KayLhota] Brad, that artist was Art Babbitt

[Frank J. Lhota] Bob McKimson loved working with Jack Benny and crew on "The Mouse that Jack Built"

[Brad from Georgia] LL--I think the family/company got Disney to go on a trip to Florida while the strike was being settled. And twenty years later, he dreamed up Disney World.

[KayLhota] and the result of the strike, and the rehiring and all of that put him in hospital

[Laura Leff] Brad - It's funny how things happen like that, isn't it?

[KayLhota] Not Florida-- it was the trip to South America

[Brad from Georgia] Kay--Yes, he thought he had an ulcer. His blood pressure did shoot way up. Yes! South America for that strike, you're right.

[Frank J. Lhota] Disney studios had one composer who left the studio to join a monastary.

[Maxwell] And traveling to South America inspired him to build Disney World in FL.

[Maxwell] Or something.

[Brad from Georgia] The Florida trip was later, after the strike, so he could relax.

[Laura Leff] Frank - Is that from a conversation with McKimson? I'd love to have more "behind the scenes" on that cartoon.

[KayLhota] Laura, there is some great commentary on "Mouse that Jack Built" on the DVD

[Laura Leff] Kay - Yes, I wondered if that was the source. I have to see that some time!

[Brad from Georgia] I've read that McKimson was floored when he asked Jack if he would take scale for voicing the cartoon, and Jack said, "Oh, don't pay me. Just give me a print of the cartoon."

[steve -shimp-] Who does the commentary Kay?

[Frank J. Lhota] No, unfortuntately Bob McKimson did very few interviews.

[KayLhota] give me a minute and I'll get the disc

[Brad from Georgia] It's probably Jerry Beck or Bob Barrier doing the commentary on that one. Let's see if I'm right.....

[steve -shimp-] Oh, don't worry about it if it isn't convenient. I can look it up.

[yhtapmys] He's interviewed in Danny Peary's book.

[KayLhota] Greg Ford did the commentary for "Mouse that Jack Built"

[Laura Leff] Don't know him.

[yhtapmys] That's the interview everyone quotes because no one else seems to have talked to him.

[KayLhota] He even names the studio violinist that plays so badly

[steve -shimp-] OK, I don't know Greg Ford either, but thanks!

[Brad from Georgia] Arthur Q. Bryan and Mel Blanc both loved opera. Their shining moment, of course, was "What's Opera, Doc." And brad strikes out on greg ford....

[KayLhota] for Jack at the beginning

[Frank J. Lhota] Yes, Peary's book is the one place on the top of my head where you can find a McKimson review.

[Brad from Georgia] But who wants to sit on your head and read?

[KayLhota] Greg Ford is very knowledgeable in the WB animation and produced some recent cartoons for them

[Brad from Georgia] Greg Ford is crazy about Friz Freling, I know that.

[Maxwell] I want one more Road Runner cartoon to be produced with this gag....

[Maxwell] Somewhere in the middle of the chase, a flying stick of dynamite flies into the screen and blows up in Wile E. Coyote's face.

[Frank J. Lhota] Chuck Jones was also fond of Freling's work, and praised his excellent sense of timing.

[Laura Leff] brb

[Frank J. Lhota] Maxwell, are you talking about the running gag with dynamite darts?

[KayLhota] wow, this has turned into the WB animations fan chat

[Maxwell] Yeah.

[KayLhota] it's from 1961

[Maxwell] I waited all my life for Chuck Jones to come up with that gag.

[KayLhota] I should remember the name of that Road Runner cartoon

[Brad from Georgia] On the "Animation History" chat a few days ago people were trying to name all the celebs caricatured in "Malibu Beach Party."

[KayLhota] oh my-- I wrote that up years ago for Laura

[Frank J. Lhota] Maybe they could update that Coyote gag to use dynamite Dodge Darts.

[Maxwell] There were several I didn't recognize.

[Brad from Georgia] "Eatibus Anythingus."

[KayLhota] Laura asked me about one, and I made a stab that it may have been John Barrymore's wife Elain Barrie

[Brad from Georgia] Maxwell--Who? You got George Raft, I'm sure, Andy Devine, Ned Sparks, "Pill" Harris....

[Mike Amo] I could never remember much by an episode name...just realized that Jack never had one like a friends title "The One Where Jack Plays "The Bee'"

[Maxwell] I recognized all of them. I'd have to go back and watch it again.

[Mike Amo] Brad, always loved those freeze frame subtitles

[Maxwell] There were a few I didn't recognize at all.

[Brad from Georgia] Let's see...Mickey Rooney and Cary Grant I remember.

[KayLhota] I named as many as I could in order

[KayLhota] and I wrote it up for Laura

[KayLhota] I should check and see if I still have a copy of that email

[Brad from Georgia] BTW, I always thought that the "Phil" caricature looked just weird. On even a good print, he's mauve.

[Maxwell] From drinking too much maybe.

[Laura Leff] Kay - I must have published it in the Times.

[Brad from Georgia] Didn't sound much like Phil, either. Mel did a passable "Winchester," though.

[Laura Leff] Mike - There are some TV shows that do have semi-official titles. Although the shows themselves weren't identified as that

[Laura Leff] "Harlow Gets a Date"

[Brad from Georgia] They did a very good job in that cartoon with the Mary/Jack banter early on. Really caught the spirit and timing of the radio show.

[KayLhota] I found the email with my Malibu Beach Party list

[Brad from Georgia] Let's hear it for Dale White! Did he ever play any role other than Harlow?

[Laura Leff] Yes, he did

[Laura Leff] He got active in local theatre in later years

[Mike Amo] What's happened with Harlow?

[KayLhota] he was very good as Harlow

[Brad from Georgia] Let's see...there was Spencer Tracy. (Miss Livingstone, I presume.)

[Laura Leff] He's one of my great regrets. We were in touch, we agreed I'd interview him, we both got busy, he died.

[KayLhota] aww

[Laura Leff] I still need to call his wife and chat with her.

[Mike Amo] That's a shame...I expect he wasn't that old

[yhtapmys] http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,635188019,00.html

[Brad from Georgia] Robert Donat . . . "Goodbye, Mr. Chips."

[Laura Leff] Harlow Gets a Date was supposed to be the set up for a spinoff.

[Laura Leff] Mike - Not old enough that he should have died so soon!

[Brad from Georgia] I really liked "Harlow." When crossed, I've often said, "You never did like me" and stamped my foot.

[KayLhota] oh, when the Don Wilson mouse does that in "The Mouse that Jack Built" it's brilliant

[Brad from Georgia] And there was Deana Durbin, of course, singing....\

[KayLhota] it's not that sort of thing that you'd think of, but it's part of Don's personality

[Maxwell] Okay, in the brief scene with five people sitting and one of them laughing....

[Maxwell] I'm trying to figure out all of them.

[KayLhota] Brad, if you would like, I can email you my Malibu list

[Laura Leff] I still like the gag with Fanny Brice and Ned Sparks best.

[Maxwell] Yeah, that's a good one.

[KayLhota] yes!

[Maxwell] Kay...email me, too.

 [Maxwell] Who's doing the laughing...I just can't place him.

[Laura Leff] Or if you can copy-paste it into the window, it will be in the transcript

[Frank J. Lhota] Was the Maxwell and electric car?

[Frank J. Lhota] Was the Maxwell an electric car?

[Brad from Georgia] Frank--No, it wasn't.

 [Laura Leff] Frank - Only if Rochester mis-wired it

[Laura Leff] "I'll try a gallon"

[KayLhota] 01) Jack Benny (Bunny) 02) Mary Livingstone 03) Bob Hope 04) Bette Davis 05) Andy Devine 06) Spencer Tracy 07) Kay Kyser 08) Robert Donat (Mr. Chips) 09) Carole Lombard 10) Don Ameche 11) Brunette-- My guess is that she could be Elaine Barrie, the young w

[Maxwell] That's an underscore after my name.

[Laura Leff] Quick question...do folks want me to excise your E-mail addresses from the transcript?

[Frank J. Lhota] And how was the Stanley Steamer powered? Yes, I know it used steam, but how was the steam generated?

[Maxwell] Yes, please.

[KayLhota] wife of John Barrymore. They had been in the news a great deal at the time during their romance. In the Looney Tunes cartoon "Porky's Road Race" they can be seen with Elaine runniing towards John Barrymore squealing: "Calaban! Calaban! I want to see yo

[Maxwell] Frank, it burned kerosene (I think) to power the boiler.

[Laura Leff] Frank - I thought it was coal, but that's a guess on my part.

[KayLhota] Their pet names for one another were Ariel and Calaban, and Elaine had very pubicly chased him across the country. Elaine had large dark eyes, and a full mouth, and does resemble the caricature. Other possible choices are Olivia DeHavilland, and

[KayLhota] Andrea Leeds

[Frank J. Lhota] So the Stanley Steamer used jet fuel?

[KayLhota] 12) Robert Taylor 13) George Raft 14) Clark Gable 15) Greta Garbo 16) Cesar Romero 17) John Barrymore 18) Ned Sparks 19) Fanny Brice as Baby Snooks 20) Charles Boyer 21) Adolphe Menjou 22) Claudette Colbert 23) James Cagney 24) Alice Faye 25) Rochester

[KayLhota] (Winchester)

[KayLhota] 26) Phil (Pill) Harris 27) Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (much of the animation is taken from an earlier Merrie Melodies cartoon, "September In the Rain") 28) Deanna Durbin 29) Mickey Rooney 30) Cary Grant

[Brad from Georgia] Frank--the Stanley Steamer used a kerosene burner (but some burned gasoline) to heat the boiler. The kerosene versions came after some unfortunate explosions.

[Laura Leff] The things you can learn on a Benny chat.

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, sure, Cesar Romero and John Barrymore--"I come to bury Cesar..."

[KayLhota] So, the count was 30 stars

[Brad from Georgia] Way to go, Kay!

[Laura Leff] Quite a guest list!

[Laura Leff] Yeah, let's hear it for Kay!

[Brad from Georgia] No wonder that half a pint didn't go around very well.

[Maxwell] You go, Kay!

[Mike Amo] YAY KAY!

[Frank J. Lhota] Well, this was an "A" picture.

[Maxwell] Okay Kay!

[KayLhota] (bowing politely)

Maxwell still would like an email of them so I can view at my leisure.

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

[steve -shimp-] About tonight's show - Laura, did you ever interview Stuffy Singer in the Times?

[Brad from Georgia] I did like the very Benny-like gag: "Boss, that half a pint you bought ain't gonna go very far." "Well dilute it!" "Okay, but you're gonna have a powerful big water bill!"

[Maxwell] That's right! This is a Jack Benny chat!

[steve -shimp-] Sorry guys, I enjoyed the WB discussion, just didn't have a lot to add.

[Frank J. Lhota] A Jack Benny voice was used in Chuck Jones' cartoon "Daffy Duck and the Dinasaur"

[Laura Leff] Steve - I've interviewed him, but haven't published it yet.

[Brad from Georgia] Same voice actor as "Malibu"; Jack Lescoulie.

[steve -shimp-] Ah, OK. He played Joey in the show tonight.

[Laura Leff] Frank - Yeah, but I still don't buy it even though everyone says that.

[steve -shimp-] I saw on archive.org an episode of "Beulah" he was on with Hattie McDaniel and remembered he did some Benny shows.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Oh yes, I know! I was delighted that there was someone I knew personally!

[Mike Amo] Not a lot to add here...I ran this and last month's episodes 3 weeks ago...love the 30s stuff, and both were great anyway, as I hadn't heard them before

[steve -shimp-] with an unforgettable name!

[Brad from Georgia] Anybody remember Stuffy Durma?

[Maxwell] I remember Stuffy by Coleman Hawkins.

[Laura Leff] Stuffed Derma...I've had that before.

[Maxwell] Other than that, I don't remember any Stuffies.

[Frank J. Lhota] Laura, by a "Jack Benny voice", I just mean a voice done to sound like Jack Benny, not that Jack did the cartoon.

[Brad from Georgia] I think the caveman was a vocal take on Jack, too, just not a visual one.

[Frank J. Lhota] AFAIK "The Mouse that Jack Built" is the only cartoon where Jack provided a voice.

[Laura Leff] Frank - Oh, I know. I've watched the cartoon a few times, and there's just not a lot that I latch onto as being specifically "Jack Bennyish".

[Brad from Georgia] What nails it for me is the final comment the spirit of the caveman makes while ascending to heaven on a cloud: "G'night, folks!"

[Laura Leff] Frank - Yes, I'm not aware of him doing any other cartoon voiceovers.

[Mike Amo] Jack Lescoulie! I remember him from the Today show in the early 1960s

[KayLhota] it does sound to me like Mel Blanc is doing a jack Benny impression

[Laura Leff] Brad - Yes, that was the only thing that struck me.

[Maxwell] Mike, Yup, he did the sports.

[yhtapmys] All I know about Lescoulie is he threw a hissy fit and was fired from the Today Show.

[Brad from Georgia] Mike--Yes, right. He had a legendary feud with J. Fred Muggs.

[KayLhota] not exactly an imitation, but an impression

[Maxwell] He was also Jackie Gleawson's announcer in the '50s.

[yhtapmys] Max, he was?

[Laura Leff] I see Arthur Q. Bryan hasn't completely left us yet...

[yhtapmys] I always thought Johnny Olsen did his show.

[Frank J. Lhota] Yes, but the caveman should have prefixed "G'night folks" with the phrase "We're running a little late..."

[Maxwell] Or Jackie Gleason.

[Maxwell] Yup.

[Mike Amo] I wondered what happened to him...Baba Wawa was there at the same time

[Maxwell] Lescoulie was on the Today Show in the '50s.

[Laura Leff] Frank - The only thing is that I don't think he'd said that by then. That was more 40s.

[Maxwell] with Garroway and Frank Blair.

[yhtapmys] Mike, I'd have to dig out my Today Show book.

[yhtapmys] He got huffy about something and refused to do it and they fired him.

[Brad from Georgia] Kay--Mel did a very "off" Jack Benny voice in a later cartoon, dang, can't remember it now, but Jack was trying to get an Oscar with one of those coin-operated claw machines--"Daffy Duck in Hollywood," maybe.

[Mike Amo] He was still there in the 60s...I saw J. Fred but was too young to remember him

[yhtapmys] Seems to me they brought him back when Downs was on.

Maxwell remembers J. Fred.

[Laura Leff] I'm not saying that the voice isn't supposed to sound like Jack. It just doesn't sound like Jack *to me*.

[Laura Leff] Brad - That's it.

[Maxwell] Olson was with Gleason when he came back with his variety show in the '60s.

[Brad from Georgia] I sorta/kinda remember Jack Lescoulie pitching some whipped topping, taking a big bite (live TV) and spitting it out--'cause it was shaving cream. The real stuff melted under the studio lights.

[Laura Leff] It apparently sounds like Jack to the rest of the world, so I'm just strange.

[Frank J. Lhota] Don't forget Cave Darroway (I don't think Mr. Carroway voiced that one).

[Brad from Georgia] Might have Lescoulie confused with someone else.

[Mike Amo] lol! Dreer Pooson

[Laura Leff] Hoobert Heever

[yhtapmys] No, Laura, it's a really lame impression, but that's who it's supposed to be.

[Laura Leff] Yht - OK, that I'll buy.

[Laura Leff] Not the last bad Benny impersonator.    Unfortunately.

[Maxwell] There have been far too many of those.

[Brad from Georgia] I don't think the impression is on the money, but even worse is the writing--there's nothing Benny-esque about the caveman's lines except grumpiness.

[yhtapmys] I think Lescoulie used the same voice in Malibu Beach Party.

[KayLhota] Maxwell, my email to you bounced, so would you email me at KayLhota@aol.com"

[Brad from Georgia] Yht--Very close.

[Maxwell] Did you use an underscore between hvickery and 80?

[Laura Leff] Brad - Right, that too.

[yhtapmys] Brad, that's how I put it together.

[KayLhota] I did not use an underscore because I didn't see one

[KayLhota] I made a space

[Laura Leff] It gets lost in the hyperlink underline

[Maxwell] That's why it bounced.

[steve -shimp-] I got lost in a hyperlink underline once. Oh, wait, that was a star trek episode.

[Maxwell] No spaces are allowed in email addresses.

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, dear...got to go. Early day tomorrow and late night, because I'll be in rehearsal. Good night, all!

[Frank J. Lhota] I wouldn't use an underscore unless it was composed by Max Steiner.

[steve -shimp-]  

[Maxwell] So long Brad.

[Laura Leff] Good luck with the performance, Brad!

[steve -shimp-] Bye Brad

[Frank J. Lhota] Bye Brad

[Laura Leff] I wouldn't use an underscore unless it was really codependent.

[Mike Amo] Take care Brad

[Maxwell] Frank, I'm picky. I only go with Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

[Maxwell] Thanks, Kay. It just came.

[KayLhota] wow

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - Oh that's odd...I just saw a story on him last night when I was making a fire in our fireplace (old newspaper).

[yhtapmys] Who is he?

[Maxwell] He wrote scores for Robin Hood, Sea Hawk, Captain Blood, Kings Row, etc.

[yhtapmys] Staff composer?

[Laura Leff] The original ones, not the BBC remakes

User Brad from Georgia has logged out.

[Maxwell] Operatic composer who left when the Nazi's came to power.

[Maxwell] Nazis.

[Laura Leff] Credited with inventing the "Hollywood Sound"

[Maxwell] no apostrophe.

[Maxwell] And he left Europe, to be clear.

[yhtapmys] Well, they all seem to have had that symphonic sound from the 30s.

[steve -shimp-] Steiner's pretty early too.

[Maxwell] I still love his opening title music from Kings Row.

[yhtapmys] So is Leo Forbstein.

[Maxwell] Steiner did the score for King Kong.

[Frank J. Lhota] They weren't supposed to have an apostrophe, but the nazis invaded and took it anyways.

[steve -shimp-] Yeah, King Kong is what popped to mind.

[Laura Leff] Mental image of King Kong bursting out of your forehead

[Maxwell] Then a bunch of WB stuff after he left RKO...and GWTW.

[steve -shimp-] But in my mind, giant gorillas are never too far off.

[yhtapmys] And then his son did Bullwinkle.

[Laura Leff] Have you gotten to "Where's Poppa" yet?

[KayLhota] oh man

[Laura Leff] you = Steve

[Maxwell] I highly recommend Where's Poppa?

[Maxwell] (Insert quotation marks)

[Laura Leff] (This is a reference to a Forum discussion under "Other stuff we like")

[steve -shimp-] Oh, no, it's on the ever-growing list of things to watch.

[steve -shimp-] But it IS on the list...

[Laura Leff] My Netflix queue is about 275 discs long.

[Laura Leff] So I know how it is.

[Maxwell] One of these days I'm gonna start using Netflix.

[steve -shimp-] Wow. Remind me NOT to get Netflix!

[Laura Leff] Netflix. The best bargain on the net.

[Laura Leff] At least for us.

[Maxwell] Where's Poppa is worth it just for the opening title.

[Frank J. Lhota] Does your Netflix queue include "The Horn Blows at Midnight"

[Laura Leff] So what else for tonight?

[steve -shimp-] So it is out on DVD?

[Laura Leff] Requests for next month's show?

[steve -shimp-] Oh, I have a request.

[Laura Leff] Frank - No, I've got that in the video library. And I've seen it a bunch anyway.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Go for it

[steve -shimp-] I've been jonesing for the Colmans lately, can we do the time Jack guested on HALLS OF IVY?

[steve -shimp-] It is a fun inversion of the usual Benny-Colmans gig.

[Laura Leff] Sure, we can do that.

[Frank J. Lhota] Wow, that would be a rarity.

[yhtapmys] Why not?

[Mike Amo] YAY

[yhtapmys] I've never heard it.

[Maxwell] Sounds good!

[Laura Leff] I presume I've got it as an MP3

[KayLhota] Frank hasn't heard it yet

[Laura Leff] *checking*

[steve -shimp-] If not, I have one, but it is only 16KBS. Can e-mail it to you.

[KayLhota] if you don't have it Laura, I do

[yhtapmys] I feel left out.

[Frank J. Lhota] My wife is a big "Halls of Ivy" fan.

[Laura Leff] What's the date?

[KayLhota] I'm a big fan-- period

[Maxwell] I remember seeing it on TV when I was a kid.

[Laura Leff] Yht - You won't be within 30 minutes of this chat...

[Maxwell] I think it only lasted one year on TV.

[Laura Leff] My appearance MP3s are all in order by date.

[Maxwell] I'm just a fan of Ronald Colman.

[steve -shimp-] Looking for the date...

[yhtapmys] 50-11-22

[KayLhota] hang on

[Frank J. Lhota] another great Benny rarity: his appearance on Suspence (and not as the Fiddler).

[KayLhota] Yip's got it

[Laura Leff] Nope, don't have it in MP3

[Maxwell] D'oh'!

[Frank J. Lhota] Suspense

[Laura Leff] Frank - Which one?

[Laura Leff] Kay - Sounds like you've got it though...can you E-mail please?

[Frank J. Lhota] "Murder in G Flat" and "Plan X"

[KayLhota] hang on, Laura

[Laura Leff] Frank - Not "The Face is Familiar"?   

[Laura Leff] I'm sure we discussed Plan X one of these chats...

[Frank J. Lhota] Another good one!

[steve -shimp-] I've got one too, it'll just take me a minute to find it. But like I say, it's only encoded at 16kb, but very listenable.

[Laura Leff] When you've been doing them for 8 years or so, it's easy to forget!

[Maxwell] We should do at least one of the Suspense episodes as a summer replacement show.

[Laura Leff] OK, sold.

[Mike Amo] YAY (I'm easy to please) :-)

[Frank J. Lhota] Gee, I never realized how often Benny did "Suspense".

[Laura Leff] I think there was another, but the name isn't coming to mind at the moment.

[Laura Leff] Servant of the People, or something like that.

[yhtapmys] Oh, I see Archive.org has the Benny show on Ivy.

[Laura Leff] OK, I can pull it from archive.org.

[KayLhota] yes, Archive.org is fantastic

[Laura Leff] Thanks!

[yhtapmys] Edited.

[yhtapmys] Grr.

[Maxwell] I love Archive.org

[yhtapmys] And running fast.

[Laura Leff] Kay - Is yours more complete?

[KayLhota] no

[yhtapmys] 23:41

[KayLhota] it's an AFRS copy

[Laura Leff] Steve - Is yours AFRS?

[steve -shimp-] Yep, mine's the same one as archive.org

[steve -shimp-] 23:41

User Maxwell has logged out.

User Maxwell has entered this room.

[Laura Leff] OK, then I'll just stick with that one.

[Maxwell] Hmmm...

[Frank J. Lhota] Benny should have done more radio guest appearances. Benny: "Rochester, I'm going to give you a raise" Announcer: "DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT!"

[KayLhota] I've emailed it to Laura-- now if she gets it, great if not, you can get it at Archive.org

[Laura Leff] Sounds good. Thanks!

[steve -shimp-] Jack did a LOT of guest appearances!

[yhtapmys] Jack: "Mr. Anthony, I have a problem."

[Laura Leff] Anything else for tonight, or are we good for this month?

[yhtapmys] Frank, I saw a post of yours on-line a few weeks ago.

[Maxwell] The only thing I have to add is "Gunhild Carling" because it's a tradition.

[Laura Leff] I have a gentleman in the balcony! Is his name Cosgrove?

[Mike Amo] Take care y'all...glad to catch up on here a little. Hopefully, outside events will slow down some, so I can get here regularly again

[Frank J. Lhota] Yup, I'm going to wrap it up for tonight

[KayLhota] I'll be mailing you my "Sunday Night's at Seven" recordings, Laura

[Laura Leff] Kay - Thanks very much! Happy to add those to the library.

[KayLhota] Thank you

[Maxwell] NOTE to LL: There's a lot of new Carling stuff up on YouTube.

[Mike Amo] Letting my sister take over her computer  

[steve -shimp-] Think we're good.

[Laura Leff] OK, take care, folks! Talk with you next month!

[steve -shimp-] Bye all

[KayLhota] bye all

[Laura Leff] Maxwell - Aha...thanks!

[Maxwell] So long everybody!

[Mike Amo] Thanks LL

[Laura Leff] I'll check that out in my copious spare time...  

[Maxwell] Yeah, I know you have so much of it...kind of like me.

User steve -shimp- has logged out.

[Maxwell] So long again!