IJBFC Chat - August 2, 2015

(Name of message originator above the timestamp)

Laura Leff

5:02 PM

Hi folks!

Steve Archer

5:02 PM

Hi there Laura

R. Hookie

5:02 PM

Hi Laura

Scott in KC

5:03 PM

Hi Madam President.  <bowing>

Laura Leff

5:03 PM

And every single person here is a regular!

Go figure.

Brad from Georgia

5:03 PM

I'm not single, though.

Laura Leff

5:03 PM

Har har har

R. Hookie

5:03 PM

I am...

Steve Archer

5:03 PM

Once in a while I take some Sal Hepatica

Scott in KC

5:03 PM

Me too....

R. Hookie

5:03 PM

...so you're regular...

Scott in KC

5:04 PM

LOL at Steve.

Laura Leff

5:04 PM

Har har har...excellent answer.

Brad from Georgia

5:04 PM

Barbara and I went out this afternoon to see a production of "Once Upon a Mattress" with a friend of ours in the role of Princess Fred.

Laura Leff

5:04 PM

And here I was thinking I'd log on and see a bunch of names I didn't recognize.

R. Hookie

5:04 PM

I'd love to see that play

Scott in KC

5:05 PM

I can change, if you want, Laura.

Laura Leff

5:05 PM

I get to see Beach Blanket Babylon next Saturday for the first time.

Did Carol Burnett ever film a version of "Once Upon a Mattress"?

R. Hookie

5:05 PM

Not that I know of

Laura Leff

5:05 PM

That's OK, Scott.  I love you just the way you are.

Scott in KC

5:06 PM

Laura, I believe that was her first gig that made her famous.

Brad from Georgia

5:06 PM

Carol Burnett did TWO versions of the play, one as Winifred, one as Queen Agravane.

I think both are available on DVD.

R. Hookie

5:06 PM

Thanks for the info Brad

I'll  look it up later

Laura Leff

5:06 PM

Fabulous?  I've got a clear memory of at least a photo of her in it, but wasn't sure.

Derek Jacobi did Hamlet twice...once as Hamlet, and again as the new King.

Scott in KC

5:07 PM

Laura, I just want you to know I am NOT Caitlin Jenner...That's NOT what I meant by changing.

Brad from Georgia

5:07 PM

Tracey Ullman (sp?) was Winifred in the second one, but she wasn't as good as Carol was in the role.

R. Hookie

5:07 PM

Didn't she do one version with  her daughter Carrie?

Laura Leff

5:07 PM

Scott - Ha!  You should see the individual with whom I'm seeing Beach Blanket Babylon.

Brad from Georgia

5:07 PM

Don't know about that one.

Laura Leff

5:08 PM

Hookie - I thought that was a horror movie.

R. Hookie

5:08 PM

Wait a minute... I'm mistaken

Laura Leff

5:08 PM

Hi Marc!

Marc Thorner joined the room

Marc Thorner

5:08 PM

Hello!!!

Steve Archer

5:08 PM

Hiya Marc

R. Hookie

5:08 PM

Laura may be right

Scott in KC

5:08 PM

Hi Marc!

Brad from Georgia

5:08 PM

Hi, Marc!

Laura Leff

5:09 PM

It's all irregular regulars thus far, so we're just shooting the breeze for the moment.

What did the breeze ever do to us?

Scott in KC

5:09 PM

(No disrespect to Caitlin.)

Brad from Georgia

5:09 PM

So--who was this Jack Benny guy, anyhow?

R. Hookie

5:09 PM

mussed my hair

Laura Leff

5:09 PM

Ha

Steve Archer

5:09 PM

can it be the breeze?

that fills the trees

Brad from Georgia

5:09 PM

And starts to wheeze

Laura Leff

5:09 PM

with rare and magic perfume

Steve Archer

5:09 PM

that'll learn you to stink up the place, breeze.  Take that!

Laura Leff

5:10 PM

You know come to think of it...I think I used that line in my speech when we unveiled the Waukegan statue.

Scott in KC

5:10 PM

I am beginning to hear a violin.

Laura Leff

5:10 PM

"Jack Benny...who IS this guy anyway?"

Then I did some audience interaction to have them explain to me who he was.

andrew rabatin joined the room

Laura Leff

5:10 PM

Hi Andrew!

Brad from Georgia

5:10 PM

Where in the world did I hear the "bluegrass" version of "Love in Bloom?" "Aw, no, it ain't no goldanged breeze, it's love in bloooom"?

Steve Archer

5:10 PM

Hi Andrew

Brad from Georgia

5:10 PM

Hello, Andrew.

andrew rabatin

5:11 PM

Hi all

Laura Leff

5:11 PM

Brad - That's not the Spike Jones version I've heard...

Scott in KC

5:11 PM

Laura, surely the audience knew about their favorite son.

Laura Leff

5:11 PM

OK, so who listened to the show for tonight?

Steve Archer

5:11 PM

I did

Laura Leff

5:11 PM

Scott - They did if they showed up to the statue unveiling!

Brad from Georgia

5:11 PM

Listening now. Just got to the holdup.

R. Hookie

5:11 PM

I had the Spike Jones version on my dead computer

Laura Leff

5:11 PM

Scott - But you'd be surprised.

Hookie - Impressive that you could get a dead computer to play it.

Brad from Georgia

5:12 PM

Great to hear the laugh right after "Your money or your life!"

Brad from Georgia

5:12 PM

And then of course it builds with the payoff.

Laura Leff

5:12 PM

And it's not that big of a laugh, is it?

Steve Archer

5:12 PM

Hiya Mike

Mike Januszewski joined the room

Laura Leff

5:12 PM

Hi Mike!

Brad from Georgia

5:12 PM

Hi, Mike.

Mike Januszewski

5:12 PM

Hello everyone!

andrew rabatin

5:12 PM

hi Mike

Laura Leff

5:12 PM

Welcome to all the folks who are new to the IJBFC chat room!

Brad from Georgia

5:13 PM

Laura--not in the top ten, that's for sure! I think the line is so funny that people exaggerated the laugh in retrospect.

R. Hookie

5:13 PM

Everything on the dead computer is lost.... sadly

Laura Leff

5:13 PM

We're talking about the "Your money or your life show."

Laura Leff

5:13 PM

Brad - Exactamundo.

Hi Kirk!

Steve Archer

5:13 PM

Hi there Kirk

Kirk Brown joined the room

R. Hookie

5:13 PM

Hi Kirk

Brad from Georgia

5:13 PM

Hi, Kirk!

Scott in KC

5:14 PM

Hi Kirk...I'm Scotty.

Laura Leff

5:14 PM

Let's hear from some of the new folks in the room.  Were any of you able to listen to the show, and what thoughts or questions did you have on it?

And I'm data.  Benny data to be exact.

Brad from Georgia

5:14 PM

This is the bit that Robert Asprin started (doing the Jack Benny part) at a panel at DragonCon, and I took the robber's part--impromptu. Afterward, Bob was so happy he picked me up (no mean feat) and said, "I always wanted to do that!"

Steve Archer

5:14 PM

So, Laura for this Jack Benny 101 chat I was trying to think back of some of the questions I had about Jack when I first started getting into him.  I could throw out a couple of those as discussion points if you like.

Laura Leff

5:15 PM

Anyone can throw out Jack Benny questions at any time.  Fire away!

Steve - Great idea!

I can think of one for myself.

Steve Archer

5:15 PM

For example, I know Jack and Mary were married in real life, but why didn't they play married on the show, like Burns and Allen

or Lucy and Desi

Brad from Georgia

5:15 PM

Q: What's Phil Harris REALLY like? A: Booze and broads.

Laura Leff

5:16 PM

Steve - An excellent question.  Would anyone like to take a shot at the answer?

Brad from Georgia

5:16 PM

Jack's early persona was that of a playboy, a man-about-town. So Mary became kind of vaguely a ... secretary or some undefined kind of employee of Jack's on the show.

Laura Leff

5:16 PM

I'm happy to answer it, but I like to spread the fun around

R. Hookie

5:16 PM

Jack as a single made possible for more female guests

Steve Archer

5:17 PM

Well, I eventually figured out it would curtail a lot of the fun of Jack's character - but I don't know if they ever actually considered playing it that way.

Laura Leff

5:17 PM

I think there's an additional aspect to it.

Marc Thorner

5:17 PM

Mary's fear of live performing?

Scott in KC

5:17 PM

If Jack and Mary were married on the show, would there be a need for valet Rochester?

Laura Leff

5:17 PM

Remember the Burns and Allen "Lamb Chops" routine from vaudeville.  They weren't married bak then.

Steve Archer

5:18 PM

Yeah, George and Gracie "got married" on radio around 1942.

Laura Leff

5:18 PM

But the way George tells it, he realized that they were slipping in the ratings.  And he decided to change the dynamic.  So they became a married couple.

Brad from Georgia

5:18 PM

No, they weren't "married" on the show long before Rochester.

Laura Leff

5:18 PM

But Jack really didn't have that problem, or not for that reason.  So there was never a compelling reason for the two characters to get married.

Marc Thorner

5:19 PM

a formula that worked

Brad from Georgia

5:19 PM

And in Vaudeville, Mary's role was a heckler in the audience, right?

Laura Leff

5:19 PM

There is an episode where they're window shopping for rings, just casually.

Brad - Yes and no.  She cast herself in that role when she first met Jack!

Mike Januszewski

5:19 PM

As a listener, who knows Jack and Mary were married, but not playing it that way in the shows, I could picture the winks and slaps overtime Jack would act the playboy in front of marry.

Laura Leff

5:20 PM

But her official part was that of a "Dumb Dora" character.

Mike - Good observation.

Brad from Georgia

5:20 PM

Of course, in the radio version she becomes a wisecracking doll--and the tenor took the Dumb Dora part....

Laura Leff

5:20 PM

I also have to wonder that if it's partly because Jack's character is pretty lovable in spite of his faults, and Mary can be pretty caustic.

You love Gracie, silly as she is.

Steve Archer

5:21 PM

There's the odd episode here and there where Jack "breaks character" a little bit and says in an intro or outro "Well, you know Mary and I are married in real life" - for example the dream skit where they are married and have Joan as their daughter.

Laura Leff

5:21 PM

Brad - And that evolved too.  Kenny Baker was the first to really be Dumb Dora, and Mary eventually morphed into the role we often associate with her.

One of my earliest questions was "Who is Remley?"

Brad from Georgia

5:22 PM

That's an interesting observation, Laura--WHY is Jack lovable? He is, but the character is vain, untalented, bad-tempered, stingy...

Steve Archer

5:22 PM

...and very human Brad

Laura Leff

5:22 PM

I think that's a great question to put to the whole room.  Why do you love Jack Benny's character?

Hi Ted!

Theodore Michael Konek joined the room

Brad from Georgia

5:22 PM

Remley is the bloom on the Irish rose, the twinkle in the bartender's eye, the heady aroma of peat and alcohol, and the guy lying on the floor.

Laura Leff

5:23 PM

Or if you don't, talk about that.

Scott in KC

5:23 PM

I just think about the poem written about Jack from the I Can't Stand Jack Benny contest and MY obnoxious ways.

Laura Leff

5:23 PM

Brad - I think you're confusing the first part of your observation with gin blossoms.

Kirk Brown left the room (user disconnected)

Laura Leff

5:23 PM

Scott - Exactly.

Mike Januszewski

5:24 PM

I love his character because I can see bits of me in everything he does.

Laura Leff

5:24 PM

There ya go.

Steve Archer

5:24 PM

That's a great observation Mike.  A lot of great comic characters are just-exaggerated-enough versions of real-life traits.

Hi Kathy

Kathy Fuller-Seeley joined the room

Brad from Georgia

5:25 PM

I agree, Mike. I think the Benny character is actually very moral, because he encourages us to forgive in others...the faults we see in ourselves.

Laura Leff

5:25 PM

Ted - If you want to talk, there's a window at the bottom of the screen next to a paper clip image.  You can type there.

Hi Kathy!

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:25 PM

hey everybody, what did I miss?

Brad from Georgia

5:25 PM

Hi, Kathy, Ted!

Laura Leff

5:25 PM

We're talking about questions we had about Jack when we first started listening to him.

Brad from Georgia

5:25 PM

We're about to get all academic on the moral influence of the Jack Benny character on the audience.

Theodore Michael Konek

5:26 PM

Hi everybody!

Steve Archer

5:26 PM

So, for the new folks, was your first intro to Jack via radio or TV?

Mike Januszewski

5:26 PM

I think that my answer was really similar to the answer given by the person who answered the "I hate Jack Benny because..." bit.  But it is true.  Jack makes our faults funny when we could not have the gall to do it ourselves.

Laura Leff

5:26 PM

There ya go, Ted!

R. Hookie

5:26 PM

Hi Kathy

Steve Archer

5:26 PM

I was mostly TV, so I at first had a lot of questions about the radio cast.

But your mileage may vary depending on where you dipped your toe into the pool, to mix a metaphor.

Brad from Georgia

5:27 PM

I remember Jack first from TV--one of my favorite shows when I was a kid. My folks told me about his being on radio, but I had to wait until I was in my teens to start finding a few recordings of the radio show.

Laura Leff

5:27 PM

I got to him through cartoons...

Scott in KC

5:28 PM

My first contact about Jack was from a State Farm publicity record my dad got.  That was circa 1959.

Mike Januszewski

5:28 PM

For me, radio, listening to Those Were the Days with Chuck Schaden.

Steve Archer

5:28 PM

Yeah Brad, I had a handful of cassettes or LPs (including tonight's show), and so knew 6-10 radio shows REALLY well but they were otherwise not all that accessible.

Laura Leff

5:28 PM

Andrew - I think I saw you say something when you came in...just want to make sure you're included in this as well!

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:28 PM

I started with radio, cassette tapes in the early 1970s, but listening to early 50s shows, My first was Polly saying "P A L M S P R I N G S, spells vacuum cleaner"

andrew rabatin

5:28 PM

thx

Brad from Georgia

5:28 PM

Here's how young I was: In one of the TV shows, Jack reads a letter that asks how he keeps looking so young year after year, and his explanation is "Each year we move the camera ten feet back. This year, for example, I'm in Hollywood...and the camera's in Pasadena." Then they do a closeup with Jack in extreme old-age makeup, and the makeup scared the bejabbers out of me.

andrew rabatin

5:29 PM

I was wondering if anyone knew how Mary felt about Mary Kelly?

Laura Leff

5:29 PM

Brad - That was the first TV ep I remember seeing for the exact same reason!

Andrew - Oh great question!

Marc Thorner left the room (user disconnected)

Brad from Georgia

5:29 PM

Andrew--Probably Jack did....

Laura Leff

5:29 PM

First a little timeline...

andrew rabatin

5:29 PM

Laura Leff

5:30 PM

Jack and Mary Kelly were going around at the same time that George and Gracie were.

Since Gracie and Mary Kelly were roommates.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:30 PM

Andrew, I think Mary didn't want to hear about ANY of Jack's old flames, but since Mary was down on her luck by the latter 30s, didn't mind (and Mary K had become like Kate Smith round)

andrew rabatin

5:30 PM

Did not know that

Scott in KC

5:30 PM

I liked the Mary Kelly (aka the Blue Fairy).  I didn't appreciate making fun of her weight, however.

Laura Leff

5:31 PM

Jack married Sadye/Mary in January of 1927, not terribly long after he had found out that Mary K. had gotten married (due to her being Catholic and Jack being Jewish, and her family being pretty devout).

Brad from Georgia

5:31 PM

Whereas Don Wilson seemed to relish fat jokes.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:31 PM

hot dogs to go with that relish

andrew rabatin

5:32 PM

with the pickle on top

Laura Leff

5:32 PM

So when Mary K. showed back up in Jack's life, it was around late 1933 I believe and she had been through a really abusive marriage.

Steve Archer

5:32 PM

Yes, I think Mary K may not have seemed like as much competition by the time she was on the show.

Scott in KC

5:32 PM

Kathy.  With a pickle in the middle....

Laura Leff

5:32 PM

Now had put on tremendous weight, became an alcoholic.

Tracy Allred joined the room

R. Hookie

5:32 PM

Hi Tracy

Laura Leff

5:32 PM

Hi Tracy!

andrew rabatin

5:32 PM

oh my'

Tracy Allred

5:32 PM

Jello Everyone!

Brad from Georgia

5:32 PM

Hi, Tracy!

andrew rabatin

5:32 PM

Hi Tracy

Laura Leff

5:33 PM

Was auditioning for the part of the large girl in the original Chicken Sisters act, where one is tough, one is large, and one is pretty.  And they're terrible singers.

Scott in KC

5:33 PM

How sad, Laura.  

Steve Archer

5:33 PM

By the way, anyone googling pics of "Mary Kelly" should be aware that is also the name of one of Jack the Ripper's victims, so you get some pretty yucky photos.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:33 PM

Howdy Tracy. Jack was so loyal when he could at all possibly be, to give Mary K work in later years

Laura Leff

5:33 PM

Yeah.  Jack didn't want to cast her because he didn't like making fun of her size, knowing to what she owed it.

R. Hookie

5:33 PM

I need to step away for a moment.... blame the dog...

Laura Leff

5:33 PM

Steve - Indeed...didn't know that.

Brad from Georgia

5:33 PM

Darn dog!

Laura Leff

5:33 PM

Hookie - Hi Penny

Tracy Allred

5:33 PM

This may have already been brought up.... but

Brad from Georgia

5:34 PM

Hello, Penny!

Tracy Allred

5:34 PM

Did anyone notice the Jello commercial?

on tv?

They used the J E L L    Oh!

Laura Leff

5:34 PM

Tracy - Any particular one, or that Jack was sponsored by JellO on TV?

Brad from Georgia

5:34 PM

Which one? I've seen a couple lately.

Tracy Allred

5:34 PM

On TV yesterday I heard it!

Laura Leff

5:35 PM

Don Bestor wrote that jingle for them when he was Jack's bandleader and they started for Jell-O!

How's that for longevity?

Tracy Allred

5:35 PM

A modern Jello commercial on TV that used that jingle!

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:35 PM

its great if they play the old tune, I hope that Johnny Green's estate is also smiling from a little income, or was it Don Bestor?

Don Bestor indeed

PAUL Midlick joined the room

Brad from Georgia

5:35 PM

Hope Don gets residuals still!

Laura Leff

5:36 PM

Andrew - So to wrap up, I think that her changed appearance and other issues made her, as someone else said, a lot more threatening than the other beautiful women of Hollywood.

Hi Paul!

PAUL Midlick

5:36 PM

Jello Everyone
?

andrew rabatin

5:36 PM

Great

Laura Leff

5:36 PM

Now we just need George and Ringo...

Steve Archer

5:36 PM

Glad they're using the old jingle.  In the '70s Jell-O had the slogan "If it was there, you'd eat it", which is just about the worst endorsement for a food ever!

Brad from Georgia

5:36 PM

I was on a liquid diet for a little while there (Laura will tell you not to ask, and I second that), and I got reacquainted with Jell-O. It's not bad. It's not as grand as Don always claims, but it's not bad.

PAUL Midlick

5:36 PM

I'm at out at dinner.. Love that hip chat has mobility

Brad from Georgia

5:36 PM

"There's always room for Jell-O."

Hi, PAUL.

Steve Archer

5:37 PM

See if you can order some Jell-O Paul!

Laura Leff

5:37 PM

Steve - That's like Jack's Canada Dry plug that "Not ONE of them said it was a bad drink!"

I doubt we're going to see a resurgence of the Bill Cosby Jell-O ads any time soon.

R. Hookie

5:38 PM

I'm back

Brad from Georgia

5:38 PM

Probably shouldn't mention Cosby, but in one of his routines he talks about lime Jell-O in the school cafeteria...a cube with a lonely grape in the middle of it.

Laura Leff

5:38 PM

What other questions, thoughts on the show for tonight, stuff you've always wanted to know about Jack but didn't know who to ask?

PAUL Midlick

5:38 PM

Smokey Bones has ice cream with fruit,  chocolate cake or a bag of donuts

PAUL Midlick

5:38 PM

IMG_20150801_233045.jpg2.3MB

File uploaded: https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hipchat.com/243411/2263856/tPxNFl7Hnoxv7BT/IMG_20150801_233045.jpg

Brad from Georgia

5:38 PM

What beloved TV star studied Jack's show--literally--and wrote a thesis about it for his degree?

R. Hookie

5:39 PM

Jerry Seinfeld?

Steve Archer

5:39 PM

a recorded thesis!

Brad from Georgia

5:39 PM

Sorry, Hookie. That's ten down and forty to go.

Mike Januszewski

5:39 PM

Johnny Carson

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:39 PM

its a wonderful thesis, I would have given it an A!!!!!

Laura Leff

5:39 PM

I know!  But I'm not tellin

Scott in KC

5:39 PM

I heard some ads from Don Wilson from the World War II era.  What did "stoke it up" mean regarding Grape Nuts Flakes?  Stoke like a furnace for energy?

Laura Leff

5:39 PM

Yeah!  Mike!!!!!!!

Brad from Georgia

5:39 PM

Right-a-rooney, Mike!

R. Hookie

5:40 PM

Oh, well, yeah, Johnny

Laura Leff

5:40 PM

Scott - Can you give that more context?  It's not ringing a bell with me.

R. Hookie

5:40 PM

See, I studied Johnny

Brad from Georgia

5:40 PM

Scott-Yes. Grape-Nuts wasn't rationed (because the Army and Navy didn't like the taste), and it's like stoking the boilers on a warship.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:40 PM

Carson gave his alma mater's theater department $10 million, so posting the recording is a fine memorial. And it SOUNDS like a 22 year old Johnny

Brad from Georgia

5:40 PM

Johnny studied abroad. She didn't teach him nothin' though.

Laura Leff

5:41 PM

Hookie - Did he get a restraining order against you?

Scott in KC

5:41 PM

Laura, Don Wilson used to say:  "Grape Nuts Flakes, the stoke it up breakfast...do a better job."

R. Hookie

5:41 PM

No, I never made it to Malibu

Brad from Georgia

5:41 PM

An appeal to gluttony AND patriotism!

PAUL Midlick

5:41 PM

I read about the Hershey ration bar... Apparently it was gross

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:41 PM

Grapenuts would get pretty soggy out on the ocean, glad they thought of using it to stoke a furnace, it tastes like sawdust anyway, haha

Laura Leff

5:41 PM

Scott - OK...yes, that does sound like stoking up on energy.

Steve Archer

5:42 PM

You could put the grape-nuts under the tires of snowbound jeeps to get them moving again.

Brad from Georgia

5:42 PM

Kathy--the one way of stomaching Grapenuts is to eat it as a hot cereal. That way, it ain't too bad.

Laura Leff

5:42 PM

Paul - It was chocolate or like a K-ration?

PAUL Midlick

5:42 PM

Keaton I believe

R. Hookie

5:42 PM

eat it hot with butter and brown sugar

Steve Archer

5:43 PM

fill your cat box with it

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:43 PM

cooked and hot = warm sadwdust haha  maybe maple syrup to ease it down, haha a chaser

PAUL Midlick

5:43 PM

K-ration... Not Michael Keaton lol

Steve Archer

5:43 PM

"new clumping Grape-Nuts!"

R. Hookie

5:43 PM

and wash it down with hot coffee

Brad from Georgia

5:43 PM

LL--I've seen them. It's like a somewhat thicker slab of chocolate with a square, not rectangular shape. But they jiggered the formulation so the stuff wouldn't melt. They were supposed to have an unpleasant grainy texture.

Scott in KC

5:43 PM

I use bananas...I guess they were rationed during the war.

Laura Leff

5:43 PM

har har

Brad - I learned something new today!

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:43 PM

I LOVE clumping grapeS nuts!

Laura Leff

5:43 PM

Yes we have no bananas.

Other questions?

R. Hookie

5:44 PM

I think this room is totally bananas

Scott in KC

5:44 PM

LOL at LL.  I knew you were going to say that.  ESP?

Brad from Georgia

5:44 PM

Hey, bananas got lots of potassium. As has low-sodium V-8 juice. Which you have to guzzle like medicine, or you can't stand the taste.

Laura Leff

5:44 PM

Bananas are good.

PAUL Midlick

5:44 PM

I still would loved to try Kraft Pabst-et

Mike Januszewski

5:45 PM

I have a question: does anyone know what became of Jack's violin after his death?  Was it donated or preserved anywhere?

Laura Leff

5:45 PM

Paul - What was that?

Mike - Sure do.  I've seen it in use even.

R. Hookie

5:45 PM

Ask Joannie

Brad from Georgia

5:45 PM

And Mel Brooks says oranges are great. They got vitamins AND fiber, so they do you good and then they go through you easily.....

Laura Leff

5:45 PM

He donated both his Stradivarius and his Pressenda to the LA Philharmonic.

Tracy Allred

5:45 PM

Here's something a little different...   Has anyone ever noticed Jack's influence on Kelsey Grammar as Fraiser?

Scott in KC

5:45 PM

I thought donated his violins to the LAPO.

Mike Januszewski

5:45 PM

Really?  Fantastic.

Laura Leff

5:45 PM

The Associate Concertmaster uses the Strad in performance.

PAUL Midlick

5:46 PM

Pre-Velveeta made with Pabst beer

Steve Archer

5:46 PM

So maybe polling the regulars for the new folks, if you were to read ONE book on Jack, what would it be?  Joan's? Milt's? Mary's?

PAUL Midlick

5:46 PM

Like a beer battered cheese

Laura Leff

5:46 PM

Paul - OK...I thought it was something with a by-product of the hops. Kind of!

Steve Archer

5:46 PM

Yes Tracy.  Have you seen the TV special Kelsey Grammer did of Jack Benny clips?

Mike Januszewski

5:46 PM

I have read them all, and I prefer Joan's.

Laura Leff

5:46 PM

Steve - Depends on your goal.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:46 PM

I also recommend the chapter in Michele Hilmes' Radio Voices

Tracy Allred

5:46 PM

I think I remember a Frasier episode where he passed by a theater showing "The Horn Blows at Midnight"!

Brad from Georgia

5:47 PM

Tracy--I told my wife when Grammer showed up on "Cheers," "That guy is doing a passable Jack Benny!"

Tracy Allred

5:47 PM

No!  Really?  Wow!

Laura Leff

5:47 PM

Mike - What do you like about that which is different from the others?

Mike Januszewski

5:47 PM

Joan's book reads more like a story of a great dad, not a timeline like the others.

Tracy Allred

5:47 PM

And I would read Joan's too first...

Steve Archer

5:47 PM

I forget the name of it Tracy, but I'm sure Laura has it in the library.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:47 PM

The Museum of Radio and TV's Jack Benny book is also useful

Laura Leff

5:48 PM

Mike - Good point.

Mike Januszewski

5:48 PM

Sunday's at Seven

Brad from Georgia

5:48 PM

FWIW, I have two of Irving Fein's books, for some reason. I do kind of like Joan's for the personal picture it gives.

Steve Archer

5:48 PM

I'd start with Milt's for the show, and Joan's for the man.

Laura Leff

5:48 PM

Steve - The Grammar special?

Brad from Georgia

5:48 PM

Grammer, isn't it? Or am I wrong?

Steve Archer

5:48 PM

Yes Laura

Laura Leff

5:48 PM

Brad - You're probably right.

I think it's called "Kelsey Grammer Salutes Jack Benny."

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:48 PM

next up from Kelsey, Grammer on Grammar

Laura Leff

5:49 PM

And we do have it in the fan club video library.

Brad from Georgia

5:49 PM

(My students misspell grammar all the time as grammer, and I write "That's the guy on Frasier." Nowadays they don't know what that means.)

Tracy Allred

5:49 PM

Sweet!  Me want.

R. Hookie

5:49 PM

I liked Cheers better

Laura Leff

5:50 PM

I was interviewing Fred deCordova in his NBC office when they were pulling that together.  He asked for my help in the copyright holders of the TV shows.  All these years later, I'm still battling that...

More questions!  Bring it on!  

R. Hookie

5:50 PM

Frasier was tolerable

Brad from Georgia

5:50 PM

We're still moving stuff out of our old house, and recently I found an audiotape of the NBC-TV tribute to Jack that was aired within a few days of his death--we didn't have video recorders back then, but I wanted a record of the show.

Scott in KC

5:50 PM

Brad....Maybe you need to tell your students the character from "The Simpsons" is GrammEr.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:51 PM

so, my publisher asked who of living celebs would I want to write a foreword to my book, who do you suggest? I am torn between Carl Burnett and Bob Newhart. Harry Shearer? Grammer?

Laura Leff

5:51 PM

Brad - That's a good one.  I think that was aired 12/27/74, the day after he passed.

Brad from Georgia

5:51 PM

Ah, they don't watch "The Simpsons," either.

Yes, sounds right. I have to date on the cassette label.

Laura Leff

5:51 PM

Both Burnett and Shearer actually worked with Jack.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:52 PM

I meant Carol Burnett

Scott in KC

5:52 PM

Laura, when will YOU write a book about Jack Benny?

Mike Januszewski

5:52 PM

I second Burnett and/or Shearer.

Laura Leff

5:52 PM

Scott - I've done that many times!  

Scott in KC

5:52 PM

What planet am I on?  Sorry.

Steve Archer

5:52 PM

Your publisher is awfully picky to specify "living".

PAUL Midlick

5:52 PM

I'm off back to the car... Can't text n drive.. If the chat is still going when I get to the house I'll resume texting... Otherwise have  a great August!!!

Laura Leff

5:53 PM

Thanks for stopping, Paul!

Steve Archer

5:53 PM

Thanks for joining Paul!

R. Hookie

5:53 PM

See you soon, Paul

Laura Leff

5:53 PM

Steve - Yeah!  I want Ronald Colman to write the intro!

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:53 PM

well I could have a seance, and then who would I contact? Houdini? Fred Allen?

PAUL Midlick

5:53 PM

I'll leave the chat open just in case...

Laura Leff

5:53 PM

Kathy - Ah, Fred Allen.  There ya go.

andrew rabatin

5:53 PM

Fred Allen

Laura Leff

5:54 PM

Kathy - Is there an ETA on your book?

Steve Archer

5:54 PM

Has anyone here read the intro to George Burns' first book that Jack wrote?

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:54 PM

I AM in contact with the wonderful Alan Havig who wrote that great Fred Allen book in 1990

Laura Leff

5:54 PM

Ah!  I think the Boston Public Library folks spoke highly of him.

Brad from Georgia

5:55 PM

Steve--a long, long time ago.

Laura Leff

5:55 PM

Yeah, so long ago that...I confess...I can't remember anything about it.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:55 PM

bless you for asking, Laura, I sent in the mss 2 weeks ago!!! Editor says late October to get the reviews from professors back, maybe book out next summer? Don't know if they will hold it or take longer

Laura Leff

5:55 PM

But I'm told that's the one book that George actually wrote instead of a ghost writer.

Steve Archer

5:55 PM

Early emojis!

This discussion just reminded me of it, Jack inserts the Bouche drawing in the text every place where he would do a "stare into the audience" bit.  Something to consider for your book Kathy

Laura Leff

5:55 PM

Kathy - Excellent!

You know, that you mention that, Steve...

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:56 PM

great idea, Steve!!!!

Brad from Georgia

5:56 PM

LL--I expected you to add, "Smithers, release the hounds.."

Laura Leff

5:57 PM

When I listen to the "Your money or your life" bit, I feel pretty strongly that Jack delivers the line and stares at the audience.

Steve Archer

5:57 PM

Laura, no, he credits his co writer, Cynthia Hobart Lindsey.  She also wrote a book on Boris Karloff.

Laura Leff

5:57 PM

Then he turns back to Eddie Marr to let him know when to deliver the next line.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:57 PM

So now I am aiming to photograph all the missing early Benny scripts in early January, a trip to UCLA in the offing. And how can we then get them up on a website, will ask you about the Benny site space offline soon, Laura

Brad from Georgia

5:57 PM

LL--He certainly did in the TV version--in a pouring rain--with a pained look on his face...

Steve Archer

5:57 PM

Oh, you can very much "hear" that Laura!

Laura Leff

5:57 PM

Steve - OK, I stand corrected.  Thanks!

PAUL Midlick

5:57 PM

I shall look for a text to speech app so I can listen to the conversation while I drive

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:58 PM

sounds wonderfully high tech, Paul!

Laura Leff

5:58 PM

Kathy - Yes...I apologize that your CD is sitting right next to me waiting for me to do something with it.

Steve Archer

5:58 PM

George's first book is a lot more accurate and detailed than his octogenarian ones though.

Laura Leff

5:58 PM

I want Stephen Hawking's voice!

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:58 PM

well Laura, we can make a big deal of getting all of them up at the same time

Laura Leff

5:58 PM

But you've got to admit..."Gracie:  A Love Story" is a FABULOUS book.

R. Hookie

5:59 PM

Mel Blanc's voice... es

Laura Leff

5:59 PM

Kathy - I like the way you think, sistah!

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

5:59 PM

I will inquire if my Univ can help, but of course I most want it linked to the JB site

Brad from Georgia

5:59 PM

Oh, yes--does anyone other than me "hear" Eddie Marr's voice as Mel Blanc's? He sounds SO much like Blanc's standard tough guy in that sketch.

Laura Leff

5:59 PM

Kathy - Very much appreciated.  It's been a long-sought pursuit of mine.  Move over tobaccodocuments.org!

Mike Januszewski

6:00 PM

I have another question for this esteemed group.  I am in possession of an original print negative of both Jack and Mary standing astride matching his and hers bicycles on the lawn of a very nice house.  Until I get the print itself next week, I do not know what brand of bicycle or anything else.  Does anyone know if Jack and Mary ever did publicity for a bicycle company?

Laura Leff

6:00 PM

Brad - No...to me it's different.  If it was Mel, there'd be no question in my mind.

Steve Archer

6:00 PM

Gracie: A Love Story is sublime.  The later books just have a bit more "don't let the facts get in the way of a good story" aspect to them.

Laura Leff

6:00 PM

Mike - Oh, I think I've seen that picture.

andrew rabatin

6:00 PM

gotta run, be back next time!

Steve Archer

6:01 PM

Oh, I think I know that pic too Mike.

Laura Leff

6:01 PM

Or wait...maybe not.  Getting a clearer memory now.

Thanks for being here Andrew!

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:01 PM

sounds so interesting, Mike! maybe we can enlist the help of a bicycle fan

Steve Archer

6:01 PM

Thanks for joining us Andrew.

Brad from Georgia

6:01 PM

Dunno, Mike. I do remember seeing magazine ads with caricatures of Jack and Mary in them for various products, including, if I recall correctly, razor blades.

Bye Andrew!

andrew rabatin left the room (user disconnected)

Mike Januszewski

6:01 PM

That's OK, I have been storing this negative for decades and am finally getting around to having a 24 x 30 made of it.  I have no back story for it though.

Laura Leff

6:01 PM

Mike - It's possible...they do show up promoting various other things.  I think Jack boosted for RC Cola...

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:02 PM

there's a joke or two in there about razors and Mary's cutting wit, Brad....

Laura Leff

6:02 PM

I think Jack did an ad for Adam Hats

Tracy Allred left the room (user disconnected)

Steve Archer

6:02 PM

sponsors of "The Strange Dr. Weird"!

I was just listening to a couple of those.

Laura Leff

6:03 PM

Mike - Where did you get the negative?

PAUL Midlick left the room (lost connection)

Laura Leff

6:04 PM

Other questions?  Thoughts on the show?

R. Hookie

6:04 PM

I guess Paul drove through a tunnel

Laura Leff

6:04 PM

Yep

Steve Archer

6:04 PM

jbbike.jpg14K

File uploaded: https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hipchat.com/243411/2040494/YL9JZv2xbigXMnl/jbbike.jpg

Laura Leff

6:04 PM

Tracy left without saying goodbye...

Mike Januszewski

6:04 PM

I bought it from a collector in Hollywood back in 1990.

R. Hookie

6:05 PM

Interesting

Laura Leff

6:05 PM

Steve - Looks rather awkward, doesn't he?

Brad from Georgia

6:05 PM

Why do so many people get that famous punchline wrong?

Laura Leff

6:05 PM

Brad - Oh man....

Steve Archer

6:05 PM

I'm thinking about it!

Brad from Georgia

6:05 PM

LL--His wallet is in his right hip pocket. He's not properly balanced.

Steve Archer

6:05 PM

I'm turning it over!

Laura Leff

6:05 PM

I'm handing it over!

I'm thinking!  I'm thinking!

God.

Brad from Georgia

6:06 PM

"Let me think it over!" "I'm thinking, I'm thinking!"

Laura Leff

6:06 PM

Well, Gracie never said, "Goodnight, Gracie."

Jenny Lerew joined the room

Brad from Georgia

6:06 PM

Hi, Jenny!

Steve Archer

6:06 PM

Tommy Smothers Said "Goodnight Gracie'.  Or something.

Jenny Lerew

6:06 PM

Hi

Laura Leff

6:06 PM

But that's an improvement on the line...the others are degradations.

Hi Jenny!

Steve Archer

6:06 PM

Hi Jenny!

R. Hookie

6:06 PM

Hi Jenny

Jenny Lerew

6:07 PM

Hi! Been a member for years but first chat. ?

Scott in KC

6:07 PM

It amazes me how Jack crowded so much in his lifetime from riding a bike to having fresh clothes on his train trips across country, etc.

Laura Leff

6:07 PM

They also say it was the longest laugh ever on radio, but it wasn't even the longest laugh on that SHOW.

Scott - And a polar bear in his vault!

R. Hookie

6:07 PM

Wait a mnute" got a longer laugh, I felt

Brad from Georgia

6:07 PM

Nowhere close--when I heard the show for the second time (years ago) I wondered, "Did they edit the laugh down?" Like most others, I remembered it as much longer and louder than it was.'

Scott in KC

6:08 PM

LL...Wasn't the longest laugh when Mary told Jack to shut up?

Laura Leff

6:08 PM

Hookie - Yep.  And you hear Remley laughing on after Colman's line about him.

Scott - No, that's what Jack said.  But I've disproven it.

Jenny Lerew

6:08 PM

I'm glad to hear this "longest" discussed-as it plainly was beat by many other instances.

Laura Leff

6:08 PM

BRB...let me find my page on that...

Brad from Georgia

6:08 PM

Among others, "Drear Pooson."

Jenny Lerew

6:08 PM

Yep! Mary's blooper

Steve Archer

6:08 PM

I think "I'm thinking it over" is more famous because it is Jack's character in four words, more iconic than hilarious.

Laura Leff

6:08 PM

http://www.jackbenny.org/biography/other/longest_laugh.htm

Brad from Georgia

6:08 PM

And the raspberry-blowing bird in the Snow White sketch...

Jenny Lerew

6:09 PM

True Steve

Laura Leff

6:09 PM

Steve - On the nose there, Seve.

R. Hookie

6:09 PM

Andy saying "jelly series...

Brad from Georgia

6:09 PM

"Grass reek..."

Steve Archer

6:09 PM

Slip it under the door!

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:09 PM

Laura, you have a great list on the website about it, and I just referenced it in the book msss : )  I think its "shut up" and a couple of fluff mistakes

Laura Leff

6:09 PM

Kathy -

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:09 PM

Dreer Poosen is my favorite too, Brad

Laura Leff

6:09 PM

Benita saying "Ronnie, not while I'm EATING!"

Brad from Georgia

6:10 PM

LL, didn't Frank Nelson tell you in an interview that the "Drear Pooson" got a long laugh mainly because of Jack's physical reaction to the ad lib?

Laura Leff

6:10 PM

Brad - Yes, but the way he describes it is impossible.

Scott in KC

6:10 PM

I heard Jack hated ad-libs.

Brad from Georgia

6:10 PM

Well, memory is a malleable thing....

Laura Leff

6:10 PM

He talks about Jack falling on the floor, pulling himself up on the curtain, etc.  But if you listen to the laugh, you can't do all that in the time of the laugh.  I'm sure he was at least doubled over.

Scott - And that's why Frank Nelson fought the writers telling him to change the line.  They assured him they'd take the blame if Jack got upset.

Brad from Georgia

6:11 PM

Scott--I think Jack was such a meticulous editor and also worried about the timing and pace of the show, but if an ad-lib got a laugh, he'd roll with it.

Laura Leff

6:11 PM

And if we're talking about anything that you're not familiar with, please feel free to ask for more information!

Scott in KC

6:11 PM

He literally rolled with it, Brad.

Laura Leff

6:11 PM

Ha

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:11 PM

I wonder if they didn't have to do a second performance of the show by December 1950 when Dreer Poosen happened, you sure can't repeat that !

Laura Leff

6:12 PM

I've actually tried to physically do what Frank Nelson describes within the duration of that laugh, and I can't.

Steve Archer

6:12 PM

I just watched Frank Nelson in an episode of Our Miss Brooks that also had Gale Gordon, Joe Kearns, and of course, Eve Arden, it was like the black hole of sardonic sarcasm...

Brad from Georgia

6:12 PM

Send a self-addressed envelope to

Laura Leff at "Who's this Benny guy, anyhow?" at the International Jack Benny Fan Club, 1313 Rose Lane, Pasadena, Cal.

Laura Leff

6:12 PM

Kathy - Oh yes, they started recording the East Coast broadcast years prior.

In fact, just before grass reek, I think!

Brad from Georgia

6:12 PM

That's because the Pony Express took YEARS to get them to the East coast.

Laura Leff

6:13 PM

Frank Nelson and Gale Gordon together.  Wow...

Scott in KC

6:13 PM

What about the laughs Jack got for being King for a Day?

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:13 PM

well thank goodness, you can't repeat Dreer Poosen or Grass Reek with  straight face, or to be funny...

Laura Leff

6:13 PM

Scott - Oh my yes...

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:13 PM

I LOVE King for a Day! I guess that one was done live on the Fred Allen show

Steve Archer

6:14 PM

What's funnier than pantsing Jack Benny?  Pretty much nothing.

Laura Leff

6:14 PM

Kathy - Yes, although you've worked with the scripts.  You've seen how they did pencil in some of their own "bloopers!"

Jenny Lerew

6:14 PM

Don't know the King for a day ep-date?

Scott in KC

6:14 PM

LL....I heard Jack's underwear said LS/MFT.

Laura Leff

6:14 PM

Pantsing Jack Benny when he has "LS/MFT" on his drawers.

Brad from Georgia

6:14 PM

I once was in the wings at an SF convention waiting to go on and present an award to somebody, and a crew member came up to me and asked, "Are you Brad Strickland?" And I said, "Well, who did you THINK I was, Drear Pooson?" She said, "Huh?"

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:14 PM

sure, and some even made the typed script

Laura Leff

6:14 PM

Marty (my writing partner) swears he's seen a photo of that.

Kathy - Yepper!

Jenny Lerew

6:15 PM

Brad-now that's a hardcore reference!

?

Laura Leff

6:15 PM

BRB...I'll get the King for a Day date for you...

Steve Archer

6:15 PM

I would have laughed Brad, but, then again, I'd never win a sci-fi award.

Brad from Georgia

6:15 PM

Yeah, 99% of the time nobody gets it. But that 1% is great.

Jenny Lerew

6:15 PM

Thanks Laura!

Laura Leff

6:15 PM

5/26/46

Jenny Lerew

6:15 PM

?

Brad from Georgia

6:15 PM

It was actually an audio theater award.

But for an SF show...

Jenny Lerew

6:16 PM

I have to share this: saw a Jungian analyst in the early 90s...

Steve Archer

6:16 PM

I can still hear Fred Allen telling Jack "you'll be whisked by bicycle to Orange, New Jersey" and Jack excitedly saying "I'm king for a day!"

Scott in KC

6:16 PM

They tried King for a Day on TV, I think.  It wasn't as good as the radio version.

Laura Leff

6:16 PM

It's really funny when you get a gang of hardcore Benny fans together.  We walk around saying things to each other like, "Ohhhhh...BATHING SUIT!" and exploding into uncontrollable laughter.  I'm sure everyone thinks we're insane.  Maybe we are.

Jenny Lerew

6:16 PM

Years later, I was utterly charmed by Phil's "daughter" singing onesy-twosey on Jack's show...guess who my analyst turned out to be??

Laura Leff

6:16 PM

Scott - Seriously?

Jenny Lerew

6:17 PM

That onetime little girl!

Brad from Georgia

6:17 PM

People at my college stare at me when my cell phone plays "Love in Bloom."

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:17 PM

no worse than the folks at ComicCon, and they get to dress up, too!

Laura Leff

6:17 PM

Jenny - Wow!

Jenny Lerew

6:17 PM

Jeanine

Scott in KC

6:17 PM

I thought I saw it, Laura.  Maybe I dreamed it.

Steve Archer

6:17 PM

Wow, how did you manage to connect the two Jenny?

Jenny Lerew

6:17 PM

I would never have believed it!

Laura Leff

6:17 PM

Scott - I wonder if you saw this elusive photo that Marty's seen.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:17 PM

WOW Jenny, that is so cool! I hope she was well-adjusted herself : )

Brad from Georgia

6:18 PM

I've heard that when Jung went to study with Freud, Freud was to pick him up at the rail station. Freud thought he recognized him, walked over and asked, "Are you Jung?" And the stranger he asked smiled and said, "Jung AND foolish, big boy."

Laura Leff

6:18 PM

Who would have thought that Phil and Alice's daughter would grow up to be a Jungian therapist!

Jenny Lerew

6:18 PM

I looked up Jeanine on Google-later Roussel(sp)

Scott in KC

6:18 PM

Laura, I might be thinking of when Don Wilson was treated by Jack.

Jenny Lerew

6:18 PM

It mentioned her later career as an analyst. I fell on the floor!

Laura Leff

6:19 PM

I wonder if she's still doing it.

Brad from Georgia

6:19 PM

That's a wonderful connection, Jenny.

R. Hookie

6:19 PM

Ugg... I'll be back...  again....

Brad from Georgia

6:19 PM

Darn that dog.

Jenny Lerew

6:19 PM

Boy, she was NO nomsense. And expensive(which is why I stopped going). But kindly.

Laura Leff

6:19 PM

Hookie - Hi Penny.

Theodore Michael Konek left the room (user disconnected)

Laura Leff

6:20 PM

Jenny - Boy, if you come across her contact info, I'd like to have it!

What other questions?

R. Hookie

6:20 PM

I put her outside... she'll want back in in about 5 - 4 - 3 ... now

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:20 PM

Prince! darn that dog........I found that Jack had a routine about the smart dog Prince in like 1932, then they used him again in the Dreer Poosen episode in 1950

Jenny Lerew

6:20 PM

Laura-I haven't seen her since about 1992 but I'll look it up.

Brad from Georgia

6:20 PM

Speaking of dogs...ours have to go to the vets tomorrow for their canine influenza vaccinations. Yes, dogs get the flu, evidently, and you can't board them in Georgia if they don't have the shots. So I'll sign off and go tack some Valium in preparation for the trip. G'night, everyone--enjoyed it, as per usual!

Laura Leff

6:21 PM

Thanks!

Steve Archer

6:21 PM

Night Brad

Laura Leff

6:21 PM

Have a good one, Brad!

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:21 PM

g'night Brad!

Brad from Georgia

6:21 PM

Should be take some Valium. I'm so apprehensive I can't splell rihght.

R. Hookie

6:21 PM

oh, good night Brad

Scott in KC

6:21 PM

Good night, Brad.  All the best for Tripper.

Brad from Georgia left the room (user disconnected)

Laura Leff

6:21 PM

I didn't know dogs could go to boarding school in Georgia.

Scott in KC

6:22 PM

Laura...Only the bad ones.

Laura Leff

6:22 PM

Scott - Har har

So what else Benny-wise is on folks' minds this evening?

And does anyone have a request for a show in September?

R. Hookie

6:23 PM

A season premiere, maybe?

Jenny Lerew left the room (user disconnected)

Laura Leff

6:23 PM

Can do that.

Steve Archer

6:23 PM

that sounds good to me.

Laura Leff

6:23 PM

I have one that's coming to mind.

Scott in KC

6:23 PM

Laura.  I saw a photo of Joan Benny recently on Facebook when she was on the TV show "Password." I hope she is doing well.

R. Hookie

6:24 PM

I have that Password on the TV boxed set

Laura Leff

6:24 PM

I E-mailed her just today and teased her that I saw a signed copy of her book on auction with an estimated price of $200-300, saying that her autograph is apparently now worth more than her father's.

Steve Archer

6:24 PM

I got to see Joan a couple of months ago here in Seattle, she is looking great!

Laura Leff

6:24 PM

Joan's pretty amazing.  

Anything else, or should we call it good for this month?

Scott in KC

6:25 PM

Good to hear everyone.  She is amazing.

Laura Leff

6:25 PM

Thanks for being here, Mike!

And everyone...just really want to thanks the folks who ventured here for the first time.

Steve Archer

6:26 PM

Yes!  Don't be strangers

Laura Leff

6:26 PM

Hallo Stranger!

R. Hookie

6:26 PM

Hopefully more will join next time

Scott in KC

6:26 PM

How about the spoof of "High Noon"?   Even Jack fluffs a line.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:26 PM

amusing little story, I have been asked to help out on a PBS American Masters episode about Bob Hope, I pitched that they really needed to do ones on Benny and Anderson. The script for teh Hope one is pretty meager so far

Laura Leff

6:26 PM

Oh, i think we did a chat on that one a while ago.  It's great!

Kathy - Good going.  The A&E Biography on Jack was one of the best such tributes I've seen on him.

Hey, let's do something scandalous and crazy here at the end of the chat.

Kathy - Do you think that Bob Hope really lived to be 100?

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:27 PM

they are asking the NEH for $600K to do this Hope thing. Imagine what fun we could have with $600K

Laura Leff

6:28 PM

Oh man!  The things that could be preserved with that money!

Scott in KC

6:28 PM

Laura....I will keep my clothes on, in spite of it being so hot.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:28 PM

maybe BOB was dead and frozen, packed in next to Ted Williams in hope of a cure for old grouchiness

Laura Leff

6:28 PM

And Walt Disney on the other side.

R. Hookie

6:29 PM

Walt's in the freezer?!?

Steve Archer

6:29 PM

Just his head according to the legend

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:29 PM

how come women never ask to be frozen? we are teh smarter gender

Laura Leff

6:29 PM

I have a real wonder if he died sooner than his 100th because they wanted him to live that long.

Kathy - We get cold feet.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:29 PM

maybe he had a bet with George Burns going

Steve Archer

6:29 PM

I've heard that too Laura but it would seem to be a pretty elaborate conspiracy just to hit a milestone.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:30 PM

hahaha  I don't want to deal with 100 years worth of any old guy, hahaha

Laura Leff

6:30 PM

Yeah, I figured I'd just see if I could dredge up an old rumor.

Weekend at Bob Hope's.

Steve Archer

6:30 PM

Remember when there were the rumors he was dead before he was dead, then he did some credit card commercial, and he looked like he'd actually be better off dead?

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:30 PM

Fidel Castro is doing something similar, but only has gotten to his 80s?

Laura Leff

6:30 PM

Steve - Oh vaguely...

Hey Hookie...you should find that commercial.

R. Hookie

6:31 PM

I don't have it, but I'll look

Laura Leff

6:31 PM

Fidel Castro is doing a credit card commercial?

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:31 PM

and when John Barrymore was dead and stiff, who was it who stole his body and set it up at Errol Flynn's house?

Laura Leff

6:31 PM

I'm going to Cuba, BTW.

Kathy - Seriously?

I don't think I remember that in "Hollywood Babylon."

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:32 PM

beware the Dulce de Leche (a Guys and Dolls reference)

Laura Leff

6:33 PM

I've been to Argentina.  The Dulce de Leche and I are on good terms.  

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:33 PM

definitely true with Barrymore, speculation with Castro

Laura Leff

6:33 PM

Kathy - So curious...what's the story about Barrymore?

Scott in KC

6:33 PM

Wikipedia says Castro is 88.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:33 PM

so says wikipedia, hahahaha

Steve Archer

6:33 PM

It was some director, right Kathy

I have heard that story.

Laura Leff

6:34 PM

Maybe I have, but I'm not remembering it.

Scott in KC

6:34 PM

Kathy....That's my main source of the truth next to Fox News.  

Steve Archer

6:34 PM

Aha.  Raoul Walsh.  Is there nothing the google can't do.

Laura Leff

6:34 PM

(But "Hollywood Babylon" is a truly guilty pleasure of mine.)

Oh those crazy Hollywood directors...always stealing corpses...

Why at Errol Flynn's house?

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:35 PM

Barrymore died of something like cirrohsis of the liver, and Flynn's buddies  ( I would not put it past WC Fields or David Niven) stole the body and set him up at Flynn's house, scotch in his hand, and freaked Errol out, haha IRONICALLY Eddie Anderson was one of the last folks to see Barrymore alive at the hospital

Steve Archer

6:35 PM

Someone recently stole F.W. Murnau's head, don't know if you saw that one.

Laura Leff

6:35 PM

I'll be daggone!

Yeah, I did hear about that.

I want to steal the head of a Lumiere brother.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:36 PM

because Flynn was a drunkard and superstitious. .YES STeve, that is very freaky about poor FW Murnau's head

Laura Leff

6:36 PM

Or King Vidor.

Steve Archer

6:36 PM

I think Peter Lorre's corpse was stolen for a while there too.

Who are these people with such lofty ambitions?

Laura Leff

6:37 PM

Oh my!  Hadn't heard that one...

I'd be pretty freaked out and upset if I came home to find a corpse drinking my good scotch.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:37 PM

remember that Charlie chaplin's body was stolen soon after he died, 1975? about the time that Francisco Franco was still dead

Laura Leff

6:37 PM

Who needs the Halloween background?

Kathy - LOL

So how do they get these things back?  Got to be a pun in there somewhere of turning oneself in.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:38 PM

luckily Jack's sarcophogus (sp) seems well sealed

Scott in KC

6:38 PM

Laura...Easy, you go to a head shop.

R. Hookie

6:38 PM

<------ reading in shock.......

Laura Leff

6:39 PM

Yeah, and Jack's section was sealed before Mary was laid to rest.  He's on the bottom y'know.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:39 PM

the finders feel it in their bones? they are determined to get ahead?

R. Hookie

6:39 PM

head shop...  that's not whats there!

Laura Leff

6:39 PM

I knew there were puns in there somewhere

When I was in high school, people actually believed that I had stolen Jack's body and had it in my closet at home.  Kids.  What goes on with these kids today?

Gullible.

R. Hookie

6:40 PM

Bye Bye Birdie?

Laura Leff

6:40 PM

Ed Sullivan!

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:40 PM

too many zombie movies, and zombie books! Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, ets

Laura Leff

6:41 PM

And vampire stuff.

Vampire diaries, Twilight, etc.

Steve Archer

6:41 PM

I agree Kathy.  They even have zombie Archie comics!

R. Hookie

6:41 PM

eyeroll

Laura Leff

6:41 PM

Oy

Steve Archer

6:41 PM

Jughead eating brains, the world we live in.

R. Hookie

6:41 PM

Oy is right

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:42 PM

vampires are the new emotionally sensitives and vulnerables. While you can do hideous things to zombie bodies that would draw howls of protest if you did to live bodies

Laura Leff

6:42 PM

*Mentally hearing the sound of a car screeching off the road*

Josef Silvia joined the room

Laura Leff

6:42 PM

Hi Josef!  What an odd conversation you just walked in on...

Josef Silvia

6:42 PM

Hi Laura. What's the convo?

R. Hookie

6:42 PM

My idea of emotionally sensitive is Edith Bunker

Laura Leff

6:42 PM

Vampires are vulnerable?  Why, because of the light?

Steve Archer

6:42 PM

Hi Josef

Josef Silvia

6:43 PM

Hi Steve

R. Hookie

6:43 PM

Hi Josef

Josef Silvia

6:43 PM

Hi Hookie

Scott in KC

6:43 PM

Well, good people, it was nice to see everyone.  My alarm sounds off pretty early.  Good night, and, as always, Laura, thank you for all your hard work regarding Jack Benny and his life.

Laura Leff

6:43 PM

Edith Bunker is a vampire?

Steve Archer

6:43 PM

No, they're just misunderstood and angsty all the time nowadays instead of good ole Christopher Lee (RIP) type bloodsuckers.

Laura Leff

6:43 PM

So glad you could join us Scott!

Steve Archer

6:43 PM

Night Scott

R. Hookie

6:43 PM

She was  bit by Mrs. Jefferson

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:43 PM

Edith can be only killed by a shopping cart full of cans of cling peaches

Scott in KC

6:43 PM

Good night!  Blessings!

Josef Silvia

6:44 PM

what?

Laura Leff

6:44 PM

Sounds like of like the original literature version of Leroux's Phantom of the Opera

Hookie - Talk about movin' on up.

R. Hookie

6:44 PM

Edith died of a stroke in the spinoff, I thnk

Josef Silvia

6:45 PM

Yes she did.

Laura Leff

6:45 PM

I remember the episode where Archie comes home to deal with her death.  If that doesn't make you cry, you're not human.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:45 PM

so, I will have to post this to the facebook group -- I can play one Benny radio show for 150 freshmen this fall, which shall it be?

poor Edith

Josef Silvia

6:45 PM

It was the beginning of the first season of Archie Bunker's place.

Scott in KC left the room (user disconnected)

Laura Leff

6:45 PM

Kathy - What about the one for the chat tonight?

R. Hookie

6:45 PM

Second season

Josef Silvia

6:45 PM

That

s right

Laura Leff

6:46 PM

Or Jack gives a bum 50 cents.  That seems to be the one most people cite to me as their favorite.

R. Hookie

6:46 PM

She is alive and in few episodes of season 1

Steve Archer

6:46 PM

Kathy, I'd go with the "Your Money or Your Life" or one of the Christmas Shopping ones.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:46 PM

maybe they invented the phrase "jumped the shark" for episodes like that , which should have ended a series

Steve Archer

6:46 PM

Or the fifty cents.

Another good choice.

Laura Leff

6:46 PM

Kathy - You know what inspired "jump the shark" right?

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:46 PM

I LOVE the Bum and 50 cents episode!!!!!!

Laura Leff

6:46 PM

I think you have a winner.

Josef Silvia

6:46 PM

The fifty cents is a good choice. Love that episode too

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:47 PM

Fonzie and a shark?

Laura Leff

6:47 PM

Yeah that's it.

Mike Januszewski

6:47 PM

Try the episode from 40-05-05, Clown Hall Tonight.  You can introduce them to Benny and Fred Allen's shows at once.

R. Hookie

6:47 PM

I have the "jump the shark" episode of Happy Days

Laura Leff

6:47 PM

That Fonzie was so unbelievably cool that he was able to levitate over a shark when waterskiing.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:47 PM

I only learned it last year, always the last to know

Josef Silvia

6:48 PM

After that episode, it seemed Happy Days could get away with anything

Laura Leff

6:48 PM

Or not.

R. Hookie

6:48 PM

why not? he started the jukebox without a nickel

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:48 PM

great idea, Mike, I also love King for a Day, or Fred invading Jack's stage show, claiming that he wants his admission charge back

Steve Archer

6:48 PM

So - did Jack have a "jump the shark" moment?

Mike Januszewski

6:48 PM

Kathy, also good choices.

Laura Leff

6:48 PM

Kathy - That's a film short though, and is mostly Fred making Jack laugh.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:48 PM

great question, Steve!

Laura Leff

6:49 PM

Steve - Excellent question, and a long-debated one.

R. Hookie

6:49 PM

Going weekly with alternating sponsors

Josef Silvia

6:49 PM

What would it be?

Laura Leff

6:49 PM

Radio or TV?

He absolutely jumped the shark on TV

Steve Archer

6:49 PM

I don't think there really is one, but the loss of Phil comes close for radio.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:49 PM

the sad last EAster parade show on radio, 1954? so lifeless

Laura Leff

6:49 PM

Steve - That's what I was thinking of for radio.

Steve Archer

6:50 PM

And Mary and Phil being mostly MIA for TV

Josef Silvia

6:50 PM

The radio show changed a lot when Phil left.

Laura Leff

6:50 PM

I'd have to look at the last season on TV to find a show and point to it in jumping the shark, but a lot of them from that season were beyond painful to watch.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:51 PM

about the fifth attempt at Cimarron roles also gets sad

Laura Leff

6:51 PM

Many people have pointed to the Kingston Trio show as their least favorite TV ep

But they haven't seen the cat burglar episode.  I have.  And I want to talk about it as much as I want to talk about Jet Benny.

R. Hookie

6:51 PM

When the show moved to NBC

Josef Silvia

6:51 PM

I always thought the fact that Jack was insisting on his age being 39 on TV when you could visibly see he was getting much older just felt odd

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:52 PM

that later 60ss TV special with the dancers lackadaisically singing about a carnival is also pretty lame

R. Hookie

6:52 PM

Wow, NBC still kills shows

Laura Leff

6:52 PM

Josef - And that's why he decided to quit doing it.  It was just getting too ludicrous.

Steve Archer

6:52 PM

I think it's negated by the fact that the specials are pretty good.  The bad last year of weekly shows are just kind of a blip in the long career, so I don't see it as a true "shark jump" in that there's never any recovery.

Josef Silvia

6:53 PM

I think even with the loss of Phil, Jack was pretty consistent on radio. TV did him in.

Laura Leff

6:53 PM

That's an interesting point.  I think the series jumps it and never recovers, although that's not to say that every episode is bad in the final season.  The one we put in the lost episodes is pretty cute, I think.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:53 PM

great idea, Steve, AND he was on weekly, far too much for him to be effective?

Laura Leff

6:53 PM

It's interesting to keep that concept in mind when watching the Mike Wallace show.  It kind of ends up that they are right...

(Grabbing Volume 3 to flip through the final season)

Steve Archer

6:54 PM

Jack even notes that in SNAS - TV grinds you up a lot faster than radio.

Laura Leff

6:54 PM

Fred Allen agrees.  And Jack wasn't a comedian who did physical comedy.

Josef Silvia

6:54 PM

Yes he does. Gosh I haven't read that book in a while.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:54 PM

especially when you were in your late 60s and 70s!

Laura Leff

6:55 PM

OK...the Lucille Ball episode is from the last season.  Thumbs up or down?

Steve Archer

6:55 PM

Jack REACTING to physical schtick is some of the funniest stuff ever though.

Thumbs down Laura.

Josef Silvia

6:56 PM

And there's only so many monologues you can do on TV

R. Hookie

6:56 PM

Was that the Lucy ties Jack to the bed one?

Laura Leff

6:56 PM

Yeah, I wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one who thinks that's not a great show, even if they are legends.

Hookie - That's it.  He's Paul Revere.

Josef Silvia

6:57 PM

I don't think I've seen that show

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

6:57 PM

too old to do weekly sitcoms : )

Laura Leff

6:57 PM

I've got the episode where I say it jumped the shark.  But I don't think any of you have seen it because it's not in circulation.

11/6/64.

R. Hookie

6:57 PM

Right... not terrible... but not a favorite

Steve Archer