IJBFC Chat - December 11, 2016
(Name of message originator appears above the
text by the timestamp)
Michael Amowitz·4:39 PM
Jello Folks! I can't be
here when y'all arrive (I'm late for a show), but it's been an interesting
weekend, and I wanted to throw in comments in the likelihood they'll be seen
when y'all arrive. My life was on hold from Friday night to late this morning,
as I almost had a kidney transplant. I am on dialysis and have been on the list
for 4 years now. In short, it didn't happen because the kidney was no viable.
In Benny developments, as I
emailed Laura, I believe this Fred Allen episode was the last of his shows,
unexpectedly. They thought they'd be back in October for the next season, but
they weren't renewed (unless I am off by a year).
I've heard this one a few
times, and marveled at how cheap Fred's writers made Jack, lol! What a finish
I think I've forgotten
something I was going to add since, but we're running a bit late here, folks, so
I'll leave this window up and see what I can when I get home in about 2-1/2
hours. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everybody!
Michael Amowitz·4:48 PM
no viable = not viable
Si Sy
Jim Toombs·4:50 PM
Knock knock knock
Brad Strickland·4:57 PM
Hi, Jim. I guess Michael
has gone.
Jim Toombs·4:58 PM
How are Brad ..
Brad Strickland·4:58 PM
Brad am fine. Getting over
a really bad cold, but OK.
Jim Toombs·4:59 PM
I had that thanksgiving
week
Brad Strickland·4:59 PM
Yeah, it's that nasty virus
that in these parts almost always hangs on for exactly two weeks. And it's two
weeks today. I'm finally feeling more or less normal.
Jim Toombs·5:00 PM
Then get over a cold and
take a serous fall break 2 ribs and am nursing these ribs .. hurts like the
devil
Steve Archer·5:00 PM
Hi All
Brad Strickland·5:00 PM
Ouch! Sorry to hear that.
How'd you fall?
Hi, Steve!
Michael was here briefly
but couldn't stay.
Jim Toombs·5:01 PM
Tripped in a dirt pot hole
in the muddle of a road
Laura Leibowitz·5:01 PM
Hey, good crowd!
Brad Strickland·5:01 PM
Hi, Laura!
Steve Archer·5:01 PM
Sheesh, heal up soon Jim
Jim Toombs·5:01 PM
Ho Laura
Hi
Steve Archer·5:01 PM
Hiya Laura
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:01
PM
gosh I hope Michael has the
best of luck!
Brad Strickland·5:01 PM
Jim--one time I broke a
rib, I stepped backward off a loading dock. I agree, the pain is all out of
proportion to the size of the bone.
Jim Toombs·5:02 PM
Ya can't lay down cough
laugh
Brad Strickland·5:02 PM
Hi, Kathy--Yeah, that must
have been a heartbreaker for Michael, to come so close after four years of
dialysis.
BTW, I think Michael was
off a year--Allen's show didn't leave the air until June 1949, and I think his
very last show again had Jack as a guest star.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:03
PM
hey Brad, thought of you
last night when I attended a terrific "radio broadcast" recreation of
Its a Wonderful LIfe. The minute I get my last round of rewrites done, i will be
working on Benny scripts to show you!
Brad Strickland·5:03 PM
Great! I'll put you in
touch with our producer. You do have my email, right?
Steve Archer·5:03 PM
Geez, I just scrolled up
and read Mike A's note. Sending good thoughts for him so it's
memorialized in the transcript. Hang in there Mike!
Laura Leibowitz·5:03 PM
I can't guarantee we won't
make you laugh here, Jim.
Brad Strickland·5:04 PM
Best of luck to Michael!
Jim Toombs·5:04 PM
I know
Brad Strickland·5:04 PM
Jim--For me the worst of it
was visiting a restroom. It was weeks before I could, ah, function without
hurting!
Steve Archer·5:04 PM
Well, at least we're
talking about a Fred Allen show not a Benny show.
Brad Strickland·5:05 PM
Hi, Kay!
R.Hookie·5:05 PM
Hi folks!
Kay Lhota ·5:05 PM
Hi Brad
Steve Archer·5:05 PM
Hey it's Kay!
Laura Leibowitz·5:05 PM
Yay!
Kay Lhota·5:05 PM
Laura
Brad Strickland·5:05 PM
Hookie! Hiya.
Kay Lhota·5:05 PM
It's been ages
Steve Archer·5:05 PM
and Hookie!
R.Hookie·5:05 PM
I couldn't remember my
password
Kay Lhota·5:05 PM
my husband Frank should be
right along.
Jim Toombs·5:05 PM
The Quartet are the fastest
singers I ever heard
Laura Leibowitz·5:05 PM
What a great group we have
tonight!
Brad Strickland·5:06 PM
And all for a Fred Allen
show. (clothespin on nose) Heh, heh, heh.
Kay Lhota·5:06 PM
Glad to be here Laura
Brad Strickland·5:06 PM
Hello, Frank!
Jim Toombs·5:06 PM
Hello to everyone ...
Kay Lhota·5:06 PM
Hi Jim
Laura Leibowitz·5:06 PM
Welcome welcome!
Kay Lhota·5:06 PM
Thank you, Laura
Frank J. Lhota·5:06 PM
Jello, everybody!
Perri·5:06 PM
Hi all, and best healing
wishes to Michael, and Jim!
Steve Archer·5:07 PM
A bouquet of nasty urchins
to those needing healing.
Jim Toombs·5:07 PM
Thank ya will get better
soon
Laura Leibowitz·5:07 PM
We all send our love and
good wishes to you, Mike!
Brad Strickland·5:07 PM
I'm having Comcast issues
tonight, so if I drop out, I'll try to get back on ASAP. Though my modem checks
out, from time to time I get a "no internet service" notice, though
the modem lights check out fine.
R.Hookie·5:07 PM
This is the biggest group
we've had in a while, isn't it?
Kay Lhota·5:07 PM
Is it?
Steve Archer·5:07 PM
I shouldn't have eaten that
extra slice of pizza.
Brad Strickland·5:08 PM
Gee, everyone's so sick . .
. and I was so cheap I just got a lousy cold. But I'm better now.
Laura Leibowitz·5:08 PM
I think so. I
haven't focused on roll call, but it's a good group!
So what thoughts on the
show for tonight?
Jim Toombs·5:08 PM
I was looking at the
registration list ... I am on the list 2 or 3 times
Laura Leibowitz·5:08 PM
And Kathy - want to give
the latest on your book?
Brad Strickland·5:08 PM
Laura--Mike thought this
was the last Fred Allen broadcast, but I think it was a year later, right? And
Jack was a guest again?
Laura Leibowitz·5:08 PM
Jim - I just figured you
were multiple personality.
R.Hookie·5:08 PM
Closeout pop for 4 cents...
what a bargain
Laura Leibowitz·5:09 PM
I'll double check.
Jim Toombs·5:09 PM
I am ...lol ...haaaa
Laura Leibowitz·5:09 PM
IIRC, Jack's appearance on
Fred's last show was shorter...
Brad Strickland·5:09 PM
"You've got a split
personality!" "We do not!"
Steve Archer·5:09 PM
Typical OD on the cheap
jokes as per whenever Jack was guesting on someone else's show with someone
else's writers.
Laura Leibowitz·5:10 PM
Yep, 6/26/49.
Brad Strickland·5:10 PM
Yes, and I think it's a
mistake to give Jack so many punchlines. He's much funnier reacting.
Kay Lhota·5:10 PM
Yes, Jack Benny was
especially cheap.
Laura Leibowitz·5:10 PM
Steve - Thank you...I was
thinking that exactly.
Also, this is kind of the
reverse of the bit that both Fred and Jack did about going up and up and up in
the theatre.
Steve Archer·5:10 PM
I can't think of a JB
program where the cheap gags are so relentless.
Brad Strickland·5:11 PM
Hookie--that line did make
me laugh out loud.
Laura Leibowitz·5:11 PM
I think Fred did that in
"It's In the Bag" didn't he?
Steve Archer·5:11 PM
Yep Laura
Laura Leibowitz·5:11 PM
You can hear that Jack
doesn't like his closing punch line.
"Mooo."
Steve Archer·5:11 PM
Ibsen it's not.
Brad Strickland·5:11 PM
Well, he was such a buddy
of Fred's he probably didn't object too much, but still....
R.Hookie·5:11 PM
I found it utterly lame....
Steve Archer·5:12 PM
Nice Hookie
Brad Strickland·5:12 PM
I see what ya did there,
Hookie...
R.Hookie·5:12 PM
I try...
Steve Archer·5:12 PM
Ooooooh, UDDER!
R.Hookie·5:12 PM
Well, enough of my bull...
Laura Leibowitz·5:12 PM
Steve - Thanks...love Ibsen. And
it's not.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:12
PM
was putting chicken pot pie
in the oven, sorry. Thanks for asking about the book!!! The senior poobahs at
UCalifornia Press LOVE the manuscript, hooray! It goes into production in
January, and they say it will be out in October. Isn't that amazing that it
still takes so long???? One of my colleagues told me that books at University of
Texas press take 16 months, so I will not complain
Brad Strickland·5:12 PM
The "stowaway"
bit was a gag too far, in my opinion. Jack is never that cheap....Third class,
MAYBE.
Frank J. Lhota·5:12 PM
On the other hand, Jack
Benny's show did a really good version of Bob Hope's show.
Laura Leibowitz·5:13 PM
Didn't know if people could
stomach it...let alone four times...
Kay Lhota·5:13 PM
It was interesting to
hear the different pace and humor
Jim Toombs·5:13 PM
I have always thought the
two made jokes about each other to give free publicity
Brad Strickland·5:13 PM
Kathy: Congrats! We oughta
arrange a book tour for yez.
Laura Leibowitz·5:13 PM
Zowie!
Jim - That's partially
true.
Fred said that Jack was
higher in the ratings, and he "hitched his gaggin' to a star."
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:14
PM
I LOVE The episodes where
Fred and Jack talk about old vaudeville days!!! Fred had a theme in his own
program "Revive Vaudeville" or "Bring Back Vaudeville" that
he did when Jack Haley guest starred
Brad Strickland·5:14 PM
Yes, the feud played
beautifully to bring listeners to both shows.
You know, Fink's Mules was
an actual act?
Laura Leibowitz·5:14 PM
Oh it absolutely was!
And Powers' Elephants too!
Steve Archer·5:14 PM
as was Swayne's Rats and
Cats!
Brad Strickland·5:14 PM
I tell people that, and
about Le Petomaine, and they don't believe me.
Kay Lhota·5:14 PM
Swayne's Rats and Cats
Laura Leibowitz·5:15 PM
Goldie, Fields, and Glide
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:15
PM
so, as soon as I can this
summer, I want to go see a Vaudeville collection at University of Iowa, where
they have the papers of a manager of the Providence Rhode Island Keith and Albee
theater, I am sure hoping that Jack and Fred played there, so I can find out his
reviews of their routines.
Brad Strickland·5:15 PM
Rat's Swaynes and Cats!
Good act, but lousy manager.
Frank J. Lhota·5:15 PM
When I read George Burns'
books, I got the impression that he still missed vaudeville.
Brad Strickland·5:15 PM
Oh, I just read Four of
Three Musketeers, the book about the Marx Brothers' vaudeville and stage
experience! Very interesting.
Laura Leibowitz·5:16 PM
Kathy - Hm...will make a
note of that. I took a break some time back from scanning Variety
listings because it was so hard on the eyes.
Steve Archer·5:16 PM
Y'know, I once saw a show
of chimps riding ponies in Virginia and figure that's as close as I'm going to
get to Swayne's.
Laura Leibowitz·5:16 PM
Frank -
Agreed. I think he did.
So did Fred if you read
"Much Ado About Me."
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:16
PM
and how Fred and Jack joke
about the Japanese Flash act, where acrobats toss barrels across the stage,
juggling them on their feet while lying on their backs. Its just an excuse for
Fred to say "bunghole"
Laura Leibowitz·5:16 PM
Kathy - I'll have to figure
out when he switched from Orpheum to Keith-Albee. I know he was on
K-A in 1926.
Jack and Fred...Beavis and
Butthead...
Never thought I'd say those
names in close proximity.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:17
PM
oh boy, I will report back
to the gang as soon as I find anything in the Iowa archive!
Jim Toombs·5:17 PM
I know one thing if you
were fortunate enough to be on J B show. You made it to the big time. I have
seen unnamed acts at the time on youtube then researched the act on google they
hit the big time later in life
Brad Strickland·5:18 PM
Oh, Kathy--speaking of that
Marx Brothers book, it was published by Northwestern U. Press (Robert Bader is
the author). I beg you, try to get cover approval. The guys on the cover of
Bader's books don't look anything like the Marx Brothers.
Steve Archer·5:18 PM
Not even Gummo?
Laura Leibowitz·5:18 PM
The DeMarco Sisters is
another good example of that. They appeared on the 12/30/36 talent
show segment with Stuart Canin.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:18
PM
doh! I will be in touch
with Laura very soon about her copy of the photo I want! I have back ups in the
Benny Wyoming collection if need be
Laura Leibowitz·5:19 PM
Brad - Agreed.
Brad Strickland·5:19 PM
Gummo didn't make it. Zeppo
and Chico look quite a bit alike, but not like their real-life counterparts, and
Groucho doesn't faintly resemble Groucho. He looks like a mannequin with a
greasepaint moustache.
Laura Leibowitz·5:19 PM
Great! You
know how to reach me.
So what else on the show
for tonight?
Brad Strickland·5:20 PM
Bader does quote a good
many pros on when, how, and why vaudeville died.
Laura Leibowitz·5:20 PM
I've got Robert's book, but
I've got a bunch of books ahead of it in line to be read.
Brad - Can you summarize?
Brad Strickland·5:20 PM
Let me see....this was the
swan song for the old Allen's Alley. He changed the format for the last season.
Some typical topical jokes that make the humor dated now.
R.Hookie·5:21 PM
I really didn't care for
the stowage bit...
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:21
PM
a question - a friend
(actually, my grad school advisor) said that when he was growing up in the late
40s/early 50s, that all his kid friends thought Fred Allen had the cutting edge
comedy and that Jack was too mainstream. Thoughts?
Brad Strickland·5:21 PM
Anyone know why Portland
had been out for six weeks? She didn't sound well to me, so I wondered if she
was sick.
Steve Archer·5:21 PM
They're really floundering
in the opening.
Kay Lhota·5:21 PM
Laura, I IMed
Graeme Cree and he would
come to the chat but hipchat does not recognize his email
Laura Leibowitz·5:21 PM
Kathy - Depends on what
they felt was "cutting edge."
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:21
PM
for somebody sick, Portland
lived to be in her 90s!
Frank J. Lhota·5:22 PM
Weren't they taking the 6
weeks off for the Summer?
Brad Strickland·5:22 PM
Kathy--On the other hand, I
still laugh at Jack's shows. I smile sometimes at Fred's. Topical humor doesn't
wear well, and Fred's wit was sometimes too arcane for its own good.
Laura Leibowitz·5:22 PM
Kay - I think he needs to
register again. I couldn't find his entry. What's his
E-mail?
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:22
PM
he was a teenager, so
"hip" can you imagine teenagers loving Fred Allen?
Steve Archer·5:22 PM
Kathy, yeah, what Laura
said. Topical doesn't necessary translate to lasting
power. The opposite usually.
Brad Strickland·5:22 PM
At the very beginning,
Portland said she'd been away for six weeks.
Steve Archer·5:22 PM
But seems sharper at the
moment maybe.
Brad Strickland·5:22 PM
Absent for six weeks, I
mean.
Laura Leibowitz·5:23 PM
I can see that if they're
"intellectuals." Fred's curmudgeonly quotes made him one
of the greatest wits of the 20th century in my estimation.
Frank J. Lhota·5:23 PM
Most comics stray into
topical humor, although most of the best do enough "eternal" material
to remain funny.
Laura Leibowitz·5:23 PM
A lot of people have
compared Fred to David Letterman and Jack to Carson.
Kay Lhota·5:23 PM
GraemeCree@aol.com is
Graeme's email, Laura
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:23
PM
I agree, Laura! Fred is so
marvelously grumpy. He would be a big hit today, I think like Louis Black maybe,
or Jon Stewart
Steve Archer·5:23 PM
I'd never call Jack
"witty".
Brad Strickland·5:24 PM
And, for example,
Portland's complaining about Fred's cutting her "phenobarbitol" song
just petered out with a weak punchline. Allen probably thought the ridiculous
long title would get the laugh.
Steve Archer·5:24 PM
It's a different humor.
Laura Leibowitz·5:24 PM
Fred's lines like,
"The reason they call television a medium is because nothing on it is
either rare or well done" are diamonds.
Frank J. Lhota·5:24 PM
As a kid, I loved a lot of
the old cartoons that had radio references that went over my head. I thought
that the line "so round, so firm, so fully packed" was a WB running
gag.
Laura Leibowitz·5:25 PM
Or, "I enjoy long
walks...especially when they're taken by people I don't like."
Brad Strickland·5:25 PM
Jack's humor was about
personality, anticipation, repetition, and switches.
Say, I'd walk a mile for a
calomel.....(Groucho)
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:25
PM
hahaha
Laura Leibowitz·5:25 PM
And Jack *was* very
mainstream. That's part of the reason he was so popular!
Steve Archer·5:25 PM
Fred was much more pithy,
Dorothy Parker type stuff.
Laura Leibowitz·5:26 PM
Current events aside, the
Cosby Show was also very mainstream. And they both worked for
Jell-O.
Steve Archer·5:26 PM
Plenty of room for both in
the world.
Laura Leibowitz·5:26 PM
Steve - Zackly.
Brad Strickland·5:26 PM
And his personality, I
think. Fred was darker. Jack was vulnerable and open, and somehow his character
was lovable even with all his faults.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:26
PM
I think its amazing that
Fred was so popular in the late 40s, hooray that as many audience members as
possible enjoyed him
Great point, Brad! Its like
Fred is pepper to Jack's salt
Frank J. Lhota·5:26 PM
OTOH the problem with old
episodes of "Laugh In" is that they did a log of Spiro Agnew and
George Wallace jokes that any post-baby boomers would get.
Laura Leibowitz·5:27 PM
There's a great little book
called "The Pocket Curmudgeon" which has sayings from all sorts of
people. Fred and H.L. Mencken are among the top contributors.
Brad Strickland·5:27 PM
I have that book, Laura.
Laura Leibowitz·5:28 PM
I used to have it as my
bedside book. But I stopped reading it right before sleep because I
said, "It's kind of like going to bed with a knife."
Brad Strickland·5:28 PM
Question: When Jack did
guest shots, why in the world didn't he pay to have his own writers work on the
scripts? (Don't say he was cheap, please.)
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:28
PM
Fred would be such a great
Twitter feed today!!!! A grad student encouraged me to start fake twitter
accounts in both his name and radio/tv critic John Corsby's and just put out
their pithy comments and let folks see how it comments on the stuff going on
today
Laura Leibowitz·5:28 PM
I still love the book
though.
Brad - Sometimes he did.
Brad Strickland·5:28 PM
Kathy--you do a Fred
Twitter, I'll do a Jack, and we'll feud.....
Laura Leibowitz·5:28 PM
Kathy - OMG, I *love* that
idea.
Can I be Voltaire?
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:28
PM
I agree with Laura, Brad,
sometimes he did because he didn't trust other writers, but occasionally they
got it right
Kay Lhota·5:28 PM
I never thought of it, but
yeah Fred Allen would have loved the immediacy of Twitter
Steve Archer·5:28 PM
Yeah, sometimes they use
bits previously used on Jack's show. And they're usually better
than what the other shows' writers did.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:29
PM
you bet Laura, you can say
"I think therefore I am" in every identity!!!!
Laura Leibowitz·5:29 PM
Fred Allen (check out sex
tape)
Perri·5:29 PM
Laura Leibowitz·5:29 PM
Kathy -
This
is the best of all possible worlds.
Brad Strickland·5:29 PM
Groucho hated making movies
after "At the Circus." He wasn't fond of that one, either. But he
said, "The writers gave me lots of stuff to say fast, which was my style.
Unfortunately, they forgot to make it funny."
Steve Archer·5:30 PM
@Fred Allen: Jack Benny
hasn't replied to anything I've said in 41 years. Sad!
Kay Lhota·5:30 PM
Laura Leibowitz·5:30 PM
Yeah, I think a lot of
people think that Day at the Races was the last really good
one. And some think it was Duck Soup.
Brad Strickland·5:30 PM
@Jack Benny: When you say
something worth replying to, I'll do it, I'll do it!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:30
PM
Steve, that is a great
point!!! I would love to collect some AWFUL examples of Jack on other shows,
where the other writers just hang him up to dry. I heard a TERRIBLE Eddie Cantor
show......and something lame with Bob Hope where Jack comes on to steal away the
rest of his cast to the Benny show
Laura Leibowitz·5:30 PM
Steve - Har har
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:31
PM
Steve Archer, let's get the
feud going on the twitterverse!!!!
Laura Leibowitz·5:31 PM
@FredAllen Jack Benny
couldn't ad lib a tweet after eating a canary.
Brad Strickland·5:31 PM
Kathy--Cantor was notorious
for hogging all the funny lines, taking them away from other guests.
Kay Lhota·5:31 PM
The Eddie Cantor show ==
was it the one where Jack said: "I can't understand it. Bill Morrow used to
write for me!"
Brad Strickland·5:31 PM
@Jack Benny: You wouldn't
DARE say that if my writers were still alive!
Steve Archer·5:31 PM
Oh that Cantor one is
awful. We discussed it one chat I thinkk.
Laura Leibowitz·5:31 PM
Jack as "The Man Who
Came to Dinner." My contribution as exhibit A.
Brad Strickland·5:32 PM
Actually, I liked that one,
Laura.
Laura Leibowitz·5:32 PM
Jack on Bob Hope Shows.
Brad - Oh indeed,
OK. Hey, I love Jack on "Suspense"
shows. Why?
Steve Archer·5:32 PM
Jack on Burns and Allen is
typically OTT with cheap gags but still tolerable.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:32
PM
I think Groucho suffered in
film because too many hands could write the dialogue or edit all the good bits
out! Hooray for live TV in the 50s
Brad Strickland·5:33 PM
My good friend and cowriter
Tom Fuller was up for the part of Sheridan Whiteside in a stage performance in
December--but he died in early November that year. Sigh.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:33
PM
very sorry, Brad!
Kay Lhota·5:33 PM
Graeme said that nothing is
happening when he links on the chat
Brad Strickland·5:34 PM
Laura: Jack actually was
not a BAD actor--just an actor with a limited range. When he was in his
wheelhouse (my son taught me that), he was brilliant.
Laura Leibowitz·5:34 PM
Kathy - Reminds me of the
story about George Kaufman standing in the wings talking to someone while
Coconuts was being performed
Oh, sorry...I'll give him
permission. BRB
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:34
PM
But I DO love the idea of
collecting up some of the WORST LINES that other folks gave Jack to say, and
then to see if we can find if he tried to ameliorate the horrors, or just took
the money and ran
Brad Strickland·5:34 PM
Kathy--Fourteen years ago
this year. He was only 52, far too young. Still miss him.
Steve Archer·5:34 PM
Kathy, of course though
they wouldn't let Groucho go live - they put him on film and cut out all the
risque stuff!
Laura Leibowitz·5:34 PM
OK, he should be able to
get in now.
Brad Strickland·5:34 PM
Hi, Graeme.
Kay Lhota·5:35 PM
Are you in the room, Graeme?
Brad Strickland·5:35 PM
The story is that Groucho
and Bob Hope were guest stars on a radio show, tossed the script, and ad-libbed
during a (IIRC) Dick Tracy parody and that's how Groucho got "You Bet Your
Life," a quiz show that just let him ad-lib.
Laura Leibowitz·5:35 PM
And then Kaufman paused for
a few moments, and said, "I beg your pardon....I thought I heard one of my
lines."
Brad Strickland·5:36 PM
Laura: Bader says that
never happened....
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:36
PM
Yes, Groucho is a textbook
defninition of "live" and "improvisation". Jack
could SOUND like it was improvisation, when he actually worked so hard
beforehand to write it out and make it SOUND improvised...
Laura Leibowitz·5:36 PM
Brad - Yep. I
think a copy of that show was included in one of the You Bet Your Life DVD
collections.
Brad - I think he may have
mentioned that to me as well, but then I wonder what the show on the DVD
collection is.
Brad Strickland·5:37 PM
That was the notorious
production with a Jimmy Durante flub. Instead of saying "stick 'em
up," Durante allegedly misread: "I'm da Mole, now shove it up!"
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:37
PM
I like to argue that the
BEST times Jack improvised were in his ANGER when somebody misread a line on
radio. I love how he gets his revenge on Mary when she says something like Chiss
Sweez
Laura Leibowitz·5:37 PM
Kathy - Well
said. How many times have we all been tripped up by fluffs that
were actually printed out in the script?
Your darn one last near
made it
Brad Strickland·5:38 PM
Or when a harmonica player
started ad-libbing instead of harmonicaing.
Kay Lhota·5:38 PM
I have heard the broadcast,
and he didn't say "Shove it up" so maybe it was in rehearsal, and
people think it made the recording
Laura Leibowitz·5:38 PM
Brad - I was thinking of
that too!
I like my cigar but I take
it out of my mouth once in a while...
Supposedly never happened.
Brad Strickland·5:38 PM
Kay--It was indeed in
rehearsal, but that was supposedly why Groucho and Hope tossed the script.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:38
PM
I think its actually a
trick of the brain. I have two adorable step kids, who were Bud and
Kendall. When I went to call to them, occasionally "Ked and
Bundall" came out!
Laura Leibowitz·5:38 PM
Say goodnight
Gracie. Goodnight Gracie.
Play it again, Sam.
Kay Lhota·5:39 PM
oops-- I meant the Jimmy
Durante "I'm the mole!"
too many radio shows going
on at once!
Jim Toombs·5:39 PM
Gracie ran on the Suprise
Part ticket ..
Laura Leibowitz·5:39 PM
It's also like people
saying that "Your money or your life" was the biggest laugh ever in
radio.
Brad Strickland·5:39 PM
Loved the Laugh-in variant
of that one, Laura. "Play it, Sam." (Sam plays "As Time Goes
By") "No, not that one, Sam. You know the one I mean." (Sam plays
"As Time Goes By.") "Sam, stop kidding around and play it!"
Laura Leibowitz·5:40 PM
Brad - Oh, I haven't seen
that one!
Kay Lhota·5:40 PM
I had read about the Bob
Hope and Groucho exchange in "Life With Groucho" by Arthur Marx, and
it bears out in the recording that they were wild together and getting great
laughts
Laura Leibowitz·5:40 PM
Hi Graeme!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:40
PM
Graeme, at last? : )
Brad Strickland·5:40 PM
Hello, Graeme! Are you with
us? 'Cause if you aint' you're agin us!
Laura Leibowitz·5:40 PM
Welcome to the party!
Kay Lhota·5:40 PM
Yay, Graeme!
Steve Archer·5:40 PM
Hi Graeme
Brad Strickland·5:40 PM
Laura: It winds up with
another reprise of "As Time Goes By," and "Bogie" says,
"Yeah, dat's da one."
Laura Leibowitz·5:40 PM
A hush falls over the
crowd, awaiting Graeme to speak...
Brad Strickland·5:41 PM
What hit me on the head?
Oh, it was a hush.
Kay Lhota·5:41 PM
woooooo
Laura Leibowitz·5:41 PM
Graeme is suffering from
laryngitis. Or stage nerves.
Da noyve a'dat stage...
Graeme Cree·5:41 PM
Trying to remember what I
did. I think I got in accidentally.
Steve Archer·5:41 PM
An allergic reaction to
Swayne's Rats and Cats
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:41
PM
howdy Graeme!
Brad Strickland·5:41 PM
Now, here http://nupress.northwestern.edu/content/four-three-musketeers
is the cover of Bader's book. You tell me those guys look like the Marx
Brothers. I say they're Fink's Mules.
Laura Leibowitz·5:41 PM
Mental image of a car
crashing through the wall of the chat room
Kay Lhota·5:42 PM
lets just hope you get to
stay in, Graeme!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:42
PM
thank you Brad for the
recommendation! Amazon will immediately get my money
Laura Leibowitz·5:42 PM
Brad - I was wondering if
that image was lifted from a vaudeville promo poster.
R.Hookie·5:42 PM
Sorry for my absence... I
had to tend to something pestering me....
Steve Archer·5:42 PM
They're not good Brad,
Chico and Zeppo are the worst though, And doesn't quite capture
Harpo's coif.
Brad Strickland·5:42 PM
Laura--me, too. Odd that
for a university press there's no cover art creit.
credit.
Laura Leibowitz·5:43 PM
Kay - I've never had to
throw anyone out.
Kay Lhota·5:43 PM
I can believe that!
Brad Strickland·5:43 PM
There was that time I threw
out the bathwater and we had to look all over for the baby...
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:43
PM
OH you would not believe
the hassles that publishers give you when you try to use images on book covers!
No wonder the Museum of TV and Radio used a violin for the Jack Benny: The Radio
and TV work book
Laura Leibowitz·5:43 PM
Speaking of bad lines and
Groucho, who has heard the show where he first appeared? I think
that exchange between them is awfully dry.
Kay Lhota·5:44 PM
the checkers game?
Brad Strickland·5:44 PM
Kay--The Bader book is
interesting and very dense. The man has endurance and patience and his research
is fantastic. He actually gives you, year by year, the Marx Bros' vaudeville
appearances.
Laura Leibowitz·5:44 PM
Yeah
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:44
PM
Brad, that is like catnip
for an academic, ordering now, haha
Laura Leibowitz·5:44 PM
Brad - Yes, I'm hoping to
be able to pull that together for Volume 4 of "39 Forever" for Jack.
Brad Strickland·5:44 PM
Laura--Yep. I think it was
because he was cautioned about ad-libs after rehearsals.
Steve Archer·5:44 PM
One of the silliest things
I've had to fight for was for an archaeology book I co-edited. The
publisher wanted to replace pictures of MY dirt with some anonymous dirt and I
was having none of it!
Kay Lhota·5:44 PM
I hope to get the book one
day
Graeme Cree·5:44 PM
What would be in a Volume
4?
Laura Leibowitz·5:45 PM
Or the kerfuffle that got
him originally thrown off as a guest star
Graeme Cree·5:45 PM
Linda hasn't gotten an
invite.
Frank J. Lhota·5:45 PM
You got to give credit to
Swayne: he got the Rats and Cats to behave with each other. In the hands of
lesser animal handlers, the act would have to changes its name to
"Cats".
Laura Leibowitz·5:45 PM
Stageography (vaudeville,
etc.), magazine articles, discography, movie log.
Brad Strickland·5:45 PM
I have to admit the Bader
book made me sad now and then. So many stories the brothers told over the years
were just plain flat-out lies or embroideries of the truth. The Nacodoches story
never happened, for example.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:45
PM
we need Linda too! she is
the most amazing researcher of rare images
Laura Leibowitz·5:45 PM
Graeme - Sorry...what's her
E-mail?
Graeme Cree·5:46 PM
Steve Archer·5:46 PM
Wait, it's not really full
of roaches?
Laura Leibowitz·5:46 PM
Graeme -
Done. Let me know when she registers and I'll give her permission
to the room.
Brad Strickland·5:46 PM
Kathy--if you don't have
mine, its bradstrickland27@gmail.com.
Who would've thought there were so many me's out there?
Laura Leibowitz·5:47 PM
That doesn't surprise
me. I think a lot of George Burns' stories that he told on Carson
and in his act were semi-fictional as well.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:47
PM
well Brad, performers
create their own histories every time they talk. Finding the "real
facts" can be impossible
Laura Leibowitz·5:47 PM
Kathy - Boy oh boy, you
said it!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:47
PM
Thanks Brad!
Brad Strickland·5:48 PM
Oh, I've learned not to
trust anything attributed to a performer! I exaggerate my own stories, but I
think people can tell when I do that, and I never make up stuff, just make
things a bit more dramatic. Like the time the Pope and I took a dirigible ride.
Kay Lhota·5:48 PM
Brad
Laura Leibowitz·5:48 PM
I remember chatting with
Eddie Carroll first time I saw his act. A bunch of people went out
for dinner, and I tried carefully to point out that there were some inaccuracies
in his script. He said, "You're an archivist. I'm
an entertainer. It plays better that way."
Brad Strickland·5:48 PM
He kept yelling at me in
Italian!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:49
PM
and then you add in the
layers of stories from hired PR people (Steve Bradley)! And what the radio
networks, sponsors and fan magazines added in, NOTHING is accurate!
Brad Strickland·5:49 PM
Laura--he told me that,
too, when I asked about his story about not starring in the Bob Hope movie that
produced "Thanks for the Memory."
Laura Leibowitz·5:49 PM
And Eddie was
right. He's not a historian or an archivist. An
entertainer is about making people have a reaction, not being true to the facts.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:49
PM
But it still has value, as
creating the public PERCEPTION of the star image of the performer
Frank J. Lhota·5:49 PM
When a lot of entertainers
a story, they tend to bend the truth a bit in order to be more entertaining.
Brad Strickland·5:49 PM
Yep. Eddie was sincerely
concerned with painting a portrait of Benny, and he did a superb acting job. I
overlooked the inaccuracies.
Laura Leibowitz·5:49 PM
Kathy - And there ya
go. In fact, Joan was recently laughing reading that Radio Mirror
article that her parents would "never send her to boarding school."
Brad - Zackly. However,
I know that there had been some sport of "spot the errors" for club
members who saw the show!
I think it was just more
Benny dweeb-ism one-upsmanship.
Frank J. Lhota·5:51 PM
Given the quality of
"The Eddie Cantor Story", I guess we should be glad that they did not
make a Jack Benny biopic.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:51
PM
great example, Laura! Its
all what somebody expects somebody to understand about Jack! The
stories generally fall into categories, like He's rich, but he has problems like
the rest of us. Or, gosh he had a challenging childhood, but wow
he's made it. (and so can you!)
Brad Strickland·5:51 PM
Kay--If the Atlanta Radio
Theatre EVER gets its act together, it wants to do an interview podcast about
the classic days of radio. I'm to be one of the hosts. If you're willing, 'bout
time for your book to come out, I'd love to interview you. Laura, same goes for
you! Can't get too much of Jack Benny!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:51
PM
although the Benny
biography film he tried to do with Humphrey Bogart would have been a gas!
Kay Lhota·5:52 PM
I hope that it all works
out for you, Brad!
Laura Leibowitz·5:52 PM
Oh man..."Leave Em
Laughing" or whatever title it was at that moment...
"Killer Kates"
Brad Strickland·5:52 PM
Again, the Bader book talks
about how the Marx Brothers tried hard in the early fifties to get a biopic of
themselves off the ground (they commissioned a biography that was more fiction
than fact). That very eventually led to the Broadway show "Minnie's
Boys."
Laura Leibowitz·5:53 PM
Why would a Jack Benny
biopic be called "Killer Kates"?
Steve Archer·5:53 PM
The Here's Lucy Jack
Biography episode is actually pretty darn good!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:53
PM
the Benny biography film
would have been a Preston Sturgres-worthy send up of the lame celebrity biopics
that came after Yankee Doodle Dandy
Brad Strickland·5:53 PM
Obviously, the Jack Benny
biopic would be THE DON WILSON STORY, WITH JACK IN SOME SCENES.
Steve Archer·5:54 PM
Brilliant
Kay Lhota·5:54 PM
The Lucy episode was a good
set of sketches, and Jack Benny and Lucille Ball are a hoot!
Frank J. Lhota·5:54 PM
The Milton Berle biopic
could be a montage of scenes from other biopics.
Laura Leibowitz·5:54 PM
Acutally....hmmm...I'm
trying to remember if Jack was ever looking at a Preston Sturges
script. I know he bought a script from Dalton Trumbo and then gave
up on it.
Frank -
Kay Lhota·5:55 PM
Good one, Frank
Graeme Cree·5:55 PM
She can see the room in the
sidebar, but can't get in.
Laura Leibowitz·5:55 PM
Ah...let me grant her
access.
Brad Strickland·5:55 PM
DON: In Chicago, Illinois,
Mrs. Kubelsky is in the hospital, wondering what it will be . . . what will it
be? Strawberry, cherry, raspberry, orange, lemon, or lime? Oh, and she wondered
about the baby, too.
Laura Leibowitz·5:55 PM
There ya go
Kay Lhota·5:55 PM
Yay, HI Linda
Steve Archer·5:55 PM
It's like we're in Studio
54 or something.. Studio 39.
Linda Cree·5:55 PM
Hi all!
Laura Leibowitz·5:56 PM
Hey Linda!
Frank J. Lhota·5:56 PM
To get in the room,
remember that the password is "swordfish"
Linda Cree·5:56 PM
Hi Kay!
Frank is here too!
Kay Lhota·5:56 PM
It's been ages, Linda!
Brad Strickland·5:56 PM
Hello, Linda. En espanol,
"linda" esta "linda." Hmm...doesn't quite work.
Laura Leibowitz·5:56 PM
Or the password is
"Mary"...she drinks like a fish...
Linda Cree·5:56 PM
Hi Brad!
Brad Strickland·5:56 PM
The password is always
"swordfish."
Laura Leibowitz·5:57 PM
Yes sir.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:57
PM
Hello Linda! We are having
some fun
Brad Strickland·5:57 PM
Ya know, I wonder how many
mokes out there actually use "swordfish" as their password? Apologies
to any mokes present.
Linda Cree·5:57 PM
Hi Kathy!
Laura Leibowitz·5:57 PM
We're talking about Jack,
Fred, the Marx Brothers, etc.
Brad Strickland·5:57 PM
Jack Marx, Fred Marx....
Finks Marxes
Laura Leibowitz·5:57 PM
Powers Marxes
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:57
PM
has anybody read the book
about Groucho by his last wife, the young woman whose name I can't remember
Brad Strickland·5:58 PM
Eden?
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:58
PM
Yes that's her
Kay Lhota·5:58 PM
I never heard that she
wrote a book
Laura Leibowitz·5:58 PM
Really?
Kathy Fuller Seeley·5:59
PM
its about his last years,
and there are some interesting bits
Brad Strickland·5:59 PM
Haven't read it, or I don't
think I have. My memory's not what it was. I have a hard time remembering why
the Pope and I were even in that dirigible.
Graeme Cree·5:59 PM
Erin Fleming never wrote
one, did she?
Kay Lhota·5:59 PM
She always seemed pretty
and a nice person
Laura Leibowitz·5:59 PM
Or is it like George
Balzer's book and it was never published?
Kay Lhota·5:59 PM
Erin Fleming was a
nut-case!
Frank J. Lhota·5:59 PM
Swayne's performers in
retirement: https://youtu.be/7ikm3o5hDks
Laura Leibowitz·5:59 PM
Look for "Raised
Eyebrows" by Steve Stoliar.
Brad Strickland·5:59 PM
Erin Fleming wound up
homeless and died in a charity ward.
Graeme Cree·5:59 PM
That would only make a book
more intersting.
Linda Cree·5:59 PM
I'm still trying to finish
Mar's book on Jack. I read Sundays at Seven and Josefsberg's
quickly, but this one, not so great.
Laura Leibowitz·5:59 PM
Steve was Groucho's
assistant late in life
Linda Cree·5:59 PM
Mary's
Laura Leibowitz·5:59 PM
Linda - Amen to that
Brad - She did?!
Frank J. Lhota·6:00 PM
If Erin Fleming was still
alive, she could write for Weekly World News.
Brad Strickland·6:00 PM
Yes--her body went
unidentified for about a week.
Laura Leibowitz·6:00 PM
Brad - I'm not surprised,
just didn't know that.
Brad Strickland·6:00 PM
I think I read the story in
Mark Evanier's "News from Me."
Steve Archer·6:01 PM
RIP Weekly World
News. I miss Lester the Typing Horse's advice column.
Brad Strickland·6:01 PM
That's a blog, as you all
probably know. I'm just saying that in case the Pope got out of the dirigible
and has Internet now.
Laura Leibowitz·6:01 PM
Somewhere on a Beta tape
I've got a clip of reporters following her during the trial, asking her
questions, and when she gets to her car, she tears off her top, has a Groucho on
Broadway t-shirt under it, makes some bizarre faces at them, and then gets in
her car and speeds off.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:01
PM
wow about Erin Fleming. I
met some folks like that during my last visit to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Kay Lhota·6:01 PM
I remember seeing that when
it aired on the TODAY show.
Laura Leibowitz·6:02 PM
Kathy - You know, I've
driven by that a hundred times, but haven't yet gone in.
Kay Lhota·6:02 PM
She was a crazy lady
Brad Strickland·6:02 PM
Erin was a minor actress
with, to be honest, minimal talent. Friends of Groucho were alternately appalled
by her and impressed that she kept Groucho interested and going in his last
years.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:02
PM
Laura, you must go see
Fairbanks, Valentino, Tyrone Power!
Laura Leibowitz·6:02 PM
And isn't Mel there too?
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:02
PM
and Mel!
Graeme Cree·6:02 PM
Groucho didn't marry 'em
for their talent. (Not that he married Fleming).
Laura Leibowitz·6:03 PM
Oh yeah, I know the star
power that's there! Just need to make it a priority some time.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:03
PM
and hundreds of Russians
who now have black granite monuments among the old white marble ones from the
1920s..
Laura Leibowitz·6:03 PM
Does the lady in black
still visit Valentino's grave?
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:03
PM
So, who here has been to
visit Jack and Mary at Hillside Cemetery (is it Hillside)?
Laura Leibowitz·6:03 PM
Seems like that role had
been taken over by others in later years.
Linda Cree·6:04 PM
Graeme and I went to the
Hollywood Forever Cemetery. I want to know why Don Adams stlll his no headstone.
Kay Lhota·6:04 PM
it's a new generation Lady
in Black for Valentino. I saw a clip about her.
Graeme Cree·6:04 PM
He probably does by now.
Laura Leibowitz·6:04 PM
I've visited there plenty,
and did up most of the arrangements you'll see around the grave.
Kay Lhota·6:04 PM
she's doing it to keep up
the tradition
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:04
PM
Yes Linda, I met caregivers
of Don Adams' who hung out there on the weekend, said they had taken care of
Jack and Mary in the day
Laura Leibowitz·6:04 PM
That's great...glad to know
there is still a lady in black.
Brad Strickland·6:05 PM
Marvin Hamlisch, who did
the accompaniment for Groucho's very late appearance in Carnegie Hall, said he
thought they'd cancel because Groucho was so frail and vague before the show,
but Erin gave him a pep talk, he shuffled onstage, and did ninety minutes live.
Of course, I've heard similar stories about Jack's late tours for orchestras--he
looked too weak to do the show, but the spotlight came on, and there was Jack!
Laura Leibowitz·6:05 PM
The internal aerobics of
comedy.
Don Adams had no headstone?
Kay Lhota·6:05 PM
life giving in its way for
a performer to have an audience
Steve Archer·6:06 PM
Would you believe?
Laura Leibowitz·6:06 PM
I know Jack's sister
Florence had no stone, but we remedied that.
Brad Strickland·6:06 PM
Barbara and I have visited
Jack's grave, Kay. We left pennies instead of pebbles, and we saw that many,
many others had exactly the same idea. As a matter of fact, I picked up enough
for lunch for the both of us (see, I told you I exaggerate. Just a hamburger for
me, really.)
Linda Cree·6:06 PM
Not in 2008, Laura. Maybe
now.
Kay Lhota·6:06 PM
Brad
Graeme Cree·6:06 PM
Groucho's wives were 10, 33
and 39 years younger than him. He wanted an audience.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:06
PM
haha Brad!
Laura Leibowitz·6:06 PM
Hmmm...sounds like a
question for FindaGrave.com
Brad Strickland·6:07 PM
I took not a penny, but I
did pat the tomb and say, "Thank you, Jack." And I cried. I'll admit
that I cried.
Graeme Cree·6:07 PM
And Erin Fleming was 51
years younger.
Steve Archer·6:07 PM
Jack would have cried too
if he passed up the pennies. Take comfort Brad.
Laura Leibowitz·6:07 PM
Sounds like the reverse of
the Abbott and Costello routine about falling in love with a younger girl.
Kay Lhota·6:07 PM
laura
Graeme Cree·6:08 PM
I guess he thought they'd
eventually be the same age.
Laura Leibowitz·6:08 PM
Intersting armchair
psychology about the Marxes and women.
Brad Strickland·6:08 PM
My dad would always stop to
pick up a penny. Every dang time, even if it was in the middle of a busy street!
When I went to his funeral, I . . . found a penny in the funeral-home parking
lot. It's in Dad's breast pocket right now, because I put it there.
Laura Leibowitz·6:08 PM
You look at Minnie Palmer
who was so strong...
Brad - Oh...sad but lovely
story!
Frank J. Lhota·6:08 PM
I checked FindAGrave.com
for DeForest Kelley, and was disappointed that he did not go through with his
idea of having a gravestone that read "I'm Dead, Jim!"
Laura Leibowitz·6:09 PM
Frank - Aw
nuts!
I think WC Fields doesn't
have "On the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia"
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:09
PM
entertainment was such a
great field for entrepreneurial women, as opposed to other businesses in the
19th and early 20th centuries
Kay Lhota·6:09 PM
A friend of mine and I did
armchair psychology about Chico. With his addiction to gambling, and because he
bet against the odds, he must have needed the adrenaline rush very badly
Brad Strickland·6:09 PM
Oy, Minnie! Talk about
exaggerations! When the Marxes were the Four Nightingales, such stories she
planted in VARIETY about them--places they'd never played, countries they'd
never seen....
Laura Leibowitz·6:09 PM
Kathy - So
true. Not a lot of other things were open to them.
Then you look at Groucho
and his wives, Chico and his womanizing
Linda Cree·6:10 PM
I just
checked. Don Adams has a plaque, but no headstone.
Laura Leibowitz·6:10 PM
Zeppo's wife leaving him
for Frank Sinatra
Frank J. Lhota·6:10 PM
Penn Jillette, however, has
already chose his grave marker. It has the image of the three of clubs, along
with the inscription "Is this your card?"
Laura Leibowitz·6:10 PM
Linda - He should have seen
a better dentist.
Kay Lhota·6:10 PM
Frank
Laura Leibowitz·6:10 PM
Harpo didn't get married
for a while, but seems to be the one who ended up happiest.
Gummo I'm not sure.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:11
PM
didn't Harpo adopt some
kids? I understand he was a great parent
Linda Cree·6:11 PM
Laura
Kay Lhota·6:11 PM
Gummo I think married once
Steve Archer·6:11 PM
Yes Kathy
Laura Leibowitz·6:11 PM
Kathy - That's my
understanding...he said that he wanted one of them watching from every window
when he came home.
Steve Archer·6:11 PM
Groucho said he was closest
to Gummo and Gummo was the nicest. Go figure.
Brad Strickland·6:12 PM
Now I'm sad again. A former
student of mine, and a great friend of our daughter's, Sacha Dzuba, died
recently. He'd had a grave heart condition for a year, but didn't let any of us
know about how bad it was. He knew he very likely wouldn't survive a desperate
operation, and wrote a final note to all his friends which he had his dad
forward after he passed away. He donated his body and asked for no funeral or
memorial service. Sacha was an actor, and I want our Atlanta Radio Theatre
Company to memorialize him with an annual award for acting in audio dramas....
Laura Leibowitz·6:12 PM
And that Zeppo was the
funniest.
Graeme Cree·6:12 PM
Harpo married once.
Brad Strickland·6:12 PM
Harpo adopted four kids,
because his house had four windows in front, and he wanted to see a face in each
one smiling at him when he came home.
Laura Leibowitz·6:12 PM
Oh my...so sorry, Brad!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:12
PM
gosh I am sorry Brad. What
a wonderful part in a person's life you can play as a teacher and mentor. I am
sure you are the best!
Frank J. Lhota·6:12 PM
On stage, Zeppo got rave
reviews. I wonder if we never saw Zeppo at his best on film.
Kay Lhota·6:13 PM
so sad, Brad. I hope that
they respect and honor him
Steve Archer·6:13 PM
George Burns talks about
the adoption agency where they adopted Ronnie and Sandy calling them with
another prospective child, and when the Burnses decided not to adopt another,
Harpo took in the chilid.
Brad Strickland·6:13 PM
Zeppo went onstage for
Groucho twice and for Chico more times than you could count, and no one knew the
difference.
Kay Lhota·6:13 PM
That child was Harpo's
daughter Minnie
Laura Leibowitz·6:13 PM
Yes! I'd heard
that Harpo and Chico would sometimes change up too.
Brad Strickland·6:14 PM
Sacha was such a nice guy.
My daughter was desolate and had to miss a day at the Puppetry Arts Center. She
goes into work when she's got borderline pneumonia, but getting the note from
Sacha was too much for her.
Laura Leibowitz·6:14 PM
I can understand that.
You know, I somehow had it
in my head that Joan was adopted from the same place as Ronnie and Sandra.
The Cradle in Chicago.
But Joan corrected me on
that. Am I the only one who had wires crossed on that?
Brad Strickland·6:15 PM
I didn't know about it,
Laura.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:15
PM
wouldn't that make a great
TV miniseries in the HBO/Netflix mode, to chart the Marx Brothers career from
young kids to Hollywood? Watching them improvise and change up parts, hang at
the Algonquin round table, and later become friend with MGM vp Irving Thalberg?
I love the stories of the pranks they would play on the always-too-busy Thalberg
Laura Leibowitz·6:15 PM
In this group, I can be
confident that I wasn't the only one who had wires TO cross!
Kay Lhota·6:16 PM
I never thought that they
were adopted by the same place, but I wouldn't have known where, anyway
R.Hookie·6:16 PM
I just wired....
Laura Leibowitz·6:16 PM
Kathy - The problem is
getting people to really play them as PEOPLE. Not caricatures.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:16
PM
Laura, gosh I thought it
was the same adoption agency, too, Perhaps there was comfort to be gained in
telling tall stories about this...
Laura Leibowitz·6:17 PM
Kathy - Oh thank
goodness. I had left it with scratching my head rather than looking
it up.
Kay Lhota·6:17 PM
I've always wanted to see a
well made movie about the Marx Brothers, but I doubt that it could be done well
enough
Brad Strickland·6:17 PM
Oh, btw, Bader says that
the story of Chico's landing an MGM contract in a card game with Thalberg didn't
happen. Apparently Zeppo negotiated the deal . . . and Chico resented that, so
Zeppo let the story of the card game stand because he didn't care one way or the
other. The other Marxes, by the way, were equal partners in the team; Zeppo was
always a salaried employee.
Kay Lhota·6:17 PM
but, they are making a
movie based on "Raised Eyebrows" go figure
Laura Leibowitz·6:17 PM
Brad -
Interesting! And again a good explanation of why Zeppo became an
agent.
Kay - Oh that's right they
are!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:18
PM
I teach in a department
that is chock-full of screenwriters and media makers, and GOSH I need to pitch
ideas about the Marxes, and Jack Benny! Unfortunately, screenwriters balk at the
permissions they might have to get from real people
Brad Strickland·6:18 PM
God, there was an awful TV
biopic of Humphrey Bogart I saw not too long ago.
Kay Lhota·6:18 PM
Zeppo was a very good
agent, and a business partner with Barbara Stanwyck raising race horses
Laura Leibowitz·6:18 PM
Kay - Hopefully not Burnt
Cork.
Kay Lhota·6:19 PM
I saw an even worse one a
few weeks ago "Walt Before Mickey"
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:19
PM
haha Laura
Brad Strickland·6:19 PM
Zeppo and Barbara
eventually decided there was more money in boarding other people's race horses,
though!
Someone asked Chico late in
life how much money he'd lost gambling. He said, "Go ask Groucho how much
he's got. That's how much I lost."
Laura Leibowitz·6:20 PM
Brad - Want to take bets on
whether that line happened?
Brad Strickland·6:20 PM
Not on your life!
Laura Leibowitz·6:20 PM
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:20
PM
there is a TREMENDOUS
demand for scripted content these days, there are more than 400 narrative shows
on TV (if you include the streaming services). They need content! Here is our
chance to get more and better historical stuff done. Although I will agree with
most of you that MOST of the historical stuff done is miserable
Brad Strickland·6:20 PM
However, Dick Cavett told
the story.
Kathy--the cartoon
"Gravity Falls" features some shows-within-the show from the UTBAH
Channel (Used to Be About History).
Kay Lhota·6:21 PM
Some biography movies I
have seen are watchable, but some are horrible.
Laura Leibowitz·6:21 PM
Kathy - I do have to hand
it to A&E for doing probably the best biography I've seen of
Jack. Better than Comedy in Bloom, better than Kelsey Grammer.
Brad Strickland·6:21 PM
What is the BEST biopic
you've seen?
Laura Leibowitz·6:21 PM
Brad - Excellent acronym
for it.
Kay Lhota·6:21 PM
the A and E biogs are
generally very good
Laura Leibowitz·6:21 PM
Brad - About
anyone? Or about Jaack?
Brad Strickland·6:22 PM
Anyone. I want examples of
what they can be when they're good.
Laura Leibowitz·6:22 PM
Lady Sings the Blues
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:22
PM
latest best biography
Frances Foster Jenkins!
Brad Strickland·6:22 PM
"Lust for Life."
Kay Lhota·6:22 PM
Yes, I thought that was
excellent!
Steve Archer·6:22 PM
For an entertainment figure
- ED WOOD. Great example of that let the spirit override the facts
thing we were talking about earlier.
Brad Strickland·6:22 PM
Yep, and they had a great
Bela Lugosi!
Laura Leibowitz·6:23 PM
Steve - True.
Kay Lhota·6:23 PM
I will agreee to that! I
loved that movie.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:23
PM
I will maybe be a talking
head in a PBS Bob Hope episode, stemming from the recent biography. Bob Hope=meh
Frank J. Lhota·6:23 PM
Kathy, keep in mind that an
army of overworked writers were required to produce enough content for radio;
imagine how many writers are required for the 400 TV shows!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:24
PM
you are so right, Frank!!!
Those are my undergrad students at University of Texas. I am trying to give them
an appreciation of history before they go to Hollywood
Laura Leibowitz·6:24 PM
Frank - Especially when I
hear that shows have such a large bank of writers, like "The Simpsons"
or "Daily Show."
Brad Strickland·6:24 PM
Kathy--somewhere just
recently I saw a quasi-academic article explaining that Hope was merely a good
comedian but couldn't ever become a great comedian because he wasn't Jewish. No
kidding.
Laura Leibowitz·6:24 PM
Brad - The author's name
wasn't McFadden, was it?
*wink* at Kathy
Brad Strickland·6:24 PM
Hah! Don't think so.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:24
PM
Yikes, Brad, what a dumb
argument! Drat those academics
Graeme Cree·6:24 PM
When was it written?
Kay Lhota·6:24 PM
Hey, here is a question
that I can throw out in general: My Dad was in CZ in 1945. Can anybody give me
the dates of when Jack Benny and Bob Hope played Pilsen? And are there any
photographs?
Brad Strickland·6:24 PM
1912.
It was ahead of its time.
Graeme Cree·6:25 PM
Didn't think Hope was even
on the radar then.
Heck, even radar didn't
exist.
Brad Strickland·6:25 PM
Houdini wrote it, I think.
He could see the future, you know.
Laura Leibowitz·6:25 PM
Kay - Man, that's another
question I hope to answer some day with Volume 4.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:25
PM
Laura _ AGGGHHHH the
McFadden article!!! Won a big prize when I was a grad student pushing an article
about film audiences in the 1930s
Laura Leibowitz·6:26 PM
Brad - Yeah but he couldn't
talk to the dead.
Brad Strickland·6:26 PM
I don't remember. I just
thought, "well, that's . . . an opinion."
Kay Lhota·6:26 PM
My Dad was in the Army, and
Bob Hope had him come up and play piano for him, but I have no photograph of it.
Brad Strickland·6:26 PM
Anybody can talk to the
dead! They never answer, but still....
Linda Cree·6:26 PM
Kathy, have you decided on
a name for your book?
Steve Archer·6:26 PM
Wow, neat story Kay.
Brad Strickland·6:26 PM
Kay-aw!
Laura Leibowitz·6:26 PM
Kathy - Nice to have
someone who feels as strongly about it as I do. That's how I feel
about the Gary Giddins article too, but you know that.
Linda Cree·6:26 PM
Neat, Kay.
Laura Leibowitz·6:27 PM
Kay - Good thing Harry
Truman wasn't there!
Brad Strickland·6:27 PM
"Why, man, I can call
spirits from the vasty deep!" "Why, so can I, or so can any man! But
do they come when you do call them?"
Laura Leibowitz·6:27 PM
Oh, I loved that line from
tonight's show about Petrillo won't let a piano player lose a
job. Dated though it is!
Kay Lhota·6:27 PM
Would TRruman have pushed
my Dad off of the piano bench, I wonder?
Brad Strickland·6:27 PM
Well, Jack's show had its
share of Petrillo gags, too!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:28
PM
bless you Linda for asking!
The marketers at University of California Press (ahem)
demand "Jack Benny and the Golden Age of Radio
Comedy" and their other ideas were worse, so I can live with
it. I am thinking of a little sticker that says "IN" to
replace the AND
Frank J. Lhota·6:28 PM
The problem with listening
to old radio shows is trying to find the products. Where can you buy Sal
Hepatica?
Kay Lhota·6:28 PM
Frank
Brad Strickland·6:28 PM
Yeah, and Rinso-Blue!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:28
PM
Gary Giddens, uuuuugggghhh
Laura Leibowitz·6:28 PM
Oh Sistah, come let me high
five you!
Frank - Are you lacking in
the smile for health?
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:29
PM
Best Benny academic
writings are in books by Michele Hilmes and Arthur Wertheim, imho
Kay Lhota·6:29 PM
Laura.
He is just a regular guy!
Brad Strickland·6:29 PM
Ipana for the smile of
beauty! Sal-Hepatica for the smile of "I'd love to talk to you, but I
urgently have to be somewhere else right--awwww!"
Kay Lhota·6:29 PM
Brad
Steve Archer·6:29 PM
LOL Brad
Linda Cree·6:30 PM
I want a bar of Swan Soap.
Brad Strickland·6:30 PM
Kathy--not familiar with
either of them. But I'll look 'em up!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:30
PM
Frank. you can still
purchase Sal Hepatica through the Vermont Country Store website, I think!!! They
may still make it in Mexico
Kay Lhota·6:30 PM
Oh, good grief!
Steve Archer·6:30 PM
You know I've occasionally
been tempted to buy some swan soap or some of these long-gone products on ebay. Some
maniacs apparently hoarded the stuff.
It's out there.
Laura Leibowitz·6:30 PM
Kathy - Of all the places
to make it.
Perri·6:31 PM
1940s-liquid-stockings-288x300.jpg29K
R.Hookie·6:31 PM
Even Boraxo?
Graeme Cree·6:31 PM
You can buy Swan, the new
white floating soap that's purer than the finest Castilles on eBay.
Steve Archer·6:31 PM
They just send you a bottle
of the water!
Brad Strickland·6:31 PM
My mom always bought, I
think, Clover Soap. Haven't heard about that in years.
Kay Lhota·6:31 PM
A friend of mine bought a
case of LUX soap in Canada and gave me about 10 bars.
Frank J. Lhota·6:31 PM
I did buy some bars of Lux
soap a while back.
Laura Leibowitz·6:31 PM
Oh just a year ago i
finally purchased my long-sought original box of Gold Dust.
Linda Cree·6:31 PM
Yes, someone wanted $25 for
a bar of soap.
Graeme Cree·6:31 PM
My sister drank a whole
bottle of that stuff, and it had no effect at all.
Frank J. Lhota·6:31 PM
Hide card
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19350512&id=dCUbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jksEAAAAIB...
The
Pittsburgh Press - Google News Archive Search news.google.com
No related articles found
for this article.
Brad Strickland·6:31 PM
Was Crown Cola what we knew
in the old days as Royal Crown Cola?
Steve Archer·6:32 PM
I always think the stuff
probably came from a hoarder's nest and is full of rat pee and cockroach
corpses. Who keeps a bar of soap for 75 years?!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:32
PM
Brad, a WONDERFUL book is
Michele Hilmes, Radio Voices. Arthur Wertham's Radio Comedy a good
choice. Alan Havig's Fred Allen's Radio Comedy is terrific!
Brad Strickland·6:32 PM
I remember Red Rock Cola,
too--a lie, because it was ginger ale strong enough to take the enamel off your
teeth.
Laura Leibowitz·6:32 PM
Brad Royal Crown Cola = RC
Cola
Frank J. Lhota·6:33 PM
Hide card
Ipana lasted long enough to
be on TV: https://youtu.be/nB7fJYyPTko
Commercial
- Ipana Toothpaste presents Bucky Beaver Salesman - D.K.Germ -
brushabrushabrusha www.youtube.com
Brought to you by
www.VideoArcheology.com Do you have a favorite memory pertaining to this video
artifact? Please share your comments with us. Can you recogn...
Brad Strickland·6:33 PM
Thanks, Kathy! I just cut
'n pasted so I can search later.
R.Hookie·6:33 PM
I have an almost 40 year
old bar of soap... it's ABBA the Soap
Laura Leibowitz·6:33 PM
Steve - Well, I have found
some in the basement of various estate sales. Sometimes it got
stuck on shelves under the stairs and forgotten.
Brad Strickland·6:33 PM
Oh, God, I remember
"Brush-a brush-a brush-a, with the new Ipana...."
Hookie, didn't they make a
musical out of that soap?
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:33
PM
Brad, you will love those
books!
Steve Archer·6:33 PM
I think Ipana was still
around when I was a kid, '70s-80s.
Laura Leibowitz·6:34 PM
I have a 30s Fels-Naptha
bar of soap
Brad Strickland·6:34 PM
TV ads I remember from the
fifties: Bonamo's Turkish Taffy.
Sugar Corn Pops cereal.
R.Hookie·6:34 PM
(thinking of a clever
comeback....)
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:34
PM
I think they may still make
Ipana in Mexico, its amazing how many old products out of copyright that have
been sold. You can get Lydia Pinkham's from Mexico
Laura Leibowitz·6:34 PM
Oh...got to share this
unexpected moment from my client's offsite meeting on Friday. There
was a gift exchange, steal a gift or pick one.
Linda Cree·6:34 PM
Is Prell Shampoo still
around?
Laura Leibowitz·6:35 PM
And someone opens a gift,
and it was a George Burns doll.
Steve Archer·6:35 PM
Some of those things they
still make but take out the (now suspect) ingredients. Bromo
Seltzer without the bromine, Fels Naptha without the naphthalene.
Brad Strickland·6:35 PM
Halo, everybody, Halo . . .
Halo Shampoo, for a shiny ring around your hair....
Laura Leibowitz·6:35 PM
Turns out that had been a
gag gift for the past four years.
Graeme Cree·6:35 PM
Coke without the coke.
Laura Leibowitz·6:35 PM
And so I stole it.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:35
PM
Linda, Prell! my first
shampoo. I think they sell it now as dish soap haha
Kay Lhota·6:35 PM
I developed an allergy to
fragrances, so I have to use fragrance free soap, shampoo, and so forth.
Brad Strickland·6:35 PM
Ah, first you get the Coke,
then you get the coke, then you get the money, then you get the women . . . and
then you want a Coke.
Linda Cree·6:36 PM
Kathy
Laura Leibowitz·6:36 PM
When someone acted like
they were going to steal it from me, saying, "You have to be older than
dirt to know who this is," I showed them the photo in my wallet of me
standing with George.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:36
PM
But how about Jell-O, how
do we keep this brand in business? NO ONE has time to actually make Jell-O
anymore!
Brad Strickland·6:36 PM
Is Prell the one they used
to drop a pearl into to show it was transparent and wouldn't eat into a pearl?
Laura Leibowitz·6:36 PM
Kathy - That's why Bill
Cosby advertised all that pre-made Jell-O.
Kay Lhota·6:37 PM
I know Kathy. You have to
eat JELLO 4 hours after you were hungry for Jello
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:37
PM
eeeek, we must overcome the
Cosby curse
Brad Strickland·6:37 PM
I beg your pardon! My wife
made Jell-O for me three days in the last couple of weeks when I was sick as a
dog and couldn't keep anything down. Hell of a way to lose seven pounds, but I
did it.
Laura Leibowitz·6:37 PM
And I could never figure
out why people would buy pre-made Jell-O.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:37
PM
has anybody been to the
Jell-O museum in New York State?
Linda Cree·6:37 PM
Brad, I think that was
Prell.
Laura Leibowitz·6:37 PM
No...where is it?
Frank J. Lhota·6:37 PM
Hide card
Remember this Prell
commercial? https://youtu.be/U2wyG10BCrg
1960's
Prell Hair Shampoo Commercial 1 www.youtube.com
1960's Prell Hair Shampoo
Commercial
Brad Strickland·6:37 PM
Hey, remember Colgate's
invisible shield!
Kay Lhota·6:37 PM
it isn't hard to make, but
like I say it is torture for me to wait 4 hours for it to become firm.
Brad Strickland·6:38 PM
Kay--I just snort the
powder.
Laura Leibowitz·6:38 PM
Kay - Good point.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:38
PM
Brad, my great-grandma
swore by making HOT Jell-O, not set up, for when I had an upset stomach!
Brad Strickland·6:38 PM
First you get the Jell-O,
then you get the nose pain, then you get the women.....
Steve Archer·6:38 PM
Oh yeah, we did that
too. "Jell-O water" for the flu.
Frank J. Lhota·6:38 PM
The Prell commercial should
end with Jack trying to fish the pearls out of the shampoo.
Laura Leibowitz·6:38 PM
Frank - Good idea...
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:39
PM
haha Frank! Reminds me of
Jack
Steve Archer·6:39 PM
I'm surprised I don't have
more post-traumatic aversion to Jell-O.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:39
PM
I meant Jack
Brad Strickland·6:39 PM
When I was in high school,
a bunch of us did a home-made super-8 vampire movie where a bunch of us were
vampires. We'd put powdered cherry Jell-O in our mouths and it really made
good-looking stage blood!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:39
PM
crap, Jacks stories of
vacationing in Hawaii
Kay Lhota·6:39 PM
we have some JELLO in the
cupboard. We should make some up.
Brad Strickland·6:40 PM
That's two bunches of us.
When we vampires got staked, we traded places with the camera crew and THEY
became the vampires.
Kay Lhota·6:40 PM
JELLO is what they used to
color the Horses in the Wizard of Oz
Laura Leibowitz·6:40 PM
There's some in my pantry!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:40
PM
Kay, when I listen to 1930s
Benny programs, Don's commercials MAKE me want to eat Jello, so my poor husband
suffers
R.Hookie·6:40 PM
Did anyone like
"Jell-o 1-2-3?"
Kay Lhota·6:41 PM
Yes, we go through that
too! JELLO begins to sound good!
Brad Strickland·6:41 PM
Ooh, ooh, and the horses in
"The Fisher King," what I seen myself in person outside of Central
Park in NYC on the same trip when I found myself in an elevator with Ringo
Starr! True story!
Laura Leibowitz·6:41 PM
Hookie - I LOVED 1-2-3.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:41
PM
ME for 1-2-3! It was the
first thing my mom let me make by myself
R.Hookie·6:41 PM
Is it still around?
Kay Lhota·6:41 PM
I even tried the JELLO snow
recipe where you whip strawberry JELLO as it becomes syrupy
Laura Leibowitz·6:41 PM
I don't think
so. But I've found some copycat recipes online.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:41
PM
not still around, but if
you have Dream Whip and a hand mixer, you can do it
Steve Archer·6:41 PM
Can't you recreate 1-2-3 by
whipping or whisking the Jell-O?
Frank J. Lhota·6:41 PM
I worry that all the good
Jack did for Jell-O was undone by Bill Cosby.
Kay Lhota·6:42 PM
I did that Steve
Steve Archer·6:42 PM
So far I don't think Jell-O
has been implicated in any of the Cosby business. Small mercy.
Brad Strickland·6:42 PM
Barbara makes a killer
Jell-O salad with two different layers of different-flavored Jell-O interspersed
with one layer of Jell-O mixed with whipped cream. It has nuts and fruit in it,
and I love the stuff, but she doesn't like making it because it's time consumng.
R.Hookie·6:42 PM
Now I'm craving a pudding
pop
Brad Strickland·6:42 PM
consuming. Typing too fast.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:42
PM
The Jell-O marketing
executives laughed that when they did surveys in the 1960s, 20 years after Benny
left them, that people still associated Benny with Jello!
Linda Cree·6:43 PM
Sounds good, Brad.
Laura Leibowitz·6:43 PM
Well, Jell-O was an
alternating sponsor for Jack's TV series for a while.
Brad Strickland·6:43 PM
As American Tobacco LSMFT
discovered, Kathy, LSMFT, repetition LSMFT forLSMFTces the audience to recall
the product!
Laura Leibowitz·6:43 PM
This is how they were able
to do a Kenny Baker joke on the radio show in 1955...
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:43
PM
I collect really awful
church cookbook JellO recipes. My latest horrors involve baked beans in Jello,
saurkraut in Jello, corned beef in... you don't want to know
Laura Leibowitz·6:44 PM
At that point, it just
becomes aspic for garde mange.
Graeme Cree·6:44 PM
Mmmmm, beans.
Brad Strickland·6:44 PM
Take one box of lime
Jell-O, a pound of calves' liver...
Laura Leibowitz·6:44 PM
The musical fruit
Frank J. Lhota·6:44 PM
Yes, various innocent foods
trapped in Jell-O prisons.
Kay Lhota·6:44 PM
Frank's Mom makes JELLO
deserts. She made an Orange JELLO and dream whip thing that I loved.
Linda Cree·6:44 PM
Frank
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:44
PM
Brad, yiou are so right!
And what AMAZES me about Benny's show is that they could turn it around with the
Sportsmen to make the ads ridiculous!
Laura Leibowitz·6:44 PM
What up with the building
imprisoned in Jell-O?
Steve Archer·6:45 PM
Obtain a tureen large
enough to hold the opossum and twelve boxes of Cherry Jell-O
Brad Strickland·6:45 PM
There is one restaurant in
Atlanta, the Colonnade, that still makes and serves tomato aspic. That is one of
my favorite foods, and it went away for the longest time before I discovered
that place.
Linda Cree·6:46 PM
That's the city of the
future....life under a Jell-O dome.
Kay Lhota·6:46 PM
LOL Linda
Brad Strickland·6:46 PM
Kathy, I think that was the
genius of Jack's writing staff. They made a stingy, vain, egotistical,
ill-tempered guy loved nation-wide--so why not make Jell-O adored by the same
process?
Laura Leibowitz·6:46 PM
Will we somehow learn to
breathe Jell-O?
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:46
PM
Jello was an AMAZING
creative material for housewives 1930s-1960s!!! In your boring life cooking grey
dinners of grey beef and grey potatoes, here was something red or orange or
green or yellow to play with!
Brad I love the Colonnade's
fried chicken!
Laura Leibowitz·6:47 PM
Well, there was also Oleo.
Frank J. Lhota·6:47 PM
Look at this dish, and you
can practically hear the hot dogs and macaroni scream "PLEASE let me
out!" https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/cb/61/39/cb6139bd5fa67dd2b1d5743e56e2857c.jpg
Image
Laura Leibowitz·6:47 PM
During the war
Kay Lhota·6:47 PM
wow
Brad Strickland·6:47 PM
I want to introduce our 2
1/2 year old granddaughter to Jell-O. Barbara says to make it extra thick so
it's a finger food.
Laura Leibowitz·6:47 PM
Are those green beans in
the sides?
Steve Archer·6:47 PM
Good lord
Brad Strickland·6:48 PM
Kathy, we are having a
guest from San Jose California in a few days--gonna take him for dinner to the
Colonnade. (My son says that my wife and I love the restaurant because we're
always the youngest people there).
Frank J. Lhota·6:48 PM
Yes, the green beans are
the Jell-O prison guards.
Laura Leibowitz·6:48 PM
I guess the pigs were
already in the hot dogs.
Brad Strickland·6:48 PM
I get a real "Star
Wars" vibe from that dessert photo.
R.Hookie·6:49 PM
I just got YUCK!
Laura Leibowitz·6:49 PM
I get a real "Alka
Seltzer" vibe from it.
Brad Strickland·6:49 PM
"The lack of
horseradish in the Jell-O disturbs me." *deep breathing*
Linda Cree·6:49 PM
Hide card
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txi8FPcHhVs
How
to Make Mini Jello Aquariums www.youtube.com
I found jello fish bowls on
Pinterest and decided to adapt them to make mini jello aquariums! They are easy,
and definitely unique! This would also be a real...
Kay Lhota·6:49 PM
oh wow
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:49
PM
the Jell-O museum is
outside Rochester NY and they are great folks! We should approach them about
doing an exhibit, they would be totally up for it I think !
R.Hookie·6:49 PM
Oh how cute
Brad Strickland·6:49 PM
The goldfish are so SLOW in
those things, though.
Laura Leibowitz·6:49 PM
Kathy - I could see
that. General Foods actually sent us $100 as a sponsor of our 2003
convention.
Steve Archer·6:50 PM
LOL Brad
Linda Cree·6:50 PM
Hopefully, they didn't use
water from a fish tank.
Laura Leibowitz·6:50 PM
Reminds me of the Japanese
ice rink where the troze a bunch of real fish and sea life in the ice.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:50
PM
LeRoy New
York! http://www.jellogallery.org/
Steve Archer·6:50 PM
It's murder on the gills
Brad Strickland·6:51 PM
Hmm...Now I'm wondering if
it would be practical to smuggle unflavored gelatin into a restroom, dump it in
the toilets late at night with some ice, and see what developed next day....
Laura Leibowitz·6:51 PM
I do enjoy that Jell-O ad
with a headline something like, "Now EVERYTHING Goes with Jell-O" and
it has a parma ham, a giant fish head, et al.
Steve Archer·6:51 PM
Kathy, you'd think they
could move that a few miles over to Rochester to be more apropos.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:51
PM
because everything INDEED
goes with Jell-O!
Laura Leibowitz·6:52 PM
Goes right in the garbage.
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:52
PM
haha Steve, what synergies
we could propose
Laura Leibowitz·6:52 PM
Brad - Or in a fountain
overnight.
That would be known as the
School of Hard Knox
R.Hookie·6:52 PM
"If it was there,
you'd eat it"
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:52
PM
Hard Knox, hahaha
R.Hookie·6:52 PM
Good one
Brad Strickland·6:53 PM
Gosh, I flashed back to
fourth grade, where our credulous teacher would read us stories about hauntings
and poltergeists and such. A classmate and I went in very early one morning and
used Vaseline to glue pebbles to to the top of the light fixtures. We asked her
to read the story about the rock-throwing poltergeist to us first thing, and she
started. But the lights warmed up, and--plink! Plink! the pebbles began to fall
from nowhere, complete with ghostly slime. We really freaked that poor lady
out....
Kathy Fuller Seeley·6:54
PM
Brad, you are a genius of
many years's pranks!
Frank J. Lhota·6:54 PM
Go to http://www.jellogallery.org/recipes.html,
look for the Olive Relish recipe, and brace yourself for the culture shock over
how much tastes have changed.
Steve Archer·6:54 PM
That's a good one.
Linda Cree·6:54 PM
Hide card
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5EwXCjOIdY
Rainbow
Jell-O Jiggler Deviled Eggs for Easter!! - Jello Mold Recipe www.youtube.com
Learn how to make these
rainbow Jello Jiggler 'deviled' eggs for Easter! Layers of 6 different flavors
of Jell-O and topped with whipped cream. These will lo...
Laura Leibowitz·6:54 PM
Oh my...sounds like Jack's
schooltime prank of putting limburger cheese in the radiator on a freezing cold
Waukegan day.
Kay Lhota·6:54 PM
that is very scary
Laura Leibowitz·6:55 PM
Linda - That looks like
something that should be at an LGBT celebration.
Graeme Cree·6:55 PM
Reminds me of that old
book, The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow.
Brad Strickland·6:55 PM
Worst thing we ever did was
to make a lifelike dummy one Halloween, dressed in a Halloween costume, complete
with a pathetic little treat bag. We put it in the middle of the road right
after a sharp curve, face-down and with the bag of treats scattered out. Climbed
the hill and watched as cars swerved and their brake lights flared. Luckily,
nobody was hurt. Luckily, no one found out we had done it!
Steve Archer·6:56 PM
Once you start that
layering thing with the Jell-O that 4 hour set up time REALLY increases (4 hours
a layer!_
Brad Strickland·6:56 PM
Guess Frank was driving
that night....
Kay Lhota·6:56 PM
Well, folks-- Frank and I
are going to say goodnight for tonight. Everybody have a great time, and thanks
so much! It's been a blast chatting
Laura Leibowitz·6:56 PM
"Serve with fish or
meat"...it's disgusting either way.
Steve Archer·6:56 PM
Night Kay and Frank!
Brad Strickland·6:56 PM
Good night, Kay! Great to
chat with you here.
Kay Lhota·6:56 PM
Thanks again!
R.Hookie·6:56 PM
Thanks for stopping by!!!
Linda Cree·6:56 PM
Night Frank and Kay
Laura Leibowitz·6:57 PM
So glad you and Frank made
it! Come back again!
Say, before we lose anyone
else, any requests for the January show?
Brad Strickland·6:57 PM
Hmmm....Not the Rose Bowl
one....
Laura, what about a Jack
guest shot that you think is really funny?
Laura Leibowitz·6:59 PM
Or..."The Man Who Came
to Dinner?"
Might provide some
interesting debate fodder.
Brad Strickland·6:59 PM
Nobody else likes that one.
Laura Leibowitz·7:00 PM
OK
I'll find something.
Brad Strickland·7:00 PM
You do know that Harpo
played Banjo in the original production? Talked and everything.
Laura Leibowitz·7:00 PM
But not King for a
Day. We can probably all recite that one.
Perri·7:00 PM
I liked the Guest angle for
tonight's chat, -- I'd never heard this one.
Laura Leibowitz·7:00 PM
Brad - Now that you mention
it, I think I had heard that.
OK. gotcha.
R.Hookie·7:01 PM
This was fun tonight!
Laura Leibowitz·7:01 PM
So we're at two
hours...anything else Benny=wise or should we call it good?
This was really fun
tonight...great crowd!
Brad Strickland·7:01 PM
Yes, and coming off a
two-week bad cold, it made me feel good.
Perri·7:01 PM
Great
evening! You're all so smart 'n funny!
R.Hookie·7:01 PM
Johnny's on now
Brad Strickland·7:02 PM
On what?
Kathy Fuller Seeley·7:02
PM
thanks so much for a great
night! Laura, do you need anything else for your next TIMES issue?
R.Hookie·7:02 PM
Antenna TV
Laura Leibowitz·7:02 PM
OK, folks...thanks for
spending this time here, and hope to see you all next month!
Brad Strickland·7:02 PM
Well, I'm not a full-time
wit. Sort of a half-wit.
Steve Archer·7:02 PM
Night all!
Laura Leibowitz·7:02 PM
Kathy - I still need to put
it together. If I do, I'll let you know!
Perri·7:02 PM
Good night and thank you!
Brad Strickland·7:02 PM
Good night!
R.Hookie·7:02 PM
Good night folks!!! See you
soon!!!
Kathy Fuller Seeley·7:02
PM
Night All....
Graeme Cree·7:02 PM
Linda's got a What's My
Line Chat coming up.
Linda Cree·7:04 PM
Night
all! This was fun!