Maestro, Not Magical

The maestro launches the symphony orchestra into “Largo al factotum” from Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” in Tex Avery’s Magical Maestro (1952). Most of the animation in the scene is on ones. Here are some of the frames. See how the hand shapes are drawn.



The conductor’s design is heavily borrowed from MGM shorts musical director Scott Bradley (though Bradley is shorter).

The maestro’s place is taken by Mysto the magician, who puts the singer through a funny hell.

Rich Hogan helped Avery with the gags and the animation is by Walt Clinton, Grant Simmons and Mike Lah. I don’t know who did this scene.

Drawing Water

The idea of a cartoon character drawing his own props goes back in the sound era as far as Van Beuren’s Pencil Mania (1932), and I’m sure Koko the Clown did it in Fleischer shorts in the silent days. It’s resurrected to pretty good effect in Gag Buster, a 1957 Terrytoons cartoon starring a fox named Spoofer.

In this scene, he draws a hose, washes the colour off the bad guy, then plays “Oh, Susannah” on his lines (you hear a solo steel guitar playing “Oh Susannah” during that part). The character design is a little scrunched but the expressions are nice.



Spoofer paints the colours back on, dances in a circle and then it’s on to the next gag.



Spoofer borrows from Screwy Squirrel; he plays part of the score of the cartoon himself (a drum roll).

And he chatters an awful lot; the internet says his voice belongs to CBS staff announcer Bern Bennett. I’d never be able to tell. Jim Tyer fans can spot his animation and there are scenes that if they weren’t animated by Carlo Vinci, they’re influenced by him.

Remembering the Jack Benny Show

Perhaps there can be no greater tribute to the entertainment provided to the world by Jack Benny than the fact that more than eight months after he died, a newspaper columnist decided to publish a personal remembrance of his show.

This wasn’t a deathiversary like you see on the internet all the time, or someone thinking he’d just died and publishing an obit like you see on the internet all the time. A writer for the Greenfield Reporter got a chance to write something of his choice. He chose Jack Benny.

Granted, not everything’s quite accurate; he is relying on 30-year-old radio memories in an age where you couldn’t go line and listen to the old Benny shows for as long as you wanted. But his batting average is pretty good and his sentiments will be on the mark in the minds of Benny fans reading it.

This was published September 2, 1975.

The Subject Is Jack Benny
Tribute to an entertainer
By CHARLIE KELLER
Recorder Staff
I have been given a beautiful reprieve! The boss said, "Give me a guest column. Write it on anything you want!"
So I get a chance to make up for something I didn’t get to do and to honour somebody who added many hours of joy to my life.
I once said that when Jack Benny died, I was going to have a Mass said for him, in gratitude for a lifetime of joy. I'm going to, too, but I suppose it will have to be done quietly. Old Blue Eyes just has to be in good favor Up There, as far as I'm concerned.
Being nostalgic and bringing back the past is a pleasant way to pass the time. Just how enjoyable nostalgia can be depends much on how old you are. Also on how much attention you paid to it when it passed your way.
-o- -o- -o-
EVEN TODAY'S YOUNGEST teenagers are old enough to remember Benny and to appreciate his wit and the way he could literally milk laughs from a running joke repeatedly.
Benny was on the scene since before radio, never mind television. I remember one time, years ago, when my daughter Debbie (now Mrs. Daniel McCarthy and almost a mother twice) asked us, "Did you guys have radio when you were kids?" Television for her always was — radio was something new to her!
My childhood takes me back to the middle 1930s—and how I remember it all! Much of it is vivid, but Benny brings back the roost.
Every Sunday night at 7, Benny's famous voice would come on, "Jello again, this is Jack Benny talking," and the strains of "Love in Bloom" would take over while announcer Don Wilson told us all about the marvellous gelatin desserts.
Benny's later sponsors included Lucky Strike cigarettes and State Farm Insurance. Even after Lucky Strike had stopped sponsoring Waukegan's favorite son, it bought spot adds just before the program. Remember "LS-MFT! LS-MFT! Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco".
-o- -o- -o-
REAMS WERE WRITTEN eulogizing the great Benny. Much of his colourful career was recalled. I read just about everything I could get my hands on, written about him right after he died. But there are several things I did not see in the news stories.
—Remember Benny's pet polar bear, Carmichael? He kept the bear in the swimming pool. Visitors to the Benny home supposedly were afraid of Carmichael but Benny said he was a friendly bear, wouldn't ever hurt anybody.
"Oh yeah?" the gravel voice of Benny's faithful valet, Rochester, would chime in. "What happened to the gas man!" That joke ran for years.
—Do you remember the singer in those years, his first male singer? Kenny Baker. And after that, for a short while, Andy Russell. And only then did it become Dennis Day, who is believed by many to have been with the program all along.
—I recall that Jack Paar got his start as a Jack Benny summer replacement.
—Remember Ed, the keeper of Benny's vault? About four times a year, Benny's program would have him go down to his vault, cross a moat, pull yards of heavy chain and open many locks and doers. A burglar alarm inevitably would go off throughout the house, convulsing the already hysterical audience.
Then: "Halt! Who goes there? Oh, it's you, Mr. Benny."
Then Benny would catch Ed up on the news of the outside world. One night he told Ed "all 48 states" had agreed to something and Ed interrupted with, "oh, 48 of them now, eh?" Subtle and drily delivered, it was delightful. It also shows you how long ago it was!
—Remember all the Benny characters and friends? Like Mary Livingston, his wife; Don Wilson; Dennis Day; Eddie Anderson as Rochester; Phil Harris, his bandleader; and Remly, Harris' usually stewed drummer; Harry Nelson, the beleaguered department store clerk who always greeted Benny wife "Ye-e-e-e-sss!"; Sheldon Leonard as the race track tout who stopped Benny anywhere with, "Hey, Bud!" And how about his long-standing feud with Fred Allen?
-o- -o- -o-
BENNY WAS PORTRAYED as a tightwad but in real life there is much evidence of his being a generous man. One night, on a particularly funny script, he was held up in a dark alley by a gunman who said, "Your money or your life."
Silence.
Finally, the gunman said, "Well?"
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking," was Benny's beautiful reply!
His reputation for stinginess was reflected whenever he commandeered that ancient Maxwell auto into a gas station and ordered two gallons of gas. Every time the pump went "ding", he'd go "Whoops!"
There were other famous characters who popped up frequently, but perhaps the best came from his good friend Mel Blanc, "the man with a thousand voices", who created such famous voices as Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig.
Blanc made marvellous contributions along the way, such as his character of Mr. Kitzel who was always trying to sell Benny a hot dog or a "cimarron" roll; a Spanish or Mexican character in sombrero and serape who worked with Benny a hilarious "Si, Cy, so, Sue" routine; or Benny's wisecracking parrot, Polly.

Remember The Sportsmen? Never did a quartet deliver more enjoyable, more comical or more effective singing commercials.
-o- -o- -o-
BENNY HAD quite a career in the movies, too. Most of us 30 or older remember the great performance of Benny in "Charley's Aunt", but do you remember him in "George Washington Slept Here?", or in "The Horn Blows At Midnight"? Said to have been a terrible picture, I enjoyed "Horn" all the way!
And if you go back far enough, you'll recall several films that gave the Lone Ranger and Red Ryder a run for the money—"Buck Benny Rides Again"! Benny, on a mighty white steed outfitted in a white silky-type cowboy shirt and white hat, as I recall!
Back in the '40s, they had many popular quiz shows on nationwide radio, just as you see network TV today. One show ran "The Walking Man Contest". Nowhere in the writings recounting career of Jack Benny did I see mention of this. Yet the sound of Benny's famous footsteps were used week after week on the air and vital clues were added until somebody finally guessed it on the show.
I can remember as clearly as yesterday walking out of Marshman's Newsroom in the old Mansion House Block with a morning paper announcing the end of the contest.
Benny was great.
Wherever he is in the next world, I’d like to be there, too.

Coming Cartoon Attractions for 1956-57

“Let’s stop kicking short subjects around. Let’s be the smart showmen that we’re supposed to be, through years of solid experience, and put the short films back on the program”.

That was the call by Walter Brooks in the October 27, 1956 issue of The Motion Picture Herald. For a number of years, some of the movie trade publications devoted a few pages once a year to a short subjects preview. Basically, it was a sales opportunity; the paper could offer ad space to the various studios to plug their shorts in between articles.

Under the heading “Cartoons Grow Up,” Brooks stated:

Also, cartoons have grown up to adult stature. Now, instead of being all so very juvenile, they appeal to the more mature audience. In fact, the art and talent of the color cartoon studio, also in our new dimensions, was never greater than it is right now, nor the appeal to the public more certain as a box office potential. Television has cartoons that seem amateurish and outmoded in comparison. Your public will know the difference, and you will find all ages ready to buy animation in ‘Scope and color on your big theatre screen. Your opportunity has never been so good. You are much better off than you may have thought.

The main article, titled “Short Subjects on the March,” was penned by Lawrence J. Quirk where he went through what all the studios had to offer. There were still travelogues, musical offerings, newsreels, and Columbia had comedies and re-releases like the “Candid Microphone” series and the “Hop Harrigan” serial. However, this post will concentrate solely on cartoons (sorry, fans of Muriel Landers’ “Girly Whirls”).

COLUMBIA
Ten Mr. Magoo cartoons are on hand from UPA, all in CinemaScope and color by Technicolor.

MGM
A note of high optimism was sounded by William Zoellner, Loew’s shorts subjects sales manager, who expects the coming season to bring a new high in popularity to such staple MGM offerings as the Tom and Jerry cartoons.

“They will delight audiences more than ever,” he said, and pointed out that the characters, well-loved by adults and children alike, have been honored for 13 consecutive years by Fame.

At this point Mr. Zoellner took note of the three successful weeks of the Tom and Jerry Cartoon Festival at the Plaza theatre, New York in September. “Think — over 70 per cent of the patronage during that festival was adult,” Mr. Zoellner declared, “and then they say only kids like cartoons!” He added: “Cartoons are steadily growing more adult, more subtle, and we are adding some interesting new characters. This is bound to attract an even greater allegiance from adult audiences.” The tendency of some exhibitors to cut shorts from their programs he termed “shortsighted” and “poor showmanship.” “They will find that they have lost far more than they have gained in small economies. It is essential that they take the long view,” he streesed. On the other side of the ledger Mr. Zoellner cited the thousands of exhibitors who had made a point of informing the Loew’s office of the box office draw of Tom and Jerry and the other company cartoons.

MGM will release a total of 30 cartoons this coming season, 12 in CinemaScope and 18 in standard screen size.

The 12 CinemaScope cartoons, in color by Technicolor, will include the following titles: “Muscle Beach Tom,” “Downbeat Bear,” “Blue Cat Blues,” “Millonaire [sic] Droopy,” “Barbecue Brawl,” “Tops with Pops,” “Timid Tabby,” “Feedin’ the Kiddie,” “Cat’s Meow,” “Give and Tyke,” “Grin and Share It,” and “Scat Cats.” The 18 Gold Medal cartoons in Technicolor and standard (flat) screen, include such titles as: “Polka Dot Puss,” “The Bear and the Bean,” “Heavenly Puss,” “Bad Luck Blackie,” “Senor Droopy,” “Tennis Chumps,” “Little Rural Riding Hood,” “The Bear and the Hare,” “Little Quacker,” “Saturday Evening Puss,” “Cuckoo Clock,” “Cat and the Mermouse,” “Safety Second,” “Garden Gophers,” “Framed Cat,” “Cue-ball Cat,” “The Chump Champ,” and “The Peachy Cobbler.”



PARAMOUNT
Cartoons on the agenda include 8 Popeyes, 6 Noveltoons, 4 Herman and Katnips, 6 Caspers and 12 Cartoon Champions, all in color

RKO
RKO’s 1956-57 plans include 18 re-releases of the Walt Disney cartoons.

Prophesying a favorable boxoffice reception for the Walt Disney shorts, Mr. Bamberger said that Disney’s TV activity has contributed to the popularizing of his work and this factor can’t help reflecting favorably on theatre attendance.

20th CENTURY-FOX

During this coming season, the company plans release of some three dozen shorts of the Movietone and Terrytoon varieties.

Of the 36 in work, 12 will be in flat or standard dimension and 24 in CinemaScope. All will be in color. The 12 Movie-tone subjects will be in CinemaScope. Three new characters will debut in the Terrytoon series: John Doormat, Gaston Le Crayon and Clint Clobber. Not only are fresh cartoon “stars” being created; Terrytoons is giving its well-known favorites a change of face. Under creative supervisor Gene Deitch, Mighty Mouse, Dinky Duck and Heckle and Jeckle are being restyled. Top merchandising policies will be followed in selling this array of short subjects from 20th-Fox.

The first nine Terrytoons set for release in 1957 are: a John Doormat; “Gag Buster”; “A Bum Steer” and “The Bone Ranger,” all in CinemaScope, and “Heckle and Jeckle,” "Pirates Gold” with the Talking Magpies; “Hare-Breadth Finish,” “African Jungle Hunt” with Phoney Baloney; “Daddy’s Little Darling” and “Love is Blind” all in standard dimension.

UNIVERSAL

Of the 50 short subjects planned for release, there will be five separate series. Included are 15 two-reelers and 35 one-reelers. Six of the one-reelers are reissues of Walter Lantz Technicolor cartunes, which are in considerable demand by exhibitors, Mr. McCarthy noted [Frank J.A. McCarthy, assistant general sales manager]. “Walter Lantz cartoons are great favorites, “he said, “especially the Woody Woodpecker group. However, Lantz’ recent cartoon creation ‘Chilly Willy the Penguin,’ has been giving Woody a run for his money in this new season and ought to turn out a record breaker.”

Thirteen new Walter Lantz Technicolor cartoons are planned, with Knothead and Splinter added to the characters in these items. Takeoffs on popular subjects will again be a feature. Some titles: “Dopey Dick the Pink Whale;” “To Catch a Woodpecker,” and “The Plumber of Seville,” among others on the schedule.

WARNER BROS.
According to Mr. Moray [Norman H. Moray, short subject sales manager], cartoons continue to be number one favorite with audiences, and 30 new cartoons headed by Bugs Bunny will be in 1956-57 release. “Reprints on yesterday’s outstanding cartoon successes are going better than ever, proving conclusively that there is no age on a fine cartoon,” Mr. Moray said.

Of course this was all ballyhoo. MGM talks about about cartoon success but by the end of the year, the company told Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera their cartoon studio was being closed and to finish whatever they had in production. Those “Television...cartoons that seem amateurish” would soon change the landscape of animation.

Celebrity Pirates (1936 version)

Celebrity caricatures abound in The Merry Mutineers, a 1936 Color Rhapsody starring Scrappy.



The Three Stooges.



I don’t know who this bass singer is supposed to be.



W.C. Fields and Charles Laughton.



Groucho and Chico.



Harpo. He’s part of an extended scene where he does an X’s and O’s gag.



Durante.



Laurel and Hardy.



Wallace Beery.



B-b-b-Bing.



A can of paint falls on him. B-b-b-Bing b-b-b-blackens up as Al Jolson.



My wild guess, judging by the desk, is this is Major Bowes. I don’t know the “all right” catchphrase.



Fred Astaire.



I don’t know the guy in the middle, but they drop down into their clothes and pop up as the Boswell Sisters, though I thought they had dark hair.



George Arliss and Joe E. Brown.

Ben Harrison wrote the non-story. Basically, the cartoon is singing and gags based on caricatures, with another head-scratching Columbia ending (Scrappy and Oopy fainting watching toy pirate ships swirl around in a park pond).

Face the Flea

How do you show facial expressions when you don’t have a face?

That’s no problem in What Price Fleadom, where Tex Avery pulls out the old face/flypaper gag. Homer the flea substitutes a flypaper for a towel as a bulldog dries off. The bulldog loses his face instead.

Avery handles the expressions with emotion lines, head movement and Scott Bradley’s stabs on the soundtrack.



There’s no story credit on this cartoon. Pinto Colvig provides the voice for a mongrel, so maybe he pitched in. This may have been during one of those periods after Fred Quimby fired Heck Allen.

The First Network Radio Broadcast

NBC always gave the impression it was the first radio network, but that wasn’t the case. WEAF was purchased from A.T. and T. by NBC’s parent company, RCA, in 1926, and became the flagship of what was later known as the Red Network. WEAF had tied together a number of radio stations for joint broadcasts before RCA entered the picture, and had done so for several years. It was the station that founded network radio. The other station involved was owned by a man with a chain of department stores, John Shepard III.

When was the first network radio broadcast? The Boston Globe of January 2, 1923 reported:

SIMULTANEOUS BROADCASTS BY WNAC, BOSTON, AND WEAF, NEW YORK
Radiophone Station WNAC, Boston, has arranged a radio broadcasting event which will be of special interest to the radio public. On the evening of Jan 4, by arrangement with Station WEAF, New York City, WNAC will be connected by direct long distance telephone wires with the broadcasting station in that city. By this means the two broadcasting stations—WEAF in New York City on 400 meters and WNAC in Boston on 360 meters—will broadcast simultaneously from the New York studio the regular program given in New York. This is the first time that two broadcasting stations have been operated from one studio.
From a technical standpoint, the control of a broadcasting station 200 miles distant by means of telephone lines is a most delicate problem. Special filters and repeater equipment carefully adjusted and tested by a corps of engineers are necessary to eliminate all distortion from the telephone circuits. The announcer, at the New York studio, will state that the program is being broadcast through two radio stations.
The evening’s program will include selections by some of America’s foremost instrumental and vocal artists.

To the left above, you see the New York Tribune’s announcement in the “To-day’s Radio Program” column and to the right is the Rochester Democrat’s column which goes into specific tunes. The Globe’s listing was a little different. It read: “8 to 11 P M—Concert program originating at the studio of Station WEAF, and sent over the telephone land wires and sent broadcast from this station.”

How did the broadcast go? Radio World, a weekly magazine, published an account, so to speak, in its January 27, 1923 issue. The report was more a PR exercise on the wondrous future of radio than on the actual broadcast.

Fifty Millions May Hear at Once, by Radio
A RECENT achievement in telephony indicates that it may soon be possible to radio a message into the ears of 50,000,000 Americans at the same time, says “The World,” New York.
A. H. Griswold, Assistant Vice-President of the American Telephone and Telegraph, was an invited guest at the annual dinner of the Massachusetts Bankers' Association at the Copley-Plaza Hotel in Boston. Mr. Griswold connected by wire a studio at No. 24 Walker Street, New York, where several artists were performing a radio program for the local radio district.
The New York program was played in Boston through the apparatus of a department store. Then, by wire, it was conducted to the banquet hall of the Copley-Plaza. Mr. Griswold put on a loud speaker and the New York program was transmitted to the thousand or more diners with the utmost distinctness.
It was the first time that a radio program in one district had been given simultaneously in another district. The New York station was WEAF, and that in Boston WNAC.
Telephone officials and scientists were enthusiastic over the prospect opened by the simultaneous broadcasting of a program from two radio stations more than 200 miles apart.
“Get the picture,” said one. “If it is possible and practicable to transmit the speaking or singing voice from New York to Boston at a single point, why cannot the same speaking voice be transmitted to thousands of points at the same time?
“There are thirteen millions of telephones in America—more, of course, than in any country in the world. It would take a lot of money—millions of dollars—to transmit a program given in one district to, say, forty districts. But if the necessary connections were made, as they were from Boston to New York, with forty other centers up and down the continent from the same point, the entire country could be supplied with the radio program coming from a single studio.
“That would mean that at least fifty million persons in America could hear the same song or the same speech at the same time.”

WNAC went back to regular programming the next day. But the experimental broadcast set the stage for the creation of the great radio networks of the Golden Age.