Starter of this subject: Loose Shoes
Last post in this subject: 12/22/2001
Messages in this subject: 11
| Loose Shoes | 12/22/2001 11 replies |
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The famous Jack Benny "Your Money or Your Life" exchange (3/28/48 Jack is Robbed of Ronald Colman's Oscar) is reported by many sources as having generated the longest recorded laugh in radio history -- more than 2-1/2 minutes by some accounts. I can just picture Benny's face as he milked the pause for the laugh. Unfortunately, on the copy of the show that I have, the laugh is rather mild, only about 7 seconds, and, frankly, disappointing after the build-up.
Is the legendary laugh just that -- a legend? 1948 was about the time of the transition from separate East and West Coast broadcasts to playing transcriptions for the West. Were there two live broadcasts of this show, and I just have the wrong one? |
| Larry Gassman | 12/23/2001 6 replies |
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This legend concerning what has been reported to be the longest laugh in radio is simply that... a legend. Benny often remarked that there were several other shows with longer laughs, E.G, the Show from 4-25-48, with dorothy Kirsten. Forgive me, but i am not writing this from home and am going by memory concerning the date for the Kirsten guest appearence.
Although KFI and some other stations did repeat the Benny Show via Transcription, the NBC network, did not. There were 2 live shows, one for the east, and another for west coast audiences. |
| Jim Stokes | 12/25/2001 0 replies |
| I heard the show live on the radio. Actually, that routine was repeated several times. It got varying amounts of laughs and applause. The applause lasted a long time. I didn't time the events. But they did take up a lot of air time. Two minutes seems like a long time. But then again, that routine was done several times in other shows. |
| Edwin Brooks | 12/27/2001 3 replies |
| Forgive me--I, too, am not at home as I write but it seems to me that "another" Benny moment (probably several more as well) is the legendary "longest laugh". This one was a slip of the tongue by Mary Livingston. I can't ome up with it at the moment, but maybe someone else remembers it. |
| Eric Cooper | 12/27/2001 2 replies |
| Mary Livingston had two famous bloopers to her credit, but the one you are probably thinking of is the Chiss Sweeze line |
| Edwin Brooks | 12/29/2001 0 replies |
| Yep, that's it. Something (book?) I have at home considers that to have led to the longest (one of the longest??) laughs in radio. |
| JCB | 1/10/2002 0 replies |
| Mary's other famous blooper was when she and Jack were at a gas station and she said something like "I saw it up on the GRASS REEK." |
| Loose Shoes | 1/5/2002 0 replies |
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My thanks to you and all else who took the time to respond.
Now to find that Kirsten show.... |
| Ken Smith | 12/31/2001 3 replies |
| Speaking of long laughs, lest we forget Don Wilsons famous mangling of Drew Pearson's name and the subsequent changing of Frank Nelsons script, without Jack's knowledge, which caused Benny and the audience to meltdown. |
| Jim Stokes | 1/2/2002 2 replies |
There were some great break-ups on the Jack Benny Show. A frequent one was when script pages were missing. Rather than cover and ad-lib, the whole cast would get into it.  VIZ-- "What page are YOU on?" "I don't have one either." "Here, I've got three page 33's!"
Another routine that was so funny they kept repeating it during the show was the "hunting bear." It was such an obivious double entendre that the cast kept repeating it during the show with the line, "Don't knock it, if you haven't tried it." No other radio show had such insider jokes and ad-lib repeat jokes. It was truly a radio person's radio show! |
| Lamont Cranston | 1/3/2002 1 replies |
| Contrary to the belief of many, it was *not* Mel Blanc as the stickup man in the original. It was an actor from Lux Radio Theatre.*** - Drear Pewson |
| JCB | 1/10/2002 0 replies |
| The actor's name was Eddie Marr. I got |