IJBFC Chat

IJBFC Chat - May 2, 2010

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

[Laura Leff] Small crowd...

[ed] amy works for a puppeter group that's interesting

[ed] hi LL

[Brad from Georgia] Yep. Problem is the season's over, so for the summer she's working for the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta--a Coke museum.

[Laura Leff] Hi Ed, Brad...I guess that's everybody

[Laura Leff] Is that like Legoland?

[ed] does it involve going to schools brad

[Brad from Georgia] No, ed, it used to, but for the past few years they haven't had the budget. They have a Henson museum and two big puppet theaters in the complex, though.

[Laura Leff] Is that her "paying job" or more of a sideline?

[Brad from Georgia] It's her main job. I wanted her to be a doctor....she is good friends with some of Jim Henson's children, though.

[Laura Leff] I wanted to be a standup comedian when I was a teen. My father wanted me to be a lawyer. I know how it is.

[Brad from Georgia] I still want to be a cowboy.

[ed] LL i sent an e-mail to ryano218@comcast.net he was iquestioning who took over for Dennis Day when he went to the service and the years he was the benny program he asked that @oldtimeradio.net the newletter

User Steve 'shimp' has entered this room.

[ed] newsletter*

[Laura Leff] I found being a student of comedy to be a better gig for me. I don't "do" what most standups do nowadays.

[Brad from Georgia] Hi, steve!

[Steve 'shimp'] Hi All!

[ed] steve

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, LL--what a lovely edition of the newsletter. Thank you so much!

[Laura Leff] Ed - Yep, I sent him an E-mail as well. Sounds like we got him covered!

[Laura Leff] Hi Steve!

[Steve 'shimp'] Hi Laura, ed

[Laura Leff] Brad - Thanks very much...glad you liked it.

[ed] i saw yours recently LL in the same newsletter

[Brad from Georgia] Very nice to have all of Eddie's pieces in one place.

[Steve 'shimp'] Yes, fantastic tribute to Eddie - really a great TIMES.

[Laura Leff] Brad - It's not quite all, but I think it's a good sampling. Probably about 60-70%.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Thank you very much.

[ed] was it larry stevens LL i want to make sure i sent the right one info?

[Steve 'shimp'] Your first piece in it was very moving.

[Brad from Georgia] I'm looking ahead to the tribute May 15 in Encino. I already have stage fright. I have my anecdote down to 4 1/2 minutes.

[Laura Leff] Ed - People would probably be surprised to know who plagiarized the original edition of 39 Forever. They are big names in the OTR hobby.

[Laura Leff] Ed - Yes, it was Larry Stevens.

[Steve 'shimp'] 39 Forever was plagiarized?

[Laura Leff] Steve - Thank you. I had to take a few breaks to go cry at certain points, but I'm glad it came across so well.

[ed] good i am glad i did send the right stuff

[Laura Leff] Steve - The first edition of it from 1989.

[Laura Leff] Brad - I need to start working on my speech. I don't even know how long they want it to be.

[Steve 'shimp'] Wow, that's before the internet made plagiarizing so easy...

[Brad from Georgia] I just recently listened to the last episode of, I think, '49, in which Jack introduces everybody who worked on the show. Nice little show! Frank Nelson had a great line.

[Steve 'shimp'] What was the line Brad?

[ed] are those big names any of them whoshow up in the newsletter LL without saying names

[Brad from Georgia] Jack: You don't REALLY hate me in real life, do you? Frank: OOOOOHHHHHH, DO I!

[Steve 'shimp']

[Laura Leff] Steve - Yes, it was a very ugly situation. I was getting nasty phone calls and lettters demanding that I hand over my research.

[Laura Leff] I didn't, so they just stole it.

User yhtapmys has entered this room.

[Steve 'shimp'] Ugh

[ed] yht hi

[Steve 'shimp'] Hi Yht

[Brad from Georgia] That is ugly!

[yhtapmys] Hello, all.

[Steve 'shimp'] That "Ugh" wasn't for you.

[yhtapmys] Are you sure?

[Brad from Georgia] What right did they have to demand that of you?

[Laura Leff] Ed - So you mean in the OTR Digest or the Times?

[Laura Leff] Hi Yht!

[Steve 'shimp'] sure

[yhtapmys] Hello, Laura.

[ed] the digest

[Laura Leff] Brad - No right as far as I can see. I think they figured they were "dealing with a little girl" (I was 19 when I was doing the research) and that it was "their domain" so they could just intimidate me.

[Steve 'shimp'] Just goes to show there are turf wars EVERYWHERE

[Brad from Georgia] Jeez, you could SO sue them.

[Steve 'shimp'] People are unreal sometimes.

[ed] including OTR steve

[Laura Leff] Ed - Yes, the names do show up in the Digest still. But I'll leave it at that. No need for a $@%#*&(@# contest 21 years after the fact.

[Steve 'shimp'] Including Jack Benny research, wow.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Oh believe, me I wanted to!

[Laura Leff] Brad - My parents didn't have the stomach (or the funds) to pay for a lawsuit for my work.

[Brad from Georgia] I had some kids begging me to sue J.K. Rowling because elements in one of my books turned up two years later in a Harry Potter...but I don't think it was deliberate copying.

[Laura Leff] Besides, my father always hated the club anyway.

[ed] i like the name you use there LL;)

[ed] that looks like my writing

[Brad from Georgia] LL--Your dad hated the Jack Benny Fan Club?

[Steve 'shimp'] Laura, it amazes me some of the crap you have persevered and steered the IJBFC through...

[Laura Leff] Brad - Yes. Another story for another time. Ask me in LA

[Steve 'shimp'] You'd think it would all be so genteel and innocuous.

[Brad from Georgia] Yes, we do appreciate your sheer endurance along with your talents!

[Steve 'shimp'] So, Kudos.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Oh no...I won't even get into the "attempted takeover" about 10 years ago.

[ed] that's right LL keeping jack's legacy around for everyone to see and hear

[Steve 'shimp'] Yeah, you told me that one once.

[Laura Leff] All this was stuff that left me crying into my pillow. But living well is the best revenge.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Thank you.

[Steve 'shimp'] Good philosophy.

[ed] and eddie's too

[Steve 'shimp'] And, we all appreciate that you never threw in the towel permanently.

[Brad from Georgia] We sure do!

[Laura Leff] I think it's also a testament to my own stubbornness. The IJBFC was partially my own rebeliousness!

[Steve 'shimp']

[Steve 'shimp'] That's how I get my best work done.

[Brad from Georgia] LL--Are there recordings of Eddie's re-creations of the Benny show?

[Laura Leff] Brad - I pulled a VHS just today from the 39 Forever convention, and we've got a copy of that recreation.

[Laura Leff] And somewhere...SOMEWHERE...I've got an audio copy of the Waukegan recreation. Just need the time and inclination to go find it.

[Brad from Georgia] Nice. I'm glad there's a record. I doubt there's a full recording of "Laughter in Bloom."

[Laura Leff] Brad - No one's come forward with one yet, but maybe someday.

[Laura Leff] If we can find "lost" Benny shows, we may be able to find that.

[Steve 'shimp'] Audio or video of a recreation with Eddie would be a wonderful little DVD extra someday.

[Brad from Georgia] REFERENCE! on "The Simpsons," Ned Flanders just told Marge "We're like Jiminy Cricket for the whole town." They're doing surveillance, so they're the conscience.

[Steve 'shimp']

[Laura Leff] Go figure! I wonder if that was a conscious tribute.

[Laura Leff] But probably not...I'm sure that would have had to be written a long time ago.

[Steve 'shimp'] It's just the karmic universe at work

[Brad from Georgia] I do too. Sometimes they throw in things at the last second. I'll see if the end credits mention Eddie....

[Laura Leff] I need to go get some of the work of Seneca. I've had that name flying at me from all directions this past week.

[Steve 'shimp'] if you can speed read in 3 point type!

[Laura Leff] Yeah...ticks me off when they "compress" the credits and run them really fast!

[Steve 'shimp'] Do shows even have end credits anymore? Been so long since I've watched actual TV

[Laura Leff] So I am happy to say that I am well informed on the shows for tonight having just heard both of them.

[Brad from Georgia] Me, too. I was in a movie and didn't even get credit. 'Course I was an extra, but still....

[Brad from Georgia] I've been tied up with finals, so I've only listened to the steam cabinet-tax day one.

[Laura Leff] Brad - You'll be happy to know that for some Benny shows, I'm getting a good listing of extra cast credits.

[Steve 'shimp'] I have to say I've completely forgotten last month's and was a little distracted listening to this month's, so I don't know how many observations I'll have

[Steve 'shimp'] For TV Laura?

[Laura Leff] OK, no problem. I was doing some multi-tasking as well.

[Laura Leff] So let's start with the steam cabinet one.

[Laura Leff] I remember when someone said to do a tax show and I said "not the one that's been circulated to death"...and then I picked it.

[Laura Leff] Duh.

[Brad from Georgia] My favorite Rochester line is in last month's (I think it was repeated in a couple of shows): "Mm-mm! I'll have to dip the Boss in like a tea bag!"

[Laura Leff] So listening to it was almost like a post-hypnotic suggestion, because I'd listened to it so many times 25 years ago.

[Brad from Georgia] I believe that was also in a TV show.

[Steve 'shimp'] Yeah, that was done on TV.

[Steve 'shimp'] Always a funny line.

[Laura Leff] Yes, they lifted that for the TV show.

[Steve 'shimp'] I wonder if they were on for Lipton then.

[Steve 'shimp'] and brought the gag up

[Laura Leff] "According to this, I should have dipped you in like a tea bag!"

[Brad from Georgia] No, that was Arthur Godfrey.

[Steve 'shimp'] Jack was sponsored by Lipton for a while, right?

[Laura Leff] Steve - I don't think so. I think that show was mid-50s, so well before Lipton.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Yes, he was.

[Steve 'shimp'] Yeah, then Roch would've said "like a LIPTON tea bag -- brisk!"

[Brad from Georgia] "Heh, heh, heh, now a word for Lipton Tea, by golly. Ya just take a cup of hot water, dip this bag of crap into it, and by golly, ya get a pretty good cup of tea. Now I'll play my ukelele."

[Brad from Georgia] And then Godfrey would fire the cup of tea.

[yhtapmys] "And fire someone."

[Laura Leff] But later...I'd have to look it up to be exact, but I think that was when Lux/Dove/Lever Brothers was alternating.

[Laura Leff]

[Steve 'shimp'] Some of the strangest OTR are the INNER SANCTUMS where the nice lady tries to sell the ghoulish host on Lipton Tea.

[Laura Leff] Normal tea bags give you only two sides, but Lipton's flow through bag gives you four sides so your hot water gets that much more from the crap inside!

[ed] and then he would say something that made he become upset

[Steve 'shimp'] Right ed.

[Brad from Georgia] I have a fanscript I did years ago of a Jack Benny WWII-era show in which the cast listens to "Lights Out," and Jack has a nightmare that he's in an episode of that show.

[Steve 'shimp'] Yeah, it's got to be tough thinking up advertising angles for something as mundane as a tea bag.

[ed] her* typing s_cks

[Laura Leff] Someone recently sent me the transcription of a Fred Waring show that was sponsored by something like the National Meat Council.

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, yeah--the theme song was "Meat Me in St. Louie."

[Steve 'shimp'] That's FROST WARNING! (Phil reference)

[ed] oh and episode of the fiddler

[Laura Leff] So it goes on telling women that you can't beat meat, etc.

[yhtapmys] Liberace would disagree.

[Steve 'shimp']

[Brad from Georgia] I just heard an episode of "The Whistler" that featured Frank Nelson as a murdering radio announcer.

[Laura Leff] It all comes off as very double-entendre.

[Laura Leff] Get a little meat every day

[ed] and it would have worked for frank except the record skipped

[Laura Leff] Brad - Oh how cool!

[Steve 'shimp'] Oooh, I'd love to hear that. The Whistler ep, that is.

[Brad from Georgia] Ed--Yup, that's the one.

[Brad from Georgia] I was waiting for Nelson to say at the very end, "OOOOOHHHH, I HATE when that happens!"

[ed] william conrad is in that one it is a classic

[Steve 'shimp'] You know, I'd forgotten this, but Frank Nelson played a very "straight" role on I LOVE LUCY toward the end when they moved to Connecticut.

[Laura Leff] Nelson could have been a completely straight actor...wasn't like he naturally had Andy Devine's voice or anything.

[Steve 'shimp'] He played their new neighbor, sort of second second banana to the Mertzes, as a regular.

[Brad from Georgia] He actually did a good many straight, or straight-ish, parts.

[Steve 'shimp'] It's weird hearing him with a normal tone of voice.

[Laura Leff] His first appearances on the Benny show are ones that you might not even realize it was him if you didn't know it.

[yhtapmys] And he was the anncr on Lux for a time.

[ed] he was YHT? when?

[yhtapmys] Lord, in the early days.

[ed] oh

[yhtapmys] Very straight read.

[Brad from Georgia] I spent the last couple of Saturdays recording the narration for "Dancer in the Dark," an Atlanta Radio Theatre audio production. We have a real theatrical director, so he really drove me to perform more intensely that I'd normally try.

[ed] myn collection of those shows only go back to 1936

[Laura Leff] Brad - That sounds like the Benny episode I watched recently with Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood.

[Steve 'shimp'] Wow, was that a regular show Laura?

[Laura Leff] Jack wants to direct Playhouse 90, and then makes them go way over the top and act very broadly.

[yhtapmys] Ed, he did the anncr in 1936.

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, yes, I remember that.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Yep. Had to see that one in LA because it's not in circulation.

[ed] thank you yht

[Laura Leff] It's a cute show. Hopefully it will get out one day.

[Steve 'shimp'] Cool!

[Laura Leff] Any comments on "Ah Wilderness"?

[Brad from Georgia] If I had enough time in LA, I'd love to see some of the shows in the museum collection.

[Laura Leff] It was interesting for me to juxtapose the 52 show and the 37 show...hearing the contrast in close proximity.

[yhtapmys] Other than the skipping?

[Brad from Georgia] I did not listen to it, unfortunately. I remember the Will Rogers version, though.

[ed] you know fibber mcgee and molly's show just had a 75th anniversary and they did an episode of suspense

[Steve 'shimp'] Yes, I know most of you all prefer the Jell-O era, but I really like the later stuff myself. There's some great things in the Jell-O shows, but it feels a little too loosey-goosey for me.

[Laura Leff] Yht - Yeah, that was a period piece...

[Brad from Georgia] I have heard Jack's version but it's been so many years ago I can't recall it.

[ed] so comedt folks could do straight drama

[ed] comedy*

[Laura Leff] Steve - I may be the only one who prefers Jell-O...most people like the later stuff.

[yhtapmys] The show is pretty atypical of the era.

[Steve 'shimp'] Did they dig up Fibber and Mollly?

[Laura Leff] Yht - Ah Wilderness is?

[yhtapmys] Yes, Laura. And I like how Mary is getting the laughter out of the way.

[ed] no just stuffed with with glo coat

[Brad from Georgia] No Simpsons ref to Eddie in the closing credits.

[Laura Leff] Yht - Do you mean that it's atypical of what other shows were doing, or atypical of a Benny show of the time?

[yhtapmys] No, it's atypical of what he was doing.

[yhtapmys] No one else did what he was doing, really.

[Laura Leff] I have some vague recollection of a connection between Harry Shearer (Simpsons) seeing Eddie's show, but I may be wrong.

[yhtapmys] I notice Jack did the hammy "thrash within an inch.." line. He used that during the Lucky Strike years, too.

[Brad from Georgia] Now the TV is telling us we're under a flood watch tonight. Thuderstorms coming through.

[Laura Leff] Yht - OK...I think I take your meaning. I thought it was a pretty standard mid/late 30s show with the banter in the first half and the skit in the second half.

[ed] just had those brad your getting them now

[Steve 'shimp'] Yeah, Laura, do you remember noting the first instance of that "thrash you within an inch of your life" bit in 39 Forever?

[Laura Leff] Yht - Yes, it made me think of the "Buck Benny" sort of delivery.

[Steve 'shimp'] I remember being surprised hearing that in this show, it struck me as early.

[ed] hi ya buck andy would say

[Brad from Georgia] Mouse Planet played a fairly long previously unbroadcast interview with Eddie in which he talked about various associates of Jack seeing the show. His favorite reaction was from Dennis Day.

[Laura Leff] Steve - I doubt that I did. It's just not as specifically connected to Jack as "wait a minute", etc.

[Steve 'shimp'] Right

[Laura Leff] Brad - Yes, I linked to it on our home page.

[yhtapmys] Oh, I'll have to find that.

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, maybe that's where I found it, LL--I've been going nuts from final exam grading.

[Laura Leff] Steve - I'm not even sure that it's really a "Benny line", or just something borrowed, like the name Rodney Dangerfield.

[ed] what town was andy the "mayor" of in the show LL? or was it in real life

[Brad from Georgia] Encino!

[ed] ah yes

[Brad from Georgia] Or was he mayor of Long Beach?

[ed] wellll...

[Laura Leff] Encino

[Steve 'shimp'] Well, Jack seemed to revisit it with that same intonation over the years. Kind of a secondary catchphrase, borrowed or not.

[ed] thank you LL

[Laura Leff] It just sounds very vaudeville, Black Crook-ish

[Steve 'shimp'] Hammy theatrics

[Brad from Georgia] Speaking of which, I read somewhere that Andy Devine was an investor in the Sportsmen's Lodge, Eddie Carroll's favorite Encino hangout.

[Brad from Georgia] Actually, it's Studio City, but it's close.

[Laura Leff] Brad - I would be surprised if he wasn't!

[Brad from Georgia] Barbara and I are planning to have brunch in the Sportsmen's Lodge before the tribute, in honor of Eddie.....

[Laura Leff] I think it's on the Horatio Hornblower show we had a few months ago, but I remember Jack once calls Phil "the delegate from Encino"

[yhtapmys] What's with Encino anyway? Jim Jordan was pres. of the Chamber of Commerce there.

[Laura Leff] I'm getting together with a long-time member of the club for breakfast that morning.

[Brad from Georgia] Encino's a nice little area. As if I'm an expert on LA after, what, five visits there over the years?

[Laura Leff] I think it was one of the first major establishments in the Valley, sort of LA's version of the "rush to the suburbs"

[ed] before palm springs

[Laura Leff] I used to joke that I knew every man, woman, and child in Van Nuys.

[Laura Leff] George Balzer used to live there.

[Laura Leff] Palm Springs is too far to drive. You can live in Encino and commute to Hollywood or Los Angeles.

[Brad from Georgia] LL--is the "G" in Los Angeles hard or soft? I noticed it was hard in the "Whistler" show, but I always hear it soft nowadays.

[Laura Leff] Brad - My immediate thought is of the tag "KFI Los Angeles" where it's soft.

[yhtapmys] I always figured it was New Yorkers moving west that couldn't pronounce it.

[ed] charlie farrell was the mayor of palmsprings before my little margie

[Steve 'shimp'] There are all kinds of crazy ways of pronouncing LA before the 1950s.

[Brad from Georgia] Jack pronounced it "Los ANG-uh-less."

[Steve 'shimp'] Anjeleez, angle-less, etc.

[Laura Leff] But I suppose it's like "menu"...you can hear Don saying "main-yew" on Jell-O ads

[ed] sounds like bugs bunny

[Laura Leff] Brad - Really? Consistently?

[Brad from Georgia] As I recall, yes. That's also the way Frank Nelson pronounced it in "Whistler."

[Laura Leff] Jack calls a helicopter a "heel-ee-oh-cop-ter" on one of the war shows.

[yhtapmys] The L.A. Times reveals Andy was named hon. mayor of Van Nuys on May 18, 1938.

[Laura Leff] You'd have to nab one of the network proununciation booklets to know the "official" version.

[Brad from Georgia] Well, see, a heeliocopter is different from a helicopter. A heeliocopter has these big feet in shoes with rubber heels and goes bouncing over the landscape....

[Laura Leff] Yht - Good job. I crossed wires with Phil and Encino.

[yhtapmys] Seems he moved and they took it away from him after about 20 years.

[Laura Leff] Which has totally different ingrediments.

[ed] according to wikipedia andy has a main street named after hi too

User Steve Smith has entered this room.

[Laura Leff] I just knew it wasn't Long Beach.

[Laura Leff] Hi Steve!

[Brad from Georgia] Van Nuys. I shoulda remembered. It was that left turn at Albuquerque.

[ed] him*

[yhtapmys] His address was 6947 Hester Ave., Van Nuys.

[Steve 'shimp'] Hi other Steve~

[Brad from Georgia] Hi Steve S!

[Steve Smith] Ahoy

[ed] steve smith hi

[Laura Leff] Maybe this would be timely to pick up the conversation from the bulletin board about Andy Devine

[Steve Smith] I;m just lurking

[Brad from Georgia] Whether we liked him or not?

[yhtapmys] Oh, that one.

[Laura Leff] Seems that Andy's contributions to the show haven't aged well for the dedicated fans!

[yhtapmys] Probably, Laura, because Andy wasn't a character. He was comic relief.

[Steve 'shimp'] I'm fairly ambivalent about Andy Devine

[Steve 'shimp'] Comic relief from the comedy?

[Brad from Georgia] I liked Andy. One of my colleagues and I once planned to write a scholarly paper on "Andy Devine and the Frijole Beans Motif in the Western Films of John Ford."

[ed] they think of him as only Jingles in wild bill hickok

[Laura Leff] Yht - Comic relief on a comedy show. Go figure.

[ed] but he was funny

[Brad from Georgia] I agree, ed. I liked Andy's contributions.

[yhtapmys] Yeah, Steve. He wasn

[yhtapmys] t a defined personality like Phil. He had a trick voice.

[yhtapmys] That's about it.

[Laura Leff] He was a sidekick to Buck Benny. So I think he works in "Ah Wilderness" as well, because the characters are very similar.

[ed] phil had a trick liver too

[Steve 'shimp']

[Brad from Georgia] Jack was obviously amused by Andy--you could hear him struggling not to break up.

[Laura Leff] But yes, the limitations of the voice do make him a little one-note...hard to develop more character than that.

[yhtapmys] Well, yeah, Laura, because the plays were broad. So he'd be able to fit in.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Very much like Frankie Fontaine.

[Laura Leff] Yht - Andy wasn't a broad.

[Steve 'shimp'] I think Andy Devine and Pat Buttram should've co-hosted something on radio. Just because.

[ed] how about benny rubin

[Brad from Georgia] I once heard Devine being interviewed and discovered that he really exaggerated his voice generally. In ordinary conversation, he was gravelly but not skreeky.

[Laura Leff] Sounds like the same accusation of Eddie Anderson.

[Steve 'shimp'] Brad, did you ever see the Twilight Zone with Andy Devine?

[Steve 'shimp'] He's a little more subdued in that one.

[ed] he was just character actor not a voice actor per say

[Laura Leff] Oh yeah!

[Steve Smith] I drove on Andy Devine Blvd somewhere in AZ. (its part of Rt-66)

[Brad from Georgia] Yes, I did--he was a liar, right?

[Steve 'shimp'] Yes

[Brad from Georgia] Yes, a good performance in that!

[yhtapmys] Ed, he did Joe Jitsu and a couple of other characters for UPA.

[Brad from Georgia] The aliens believed every lie he told.

[Steve 'shimp'] Trying to find the name of the episode...

[Steve 'shimp'] "Hocus Pocus and Frisby"

[Brad from Georgia] Dang, what was Frank Fontaine's name on Jack Benny before he became "Crazy Guggenheim"? John L.....Slivoney, was it?

[Steve 'shimp'] L.C. Silvoney

[ed] i heard his voice in the disney cartoon robin hood

[Laura Leff] John L. C. Silvoney

[ed] devine's

[Brad from Georgia] OK. Now that won't drive me nuts, thanks! Same voice.

[Laura Leff] Ed - What about Benny Rubin?

[Brad from Georgia] I recall a Jack Benny TV show in which Jack did Joe the Bartender and Dennis Day did an OUTSTANDING Crazy Guggenheim.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Gosh, I can see that in my mind's eye, but I can't pinpoint the show.

[ed] he was a one voice man but could play many characters with that one voice each with their own distinction

[Laura Leff] Ed - Yes, very true.

[yhtapmys] Benny Rubin did Joe Jitsu in 'Dick Tracy.'

[Laura Leff] He'd do a lot of accents. Mooley, Greek, Italian, etc.

[ed] the spots on TV he was in are very funny like the train station info man

[Laura Leff] I dunno

[Brad from Georgia] I get Benny Rubin's "I dunno!" routines mixed up with...Joe Besser's, was it?

[Laura Leff] You CRAAAAZY you!

[yhtapmys] Jack, I'll give you such a PINCH!

[Laura Leff] Joe Besser is a lot more frenetic, "I dunno" is more deadpan.

[Brad from Georgia] Wasn't Joe Besser, doggone it. Brain ain't woikin' after all them toim papers.

[ed] yht was that the cartoon UPA dick tracy's i have never seen those?

[yhtapmys] Yeah.

[Brad from Georgia] ed--you probably won't. Lots of ethnic stereotypes.

[yhtapmys] I saw them as a kid.

[ed] good in the 50-60's not today huh?

[Laura Leff] You ought to see Jack and Jack Webb doing Charlie Chan.

[yhtapmys] Well, they were crappy cartoons in the 60s, too.

[Steve 'shimp'] Laura, didn't Earl Derr Biggers' widow sue over that episode or something?

[ed] how about charlie chan with ed begley?

[Laura Leff] Steve - Yup, she sure did. They used the character without permission.

[Steve 'shimp'] I recall reading she was a bit lawyer-happy.

[yhtapmys] They should have called him 'One Long Pan.'

[Steve 'shimp'] How was the suit resolved?

[Laura Leff] Well, I was thinking about it while I watched the episode, and I'd probably be miffed as well. I'd have to look up if she won.

[Brad from Georgia] I doubt if a network would even allow one of Jack's frequent "Confucius say...." jokes.

[Brad from Georgia] Today, I mean.

[Laura Leff] Hang on...let me see if I put it in the plagiarized first edition of 39 Forever...

[Steve 'shimp'] I think it's in the MT&R book that the episode was withdrawn

[Steve 'shimp'] or not rerun

[yhtapmys] Plagiarised first edition? Didn't Keith Brasselle write that?

[yhtapmys] Keefe.

[Brad from Georgia] Keefe da Teefe.

[Laura Leff] Settled out of court

[ed] but weren't there stereotypes all over radio not just on fred and jack's shows

[Steve 'shimp'] Of course, IMHO, the best Charlie Chan parody is Peter Sellers in MURDER BY DEATH

[Steve 'shimp'] Interesting, thanks Laura

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, sure, ed. Back then ethnic humor was melting pot, not offensive....up to certain limits. NAACP never did like "Amos 'N Andy."

[Laura Leff] Ed - Yes definitely, but this particular skit was very directly taken from the Chan character, very "in your face" about it.

[Steve 'shimp'] So does Webb or Benny play Chan?

[ed] benny i thought

[Steve 'shimp'] I've never seen it

[Laura Leff] It's like doing a story about an accordion-playing accented bandleader who blows bubbles behind his orchestra, calling him Lawrence Welk, and then saying it's not inspired by Lawrence Welk.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Benny play Chan, Webb is his Number One Son.

[Steve 'shimp'] Wow. Does he do the fake Asian makeup?

[yhtapmys] Yeah. It was inspired by Shep Fields.

[Laura Leff] Chan has gotten out of the detective business and started a laundry, but his son wants to be a detective.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Yup. Jack looks very Fu Manchu.

[Steve 'shimp'] See, I love the Charlie Chan movies, so that's on my must-see list.

[Laura Leff] And the story script breaks out into periodic rapid-fire Dragnet-style interrogations by Webb of various characters.

[ed] that reminds me of the calgon commercial in the 70's ancient chinese secret hm...

[Steve 'shimp'] You'd think it would be a fair use of the character as satire.

[Brad from Georgia] Jack did a Charlie Chan takeoff very early, too, like in 1934--"Charlie Chan in Radio City"?

[Laura Leff] Ed - I remember those.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Oh, Jack fought the "fair use as satire" thing over Gaslight and lost.

[Laura Leff] That was a landmark case.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Hmmm...yes, I believe you're right.

[Steve 'shimp'] I guess I am seeing it through 2010 eyes. If you couldn't do that kind of thing today, there'd be no Saturday Night Live, etc.

[ed] peter lorre as mr moto and baris karloff in some movies of the same type

[Laura Leff] I'm not bringing up any audio memory of it, so wondering if it's a "lost" show.

[Brad from Georgia] Boris Karloff was Mr. Wong, I believe.

[yhtapmys] Lost shows.

[Steve 'shimp'] Karloff played "Mr. Wong" in a bunch of pretty lousy movies for Monogram.

[Laura Leff] Steve - Or even Carol Burnett in curtains as Scarlett O'Hara.

[ed] yes that's right brad

[Laura Leff] How do you don

[Steve 'shimp'] Right, Laura.

[Laura Leff] do

[Brad from Georgia] "Hello, I am Mr. Wong." "Sorry, baby, I'm looking for Mr. Right."

[Steve 'shimp'] GROAN

[ed] CB show a great program and harvey korman as rhett butler

[yhtapmys] Not Craw! Craw!

[Laura Leff] *Checking Volume 1*

[Brad from Georgia] Laura--I think it was November 11, 1934.

[Laura Leff] Charlie Chan in Radio City...11/11/34 (good job, Brad)...poor sound, music clipped.

[Laura Leff] Brad - OK, now you're scaring me.

[yhtapmys] Gee, Laura, I didn't realise the Gaslight decision was in 1958.

[Brad from Georgia] I was listening to very early shows while doing my daily walk not long ago....

[Laura Leff] Yht - Yes, it took a long time. Went to higher courts.

[yhtapmys] And aired a year later.

[Laura Leff] Yht - A "do over" of it.

[Laura Leff] Not the original. They reused the script.

[Laura Leff] I had to correct the date on the version we have in the library. It's the do-over.

[yhtapmys] OK. I'm just looking at the LA Times headline.

[Laura Leff] Yht - Oh yeah, not trying to nail you. It was a revelation when I discovered "the" answer on that earlier this year.

[yhtapmys] No, that's fine. I see the case started in 1955, and the final decision was in March 1958.

[Brad from Georgia] I wonder how many times Jack had to go to court over the years....the copyright infringement suit, the smuggling case....

[yhtapmys] The original show, I gather was in 1952.

[Laura Leff] So it took a few years to even start the case. There was an injunction that prevented the show from being rebroadcast after the live airing.

[Laura Leff] Which it would have been for stations not already connected to the coax.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Well, that's a good question...let's see if we can figure it out.

[yhtapmys] Right. I'm just looking at Erskine Johnson's story from Dec. '58.

[Laura Leff] Smuggling case, Gaslight, Charlie Chan.

[Laura Leff] Do you count him getting a legal name change?

[Brad from Georgia] You know, one of the ways we know about Shakespeare is court records...he was amazingly litigious.

[Laura Leff] Amusement Enterprises tax case

[Steve 'shimp'] What was the date of the Charlie Chan TV show?

[Laura Leff] Yht - You may have that handy (Steve's question). If not, I'll look it up.

[Steve 'shimp'] Just looking for a ballpark year, not an airdate per se

[Laura Leff] 11/1/59

[yhtapmys] Oh, lord.

[Steve 'shimp'] Thanks!

[yhtapmys] Yeah, I didn't have it

[Brad from Georgia] I found a newspaper item on the suit dated Oct. 24, 1960.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Is this the Biggers suit?

[Brad from Georgia] Yes. Found it on Google by searching "Jack Benny" "Jack Webb" "Charlie Chan."

[Laura Leff] Ah...research while-you-wait. This group is good at that.

[Brad from Georgia] It's from the Eugene, OR. Register-Guard.

[Brad from Georgia] The sketch was called "Dragon-Net, or Charlie Chan Strikes Back."

[Laura Leff] Brad - That's it.

[yhtapmys] Does anyone have any idea whether M. LeBlanc's address of 6212 Iman Avenue is anything close to being real?

[Steve 'shimp'] That's where David Bowie's wife lives.

[Steve 'shimp'] Jeanette Eyemann?

[yhtapmys] Maybe I'm misspelling it.

[Laura Leff] Eymann Avenue!

[yhtapmys] Is it?

[yhtapmys] How about that.

[yhtapmys] Thanks.

[Laura Leff] It's absolutely, got to be a reference to Jeanette.

[Laura Leff] No question in my mind.

[yhtapmys] Didn't even dawn on me. Duh.

[Laura Leff] They did an "Information Please" spoof that had a question sent in by Bert Scott.

[yhtapmys] I'm so used to them using real addresses.

[Brad from Georgia] There's actually an Eymann Avenue in Fresno--or more specifically, in Reedley.

[Laura Leff] Well, 366 North Camden Drive was Jack's office address.

User ed has logged out.

[Steve 'shimp'] Bye ed

[Laura Leff] I smile whenever I hear that, because I remember craning my neck once while driving up Camden to look at it.

[Steve 'shimp'] Is the building still there?

[Brad from Georgia] There's a clothing shop and a cosmetics store there now.

[Laura Leff] Steve - I wasn't driving that fast, but there's something there. I'll have to walk it some time.

[Laura Leff] There you go.

[Brad from Georgia] I just Google mapped it....

[Steve 'shimp'] I wonder if it's the same building or if a new building has gone up at the same address.

[Laura Leff] Broadway at Ninth?

[Laura Leff] I'm sorry to say that the current version of the May Company store where Mary worked (on Wilshire, near Santa Monica) has a big fence around it and is closed.

[Brad from Georgia] Brighton Coffee Shop's there now. Probably new building.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Eastern Columbia, Broadway at Ninth? I think it's an apartment complex.

[Laura Leff] Have some recollection of having someone contact me for some history on the spot because they were compiling it for the spot.

[Brad from Georgia] No, I was still on Camden Drive.

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

[Laura Leff] Brad - OIC...sorry!

[Laura Leff] Any requests for a show for June?

[Brad from Georgia] I want TCM to do a Jack Benny day sometime, darn it.

[Laura Leff] Brad - I'm for that.

User Steve Smith has logged out.

[Steve 'shimp'] Anything new to report on the TV shows, Laura? I know we've been preoccupied with Eddie Carroll.

[yhtapmys] I'm still listening to the 1952 show but I've heard it a bunch of times before.

[Brad from Georgia] The one I listened to is sort of fun--last show of the 49 season, I think--when Jack introduces everyone for a short bit.

[Laura Leff] Steve - You mean the shows I got out of the vaults?

[Laura Leff] Or Volume 3?

[Steve 'shimp'] Well, just any news in general on all those interrelated developments.

[Steve 'shimp'] If there's nothing to disclose at the moment, no worries.

[Laura Leff] Well, I was hoping to get to watch some of the "vault" shows today, as I thought I saw some vertical alignment problems on one of them and want to see if it's systemic.

[Laura Leff] But I just haven't gotten to it yet...too much other fan club business in queue ahead of it.

[Steve 'shimp'] sure

[Laura Leff] Hoping for this evening, since Dan is out on a catering gig. But I still have some E-mails and a cassette tape order that are higher priority. *sigh*

[Laura Leff] It's been a very, very productive day, but my inbox (E-mail, phone, etc.) really piled up due to Eddie's passing.

[Steve 'shimp'] I bet!

[Laura Leff] I was answering E-mails yesterday that were more than a month old.

[Brad from Georgia] Oh, a producer wants to meet us for brunch on the 14th to talk to me about adapting one or more of my books for the movies.

[Steve 'shimp'] I can't believe someone still wants cassettes.

[Brad from Georgia] Eveidently you gotta have a meeting for that to happen.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Good stuff!

[Steve 'shimp'] Fantastic Brad!

[Brad from Georgia] I'll believe it when I see it.

[Laura Leff] Steve - I know...it happens!

[yhtapmys] I threw out all mine.. along with a Frank Nelson interview I wanted to keep.

[Brad from Georgia] I can't get too excited over this. I dislike most movie adaptations of books, after all.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Your people need to meet their people. Welcome to LA.

[Laura Leff] Brad - Then again, there are movies like "Hannibal" where the book was crap to begin with.

[Laura Leff] But I'm sure your books aren't crap to begin with.

[Brad from Georgia] I was really surprised when the producer said if we were EVER in LA, he HAD to meet us...and when I told him we'd be there for one day, he jumped at the chance.

[Steve 'shimp'] I agree Brad, but it doesn't take anything away from your book and might get you a nice paycheck, so no harm no foul!

[Brad from Georgia] Only movies I ever saw that improved the books were "Cat Ballou" and "Jaws."

[Laura Leff] Brad - Are you in touch with Neil Gaiman? He's had plenty adapted and probably has some thoughts on it.

[Laura Leff] He's also a huge Benny fan.

[yhtapmys] I don't know. Didn't Jack improve on 'Gaslight'?

[Brad from Georgia] I barely know Neil Gaiman--I've been on panels with him about twice.

[Laura Leff] Yht - I suppose that depends on your perspective!

[yhtapmys] I don't work for Loew's.

[Laura Leff] Brad - I don't know that I can really say that I "know" him that well, but I'd be happy to connect you if you'dlike.

[Brad from Georgia] "Gaslight" was based on the play "Angel Street," in which I once played the Joseph Cotton role....

[Laura Leff] Brad - You nasty man, you.

[Brad from Georgia] LL--Thanks! Let me see how the producer meet pans out and I'll let you know!

[Laura Leff] Oh oh...Joseph Cotton.

[yhtapmys] I was in 'The King and I' I played the 'I'.

[Steve 'shimp'] Cotten's the good guy, though, right?

[Laura Leff] Not Boyer.

[Brad from Georgia] Yep. In the play he's "Inspector Rough." I had to wear muttonchops.

[Laura Leff] Yht - Go figure! I played "The"!

[Brad from Georgia] Not whiskers, two big slabs of meat on my face.

[Laura Leff] Yes, crossed wires again.

[yhtapmys] Hmm. That was a better line than the one I used on the air.

[Laura Leff] Yht - Feel free to steal it.

[Steve 'shimp'] I wish they'd made the movie with Vincent Price, he played in Angel Street for years on Broadway.

[yhtapmys] Too late now. The bit was about 30 years ago.

[Steve 'shimp'] Then he could've done the parody with Jack.

[Brad from Georgia] Yes, he would have been wonderful in the Boyer role.

[Laura Leff] I was at a super-veggie cafe earlier this week, and the cashier asked me, "Are you raw?" I said, "No, I'm Laura."

[Steve 'shimp']

[Steve 'shimp'] No, but I'm chafing a bit...

[yhtapmys] "Who do you think I am.. Dreer Pooson?

[yhtapmys] "

[Laura Leff] (Some people out here eat only raw food when veganism isn't enough.)

[Steve 'shimp'] Oh, I've met fruitarians.

[Steve 'shimp'] They only eat stuff from plants that doesn't kill the plant.

[yhtapmys] Is that like a Rotarian?

[Laura Leff] They're very fruity.

[Brad from Georgia] My son and daughter-in-law don't eat red meat--when they were in a bed'n breakfast in London, the owner kept calling them "Veggies." I've prepared a special tea for you two veggies.

[Steve 'shimp'] Carrots are out, since you take the whole thing. But a peach is OK, for example.

[Laura Leff] Right...I've heard of a guy who did that and almost killed himself because he wasn't getting any protein.

[Brad from Georgia] I'm pretty omnivorous.

[yhtapmys] Well, beer doesn't destroy the beer plant.

[Brad from Georgia] Homer Simpson: "God knows everything. He's omnivorous."

[Laura Leff] So what else for this month?

[Brad from Georgia] I once ordered a hamburger without meat, condiments, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, or onions.

[Steve 'shimp'] Not much, Laura, I think I need to head on out. Crazy week here.

[Brad from Georgia] Just the bun. Just to see if I could get one. I did--for the price of a burger. Ate it, too.

[yhtapmys] Slow week here, Laura. Just writing something for the blog.

[yhtapmys] And back to work.

[Laura Leff] Any requests for discussion show for next time?

[yhtapmys] Let's try the 40s.

[Brad from Georgia] How about that end of season show where Jack introduces everyone?

[Laura Leff] Early, mid, or late?

[Steve 'shimp'] That sounds great Brad.

[yhtapmys] You've done the 30s and 50s.

[Brad from Georgia] I think it's '49, and it would be appropriate.

[Laura Leff] Brad - What's the date?

[yhtapmys] Brad's will work.

[Laura Leff] OK, I'll find it.

[yhtapmys] Isn't that 48?

[Brad from Georgia] Last show of spring '49, I THINK.

[Laura Leff] I'll check it.

[Brad from Georgia] Might be '48. I listened in the car.

[Laura Leff] OK, folks...thanks for stopping! Good time as always!

[Brad from Georgia] It was a CBS show, definitely. G'Bye!

[Steve 'shimp'] Well, I look forward to it and chatting again next month. Take care all!

[Laura Leff] See you in June, and Brad see you in two weeks

User Brad from Georgia has logged out.

[Laura Leff] Then 49.

[yhtapmys] OK.

[yhtapmys] Fair enough.

User Steve 'shimp' has logged out.

[yhtapmys] See u Laura.

[Laura Leff] Have a good one, Yht!