IJBFC Chat - January 9, 2011
(Name of message originator in [] brackets at the beginning of each line)
[Chasitykins]
I'm usually working Sundays, but my new job lets me have every Sudnay evening
off, so I may yet become a regular
[Laura
Leff] Hi folks!
[Chasitykins]
Hi Laura
[Brad
from Georgia] Glad to be here. We're supposed to get 5-10 inches of
snow and ice tonight.
[ed]
hey it's the boss hi LL
[Brad
from Georgia] Hi, Laura!
[Laura
Leff] Chastity- Excellent...glad to hear you may be able to be here
more often!
[Brad
from Georgia] Chasity--hope you enjoy it!
[ed]
no snow in northern cal? LL
[Laura
Leff] Nope, no snow here. Heavy fog last night that simulated rain.
Chasitykins
makes
note to winter in California
[Laura
Leff] There may be some in the mountains whent he rain comes through
this coming week.
[ed]
Hahaha
[Laura
Leff] Remember, I'm from Grand Rapids, Michigan. That's one of the
reasons I'm here.
[Laura
Leff] So how's everyone doing tonight?
[ed]
fine
[Chasitykins]
I spent a glorious spring break in my college in Michigan...snowiest spring
break ever.
[Brad
from Georgia] Doing well. Cold but well.
[Laura
Leff] Chasity - Where in Michigan?
[Brad
from Georgia] Chasity--where, aw, Laura!
[Laura
Leff] I remember a spring break that I woke up to two feet of new
snow on the driveway.
[Chasitykins]
Up north, some rural town with my buddy. The name has escaped me.
[ed]
you took his question LL
[Laura
Leff] Petoskey.
[Laura
Leff] Brad - Sorry, nothing personal!
[Brad
from Georgia] I have friends in Marshall....
[Laura
Leff] One of our regulars used to live in Marshall.
[Brad
from Georgia] And I attended a magician's conference in Colon. That's
a country town.
[Laura
Leff] BRB
[ed]
I know of a little town up there called-forgive me- Hell, Michigan
[Chasitykins]
Colon...Hell...
[Brad
from Georgia] Yes, I know that one too. Interestingly, it's currently
frozen over.
[Chasitykins]
I am seeing a trend.
[Brad
from Georgia] Colon is actually named for Cristobal Colon, whom most
of us know as Columbus.
[ed]
hmmm
[Brad
from Georgia] The Abbott Magic Company is, or at least used to be,
headquartered there.
[Brad
from Georgia] Still there. Just checked.
[Laura
Leff] Not to mention Climax, Michigan
[Laura
Leff] Where is the Costello Magic Company headquartered?
[Brad
from Georgia] Or Dime Box, Georgia. Or Ball Ground, Frogtown,
Cumming, and Booger Hollow.
[Laura
Leff] Or Blue Balls, Pennsylvania
[Brad
from Georgia] Laura--That's on first.
[Laura
Leff] But seriously folks...
[Laura
Leff] Who listened to the show for discussion?
[Chasitykins]
I did!
[Brad
from Georgia] I did. It ended abruptly.
[Laura
Leff] So whatcha think?
[Laura
Leff] Besides lousy and variable audio quality?
[Chasitykins]
This is a show I've read about, but today was the first day I actually heard it.
[Brad
from Georgia] Fred's writers didn't do right by Jack, but Jack,
contrary to popular opinion, ad-libbed some good ones.
[Brad
from Georgia] Some of the lines given Jack were SOOOO Fred
Allen--"I washed my foot for nothing."
[Chasitykins]
I rolled my eyes at that one, haha.
[Laura
Leff] I would bet that Jack camed armed with a few lines from his
writers.
[ed]
how far back did their friendship go back, LL?
[Brad
from Georgia] And another thing: I realized listening to it that I'd
rather be hit in the head by fifty pounds of Portland cement than listen to five
minutes of Portland Hoffa.
[Laura
Leff] Back to vaudeville. I don't think there's as clear a time on it
as Jack and George Burns meeting around 1920, but it was somewhere in the 20s.
[ed]
thanks
[Laura
Leff] Brad - I'll second that. And her flute-y voice is hard to hear
through the static.
[Chasitykins]
I like Portland Hoffa, but I feel like Fred's writers really never know what to
do with her.
[Laura
Leff] What *would* one do with her?
[Chasitykins]
A question for the ages...
[Brad
from Georgia] Jack had a heck of a good adlib line--"Well, I
killed THAT joke, and I'm glad I did."
[Laura
Leff] Notice the reaction that "we've got an egg to go with that
butter" got.
[Laura
Leff] I was multitasking and not completely hearing all of Portland's
lines--and not caring--but then came running over when I heard the long laughter
and backed it up.
[Brad
from Georgia] The butter line did bomb.
[Laura Leff] I'm serious...if you were writing the Allen show, what would you do with Portland if you had to incorporate her?
[Brad
from Georgia] I'd get rid of the fluty voice, for one thing.
[ed]
was portland as nervous on radio as mary was?
[Laura
Leff] Ed - I don't think so. I think Portland came from performing
stock, IIRC.
[Laura
Leff] Or had more exposure to it than Mary did.
[Chasitykins]
Sometimes it sounds like Allen is more nervous around an audience than Portland,
but that might just as well be part of his personality.
[ed]
fred had a great laugh when a joke would not go over
[Laura
Leff] Or possibly that Allen is essentially playing himself, whereas
Portland has this ridiculous character to portray.
[ed]
or was better than his
[Brad
from Georgia] By the way, who played the part of Flugelman, Piastro's
manager? Alan Reed again?
[Brad
from Georgia] (He was Falstaff Oppenshaw, I know)
[Laura
Leff] I should know that. But I don't.
[Brad
from Georgia] Of course, he later found fame 'n fortune as Fred
Flintstone....
[Chasitykins]
Was Portland's flute-y voice part of her character, or did she really sound like
that all the time?
[ed]
he had a natural voice which did not have to change like mel blanc's
[Brad
from Georgia] No, she had a pleasant speaking voice.
[Laura
Leff] Chasity - Oh what a fate that would be. It sounds really put
on.
[Laura
Leff] What else about the show?
[Brad
from Georgia] There's a Benny show done at a time when Fred was off
the air (for medical reasons) and Portland and Fred are guests. Fred tells her,
"Portland, we don't have a show any more. You don't have to talk like
that." So she doesn't from then on.
[Chasitykins]
Haha
[ed]
reed was a very good character actor on radio and TV
[Laura
Leff] Brad - You know you're right..
[Brad
from Georgia] I don't think Jack would have telegraphed the joke the
way Allen does--"I'm hiding from Jack Benny." If the guest star was
supposed to be a surprise on the Benny show, he/she would be a surprise.
[Laura
Leff] Which didn't happen often.
[Brad
from Georgia] Jack's crack about getting "five more gray hairs
during rehearsal" is probably a joke about the way that Fred ad-libbed
unpredictably. Jack liked a more polished show. One lousy rehearsal was all he
asked, but he liked things to run smoothly.
[Laura
Leff] This was also 1943, which was a transitional time between the
late 30s, when the shows were a little more free-wheeling, and the late 40s,
where the shows run like a Ferrari.
[Laura
Leff] (That meaning, of course, Jack's show.)
[Laura
Leff] How would you compare this to King for a Day?
[Brad
from Georgia] Interestingly, the Allen's Alley bit is current.
There's been a suggestion that horsemeat ought to be more widely available for
human consumption in the US. Saw it this week.
[Chasitykins]
Ewww
[Laura
Leff] What makes one work over the other? Or how do they work
differently? Compare and contrast.
[Brad
from Georgia] Well, I'd have to listen to KfaD again to do a good job
on this.
[Chasitykins]
I think King for a Day really gets down to what the audience is eager to hear -
Jack and Fred feuding.
[Laura
Leff] Just from the gut...your sense based on memory
[Chasitykins]
This show, with the guest violinist, has another person thrown into the mix...
[Chasitykins]
And that kind of pulls away from Jack-Fred interaction.
[Laura
Leff] Jack is still in a "pretending to be someone else"
mode
[Brad
from Georgia] Yes, I agree with Chasity. It's more of the standard
Jack/Fred feud on "King," but very well done and the timing is great.
[Laura
Leff] Yes, Jack is more the underdog in this interaction. Never gets
the upper hand
[Brad
from Georgia] The timing in the violin episode is fuzzy. Not BAD, but
not spot-on the way both Jack and Fred could be.
[ed]
king for a day was their cklassic feuds
[ed]
classic*
[Laura
Leff] I'm trying to remember...do we ever get a clear sense why Jack
is masquerading here?
[Laura
Leff] Just the money, or something else?
[Chasitykins]
I was wondering about that myself.
[Laura
Leff] Is it ever explicity mentioned?
[Brad
from Georgia] And of course there's the quality of the recording.
Doggone it, I wanted to hear the violin competition, but it just stopped.
[Laura
Leff] He's obviously got a vested interest in the prizes on King For
a Day.
[Laura
Leff] Brad - Are you sure? I just listened to the show, but don't
remember that abrupt ending.
[Laura
Leff] Listening again...I can hear the closing commercial
[Laura
Leff] No, it's a complete show.
[Laura
Leff] I hear the NBC announcement under the applause at the end.
[Brad
from Georgia] I downloaded the .mp3, and it just quits as Fred
announces (erroneously, in fact) that Jack will give 6000 bucks to anyone who
CAN'T tell the difference. It just stopped. I listened to it again today in the
car, and the same thing happened.
[Chasitykins]
Yeah I remember the violin competition - Jack and the violinist are talking
afterwards
[Brad
from Georgia] So I guess my download got clipped somehow.
[Chasitykins]
That must be it, Brad.
[Laura
Leff] Brad - Sorry about that. Try downloading again, and if that
doesn't work, let me know and I'll E-mail it to you.
[Brad from Georgia] I'll just listen to it on the computer. That usually works.
[Laura
Leff] What else about the show?
[Chasitykins]
I had to grin when Jack was critiquing the violinist (I am not attempting to
spell his name, I will get it wrong) afterwards.
[Brad
from Georgia] Piastro.
[Laura
Leff] Misch
[Chasitykins]
I'd say the violinst got the best line in the whole show, really, when he
mentions that Jack would know best about what's lousy.
[Laura
Leff] I wonder if the concept of putting Jack next to an accomplished
violinist is always considered sure-fire.
[Laura
Leff] Jack and Isaac Stern
[Brad
from Georgia] Jack was actually right: the pizzicato passage threw
Piastro off just a bit and the following few notes were too sharp.
[Laura
Leff] Jack and Stuart Canin
[Laura
Leff] Jack and Josef Szigeti (Hollywood Canteen)
[Laura
Leff] etc.
[Chasitykins]
Was this show before or afer Jack's program where Mary told Jack to shut up?
[Laura
Leff] Brad - I'm impressed you could tell that through the static.
[Chasitykins]
I forget the singer's name that is on there.
[Laura
Leff] Chasity - Before
[Laura
Leff] Dorothy Kirten
[Brad
from Georgia] Kirsten.
[Laura
Leff] Thanks, Brad
[ed]
he showed up on lawrence welk once they showd it once on PBS and here was very
good
[Laura
Leff] Didn't notice my typo.
[Brad
from Georgia] Jack could play passable violin. Not really
concert-violinist quality, but not bad.
[Laura
Leff] On the 1964 television show with Stuart Canin as a guest, they
play a serious violin duet together. It's quite good.
[ed]
typo problems for me too
[Chasitykins]
Was it the 40's or 50's that Jack took it up seriously again?
User
KayLhota has entered this room.
[Laura
Leff] Hi Kay!
[KayLhota]
hi gang
[Brad
from Georgia] On the interview that I mentioned to you, LL, Jack says
one of his regrets is that going into Vaudeville meant that his study of the
violin ended. "I could play," he said, "but I could never get any
better because I didn't have any instruction."
[Chasitykins]
Hi, Kay, glad to see ya.
[Brad
from Georgia] Hi, Kay! Good to see you~
[ed]
hi kay
[KayLhota]
thank you
[Laura
Leff] Chasity - It was after Danny Kaye introduced Jack to Isaac
Stern, which I think was 1946.
[KayLhota]
sorry to be late.
[Brad
from Georgia] No hay de que, Kay.
[Chasitykins]
Better late than never.
[Laura
Leff] Brad - Yeah, hard to attend lessons when you're on tour!
[Brad
from Georgia] (That there is a multilingual pun)
[Laura
Leff] Kay - Any Boston comments about the Fred Allen show?
[Brad
from Georgia] I wish I knew about the source for that interview.
There's no sign of when it was done, and I don't know who the interviewer is. I
can't even tell if the interviewer is male or female!
[KayLhota]
Boston comments?
[Laura
Leff] Kay - Since you're in that area.
[Laura
Leff] And Fred was from there.
[Laura
Leff] Brad - How odd.
[KayLhota]
Did he mention boston? All I got was horse meat and violins!
[Laura
Leff] Brad - I wonder where they sourced it from.
[Brad
from Georgia] It's one of those throaty, high-pitched, androgynous
voices.
[Laura
Leff] Kay - No, I just can't think of Fred Allen without thinking of
Boston!
[Laura
Leff] Brad - Jack Benny, as interviewed by Bjork
[Brad
from Georgia] And I can't think of him without thinking of Jack with
a clothespin on his nose!
[KayLhota]
Ah, indeed. I do like Fred Allen, and I have a dear friend from Dorchester that
adores Fred Allen
[Laura
Leff] Has anyone ever seen a photo of Jack with the clothespin on his
nose?
[KayLhota]
yes, I've seen the picture
[Brad
from Georgia] BTW, twice on the show I heard Fred's trademarked
"Ho-ho" laugh sort of off-mike but audible.
[Chasitykins]
I haven't
[Brad
from Georgia] Jack nailed the "ho-ho" when he imitated
Fred.
[Laura
Leff] I was trying to remember if I'd seen an actual photo, or if the
image was just so easily imaginable that I'd conjured it in my mind!
[Brad
from Georgia] BTW, before I forget, thanks, Laura, for taking my
penny for "Penny for Benny.
[KayLhota]
I feel certain I've seen a picture of Jack with the clothespin and Mary is to
his left, our right
[Laura
Leff] Brad - Absolutely. Have you been able to look at the videos or
photos on the site?
[Laura
Leff] Kay - OK, then I didn't imagine it. Thanks!
[Brad
from Georgia] Yes--though I can only open the first video for some
reason. Probably because I'm using the Google Chrome browser, not Internet
Explorer.
[KayLhota]
or, maybe we both imagined it, but I'm pretty sure that I saw it
[Laura
Leff] Try right-clicking and downloading the file to your hard drive.
You can probably play it from there.
[Laura
Leff] Kay - Mass hysteria, as it were.
[Brad
from Georgia] TV's announcing that school's closed tomorrow. Public
school, but not our college so far.
[Brad
from Georgia] LL--I will try that.
[Laura
Leff] The man in brown in the second video is Michael Rudolph, Jack's
oldest grandchild.
[Brad
from Georgia] I think I once saw Michael's photo in LIFE magazine....
[Laura
Leff] So what else Benny-wise is on everyone's mind?
[Laura
Leff] Brad - As a babe in arms?
[KayLhota]
you mentioned Michael Rudolph and that reminded me of a story
[Brad
from Georgia] LL--Yes. Jack was playing on the floor with his
grandkids.
[Laura
Leff] Or him and Maria with their hands out for money from Jack?
[Laura Leff] Kay - Go for it.
[KayLhota]
in my home town there is a guy named Steve who runs a comic book stoe
[KayLhota]
store. His mom worked for a catering company\
[KayLhota]
and she loved going to Jack Benny's home because he would entertain the kitchen
help
[Laura
Leff] That sounds like Jack.
[Chasitykins]
Aw
[KayLhota]
he took the time to talk to everyone and when he found out that she had a son,
he gave her clothes that his grandson had outgrown
[KayLhota]
age-wise that would have been michael
[Laura
Leff] Yes, that also sounds like Jack.
[Chasitykins]
Oh, gosh, that's really generous. :D
[Brad
from Georgia] ...and in the sleeves of the shirts were Jack Benny
cufflinks....
[Laura
Leff] I wonder if Bobby hadn't come along yet, or they just were too
well-to-do to do hand-me-downs!
[Chasitykins]
I can't imagine Mary allowing her grandchildren to wear hand-me-downs.
[Laura
Leff] Brad - Ah, one of our members just picked up a pair of those!
[KayLhota]
she had fun at Groucho Marxes as well, and he also would entertain the kitchen
[Brad
from Georgia] But I'll bet Grouch worked blue, even with kids....
[ed]
hey groucho is on the caption pic this month
[KayLhota]
Groucho didn't usually go blue around kids
[Brad
from Georgia] Yep, he and Jack look like a couple of warm-weather
penguins.
[Laura
Leff] Yes, someone sent me that link right when I was going to do the
contest, and it looked like I could use it there.
[Laura
Leff] But kids would go blue around W.C. Fields...being choked...
[Chasitykins]
Ba-zing.
[KayLhota]
from what I read, it was easier for him to be around and entertain kids. It was
harder when they got older.
[Laura
Leff] Who, Groucho? Or Fields?
[Brad
from Georgia] Kay--I know. I sort of found it funny that in his books
Groucho boasted that he and his brothers NEVER had to do off-color humor...and
then later I read stories of him telling dirty stories all the time.
[KayLhota]
groucho
[KayLhota]
well, any blue jokes were for the boys at hillcrest, weren't they?
[Laura
Leff] Well, they never had to do off-color humor on stage.
[Brad
from Georgia] BTW, the Benny interview available thru Amazon is
labeled "EXPLICIT," but I haven't hit anything too off-color so far.
I'm going to listen to it when I walk on the trail one day next week.
[Laura
Leff] John Tackaberry supposedly had a blue streak in him a mile
long. But it never translated to air.
[KayLhota]
hey, shows the talent that they could tell good clean fun
[Brad
from Georgia] The Warner Bros cartoonists liked to put questionable
bits in their films. ALMOST all of them got censored out, as the cartoonists
expected. A few got through, though.
[Laura
Leff] I wonder how many of the gags intended for the censors to
remove were written by him!
[Chasitykins]
Hahaha
[Laura
Leff] Brad - I bet they were doing it like Jack's writers...you put
in something for the censors to take out in order to keep in other things.
[Brad
from Georgia] I wonder if the censors knew that the writers
deliberately included "censor bait" as bargaining chips.
[Laura
Leff] Brad - Well, you know the story of the censor and Veola Vonn's
pins, right?
[Brad
from Georgia] No, I don't think so.
[Laura
Leff] OK...I haven't read the story in a while so I may be off in
spots, but you'll get the gist.
[KayLhota]
no sweater, just pins
[Laura
Leff] So there was a college skit, and Veola Vonn (who was very
well-endowed in her female virtues)
[Laura
Leff] is described somewhere as wearing something like 15 fraternity
pins.
[Laura
Leff] No sweater, just pins.
[Laura
Leff] Which, to me, sounds painful.
[Brad
from Georgia] Ah...so that's where the Simpson writers got the gag!
[Laura
Leff] And the censor said that was too explicit, because it would
have left so much of her exposed
[Laura
Leff] And insisted that they say something like "she was wearing
57 pins"
[Laura
Leff] Milt has a wonderful comment about not knowing how the censor
came up with that exact number
[Brad
from Georgia] Lisa gets obsessed with collecting Olympic pins. At one
point Bart says, "Your dress is completely covered with pins!" And she
hoarsely whispers, "There is no dress...only pins!"
[Laura
Leff] Or what sort of slide rule and protractor he must have used on
a photo of Veola Vonn
[KayLhota]
yes, his book is marvelous
[Brad
from Georgia] LL--It's obvious. He used to work for Heinz.
[Laura
Leff] But it actually makes the joke a lot dirtier...thanks to the
censor's meddling!
[Laura
Leff] So censors weren't necessarily all that bright.
[Chasitykins]
hilarious
[Laura
Leff] Cue clip from "Cinema Paradisio" of the Priest
ringing a bell.
[KayLhota]
Milt's book is written by a man who has a gift for story telling. I can't read
it and not laugh out loud
[Laura
Leff] Milt's book is fabulous. I must read it again one of these
days.
[Chasitykins]
That's next on my list of books to by.
[Brad
from Georgia] You know, for years and years as a kid I thought there
was a swear word in "Wizard of Oz." Elmyra Gulch snaps, "I'll
slap a damage sut on you that'll take your whole farm!" I heard that as
"a damn suit," which I still like better.
[KayLhota]
My son Daniel started to read it with me, but I don't think he ever finished it
[Chasitykins]
Hah!
[Laura
Leff] Brad - Funny, I never got that line clearly. Just the sense
that she was going to take the farm.
[Chasitykins]
I've been reading Bob Newhart's book, and today I read a passage where he was
talking abot Jack
[Laura
Leff] I swear there's a 1934 Jell-O show where Jack says "damnit"
or something on air.
[Laura
Leff] Chasity - Fill me in. I've been trying to arrange an interview
with him.
[Brad
from Georgia] Chasity--the submarine gag?
[ed]
or clark gable
[Laura
Leff] I was next in line to talk with him at an event when they
decided he had to leave.
[Brad
from Georgia] LL--Call him on the phone. He's used to that.
[Chasitykins]
Bob was talking about how Jack's favorite routine of his was the Abe Lincoln
one, and he came backstage after the first show he saw it and told him that if
Bob ever saw him in the audience, that he had to do the Abe Lincoln routine
[Chasitykins]
And one night, Bob saw him, but he knew that the Abe Lincoln routine was much
too long...
[Laura
Leff] Brad - I have to call George Jessel first.
[Chasitykins]
So he did a shortened version of it to fool his audience and Jack, but Jack came
backstage and told him every gag that he left out from the routine. Bob stated
that he cold never make a fool out of Jack.
[Brad
from Georgia] Huh. I heard Newhart tell the story, and in that
version it was his "Submarine Commander" skit that he cut and that
Jack repeated word for word afterward.
[Laura
Leff] Har har har
[KayLhota]
wow
[ed]
[Laura
Leff] Whichever story comes to mind. The story still plays just as
well.
[Brad
from Georgia] Well, memory is a strange thing.
[Laura
Leff] Hey, Jack was never offered the opportunity to sing
"Thanks for the Memory" either. *wink/nudge to those in the room who
get the reference*
[KayLhota]
speaking of
which-- excuse me while I look for the clothespin picture
[Brad from Georgia] They used to tell me that as I got older, my memory would fail. Actually, I'm remembering a lot more things than I used to. Like the day the Pope rode up to our house on an elephant and asked to see my pet squirrel.
[Chasitykins]
Haha, Brad.
[Brad
from Georgia] Yes, I frequently heard Eddie Carroll tell that story,
LL!
[Chasitykins]
Fill me in, please.
[Brad
from Georgia] BTW, have you seen Carolyn lately? We email each other
from time to time.
[Laura
Leff] I've probably said it before, but Larry Adler had a wonderful
story in the intro to his autobiography about
[Laura
Leff] vividly remembering something happening, then finding his diary
from the time and finding out it never happened.
[Laura
Leff] Brad - I saw her in November at the SPERDVAC luncheon. She
wasn't able to make Pennies for Benny.
[Brad
from Georgia] Chasity-In "Laughter in Bloom," Eddie (as
Jack) said he had been cast in a movie but turned the part down because he
didn't think much of it. He said a new comedian took it instead...Bob Hope.
"If I'd played the role, my theme would have been 'Thanks for
[Laura
Leff] Chasity - On which comment?
[Brad
from Georgia] the Memory."
[Laura
Leff] Ah, Brad's got this one.
[Brad
from Georgia] But that never happened.
User
Josef has entered this room.
[Chasitykins]
Ohh, I feel like I've heard that gag before.
[Brad
from Georgia] Eddie was an entertainer, not a biographer--if it made
a better story, he'd change the facts.
[Josef]
Hi everyone
[Chasitykins]
Hi, Josef.
[ed]
josef hi
[Laura
Leff] The first time we ever had dinner (it was in Waukegan), and
Eddie summed it up nicely, "You're a researcher. I'm an entertainer. This
plays better."
[Laura
Leff] Hi Josef!
[Brad
from Georgia] Hi, Josef. You know, they loved Jack in St. Josef.
[Josef]
Hi Chasitykins, ed, Laura
[Chasitykins]
Haha
[Josef]
Brad
[Laura
Leff] So I respect that.
[Chasitykins]
I fell like that when I read any of Burns' books and he's telling the reader
that he might be lying about something...
[KayLhota]
Hi Josef
[Chasitykins]
It hardly matters to me if he is lying or not, the story is entertaining.
[Laura
Leff] It's actually his ghostwriter lying for him.
[Chasitykins]
True, haha.
[Josef]
Hi KayLhota
[KayLhota]
wow
[Brad
from Georgia] When Eddie played our town, he actually emailed Laura
to ask if Eddie Anderson hadn't been called "Syracuse" instead of
"Rochester" in his first appearance. He wasn't, but Eddie didn't
change the story, 'cause it got a laugh.
[Laura
Leff] Which was Hal Goldman much of the time.
[Laura
Leff] I finally did figure out how they came up with that confusion.
[KayLhota]
Laura, do you have the documentary, "The Great Radio Comedians?"
[Laura
Leff] There's a gag about Rochester having a brother named Syracuse
in the television version of Jack finding Rochester.
[Laura
Leff] Kay - Ah yes. I almost wore that tape out watching it in the
80s.
[KayLhota]
I believe that the clothespin still is in that movie.
[Brad
from Georgia] Ah hah! You're a Sherlock Holmes of Benny info, Laura!
[Laura
Leff] Kay - OK, so it's way back in my "mental filing
cabinet". Just saw it a million times when I was starting out.
[Laura
Leff] Brad - It's the 80-year breadcrumb trail. I'll never get them
all, but sometimes there are specific ones that need to be found.
[Brad
from Georgia] BTW, the Lee Trevino footage that someone referenced on
the BB is great. Jack is very natural, relaxed, and funny, ad-libbing away. And
he looks like he's having a wonderful time.
[Laura
Leff] Do you remember that strange line drawing of Jack and Mary on
Wilshire Boulevard looking at Don in drag, Rochester, and Dennis riding a goose?
[KayLhota]
it's in the clip from the feud bit from the Jan 1937 show when he goes into his
Fred imitation, and says: ..."Portland, I mean, Mary!"
[Brad
from Georgia] I do have a memory of that, LL--though I was thinking
it was the Pope on the goose.
[Laura
Leff] Kay - Ah, that brings up such a vivid auditory memory!
[KayLhota]
well, I had that documentary on audio tape from when I saw it first in 1972
User
Chasitykins has logged out.
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Chasitykins has entered this room.
[KayLhota]
I still have that tape
[Brad
from Georgia] Bye, Chasity. Hi, Chasity.
[Laura
Leff] Brad - Nope. I finally saw the television show that inspired
that drawing about six or so months ago. And I'm sitting there with my arms
folded saying, "Oh is THAT what the **** that was?!?!"
[Laura
Leff] Kay - Gotcha. I recorded it off of PBS around 1981.
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she's baaaack
[Chasitykins]
Whew, I was afraid I was talking to myself for a moment there.
[Laura
Leff] Betamax. It's tape 9 of my original collection.
[Laura
Leff] Do we not have it in the video library? Maybe should transfer
it some time...
[KayLhota]
I recorded it in 1981 on VHS, but my Mom recorded over it
[Chasitykins]
I would love to see it.
[Brad
from Georgia] Somewhere I have audiotapes of the two memorial TV
shows done not long after Jack's passing. Didn't have videotape back in those
days.
[KayLhota]
it is an excellent documentary, and provides a lot of info on the classic radio
shows
[Brad
from Georgia] Used to have to put Silly-Putty on the TV screen to
save the pictures...
[KayLhota]
Brad
[Chasitykins]
Brad
[Brad
from Georgia] Try telling that to the young folks today. We didn't
have no MP3s neither. We used to have to take drugs and go to rock concerts.
[Laura
Leff] Brad - Obviously a Winky Dink fan...
[KayLhota]
I got a DVD of "The Great Radio Comedians" a couple of years ago.
[Laura
Leff] Here's a link to that drawing: http://www.jackbenny.org
··· JBA3.htm
[Brad
from Georgia] Winky Dink broke my heart.
[Josef]
Wow Brad. I really feel young tonight
[KayLhota]
It's a little bawky, though. It likes to freeze up in some DVD players.
[Laura
Leff] Kay - Ah, then I won't transfer my old copy if it's in
circulation.
[Chasitykins]
My that is a strange drawing.
[Brad
from Georgia] One day I didn't draw the bridge, hoping he'd stop. But
he drove right across on thin air. I lost my faith in magic.
[KayLhota]
laura, if you like, I can try to make a copy of my DVD to send to you.
[KayLhota]
If it works for you, maybe you can circulate it around.
[Brad
from Georgia] That is a strange cartoon. But I do remember it.
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by josef
[Laura
Leff] Kay - Sure, that would be great.
[Josef]
im back. had a computer problem
[Brad
from Georgia] Horrible likeness of Rochester. In fact, it's not a
likeness. It's a differentness.
[Laura
Leff] I always thought it was drawn by someone who was suffering from
some kind of psychological affliction.
[Laura
Leff] But then I saw the show and all became clear.
[Laura
Leff] And that's not Mary.
[Brad
from Georgia] So what in the show referenced that?
[Laura
Leff] Brad - Referenced which?
[Brad
from Georgia] The goose, Don in drag, etc.
[Brad
from Georgia] (The TV just announced that our college is closed
tomorrow. So I have to remember to turn off the alarm.)
[Laura
Leff] Congrats
[Laura
Leff] The show in question is 4/17/60
[Laura
Leff] The woman with Jack is Barbara Nichols
[Chasitykins]
I do see the likeness.
[Laura
Leff] Don appears in drag in the middle commercial, talking about how
much he loves Lux
[Laura
Leff] Let me scan my notes for the goose...
[Laura
Leff] Dennis got a duck from his aunt as an Easter present, is
walking it on a leash--going to eat it tonight
[Brad
from Georgia] Oh, that's a duck? (and don't give me any guff about a
viaduct. I get enough of that from Chico).
[Laura
Leff] Don is walking around without gloves because he wants everyone
to see how nice his hands are with Lu
[Laura
Leff] Lux
[KayLhota]
okay, now I've got the picture that you are talking about.
[Josef]
me too
[Laura
Leff] Y'see, it all makes sense once you've seen the show.
[Brad
from Georgia] On one of Jack's radio shows, someone refers to Jack
"Luxing his undies." I was surprised the censors didn't clip that.
[Chasitykins]
Hah!
[Laura
Leff] Oh and Dennis returns later in the show, having taken the duck
to a maternity hospital because "he" laid an egg
[Laura Leff] Jell-O and Lucky Strike didn't compete with Lux.
[Laura
Leff] So what else Benny-wise?
[Brad
from Georgia] Now, this is odd but actually true. My uncle once gave
me a duckling for Easter. I kept it, and it grew to adult duckhood.
[KayLhota]
well, there isn't anything really bad about Jack's undies, if the girls do it
with LUX, why not Jack?
[Laura
Leff] Brad - Did it ever work for Groucho?
[Laura
Leff] Kay - Probably a reference to the delicacy of the fabric.
[Brad
from Georgia] No, no it didn't. It's name, for some reason I don't
remember, was "Diddle." Eventually my parents made me take it up to
granpa's farm, and...a fox got it. Sigh.
[KayLhota]
I have a girlfriend that has a pet duck. She even has ducky diapers so the duck
can stay inside the house.
[Laura
Leff] There's got to be a joke in there somewhere.
[Brad
from Georgia] Actually that should be "Its," but since I
don't have to teach tomorrow, the hell with it.
[Laura
Leff] Any thoughts on a show for next month's discussion?
[Chasitykins]
A birthday show?
[Josef]
Well, next month is Jack's b-day
[KayLhota]
birthday show, for sure!
[Brad
from Georgia] The "Family Guy" tonight is about dialysis,
which reminds me that I have three kidneys, one on the left, two on the right.
And yet I'm not conservative. Go figure.
[Laura
Leff] OK, I'll find a birthday show. But I think we've done the one
where Jack turns 40...er...39.
[Josef]
Did he ever do a straight Valentine's Day show?
[Josef]
or was it always connected to his birthday?
[Laura
Leff] Josef - I'll have to look. There were certainly references to
it, but they usually centered around his birthday being coincident with it.
[Brad
from Georgia] And although I have three kidneys, I can sing "La
Mer" in French. No lie. Yet my shoe size is ten-D. Oh, sorry, where were
we?
[Chasitykins]
Brad's memory prevails once more.
[Josef]
okay, was wondering about that. I still need to learn more about Benny, even
though I've been a consistent fan of his since high school
[Laura
Leff] Josef - No problem. I'm always learning new stuff about him!
[Brad
from Georgia] I keep learning about Benny, thanks largely to the Jack
Benny Times. Thanks, Laura!
[Laura
Leff] Anything else, or should we leave Brad to his free association?
[Laura
Leff] Hey, happy to be able to provide new information!
[Brad
from Georgia] I want to know now what song Jack and Dennis got sued
for....
[Josef]
Yeah, once I get my new paycheck I think I'll subscribe again. Been off the
trail Benny-wise lately
[KayLhota]
I can't think of much. I'll mail you the DVD, and you have to let me know if it
plays properly.
[Laura
Leff] Josef - Fortunately, you can subscribe any time during the year
and get all the issues.
[Josef]
yay!
[Laura
Leff] Kay - Will do. I can't guarantee I'll try it immediately, but
I'll give it a shot.
[Laura
Leff] OK, sounds like a wrap for this month.
[Brad
from Georgia] Barbara teases me that no matter what I have to do,
when the JBT appears, I drop everything and read it cover to cover.
[Brad
from Georgia] It's been fun. Night, all!
[Laura
Leff] Brad - Sound of crashing dishes
[Chasitykins]
Haaaaaaaa
[Josef]
[KayLhota]
goodnight all and see you next month
[Laura
Leff] Thanks for stopping...see you in February!
[Chasitykins]
Good night everyone, keep warm!