OTR Friday for Lazy Tryptophan Comas!

As another turkey sandwich flows over our pallet and even more tryptophan coarses through our veins, an afternoon of good solid OTR is just the thing

I too am feeling the lull of the big bird, so I'll leave most of my commentary out this week and let you drink in the goodness of some of the best comed ever created.

From the little house half way up on the next block we finish up our undated 1939 episodes with two that focus on the patriarch of the Gook family.

The first centers on an annual running gag in which Vic is compiling his list of names of whom to send Christmas Cards to and Sades worrying about the oceans of money being spent. "15 centses don't fall from the sky!". This one has some great Paul Rhymer names in it that are worth hearing. Rushes relating the story of the "1st chair barber over at the Butler House Hotel" who has lived his entire life without recieving a Christmas Card and now lives in fear of breaking his streak is pure Rhymer gold.

Enjoy:



The second episode highlights Vic's ego as he relates to writing an article for the local paper...and how easily said ego gets deflated. Sound quality here drifts in and out, but I would never think of omitting this one.

Enjoy:



Now it's on to "Speaking of Radio: the Jack Benny Program" part 12 of 12 and final of this great documentary!

This one covers alot including Jacks 15 year relationship with The Merican Tobacco Co. and Lucky Strikes cigarettes.


There's a very funny overview of the stroyline in which Jack fired "The Sportsmen Quartet" for wanting too much money...

...and creates a new quartet from Bing Crosby...

...Dick Haymes...

...Andy Russell....

...and Dennis Day.

...and a series of sketches in which Mel Blanc plays a bakery man selling Jack "Cimmaron Rolls".

Comedy genius from the smallest of things.

I'm going to have to search hard for something to fill the place of this show on "OTR Friday" now that it's over.

Talk to you soon.

The Father of the Blues - W.C. Handy

Born this date in 1873, today is the 136th anniversary of the birth of W.C. Handy.

Handy is called "The Father of the Blues". As a kid I thought that this meant that he invented the blues.

What he really did was...used his musical training to harness the folk music and arrange and chart it. He also wrote original songs in the form and introduced the wider world to this truly American original art form.

He was also as true as anyone could be to the roots of it all. While signing his name to his compositions, he was the first to site his influences.

Blues was the first music I was ever passionate about. Who knows at what age I first learned the rhythms and cadences of it or when I first responded to the tonal qualities of a 12 barre progression in blues time, but I was hooked and glommed on to as much as I could early and often. When I was in my mid-teens and in the middle of Montana I had to really work at finding it. It was the age of "Disco" and "Urban Cowboy Corporate Country" on the airwaves. But find it I did. I grabbed every record I could find and read the liner notes to find the next artist who played and wrote this magic music.

Somewhere I found W.C. Handy and what he did for the music.

Blues is a music that speaks to our genetic memory somewhere...like ALL folk music does.

And like all folk music, it deserves to be preserved. Handy was the first step in doing that.

Here's a few examples of different people all performing the same W.C. Handy song.

All Part of how he helped preach the gospel of the blues. A true blues missionary.

Bessie Smith:



Louis Armstrong:



Sydney Bechet:



Bing Crosby and Duke Ellington:



A couple of relative unknowns, at least I've never heard of them till searching for this blog..

Sylvester Weaver and Walter Beasley:



Someone else surely would have brought this music to the world. But W.C. did it with dignity and honor shown to the folks who created it.

Thanks W.C.!