IJBFC Chat - February 5, 2017
(Name of message originator appears right after the timestamp)
[4:56 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: good evening, folks, I
wonder what Jack would say about the Falcons leading the Patriots going into
halftime. He might say that he was on the original Patriots team in 1776? Or
that Polly the Parrot is obviously playing right wing?
[5:01 PM] Steve Archer: Hey there Kathy and Yhtapmys
[5:01 PM] Yhtapmys: Hi.
[5:02 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: hello Steve! and happy
national football holiday...
[5:02 PM] Steve Archer:
File
uploaded: photoweek250e.jpg
[https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hipchat.com/598646/4257348/K7rTKZQRTeLxsvm/photoweek250e.jpg]
[5:03 PM] Steve Archer: for Kathy's question
[5:03 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: just give him a helmet and
he's ready to run away!
[5:03 PM] Steve Archer: Yeah, for some reason we usually
have the chat on Super Bowl Sunday and it's often a poor turnout
[5:04 PM] Steve Archer: But the Shower of Stars selection
for tonight was fantastic!
[5:04 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: well, we will have twice as
much fun at their expense : )
[5:04 PM] Steve Archer: Exactly
[5:04 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: GOSH it is one of my
favorite episodes!!!! Just WHO thought that members of the audience would
remember cast members from live epsidoes broadcast only in 1932???? That blows
my mind
[5:05 PM] Steve Archer: There are so many aspects of that
show that are remarkable
[5:05 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: I love seeing all the folks
who were only voices on radio
[5:05 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Hi folks...be right there, just
feeding my rabbits.
[5:06 PM] Steve Archer: Apparently Shower of Stars was
originally broadcast in color too -- at least some of them.
[5:06 PM] Steve Archer: Hi Laura!
[5:06 PM] Steve Archer: It would be amazing to find an
original color copy, but I think only the b/w kinescopes exist.
[5:07 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: what do you like about this
episode, Steve?
[5:07 PM] Steve Archer: I'm astonished they got Mary to do
a live show.
[5:07 PM] Steve Archer: Andy Devine subbing for poor Eddie
Anderson
[5:07 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: you are right, maybe because
she was surrounded by others
[5:07 PM] Steve Archer: Larry Stevens and Dennis together
[5:07 PM] Steve Archer: All the early folks you mentioned -
it is really incredible.
[5:08 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: wow, I have stayed away from
LIFE because I'll never be able to use their photos, but the pix of Anderson
being hauled away by ambulance touched me
[5:08 PM] Steve Archer: Phil and Jack interacting on TV.
[5:08 PM] Steve Archer: All it needed was a roller-skating
penguin and it would have been the perfect birthday celebration :)
[5:09 PM] Perri: Good evening, non football-obsessed
friends :-)
[5:09 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: seems like such a present to
Fans who had loved the show a long time
[5:09 PM] Steve Archer: Indeed.
[5:09 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: what, Perri, you are willing
to divide your attention between Jack and Lady Gaga? haha welcome
[5:10 PM] Perri: :-) The streets are
absolutely silent in the neighborhood - Houston's never been so peaceful!
[5:10 PM] Steve Archer: I wonder if they tried to get Kenny
Baker to join in ....
[5:10 PM] Perri: I'd never seen this show--loved it!
[5:11 PM] Laura Leibowitz: OK...here I am!
[5:11 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Houston should have an SB
every week! haha two of my freshmen students asked to miss class
friday because they HAD to go from Austin down to Houston for the festivities
[5:11 PM] Perri: Hi Laura!
[5:11 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: good question, Steve!!! I
wonder if conflicting contracts posed a problem
[5:12 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: howdy Laura
[5:12 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Steve - I wondered that too.
[5:12 PM] Laura Leibowitz: What was Kenny Baker doing in
1958?
[5:12 PM] Yhtapmys: He was retired.
[5:13 PM] Steve Archer: Wasn't he doing religious stuff or
something?
[5:13 PM] Yhtapmys: Well, he was a Christian Scientist, I
think.
[5:13 PM] Steve Archer: vague memory there.
[5:13 PM] Laura Leibowitz: That's what I thought too...
[5:14 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: well, now won't I have to go
look on imdb....t'ain't much, McGee, imdb has no listings after 1951. When did
he do Glamour Manor>
[5:14 PM] Laura Leibowitz: But still, you'd think they'd
get him to do one appearance.
[5:14 PM] Yhtapmys: But I don't believe he was recording or
doing anything by 1958.
[5:14 PM] Laura Leibowitz: They got four bandleaders...
[5:14 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: and 17 announcers!
[5:14 PM] Yhtapmys: And no Harry Conn.
[5:14 PM] Laura Leibowitz: I was surprised when you saw the
studio audience and that Mary was there on a live show.
[5:15 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Actually, none of the writers
making a screen appearance.
[5:15 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: she must have taken good
drugs to do that one show, : ) I mean to stay calmed down enough
for it
[5:15 PM] Steve Archer: Did you notice Jack's writers did
not get the writing credit?
[5:15 PM] Laura Leibowitz: I was curious to see who wrote
it. When I saw Wedlock and Snyder, I thought, "Oh, that
explains it."
[5:15 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - I was thinking that
exact thing.
[5:15 PM] Steve Archer: How so Laura, don't know Wedlock
and Snyder
[5:15 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Steve - They were probably busy
with the series show.
[5:16 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: and Wedlock and Snyder would
kind of preclude the others from doing it?
[5:16 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Wedlock and Snyder wrote for
Jack on occasion.
[5:16 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - Not necessarily, I would
guess it was a divide and conquer.
[5:16 PM] Laura Leibowitz: A lot of the staff on this show
was the same as Jack's regular show.
[5:16 PM] Steve Archer: The regular show was conceived out
of Wedlock?
[5:16 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Steve - Wah wah wahhhhh
[5:16 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: and Wedlock and Snyder were
so senior, having written for Jack back in the early 1930s. which adds to the
nostalgia of this episode
[5:16 PM] Laura Leibowitz: *Grabbing Volume 3*
[5:17 PM] Perri: Oh Steeeeeeve!
[5:17 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: haha STeve!
[5:17 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - Zackly.
[5:17 PM] Yhtapmys: I figured the regular writers were busy
enough with Jack's show.
[5:18 PM] Laura Leibowitz: They were credited on a 1953 TV
show, and three 1961 shows.
[5:18 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Wedlock and Snyder, that is.
[5:18 PM] Steve Archer: I wish they'd done the bit
mentioned in the LIFE article, "I was a Teenage Old Man"
[5:18 PM] Laura Leibowitz: And no, George Hicks wasn't
Jack's very first announcer.
[5:18 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: it was George Thorgerson!!!!!
[5:19 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Interesting to see how many
times Jack slips and says "Rochester...I mean Andy..."
[5:19 PM] Yhtapmys: Ed.
[5:19 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: nerd contest!
[5:19 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - High FAHVE!
[5:19 PM] Steve Archer: Ed wasn't Joe Kearns, who was that?
[5:19 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Steve - I was wondering about
that too!
[5:19 PM] Laura Leibowitz: I was wondering if it was the
guy who played Ed later in the TV series...
[5:19 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Did Eddie appear on the
regular Benny shows after 1958? I think so, but not so often as before
[5:20 PM] Steve Archer: Oh, sure, he's on well into the
sixties.
[5:20 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - Oh
definitely. But it was his later stroke that took it way down.
[5:20 PM] Laura Leibowitz: I'd have to look up exactly when
that was, but his delivery is dramatically different afterwards.
[5:20 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: poor guy, at least it sounds
like Eddie had saved enough money to not be destitute in his final years
[5:21 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: so Laura, why do YOU like
this Shower of Stars episode?
[5:21 PM] Laura Leibowitz: To the point that they brought
in Jane Dulo to play scenes opposite him to keep him in the show but minimize
the demand on him.
[5:21 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - :D
[5:21 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Eddie liked to spend his money
on race horses, fast boats, fast...well...all sorts of fast things.
[5:22 PM] Laura Leibowitz: I think it's fabulous to see so
many people associated with Jack both visually and auditorially!
[5:22 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: I said earlier that I have
always been gobsmacked that Benny assumed audiences would remember that live
stuff from 1932. But in reading comments, some of them DID!
[5:22 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Heck, in 1954 (IIRC) they do a
Kenny Baker joke on the regular radio show.
[5:22 PM] Laura Leibowitz: May have been 55.
[5:23 PM] Steve Archer: Jack, whatever happened to Kenny
Baker?
[5:23 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: I wonder if listeners were
conditioned to pay more attention and remember things when it was all live, with
no repeats. A little like other cultures that kept only oral histories, but
still, these shows were only aired once
[5:23 PM] Laura Leibowitz: But I have a feeling that a lot
of people would have remembered Frank Parker (since there was such an "Is
this the end of Jack Benny?" when he left the show.
[5:24 PM] Laura Leibowitz: And for people like George
Hicks, I wonder if people just take it on faith or create "fake"
memories.
[5:24 PM] Yhtapmys: Frank had been on with Godfrey a few
years earlier so he was still known.
[5:24 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Kenny pretty soon found out
that he was not the next Bing Crosby. Many of his later jobs were Benny related.
Aren't there other Benny-related players in Glamor Manner?
[5:24 PM] Steve Archer: Hey, I remember a lot of silly
stuff from the '90s. It ain't all that impossible.
[5:24 PM] Yhtapmys: Wilson and Schlepperman,
[5:24 PM] Yhtapmys: And Elvia Allman, for that matter.
[5:24 PM] Laura Leibowitz: But not Kitzel...but...Artie
Auerbach died about that time.
[5:25 PM] Steve Archer: I wonder if THIS was the episode
with Shirley Herman somewhere among those cocktail tables.
[5:25 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: exactly, Yhtapmys, Sam Hearn
spent the rest of his career doing night club acts drawing on Shlepperman, with
records of Benny playing to cue him...
[5:25 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Steve - Har har har!
[5:26 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Not a lot for Frank Nelson to
do.
[5:26 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Any guesses on who played
Ed? I honestly don't know yet.
[5:27 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Seeing Don Bestor visually makes
me understand better his "intellectual bandleader" character from back
in the day.
[5:27 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: gosh Laura, if YOU don't
know, it might be a secret for the ages! I wonder if one of the writers or
backstage staff doubled
[5:27 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: is Don Bestor the one with
the big glasses?
[5:28 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - That or a bit
player. Hopefully I'll find a script some day.
[5:28 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Yes...he looks like a tall, thin
version of Kay Kyser.
[5:28 PM] Steve Archer: Ed looked familiar, one of those
ubiquitous character actors but I don't have a name.
[5:28 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: well, all the 1943-59
scripts are at tobacco.doc I will keep an eye out
[5:28 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Yes, but this is a Chrysler
show.
[5:29 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Love the cars, BTW.
[5:29 PM] Laura Leibowitz: And the ad about the Jupiter
mission is pretty cool.
[5:29 PM] Yhtapmys: Laura, that's Joe Kearns' voice isn't
it?
[5:29 PM] Steve Archer: Nice to see Mahlon Merrick get some
screen time.
[5:29 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: if we can figure out who the
ad agency was that worked with the sponsor, I might find it at the ad archvies
at Duke...
[5:29 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Yht - I'm not
sure. I was trying to figure that out when I was watching it.
[5:30 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - Excellent thought.
[5:30 PM] Perri: That robe, tho!
[5:30 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Steve - Agreed. And
that they didn't portray Phil as one of the bandleaders!
[5:30 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Even Frankie and Sammy get
lines.
[5:30 PM] Yhtapmys: This may have been the funniest Larry
Stevens ever was.
[5:30 PM] Steve Archer: I love Phil's dancing and then
Jack's imitation of it when he calls him Elvis.
[5:31 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Yht - It may have been the most
lines he ever had.
[5:31 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Phillip Elvis Harris
[5:31 PM] Steve Archer: "I spend more on a rabbit hunt
than you do on a honeymoon!"
[5:31 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Oh, wasn't Jack's reaction
priceless?
[5:32 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Leave it to Phil to ad lib on
live television.
[5:32 PM] Steve Archer: and Mary's too. She
could never get Jack to pony up enough :)
[5:32 PM] Steve Archer: No offense to your rabbits Laura.
[5:32 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Well, I think their honeymoon
was touring with the show!
[5:33 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: the rabbits? haha
[5:33 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Steve - None taken.
[5:33 PM] Laura Leibowitz: So what other thoughts on the
show for tonight?
[5:33 PM] Steve Archer: What a lost opportunity to not have
had Phil do more TV.
[5:34 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Definitely.
[5:34 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Have you seen the Love Boat
episode he was on?
[5:34 PM] Steve Archer: No!
[5:34 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: good point, Steve. Perhaps
he thought his film and recording careers would be larger
[5:34 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: me either, I bet Phil was
fun
[5:34 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Or the voiceovers for Disney.
[5:35 PM] Steve Archer: Hopefully it's on youtube
somewhere.
[5:35 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: maybe Disney tied him up so
he could not do more guest shots on TV programs
[5:35 PM] Laura Leibowitz: It's great. I
stumbled onto the episode randomly...I think it was MeTV.
[5:35 PM] Steve Archer: With Alice?
[5:35 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: wow, I think Alice was on TV
VERY rarely
[5:35 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Well, Phil's explanation to me
was that he and Alice wanted to focus on more family time.
[5:36 PM] Steve Archer: I figured he just wanted to golf!
[5:36 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Suddenly thinking of Phil in bed
on the Love Boat episode and him in the shower from "So This Is
Harris."
[5:36 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: that is a good point. Not
every performer had Jack's drive to keep working and working up until weeks
before you pass away...
[5:36 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Steve - And
hunt. You've seen the American Sportsman episode focusing on him
and Bing?
[5:37 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - Thank Irving Fein for
some of that.
[5:37 PM] Steve Archer: That is registering somewhere in my
lizard brain, maybe but it has been a long time.
[5:37 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: And there was the worry that
you would get a little part on TV and they would just make fun of you as an old
person, there is some pride and fear at work
[5:37 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Steve - It's good...them palling
around and doing hunting/fishing.
[5:38 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - Very good point.
[5:38 PM] Laura Leibowitz: If George hadn't taken that
fall, Irving would have done the same for him.
[5:38 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: I found an excellent article
in the Washington Post from July 1969 to post to the FB group, about Jack's
determination to keep soldiering on...
[5:39 PM] Yhtapmys: Hey, Art Gilmore is on camera at the
end.
[5:40 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Well, working kept Jack
young. All the stories of him looking like a tired old man, and
then the years fall away when they play his music.
[5:40 PM] Laura Leibowitz: I have sometimes pointed to the
last photo in that Life article as my thoughts on Jack "alone" or in
that offstage "space."
[5:41 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Or Jack being "moody."
[5:41 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: I really admire that drive
to keep going, and I am currently working through some ideas about Jack in the
1960s, as the TV business changed so much all around him
[5:41 PM] Steve Archer: I wonder if Andy Devine was
supposed to be on the show before Rochester's heart attack?
[5:41 PM] Yhtapmys: I think so, Steve. Hence the double
introduction,
[5:41 PM] Laura Leibowitz: I would bet he was going to be
part of it, but then they needed a stand-in.
[5:41 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Hey Steve, just this week I
saw an article from Variety that listed both Devine and Anderson's names, so I
think they were both to be there. The story pitched it as Andy stepping up when
Eddie got sick
[5:42 PM] Steve Archer: Kind of a brilliant substitution
with the vocals!
[5:42 PM] Yhtapmys: Kearns is in the end credits so he's
got to be on the show.
[5:42 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Aha!!!!
[5:42 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: yep! Its a shame that Andy
dropped out of the show in 1938, his voice alone is great fun. But the writers
didn't always come up with good ideas of what to do with him
[5:42 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Good catch Yht...forgot to look
for him there!
[5:43 PM] Laura Leibowitz: I know some fans have said that
they found him rather annoying (Devine).
[5:43 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Also note that Devine cycles out
as Eddie Anderson's role is ramping up. Not sure if that was a
conscious decision or not.
[5:43 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: well, I can understand the
annoyance, Morrow and Beloin didn't DO anything with him, other than a HiYA Buck
[5:44 PM] Laura Leibowitz: The new Jelly series...
[5:44 PM] Steve Archer: He must have been doing his weird
puppet show around this time. Andy's Gang?
[5:45 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Steve - You're right, that was
about this time I think.
[5:45 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Hi John!
[5:46 PM] Laura Leibowitz: I'll have to look in my record
collection to see if Ted Weems was doing anything at this time.
[5:46 PM] Laura Leibowitz: So what else on the show for
discussion?
[5:46 PM] HipChat: Hi @JohnBrown! Welcome to Hipchat. You
can @-mention me by typing @HipChat and I'll tell you what HipChat can do!
[5:47 PM] John Brown: Jack Benny fan from Kentucky here!
[5:47 PM] Yhtapmys: Weems was still doing hotel dates.
[5:47 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Hiya Buck!
[5:47 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: just that I LOVE teh show as
a Benny fan, and I wonder what young viewers who did not have the long history,
must have thought of it
[5:47 PM] Steve Archer: Great idea to dive into Jack's TV
era - I'd love to see more TV for discussion in the chat, sometimes I feel like
we're ignoring half of Jack's career!
[5:47 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Hello John
[5:47 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Yht - OK, makes
sense. Bandleaders keep going sometimes...Exhibit A, Guy Lombardo.
[5:47 PM] John Brown: Hello - new to your chat room.
[5:47 PM] Steve Archer: Hiya John
[5:48 PM] Yhtapmys: Weems had a heart attack in late '56 so
he recovered for this show.
[5:48 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Welcome, John. Did
you have a chance to take a look at the episode for discussion?
[5:48 PM] John Brown: Ms. Leibowitz was kind enough to
print my article about "age" of Jack Benny fans in the last issue of
the newsletter.
[5:48 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Thanks, John...was meaning to
mention that!
[5:49 PM] Laura Leibowitz: And therein may lie some answer
to your question, Kathy (on how younger viewers saw this special).
[5:49 PM] John Brown: It was my pleasure and
privilege. Anything to help in Jack Benny admiration advocacy, I am
on-board.
[5:49 PM] Laura Leibowitz: :D
[5:49 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: yes! so glad to have as much
research as possible being done!
[5:49 PM] Steve Archer: How many Shower of Stars did Jack
do?
[5:50 PM] John Brown: I am sorry, I did not get to view the
episode - still looking around the website to find things.
[5:50 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Hmmm...I'd have to sit down and
count them. About 12-15 I think.
[5:50 PM] Steve Archer: I love that one with Jack, Liberace,
Vincent Price and Jayne Mansfield - all time campy cast!
[5:50 PM] Laura Leibowitz: John - No
problem. Just wanted to make sure we got your thoughts if you did.
[5:50 PM] Yhtapmys: I added them all up on the FB group
when this came up.
[5:50 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: John, it will be a treat
when you find it (is it online? I only have it through a DVD home made
collection I purchased from ebay)
[5:51 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Yht - Excellent...this is part
of the reason that I hold back on figuring out some things...better to share the
fun!
[5:51 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Benny's appearances are like
4-5 a year in 1956, 1957 and 1958?
[5:51 PM] John Brown: I though maybe the episode was
available via the website. As I said, I am still learning my way
around.
[5:51 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Yes, I posted a link to a
YouTube of it.
[5:51 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: thank you for that, Laura
[5:51 PM] John Brown: I will check that
out. Thanks.
[5:52 PM] Laura Leibowitz: So let's open it up...what
Benny-wise is on your minds tonight?
[5:52 PM] John Brown: So many of the DVD's that are
available for purchase are not very good quality. Anyone have any
suggestions how to find "good" quality DVD's?
[5:52 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Buy the Shout set?
[5:52 PM] John Brown: No.
[5:52 PM] John Brown: I have not.
[5:52 PM] Yhtapmys: I was listening to Speedy Riggs read an
eye chart before coming here,
[5:52 PM] John Brown: Do you recommend it?
[5:52 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: I am very grateful for the
six-part series on the Life of Jack Benny from what, 1961, that has been getting
posted on the FB site : )
[5:53 PM] Laura Leibowitz: We worked with the UCLA
restoration group to try to improve those.
[5:53 PM] Yhtapmys: 1958.
[5:53 PM] Yhtapmys: Do you want the 11 parter on Paar?
[5:53 PM] Yhtapmys: He complains a bit, you know.
[5:53 PM] Laura Leibowitz: John - So while they're not
BluRay, they're about as good as you can get.
[5:53 PM] John Brown: Thanks again for the counsel.
[5:53 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: its a thoughtful and
detailed series. ELEVEN bits on Parr? Yikes.. Glad that Falcons
just made it 27-3
[5:54 PM] Yhtapmys: Yeah, the Post did 11 parts.
[5:54 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Sure. And of
course, there's always the IJBFC video library.
[5:54 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Wow, talk about killing you
with kindness
[5:54 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Yht - Maybe because Paar
wouldn't shut up? ;)
[5:54 PM] Laura Leibowitz: 28 parts on Joey Bishop...
[5:55 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: I just found a really nice
interview with Jack B in the Washington Post July 27 1969, can send the clipping
from Benny's papers and the Proquest version
[5:55 PM] Laura Leibowitz: That would be great!
[5:55 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: 53 parts on Shecky Green!
[5:55 PM] Laura Leibowitz: and 117 on Jackie Mason.
[5:56 PM] Yhtapmys: I've got Benny stuff backed up into
mid-May and I still have stuff I haven't coded for posting.
[5:56 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: yeah that your queue is so
long!
[5:56 PM] Laura Leibowitz: While we're on the subject, what
comedian(s) do you wish you could have seen work with Jack?
[5:57 PM] Laura Leibowitz: We so appreciate your
contributions, Yht!!!
[5:57 PM] Yhtapmys: And I haven't even written the Stevens
post yet.
[5:57 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Yht is the
bomb! Maybe Woody Allen.....
[5:57 PM] Yhtapmys: Seen? Hmmmm.
[5:57 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Definitely Jerry Seinfeld,
and David Letterman
[5:57 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Jon Stewart
[5:58 PM] Laura Leibowitz: And all of those we just
mentioned cite Jack as one of their heroes.
[5:58 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: and Kevin Spacey
[5:58 PM] Yhtapmys: Stewart's too potty mouthed, sorry.
[5:58 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Oh...who did that episode on
Jack's show...Bobby Darin?
[5:58 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Where he basically imitates
Jack?
[5:59 PM] Laura Leibowitz: That would be rather ironic to
then have Kevin Spacey do the same!
[5:59 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: I just saw the Bobby Darrin
TV episode, and I admire Jack for trying to support young performers. Not that
it helped much in Darrin's case
[5:59 PM] Steve Archer: Pee Wee Herman
[5:59 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Yht - Yes, I'm not a fan of his
potty-mouth stuff. But his clean work is wondergul.
[5:59 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Wondergul! yes!
[5:59 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Steve - Seriously?
[5:59 PM] Steve Archer: Oh Jack and Pee-wee would be
hysterical
[6:00 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Charlie Chaplin or Buster
Keaton, just thinking about how much Jack developed his silent shtick in TV
[6:00 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - Hopefully some day
you'll see the episode with Shari Lewis. It's a real tour de force
for all her talents!
[6:00 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - Oh my, that would be
FANTASTIC.
[6:00 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: gosh I can't wait to see
that one. Sounds like a viewing party at UCLA in June!!!!
[6:00 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - Yep, that's definitely
one I viewed at UCLA.
[6:01 PM] Laura Leibowitz: You know, this question comes up
from time to time but I haven't heard it discussed recently. What
is the "worst" Benny TV episode?
[6:01 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Or when did Jack jump the shark?
[6:01 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: somebody on fb or maybe it
was you, Laura, mentioned seeing Bill Irwin, and Irwin is the direct performing
decendent of Keaton, so Irwin and Benny
[6:01 PM] Yhtapmys: I haven't seen a lot of the TV material
in years so I can't answer.
[6:01 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: I don't much care for the
Carnival special, like 1966?
[6:02 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - That was
me. *Sigh* I have developed a crush on Bill
Irwin. I was just mesmerized.
[6:02 PM] Laura Leibowitz: So now I have crushes on Robert
Reich and Bill Irwin. Make up your own joke.
[6:02 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: You and me both, Sister!!!
Have you seen Irwin's 1988 PBS special, I show it to undergrads who similarly
react : )
[6:02 PM] Steve Archer: There are some grim ones in Jack's
last regular TV season, but I'm drawing a blank on particulars.
[6:02 PM] Yhtapmys: The "I Love Lucy" laugh track
drives me nuts, though.
[6:02 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - No! Only
seen him live on stage.
[6:03 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Yht - Yes, with the
"howling woman" as I call her, on the big laughs.
[6:03 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Laura, I will send you the
link, I think a poor copy is on youtube
[6:03 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - I will look forward to
it.
[6:03 PM] Yhtapmys: Yeah, Laura, she laughed at Granny
Clampett the same way.
[6:03 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Laura and you all have
warned me that the last season of TV on NBC, other than the first episode, are
all really meager
[6:04 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Yht - Oh my, haven't watched
Beverly Hillbillies much since I was a kid. I'm sure I'd recognize
her.
[6:04 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Yht -- I am FASCINATED by
the dead laughing voices captured on the Laff Machine that were used for years
and years and years
[6:04 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - Well, let's temper that
a bit. There are some episodes that are really, really
awful. But there are some that are good.
[6:04 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - You know about Laughing
Sal?
[6:05 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: yay, I look forward to
figuring out the difference, Laura! Outlining a TV book as sequel to the radio
book...
[6:05 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: who is laughing Sal? Is this
Lucille Ball's mother?
[6:05 PM] Steve Archer: Is Laughing Sal still at the Musee
Mecanique Laura?
[6:05 PM] Laura Leibowitz: I am fine with the last episode
of the TV series with the Smothers Brothers. But it's one of those
where Jack doesn't have much to do and puts the focus on the guest starts.
[6:05 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Steve - That's
it. You got it.
[6:06 PM] Steve Archer: I have a couple of CDs of their old
instruments and they include Laughing Sal as a track.
[6:06 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Two come to mind, but you have
to see them at UCLA. And I hope they STAY THERE.
[6:06 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: wow...... and I will make
myself watch the Smothers episode, had been too afraid to
[6:06 PM] Steve Archer: I just watched the "return the
favor" bit where Jack and George Burns go on the Smothers Brothers show and
do an imitation of the Smothers.
[6:06 PM] Steve Archer: It's actually kind of funny.
[6:06 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - Oh no, don't be afraid
of that one. Tommy and Dicky carry it.
[6:07 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Steve - I like that
one! I know that Jack was having a real hard time reading the cue
cards, but what got aired was good.
[6:07 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: the Smothers Bros are such a
great bridge between old comedy and 1960s new. The Branculli book and
documentary on them are great
[6:07 PM] Laura Leibowitz: And Dicky is one of the finest
gentlemen you'll ever meet.
[6:08 PM] Laura Leibowitz: I was so angry when I watched
"The Cat Burglar" episode that I went off on a big rant in the
comments of Volume 3.
[6:08 PM] Steve Archer: Aha, I remember your writeup of
that one Laura!
[6:09 PM] Laura Leibowitz: A lot of people point to the
Kingston Trio "Tijuana Jail" bit as the worst. It may be
one of the worst that's actually in circulation.
[6:09 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: I have such sympathy for
Jack, in that year after CBS virtually dropped him, they were playing reruns of
his episodes in the morning, while he was trying to do new shows at night
[6:09 PM] Laura Leibowitz: But it doesn't look as bad next
to some of these others.
[6:09 PM] Yhtapmys: Kathy, I didn't realise that until
reading that Rubin article in TV Guide. That was just spite.
[6:10 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: you got it!!! They did the
same thing to Beverly Hillbillies while it was at the top of the ratings -- just
so selfish....
[6:10 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Don't make Jack do physical
comedy. Just don't. Unless it's something like him in
the huge platform shoes when trying to audition for Clint Walker's brother.
[6:10 PM] Yhtapmys: Or imitating Elvis Harris.
[6:10 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Good ol' James Aubrey...
[6:11 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: curse Aubrey and his legacy
haha
[6:11 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Yeah, little stuff like that can
be done. But having Jack crawling around in what we would now call
a pussycat hat and bodysuit....I shudder at the memory of it.
[6:11 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: if Ben Schwartz wants me to
lighten up on hating Harry Conn, at least here is a clear shmuck to dislike
[6:11 PM] Yhtapmys: Every time I run into a Keefe Braselle
article in Variety, I feel like posting it for Laura.
[6:12 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - I thought you submitted
the "Lovely Chain Gang" transcript because you liked it!
[6:12 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Yht - Hee hee!
[6:12 PM] Yhtapmys: Jack made Conn the highest paid comedy
writer in radio. Boo hoo hoo. I'll take his salary,
[6:12 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: oh I DO, I love all the
stuff Harry Conn and Jack did....up until spring 1936....
[6:12 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Has anyone here tried reading
"The CanniBalS"?
[6:12 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy - Ah,
gotcha. Does thin out after that.
[6:13 PM] Yhtapmys: I tried. About a page and a half.
[6:13 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Yht - There ya go.
[6:14 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Maybe we should buy a copy for
the club, and create a list of the people who want to read it. When
you get to the point that you haven't read any of it in two weeks, you have to
send it to the next person on the list.
[6:14 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: well hey, I have to get
going, but I wish everyone a happy Benny birthday in advance!!!!! and I look
forward to next month
[6:14 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Take care,
Kathy! Always great to have you here.
[6:14 PM] Kathy Fuller Seeley: Laura, that sounds like my
reaction to Nesteroff's The Comedians, I keep trying to read it, but throw it
across the room every five pages
[6:14 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Any requests for next month?
[6:14 PM] Perri: Good night, Kathy! (cake)
[6:15 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Kathy -And me with the McFadden
article on Jack.
[6:15 PM] Yhtapmys: None from me, Laura.
[6:15 PM] Perri: Watching the show made me think.... would
it be crazy to try "live chatting" a program? (through
something like https://www.watch2gether.com/?lang=en )
[6:15 PM] Laura Leibowitz: I know that Graeme has been
trying to do that on FB...I'm open to it.
[6:15 PM] Laura Leibowitz: I'll take a look at that site.
[6:16 PM] Steve Archer: sounds like fun Perri
[6:16 PM] Laura Leibowitz: So what else
Benny-wise? Or are we calling it good for this month?
[6:16 PM] Perri: I thought it might be a fun
variation. :-)
[6:16 PM] Yhtapmys: My back's getting sore, so I have to
move.
[6:16 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Sure...I'll have to see how it
works!
[6:16 PM] Steve Archer: I should be off too, Good night
everyone, Happy Jack's Birthday!
[6:17 PM] Laura Leibowitz: OK...appreciate everyone showing
up despite the programming opposite us.
[6:17 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Thanks folks...see you next
month!
[6:17 PM] Perri: Me too--gonna walk outside and marvel at
Silent Houston some more
[6:17 PM] Perri: Good night and thanks to everyone. I learn
so much from you amazing folks in every chat!
[6:17 PM] Laura Leibowitz: Thanks, Perri!