OTR Friday - Even MORE Vic & Sade and Jack Benny Too

Time to make your ears smile again with some rock solid samples of comedy from radio's golden age.

Our first episode of Vic & Sade is a master-ful tale of confusion that has me mesmeried each and ever time I listen to it. Once again, Paul Rhymer uses just two speaking characters, one simply explaining to the other a telephone message and suddenly a cast as rich and full as you can imagine fill your ears. With just the voices of Vic and Rush, we hear the afternoons goings on of Sade, Y.Y. Flirtch, Mis' Harris, Fred and Ruthie Stembottom, Hank Gutstop, Mr. Sludge (one of Mis' Harris' boarders) and a Mr. Yop, Gop or Fop.

The action covers Vic's place of business (The Consolidated Kitchen Wares Co.), the train station, the foundery where Fred stembottom works, Miss' Harris' boarding house and The Lazy Hours Pool Room...yet Vic and Rush never leave their living room.

Genius.

My favorite Vic-ism: "When I greeted you joyously, your rejoinder was sluggish and preoccupied."

Words you can languish in. Here it is from June 5, 1939.



Show two comes from June 13, 1939. A lazy evening with Vic and Sade playing Rummy and waiting to go to bed when Rush rushes in to tell the tale of "The greatest night of Rotton Davis' en-tire career".

There's not much I can add that wouldn't take away from the charm and humor Rhymer hammers out of this one...enjoy!



This weeks portion of "Speaking of Radio - The Jack Benny Program" gets a little more into the personality of Jack himself and begins to introduce the cast. Maybe the greatest assemblage of talent EVER, pictured below left to right are Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Dennis Day, Phil Harris, Mary Livingstone, Jack Benny, Don Wilson and Mel Blanc.

First up, a prolonged exerpt from the program gives a stilted life history of Jack and how he assembled the cast, all narrated by the great comedian George Jessel

Then we hear some of the cast giving contemporary interviews with great insight into Jack's generosity...something we never hear on the show. First up Don Wilson, Jack's announcer for almost the entire run of the show...

Then Dennis Day. Originally the replacement boy tenor when Kenny Baker left the show, Dennis became an important comedic ingredient, providing many impressions and dialects over the years.

Enough from me, here's part 3.

Happy OTRing!

Talk to you soon.