IJBFC Chat - August 14, 2016
(Name of message originator appears after the timestamp)
[5:11 PM] Laura Leff: So what's the release date of the
book, Kathy?
[5:12 PM] Laura Leff: Can I pre-order it yet?
[5:12 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: so sorry! The clueless
ticket agent suggested at 4:40 that I could take a taxi down to LAX for a flight
leaving at 6...... yeah, right. But anyway
[5:12 PM] Laura Leff: Sheesh
[5:13 PM] Steve Archer: Sounds like my experience with
Orbitz - never again!
[5:13 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: academic publishing takes
FOREVER!!!! I am hoping by 10 months from now, next June. Working on
illustrations now, its a huge pain to get photos of famous people (all previous
pubs have been about unknown folks in 1900)
[5:14 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Laura, you can get the
special five-finger discount, as well as chat members who ask nicely :
) but about 10 months away
[5:14 PM] Laura Leff: OK. I know we'll have
some sales from our membership!
[5:14 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: oh I hope so!
[5:14 PM] Laura Leff: :D
[5:14 PM] Steve Archer: Can you remind us of the general
gist of your book Kathy?
[5:14 PM] Steve Archer: Hi Brad
[5:14 PM] Laura Leff: Hi Brad
[5:14 PM] Brad Strickland: Hi, all.
[5:15 PM] R.Hookie: Hi Brad!
[5:15 PM] Brad Strickland: BTW, my daughter-in-law works
for Delta. Anyone having problems, let me know....
[5:15 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: that is so kind of you to
ask, Steve!!! I am focusing on Benny's radio career, how he and writers
developed the fall guy character, chapters on Mary and Rochester, stuff on how
he dealt with advertising, the movies, evil radio critics, and how difficult it
was to move to tv.
[5:16 PM] R.Hookie: I'm interested
[5:16 PM] Steve Archer: Nice, count me in! I
couldn't remember if it had more scope than just Jack, remember you working on
the book.
[5:16 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: what, Brad, you don't LIKE
your daughter in law? haha I am just kidding, the things we say to
the poor folks who interface with soul-less corporations, haha
[5:16 PM] Brad Strickland: Kathy, was Jack the first to
integrate commercials with the fictional world of the program?
[5:17 PM] Steve Archer: Delta had really improved over the
last several years and then they had this kablooey...hopefully back on their
feet soon.
[5:17 PM] Brad Strickland: SRSLY, Becca (our
daughter-in-law) has saved our bacon several times when Delta overbooked and
bumped us....
[5:18 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: hooray for Delta, that
marvelous Atlanta Company!
[5:18 PM] Brad Strickland: Whole problem? Their tech guys
didn't make sure their main bank of servers had an emergency backup energy
source. We're not even that close to Hapeville, where Delta's operations
department is, and we lost power too that night. Heck of a storm.
[5:19 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Brad, its always splitting
hairs to say who was FIRST. Ed Wynn would say he was the first, making fun of
Texaco in firechief commercials. But the trade journals gave Benny big kudos for
continually making it innovative and funny
[5:19 PM] Laura Leff: I've been working in IT
infrastructure lately. That's just a no-brainer.
[5:19 PM] Steve Archer: I hope they don't have the same
policy with the planes
[5:19 PM] Laura Leff: Kathy - Good answer. I
was thinking of Ed Wynn too.
[5:20 PM] Brad Strickland: Kathy--speaking of which, last
night Barbara and I went up to Gainesville, GA, to a concert by Loretta Lynn
(yes, she's still around) and I ran into my best friend from elementary
school--Douglas Ivester, former CEO of Coca-Cola.
[5:20 PM] R.Hookie: Ugggg.... be right back.....
[5:20 PM] Brad Strickland: Another great Atlanta
company....
[5:21 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: as a grad of Agnes Scott
College, I am grateful to the local companies that ante-up'd scholarship money.
: )
[5:21 PM] Steve Archer: Favorite Loretta-Conway duet:
"You're the Reason Our Kids are Ugly". That just popped
into my head.
[5:21 PM] Laura Leff: Loretta Lynn, whose oldest son is
named Jack Benny.
[5:21 PM] Brad Strickland: Was proud of Barbara--she's
three weeks out of full knee-replacement surgery, and with the help of a rolling
walker, she came through the concert with no major pains or problems.
[5:21 PM] Steve Archer: Geez, I hope Jack Benny Lynn really
isn't all that ugly.
[5:21 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: So does Douglas ivester hand
out little souvenir bottles or wear a lot of red? haha
[5:22 PM] Brad Strickland: One of her sons was there,
playing guitar. Don't know if it was Jack. He just said, "Here's my mama,
Loretta Lynn." Two of her daughters were there, too, singing backup, and
her seventeen-year-old granddaugher, too, singing songs she wrote.
[5:22 PM] Laura Leff: No, I think Jack Benny Lynn died a
while back.
[5:22 PM] Brad Strickland: Kathy, not so much. He was CEO
when they introduced New Coke . . . and he retired right after that! Got a $75
million dollar golden parachute, though.
[5:22 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: wow, that is great that
Loretta's family supports her! Has anybody seen Florence Foster Jenkins w Meryl
STreep yet, speaking of singing
[5:23 PM] Brad Strickland: Haven't seen it.
[5:23 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: FFJ could have sung about
when the swallows go back to capistrano
[5:23 PM] HipChat: Hi @ZachEastman! Welcome to Hipchat. You
can @-mention me by typing @HipChat and I'll tell you what HipChat can do!
[5:23 PM] Brad Strickland: Hllo, Zach
[5:23 PM] Laura Leff: Woo hoo!
[5:23 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: its GREAT and the costumes
are amazing, movie is sweet and funny
[5:23 PM] Laura Leff: Welcome in, Zach!
[5:23 PM] Steve Archer: Hiya Zach!
[5:23 PM] Zach Eastman: Jello again, this is zach talking
[5:24 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: hello Zach
[5:24 PM] R.Hookie: Hi Zach
[5:24 PM] Brad Strickland: Forgive my typos tonight. This
morning my dog dislocated my left arm.
[5:24 PM] Laura Leff: Hey Zach...you've got a bunch of
veterans in the room. Want to reveal your past handle on the Forum?
[5:24 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: I am so sorry Brad, hope he
did not try to bury you as well!
[5:24 PM] Steve Archer: I definitely remember Zach from the
forum. Welcome to the chat!
[5:25 PM] Brad Strickland: No, both dogs were chasing
toads. Our back yard has a plethora of toads. I'm planning to rename the place
Toad Hall.
[5:25 PM] Laura Leff: He now qualifies for JackBennyAdult...not
just ZEJackBennyKid!
[5:25 PM] Steve Archer: Time flies!
[5:25 PM] Brad Strickland: Aha! I recollect that young'un!
[5:26 PM] Zach Eastman: Ha! Thanks @LauraLeff past was
consistant on on goal @BradStrickland ... Too get a jack benny movie made
[5:26 PM] R.Hookie: So, he turned 39?
[5:26 PM] Zach Eastman: I wish
[5:26 PM] Zach Eastman: Only 25
[5:26 PM] R.Hookie: I was 25........ was
[5:26 PM] Zach Eastman: Same age that steve bradley wanted
jack to be
[5:27 PM] Laura Leff: Almost the same age Jack claimed on
the Fred Allen program.
[5:27 PM] Brad Strickland: Hey, Alex Hirsh, creator of
"Gravity Falls," is looking for a new cartoon series to produce for
Fox....how about a Jack Benny cartoon version of the show?
[5:27 PM] Zach Eastman: I come before the chat to ask a
sacred question
[5:27 PM] Brad Strickland: Ask away, ye supplicant.
[5:27 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: drum roll....
[5:27 PM] Brad Strickland: Hey, quit rollin' them drums!
You're gonna trip Remley up!
[5:28 PM] Zach Eastman: If you could see any moment of
bennys history on screen, what would it be
[5:28 PM] Zach Eastman: Remley was with me in spirit
[5:28 PM] R.Hookie: Movie or TV?
[5:28 PM] Zach Eastman: Movie
[5:28 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: the struggles of learning
how to move from radio to TV, done in black and white like the Ed Murrow movie
[5:29 PM] Brad Strickland: I'd think I'd like to see Jack's
first venture into radio . . . beginning with his "first" (but not
really) appearance on radio with Ed Sullivan.
[5:29 PM] Zach Eastman: Im an independent screenwriter
writing a script about jack
[5:29 PM] R.Hookie: I have a lot on DVD, but not Buck Benny
[5:29 PM] Laura Leff: Hookie - We can fix that.
[5:29 PM] Laura Leff: I'd like to see that TV pilot from
1949.
[5:29 PM] Steve Archer: I think a beautiful on-screen
moment would be Jack cracking up uncontrollably at some dumb George Burns gag.
[5:29 PM] R.Hookie: Thanks...
[5:29 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: or the USO adventures?
[5:29 PM] Zach Eastman: @BradStrickland i plan on
addressing that in a unique way
[5:30 PM] R.Hookie: I thought you had the pilot?
[5:30 PM] Laura Leff: Not the TV pilot.
[5:30 PM] Brad Strickland: Zach, how about the story of
Jack's and Mary's meeting, romance, marriage, and teaming? You could even use
Mary's cousins the Marx Brothers as characters ;p
[5:30 PM] Laura Leff: I've got the first episode.
[5:30 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: the gem smuggling trial, for
the nail-biting tensioni
[5:30 PM] Laura Leff: Brad is baiting me.
[5:30 PM] R.Hookie: With Dinah Shore?
[5:30 PM] Zach Eastman: @SteveArcher thats the first scene
of the movie thus far
[5:31 PM] Brad Strickland: Who'd bite on Dinah Shore?
[5:31 PM] Laura Leff: Actually, that would be
fun. Let's see what REALLY happened that night at the Seder when
Jack first met Mary!
[5:31 PM] Brad Strickland: Why was that night unlike all
other nights?
[5:31 PM] HipChat: Hi @MMitchellMarmel! Welcome to Hipchat.
You can @-mention me by typing @HipChat and I'll tell you what HipChat can do!
[5:32 PM] Zach Eastman: @BradStrickland part of that is
addressed but its mainly a story about jack addressing carnagie hall. I want to
include mary bits by the dozen though
[5:32 PM] Brad Strickland: "In a world where a family
dinner changes a man's destiny . . . why was that night . . . unlike all other
nights. . . "
[5:32 PM] Laura Leff: And I'd also like to see what really
happened the night they had dinner with Babe and Al Bernovici, and who ignored
whom and who was smitten with whom!
[5:32 PM] R.Hookie: So, there is a missing TV pilot....
ooooo..... I did NOT know that!
[5:32 PM] Laura Leff: Welcome in, Mitch!
[5:32 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: Thankee! :D
[5:32 PM] Brad Strickland: Hi, Mitch!
[5:32 PM] Laura Leff: Hookie - Isaac Stern was on it, but
when I asked him about it, he had no member of it.
[5:32 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: is the TV pilot the show he
did in LA in 1949?
[5:33 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: A missing TV
pilot? Sounds like a job for Steve Canyon or Sky
King! :D
[5:33 PM] Zach Eastman: Also @SteveArcher georges gags were
genius
[5:33 PM] Laura Leff: Kathy - That's it.
[5:33 PM] Zach Eastman: ;)
[5:33 PM] Steve Archer: True Zach :)
[5:33 PM] Laura Leff: Also the Andrews Sisters and Lum and
Abner.
[5:33 PM] Brad Strickland: "Out of the clear blue of
the Western sky comes . . . Sky King!"
[5:33 PM] Laura Leff: And Jack does the Zeke Benny routine.
[5:33 PM] R.Hookie: Now that's interesting.... would there
be a kinescope somewhere?
[5:33 PM] Steve Archer: I think Jack's breakup with Mary
Kelly and meeting her again years later would be poignant in a movie too.
[5:34 PM] Laura Leff: Hookie - Not that I've
found. But you know me. I'll keep looking.
[5:34 PM] Brad Strickland: Reveal that the Andrews Sisters
and Lum and Abner were actually THE SAME PEOPLE!
[5:34 PM] Laura Leff: Steve - Oh, very much so.
[5:34 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: and one of the violinists,
Perlman?
[5:34 PM] Brad Strickland: I thought Perlman wrote for the
Marx Brothers.
[5:34 PM] Laura Leff: Kathy - Stern. Perlman's
way too young.
[5:34 PM] Brad Strickland: Or maybe Lever Brothers.
[5:34 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: I was just watching the Zeke
Benny bit with Dorothy Shay the other day. That girl playing
Zeke's wife was SPECTACULAR at maintaining a deadpan!
[5:34 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: yeah, Stern. The LA
reviewers were vicious!
[5:34 PM] Laura Leff: Oh, I've got another moment that I'd
really like to see what was truth and fiction.
[5:35 PM] Zach Eastman: Stern is the main co star of the
script thus far
[5:35 PM] Laura Leff: When Mary first scratched her fingers
down Jack's face, leading him to go onstage with his hand covering it.
[5:35 PM] Brad Strickland: Well, of course include the most
famous blooper moments as a kind of montage, from "Grass reek" to
"Drear Pooson."
[5:36 PM] Laura Leff: Kathy - Ah, I don't think I've seen
the reviews! There is a Life Magazine (IIRC) photo from it.
[5:36 PM] Zach Eastman: DREER POOSEN is my favorite bluff
[5:36 PM] Laura Leff: Mitch - One of the other minor
players on that show swore to me that girl went onto be a member of the Manson
family! But he was wrong.
[5:36 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: I'll send them, they are
scary haha
[5:36 PM] Brad Strickland: Zach, I'm sure you read Laura's
interview with Frnk Nelson in which he talked about the blooper.
[5:37 PM] Steve Archer: You know, when Jack tells that
story about the scratches in the interview with David Frost he implies he was
talking to Mary Kelly, that upset Mary L.
[5:37 PM] Laura Leff: Looking forward to seeing them.
[5:37 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: 'Specially with Frank Nelson
delivering the Dreer Pooson line..
[5:37 PM] Laura Leff: Steve - Hmmm...I've heard a number of
versions of that story, but I'm pretty sure that one is crossed wires on Jack's
part.
[5:37 PM] Brad Strickland: See, the a is on my left side,
and that's my dog-mangled arm.
[5:37 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: its great to see it
scratched into a script in the Wyoming collection (the Poosen rejoinder, not a
Mary Kelly rejoinder)
[5:38 PM] Steve Archer: Could be, I just remember him
saying "after all, I almost married that girl"
[5:38 PM] Laura Leff: Kathy - In the Wyoming
collection? I saw that at UCLA, I thought.
[5:38 PM] Laura Leff: Steve - You may be right...it's been
a while since I watched the Frost interview, but it's one of the best.
[5:38 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: I haven't gotten that far in
UCLA scripts, I have a xerox I think, mroe things to send.... of course, it
could have been added to several scripts
[5:39 PM] Zach Eastman: Where can the frost interview be
accesssed
[5:39 PM] Laura Leff: Or maybe from TobaccoDocuments.
[5:39 PM] Zach Eastman: Just ucla archives?
[5:39 PM] Steve Archer: Laura's got it in the club library
Zach
[5:39 PM] Laura Leff: Zack - IJBFC library for one, for
another I can't say.
[5:39 PM] Laura Leff: Oh hey, who wants to know a secret?
[5:39 PM] Zach Eastman: Then ill send some more dvds to you
for the research
[5:39 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: I do I do
[5:40 PM] Brad Strickland: I believe Jack had the show-biz
habit of adapting and improving stories as the years went on. Very, very common;
a story an old actor once told about, oh, Marlon Brando in yesteryear morphs
into one about Daniel Day-Lewis in more recent interviews.
[5:40 PM] Laura Leff: Sounds good. Let me know
when you send them so I check the PO box.
[5:40 PM] Laura Leff: Brad - That's exactly true.
[5:40 PM] R.Hookie: What's this secret?
[5:40 PM] Steve Archer: Yep, I believe it
Brad. But not sure what the "authoritative" version of
that story is.
[5:41 PM] Brad Strickland: Do we have to sign an NDA?
[5:41 PM] Laura Leff: So...in a couple weeks, I'm having
dinner with someone (credentialed) who is starting with the intention of writing
the "definitive Jack Benny biography."
[5:41 PM] Brad Strickland: More power to (credentialed!)
[5:41 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: well, the more pubs the
merrier, a Benny Renaissance
[5:41 PM] Steve Archer: Please not Kitty Kelley
[5:41 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: Woo-hoo!
[5:41 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: LOL
[5:41 PM] Laura Leff: So we have a "soon" to be
published Benny author, a Benny scriptwriter, and maybe Jerry will join us one
of these days.
[5:42 PM] Zach Eastman: Awesome. So far i have some stories
to go off of for the script. Any other anecdotes youd want to see . Right now i
have the jeanette mcdonald bit from george and the bing crosby gaff
[5:42 PM] R.Hookie: Hmmmm...
[5:42 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: I'm waiting for my Benny fix
from Amazon. :D
[5:42 PM] Laura Leff: Well, you can do the more R-rated
version of the Mary scratches Jack's cheek story, but I can't confirm that it's
true.
[5:43 PM] Brad Strickland: Kind of a sad moment . . . when
Jack got caught up watching "Bonanza," realized he'd missed his own
show, and then it dawned on him that his time in weekly TV was over.
[5:43 PM] Laura Leff: Brad - Yes, I second that.
[5:43 PM] Zach Eastman: Oooooo
[5:43 PM] Laura Leff: Zach - There are so many.
[5:43 PM] Brad Strickland: Laura, is that the one with the
naked actress, the performing seal, and the penguins?
[5:43 PM] Zach Eastman: I like that
[5:44 PM] Laura Leff: Brad - Just the naked actress and the
pig with lipstick.
[5:44 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: and don't forget the
Japanese flash act
[5:44 PM] Steve Archer: Didn't Joan have a story about Jack
and Mel Blanc going water skiing? If you need an action sequence
Zach.
[5:44 PM] Laura Leff: Huh...I think I've seen photos from
that. Maybe in Joan's book.
[5:44 PM] Brad Strickland: Oh, right, the naked actress and
the penguins were part of the Loretta Lynn concert last night. (Can you tell I'm
taking painkillers?)
[5:44 PM] Zach Eastman: Steve- funny you mention action
[5:44 PM] Laura Leff: Well, you've got to do the smuggling
case.
[5:45 PM] Zach Eastman: Theres a car sequence in the
script, but its with jack and the REAL frankie remly
[5:45 PM] Laura Leff: Ah, perfect Zach.
[5:45 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: please let a Benny biography
be better than the Zoglin Hope one, which was OK but never captured what was
funny about the guy
[5:45 PM] Laura Leff: And better than the McFadden
article. But that's setting the bar below sea level.
[5:46 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: woof!
[5:46 PM] Laura Leff: Although...Jack got into Confidential
magazine because of wearing drag. So I don't know how you want to
deal with the whole sexuality question.
[5:46 PM] Zach Eastman: My benny is a lot more confident.
An aspiring adventurer at times but mostly trapped by insecurities with the
violin
[5:46 PM] Brad Strickland: Ya know what I'd kind of like?
Not really "true," but true to life: Joe Kearns, who was in many, many
Benny (Benny) shows, was all over the place in old-time radio. Be nice to see
him hurry into the studio, do Ed the Guard for Jack, and rush off to be in
"Philip Marlowe."
[5:47 PM] Zach Eastman: This film is mainly about jacks
relationship to the violin
[5:47 PM] R.Hookie: Dressed as Gracie?
[5:47 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: hooray, more like the Jack
and Marilyn National Enquirer article in the steam room
[5:47 PM] Laura Leff: Kathy - Oh man, you're not kidding!
[5:47 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: I'm actually mulling over a
Jack Benny/My Little Pony crossover. You'd have Jack Pony, Mare
Livingston, Dennis Dray, Phil Harness, Don Wiltin, Dorchester...
[5:47 PM] Zach Eastman: The title is STRADIVARIUS 1729
[5:47 PM] Laura Leff: Zach - I presume you've heard the
fictionalized story on the record he did with Stern, right?
[5:48 PM] Laura Leff: Mitch - Wah wah wah wahhhhh
[5:48 PM] Zach Eastman: No i havent.
[5:48 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: ;)
[5:48 PM] Laura Leff: Zach - "Jack Benny Plays the Bee
(ably assisted by Isaac Stern)"
[5:49 PM] Laura Leff: The story is completely bogus, but
definitely stuff you'd want to hear anyway.
[5:49 PM] Zach Eastman: I guess i need to know. Whats the
story and what happened
[5:49 PM] Laura Leff: Oh, and I'm sure you read the article
in the previous Times issue about the guy who fired Jack in the Waukegan band.
[5:49 PM] Brad Strickland: Zach--on one of the Warner Bros
cartoon collections, the commentary mentions that Jack did NOT do the violin
performance in "The Mouse that Jack Built," and the actual violinist
had an awful time sounding, well, awful. the comment was something like
"The violinist said, 'I'm not good enough to be able to play that
badly!'"
[5:50 PM] Laura Leff: Zach - It's Jack explaining how he
became a bad violinist (spoiler: there was a curse put on him).
[5:50 PM] Brad Strickland: By Professor Le Blanc.
[5:50 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: or the cat whose gut got
sacrificed....
[5:50 PM] Zach Eastman: Yes, please tell me
[5:51 PM] Brad Strickland: (Zach, you have to include at
least one Professor LeBlanc "lesson")
[5:51 PM] Zach Eastman: Please tell me
[5:51 PM] Brad Strickland: You have to ask three times.
It's like Beetlejuice.
[5:51 PM] Laura Leff: Zach - Which? Not sure
to which statement you're saying that.
[5:52 PM] Zach Eastman: Sorry, my feed went off laura
[5:52 PM] Brad Strickland: I think Zach wanted the curse
story.
[5:52 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Bing Crosby, "please
listen to my pleas" John Lennon "please please me oh
yeah, like I please you"
[5:52 PM] Steve Archer: The Jack-dressed-as-gypsy going
over to Lucy's house with the violin then getting locked out of his own house
when the tour bus comes by story would be appropriate, too.
[5:52 PM] Laura Leff: It takes two sides of an
LP. Best to just hear the record.
[5:52 PM] Zach Eastman: Id love to know the true story. The
curse also sounds awesome
[5:52 PM] Laura Leff: Steve - Oh my, yes.
[5:53 PM] Laura Leff: Zach - Well, gee...you got a couple
hours? :)
[5:54 PM] Zach Eastman: I got many hours. Im listening to a
broadcast from 45 and editing a short film as i do this
[5:54 PM] Zach Eastman: :)
[5:54 PM] Laura Leff: I'll try to abbreviate to the
essential facts
[5:54 PM] R.Hookie: That's productive
[5:54 PM] Steve Archer: What, no juggling flaming
chainsaws?
[5:54 PM] Brad Strickland: That's my son's act, btw.
[5:54 PM] Laura Leff: Jack was given his first violin at
age 6. Jewish families all wanted their kids to be Heifetz or
Mischa Elman.
[5:55 PM] Zach Eastman: @SteveArcher im trying that act
next week at the paramount in denver
[5:55 PM] Laura Leff: And he showed a lot of aptitude for
it. Moved up through increasingly senior violin teahers to Hugo
Kortschalk (sp?).
[5:55 PM] Laura Leff: In Chicago.
[5:55 PM] Brad Strickland: (anyone wanting to see my son
juggle: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/juggling.htm )
[5:56 PM] Laura Leff: (^ which reminds me...we haven't even
touched the Fred Allen program for tonight yet...)
[5:56 PM] Laura Leff: He would put on little concerts in
his family's home...always the performer.
[5:57 PM] Laura Leff: Then see the previous issue for the
story from the guy who hired Jack for the little orchestra.
[5:57 PM] Laura Leff: Clearly, there was something innate
with Jack's grasp of the music and the instrument.
[5:58 PM] Laura Leff: Then the Barrison pit (after being
promoted from doorman), the Marx Bros, Cora Salisbury, Lyman Woods, WWI, Zez
Confrey
[5:58 PM] Laura Leff: Then the shift of his act to
be: a) solo (or mostly, with Ned Miller as a plant in the
audience...and later Mary) and b) more focused on comedy.
[5:59 PM] Zach Eastman: Is this a way of saying that jack
was more proficient than we think? Or am i reading it wrong
[5:59 PM] Laura Leff: You should recreate one of the photos
of the Waukegan High school orchestra.
[5:59 PM] Laura Leff: Jack definitely had a natural
aptitude.
[5:59 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: Ever see that ep with
Professor LeBlanc in the psychiatrist's office? Jack played GREAT
in that ep.
[6:00 PM] Zach Eastman: Wow
[6:00 PM] Brad Strickland: Jack could play well when he
wanted to, though I understood he always tuned a bit sharp.
[6:00 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: But asked the doc not to tell
anyone, as it would ruin his reputation. :D
[6:00 PM] Laura Leff: But when he got busy with vaudeville,
he wasn't really practicing serious stuff.
[6:00 PM] Laura Leff: Then finally it was Danny Kaye
introducing Jack to Isaac Stern that made him get serious about the violin
again.
[6:01 PM] Steve Archer: Scenes of the young Jack playing
with Cora Salisbury would be fun - I wonder if she made him play her numbers, I
remember finding some sheet music with her songs about prancing poodles.
[6:01 PM] Laura Leff: Steve - I have one about Lemons and
Limes written by her.
[6:01 PM] Zach Eastman: @LauraLeff so making isaac the co
star is a good idea for this idea then
[6:01 PM] Laura Leff: Zach - Definitely.
[6:02 PM] Zach Eastman: Ive learned a lot tonight
[6:02 PM] Laura Leff: Look up the passages in Jack's
autobiography about him. I had the honor of reading them to Stern
(they start with "I just worship Stern."), and he was completely
thunderstruck.
[6:02 PM] Steve Archer:
File
uploaded: poodlesonparade.jpg
[https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hipchat.com/598646/4257348/utxyCttZjpej5m3/poodlesonparade.jpg]
[6:02 PM] Laura Leff: "I never knew he felt that
way," he said.
[6:03 PM] Brad Strickland: Gee, wasn't that song in "Dumbo?"
[6:03 PM] Laura Leff: (Waiting for Brad to do a dog pun
about the sheet music.)
[6:03 PM] Steve Archer: dog sheet?
[6:03 PM] Laura Leff: Steve - Har har har har
[6:03 PM] Brad Strickland: I'm definitely off dogs after
Trixie yanked me to the concrete this morning before daybreak.
[6:03 PM] Zach Eastman: I read those passages but ...
[6:03 PM] Zach Eastman: Never knew sterns reaction
[6:04 PM] Laura Leff: Yeah, look over the interview I did
with him. I think I captured it all there in the Times.
[6:04 PM] Zach Eastman: If i subscribe, can i get access to
back issues
[6:04 PM] Laura Leff: Well, and look at Jack playing the
Bach Double Violin concerto with Stern at the Carnegie Hall Salutes Jack Benny
show.
[6:05 PM] Laura Leff: Zach - Absolutely. I'm
overdue for publishing 2006+, but the Stern interview is in 2000-2005 bound back
issues.
[6:05 PM] Zach Eastman: Amazing
[6:05 PM] Zach Eastman: Incidentally, as i edit i am
listening to the ray milland episode
[6:06 PM] Laura Leff: Jack Benny fans are very, very
smart. ;)
[6:06 PM] Zach Eastman: It has one of my favorite sketches
[6:06 PM] Laura Leff: Lost Weekend
[6:07 PM] Laura Leff: There's been quite a spirited
discussion on the Facebook group about Jack's "best" sketches.
[6:07 PM] Zach Eastman: I can imagine
[6:07 PM] Laura Leff: Wow...over an hour in, and I haven't
yet asked...who listened to the show for discussion tonight?
[6:07 PM] Steve Archer: I did Laura
[6:07 PM] Zach Eastman: What was the show
[6:08 PM] Laura Leff: 1/10/43 Fred Allen Texaco
[6:08 PM] Steve Archer: Fun to have the "summer
hiatus" shows
[6:08 PM] Laura Leff: And it focuses plenty on Jack and the
violin!
[6:08 PM] Brad Strickland: Off-track (that's the Aleve
kicking in): I mentioned Joe Kearns. I heard a radio adaptation of an Alfred
Hitchcock film (drugs prevent me from remembering which right now), and in it
Joseph Kearns played . . . Alfred Hitchcock. Didn't sound anything like him, but
back in the forties Hitchcock's voice probably wasn't as well-known as it was
after the TV series came along.
[6:08 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: You can trust your
car To the man who wears the star The big red Soviet
star!
[6:08 PM] Laura Leff: Mitch - Har har
[6:08 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: ^.^
[6:09 PM] Laura Leff: Is there any evidence of another
character who is as annoying as Portland anywhere?
[6:10 PM] Brad Strickland: Fran Drescher's voice causes
sterility in men. Well-known fact.
[6:10 PM] Laura Leff: Ah, good point.
[6:10 PM] Laura Leff: But that's more like Iris Adrian.
[6:10 PM] Steve Archer: Yeah, I think there is a storied
history of irritating characters, but Portland needed to modulate that cartoon
voice.
[6:11 PM] Laura Leff: Speaking of which, I think she has
about as many fans as Steve Bradley's character on Jack's show.
[6:11 PM] Brad Strickland: Mary could do a . . . passable
Portland voice. Jack was actually good as Allen.
[6:11 PM] Zach Eastman: I may be in the minority, but i
enjoy Portland
[6:11 PM] Laura Leff: Zach - Forgive me for putting you on
the spot, but explain that! :)
[6:11 PM] Steve Archer: I'm kinda with you Zach, I don't
find her character all that irritating, just the voice.
[6:11 PM] Brad Strickland: Well, Portland's nice this time
of year. Cool, little rain now and then, close to the ocean.
[6:12 PM] Steve Archer: Disdainful hipsters scowling at you
for eating gluten....
[6:12 PM] Brad Strickland: Close to Gravity Falls, too,
come to that.
[6:12 PM] Zach Eastman: Think of what she put up with every
week with Allens adlibbing , the fact she could keep up with allen is beyond me
[6:12 PM] Laura Leff: Steve - Har har har
[6:12 PM] Laura Leff: Zach - You know, that's a really good
point!
[6:13 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: I got a Lionel trolley car in
the Portland paint scheme. :D
[6:13 PM] Laura Leff: Mitch - I think we may have one of
those in San Francisco as well! ;)
[6:13 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: Muni has all the cool
trolleys nowadays. :D
[6:14 PM] Brad Strickland: I recently played a forties PI
for the Atlanta Radio Theatre: "It was raining in Seattle. I looked down
from my office window at crowds of caffeine-addicted pedestrians sloshing
through the sidewalks. The aromas of their exotic blends drifted up like the
smell of fish at a processing plant...."
[6:14 PM] Laura Leff: I kept trying to find who the
concertmaster of the NY Philharmonic in the 1942-43 season, but wasn't able to
do so in time.
[6:14 PM] Brad Strickland: Didn't write it, just acted it.
[6:14 PM] Laura Leff: Oh, we lost Kathy. Did
she say she was leaving?
[6:14 PM] Steve Archer: Maybe she managed to get on a
plane!
[6:14 PM] Brad Strickland: How do we tell who's on? I just
have a bunch of little cartoony things in the upper right corner.
[6:15 PM] Laura Leff: Steve - Oh, good point!
[6:15 PM] Brad Strickland: Never mind. Cicked on it, and
there you are.
[6:15 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: Kathy's still on the list.
[6:15 PM] Brad Strickland: CLicked
[6:15 PM] Laura Leff: Everyone's on the list, but those who
are on have a little green dot.
[6:15 PM] Steve Archer: only the ones with green dots are
actually here.
[6:15 PM] Brad Strickland: Man, am I messed up. Be seein'
weird colors next. If Aleve does this to me, I'm glad I never tried hard drugs,
like B.C. Powders.
[6:15 PM] Laura Leff: So what other thoughts on the show
for tonight?
[6:15 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: For variable definitions of
"all here". :D
[6:16 PM] Zach Eastman: This has me convinced that i should
make an OTR documentary at some point
[6:16 PM] Laura Leff: Guilty as charged.
[6:16 PM] Brad Strickland: I confess I didn't listen to it.
With Barbara's knee surgery and being a househusband, caregiver, and cook (don't
ask), I've been bus.
[6:16 PM] Steve Archer: You can always tell when other
writers are writing Jack....
[6:16 PM] Laura Leff: Zach - You should. The
true version of "Radio Days." Or the OTR version of
"My Favorite Year."
[6:16 PM] Brad Strickland: Busy. BUSY. Not busted.
[6:17 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: Not bussed?
[6:17 PM] Laura Leff: Brad - Of course. It's
the dog who busted you.
[6:17 PM] Laura Leff: Steve - Very true.
[6:17 PM] Brad Strickland: I could tell you horrible
stories of what happens to a dog who has French-kissed a toad. It isn't pretty,
and it involves lots of clean-up.
[6:17 PM] Steve Archer: He's doing Allen style gags, more
wry, more wordplay than he'd ever do on the Benny show.
[6:17 PM] Zach Eastman: @LauraLeff nothing can replace
radio days... Mine would be an homage to the actors forgotten
[6:18 PM] Laura Leff: I really enjoyed his ad-lib of
(approximately) "If you're hoping someone in the audience will give you
better lines, you'll be disappointed."
[6:18 PM] Laura Leff: Zach - I've got a short film for that
time that could give you inspiration. Trying to remember the name
of it...
[6:18 PM] Steve Archer: and "we've got an egg to go
with that pound of butter". Fred's good.
[6:19 PM] Brad Strickland: Steve--Yes, and the other
writers think it's fine just to say, "Cheap. Bad violinist. Toupee!"
As Groucho once said, "The later writers knew my character. They just
didn't know how to write funny things for my character."
[6:19 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: (adds tonight
[6:19 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: tonight's show to iTunes)
[6:19 PM] Laura Leff: Weekend in Hollywood, I believe.
[6:19 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: Groucho made a pretty good
fictional detective.
[6:20 PM] Laura Leff: Or lawyer. Flywheel,
Shyster, and Flywheel.
[6:20 PM] Steve Archer: Occasionally though in guest shots
they use actual material from Benny shows. I wonder if once in a
while Jack brought in his writers to to some emergency triage on really bad
material from other shows.
[6:21 PM] Laura Leff: Steve - I wouldn't be the least bit
surprised. Heck, Hal and Al were tasked with reworking old scripts
in the 50s to come up with "new" shows.
[6:21 PM] Steve Archer: Probably a delicate balancing act
so as not to offend the star of whatever show he was guesting on.
[6:21 PM] Brad Strickland: Back when I was in college (and
Groucho was alive), I used to correspond with the mystery writer Ross Macdonald
(really Kenneth Millar). In one of his books there's an elderly,
poverty-stricken former banker who shuffls around and speaks "like a
disillusioned comedian." For a short time there was movie interest in the
book, and I suggested to Macdonald "that's a great role for Groucho
Marx!" He agreed . . . but the movie wasn't made.
[6:21 PM] Laura Leff: Or offend his/her writing staff.
[6:22 PM] Steve Archer: Right.
[6:22 PM] Laura Leff: So what else Benny-wise is on
everyone's mind tonight?
[6:22 PM] Laura Leff: And any recommendations for a show
for next month?
[6:23 PM] Steve Archer: Let's do one of those really early
shows. Haven't dived into that pool in a while.
[6:23 PM] Brad Strickland: September, September . . . how
about a show involving working folk in honor of Labor Day? Or a show about
someone having a baby, same reason?
[6:23 PM] Steve Archer: The primordial Jack Benny.
[6:23 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: I'm reading this
now: http://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-kenny-baker-quit-jack-benny.html
[6:23 PM] Laura Leff: I should read that. I
get asked it a lot.
[6:24 PM] Brad Strickland: One gets the impression of some
friction there at the parting of the ways.
[6:24 PM] Steve Archer: When I saw the headlines about the
"other" Kenny Baker dying recently, I thought - wasn't he gone 30
years ago?
[6:24 PM] Laura Leff: Oh, I presume the R2D2 Kenny Baker
[6:24 PM] Steve Archer: Shows you I'm more a JB than R2D2
fan.
[6:24 PM] Brad Strickland: Oh, yes. R.I.P. R2D2.
[6:24 PM] Zach Eastman: I would love to talk Benny episode
where rochester was lost at sea
[6:25 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: Heh. Now I'm
envisioning Artoo Deetoo as a tenor...
[6:25 PM] Laura Leff: Aha! Good thought...
[6:25 PM] Laura Leff: (Roch lost at sea)
[6:25 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: Yes! That was an
interesting story...
[6:25 PM] Laura Leff: OK, done.
[6:25 PM] Brad Strickland: "Sing, R2." "Boop-beep-beedly-beep."
"That droid drives me CRAZY."
[6:25 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: LOL
[6:25 PM] Zach Eastman: I know its based on a true story
and would love to discuss the randomness of that particular episode
[6:26 PM] Laura Leff: You missed the
pun. "That droid drives me NUTS. And BOLTS."
[6:26 PM] Laura Leff: Zach - Then we shall do that in
September!
[6:26 PM] Zach Eastman: BOOM
[6:26 PM] Brad Strickland: Hey, babes, I'm all drugged up
here.
[6:26 PM] Steve Archer: (thumbsup)
[6:26 PM] Laura Leff: OK, sounds like we had a good run
this month. Thanks all for navigating your way in
here! Hopefully easier next time.
[6:27 PM] Brad Strickland: Ahh. Got to go to a therapist
tomorrow to have my rotator cuff attended to. This is more fun. Bye all!
[6:27 PM] R.Hookie: OK, good night, folks!
[6:27 PM] Steve Archer: All right, good night all, heal
quickly Brad!
[6:27 PM] Zach Eastman: LAURA- sounds good. Ive got a lot
of info for my film. Thanks everyone!
[6:28 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: 1950 DIEDT ROCHESTER
SPECIALComic actor Eddie Anderson was most famous for his work as Rochester on
the Jack Benny Show, but few knew him as a sports car enthusiast active in SCCA
racing in the 1950s. Wanting a car that would be competitive on tracks but also
street-legal, he hired noted race-car fabricator Emil Diedt to build this
one-off special. Diedt was known for his work on Indy 500 cars such as Millers
and Novis. This car is built on a tubular chassis and equipped with a 331-ci
Cadillac V8, triple carburetors, and Alfa Romeo disc brakes. Anderson raced the
car until the early 1960s then contracted to have it restored. The car changed
hands twice before 1970, when it was abandoned on a flatbed trailer. In 2002 the
car was rediscovered, and a complete restoration ensued. Today the original
two-tone paint scheme is applied to the hand-formed aluminum body, and a 5-speed
transmission replaces the original 3-speed.
[6:28 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: http://co1000.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/1950-DIEDT-ROCHESTER-SPECIAL.jpg
[6:29 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vieilles_annonces/3208696434
[6:30 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: Might make an interesting
counterpoint to the "Lost at Sea" story... :)
[6:30 PM] M. Mitchell Marmel: Nite all!