Tralfaz Sunday Theatre—Electric Home of Tomorrow

In 1957, power companies and manufacturers joined forces to come up with the Live Better Electrically Medallion Home programme. It was promoted as making new homes meet basic electrical appliance, housepower and lighting standards in exchange for a bronze certification medallion. It was actually an attempt to get people to buy more and more electric appliances and thus use more power (and be billed for it, of course).

One of the companies that jumped on board was Westinghouse, which came up with a number of short films to tell us all about the wonderous House of Tomorrow.

To be honest, Tex Avery’s animated The House of Tomorrow released at the start of the ‘50s is more fun than this short, but we do get Betty Furness reading cue cards and the Capitol Hi-Q library in the background. Furness was a long-time Westinghouse paid shill, but she tells us she’s just “covering stories.” Right.

Unfortunately, a search through Business Screen magazine didn’t reveal any clues about this film, such as who produced it and when.

Regardless, I’m pretty much a sucker for anything from the ‘50s that looks into gadgetry of the future that’ll make our lives so much cheerier. There’s never a mess anywhere. And we have a housewife with TWO strings of pearls!

Since you’ll want to know, the first cue as the visitors walk toward the ranch house (and isn’t hubby excited when he walks inside!) is TC-435 Light Underscore by Bill Loose and John Seely. When the camera pans over the “entertainment centre” and to the “weather control centre” is that a balalaika mounted to the wall?), we hear TC-431 Light Activity (Loose/Seely). The “home planning centre” is revealed to us with C-8 Domestic Suburban (Loose), while appetisers cook in the oven with C-3 Domestic Children (Loose) in the background; you may remember it from several Yogi Bear cartoons. The ultra-modern slide projector, tape recorder and home movie system are explained with C-9 Domestic Suburban (Loose) enhancing the visuals. Anyway, that’s enough.

Have a look below.

Highlights of the Benny Saga

Jack Benny and his writers built a whole world around his phoney radio persona that his show sounded familiar, but wasn’t the same week-to-week. He didn’t wear out people with the same catchphrase every show, like Jack Pearl and Joe Penner in the ‘30s. Instead, he’d bring on Emily and Martha, the elderly twosome that formed the Jack Benny fan club on rare occasion. They were always funny, and not overused (perhaps partly for that reason).

The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle brought its readers occasional Benny mentions. The entirely of its “Our Film Folk” column of October 13, 1950 was devoted to Jack and a stroll through the past to enumerate many of the funny characters and routines he had used into the mid-1930s. Diehard Benny fans will recognise all, and maybe wonder how Schlepperman got misquoted.

By LEON GUTTERMAN
Why Jack Benny Is the Indestructible Comedian
Jack Benny has returned to the nation's air waves for the 19th season of his comedy career in radio. And he has come back, as always, in his familiar role of the balding, penny-pinching patsy, but his CBS program as in the past, will be replete during the coming year with new riotous laugh skits, new characterizations, new guest surprises. At least that's what Jack tells me.
This indestructible quality of the great wit's character creation and a show format flexible enough for a perennial infusion of fresh idea material and talent point to the secret of his enduring and inimitable success. As one newspaper editor once wrote: "Benny hasn't, as is so persistently rumored, been doing the same thing for 18 years. He wouldn't have lasted that long if he had."
Comedy situations in a Benny program season had, year after year, been marked by freshness and originality. New characterizations, his own and those of an odd assortment of fellow actors and actresses, have paraded across the script in endless procession. His guests, too, have been spectacularly impressive, as witness the case of the Ronald Colmans, who appeared 16 times on the show.
But the program personalities, including the whimsical portrayals of regular cast members, are probably the most memorable highlights of the Benny saga. Among those who turned up last season was Frank Fontaine, a new comedian, playing a mentally retarded sweepstakes winner named John L. P. Sivony. Mel Blanc, a regular, (the voice of Bugs Bunny) did a week-by-week impersonation of Al Jolson. Jack himself added another facet to his characterization, that of the naive treasurer of the Beverly Hills Beavers, a boy's club.
Once, there was an ostrich in the script, and even a polar bear named Carmichael. Jack kept Carmichael in the cellar and Rochester was his keeper. At the time, the husky-voiced valet was in an endless search for a gas man to do some repairs. The versatile Mel Blanc played Carmichael. Blanc now is the voice of the Benny parrot, which keeps Rochester from delivering soliloquies while doing the household chores. Its screams drive him to distraction.
Blanc is also Benny's French violin teacher. He is the coughing, sputtering voice of the rattletrap Maxwell auto as it tunes up, and he doubles as well as the rhythm-tongued train announcer calling out Azusa, Cucamonga and other weirdly-named stations.
Buck Benny Rides Again
Who doesn't remember the famous Buck Benny of the long-running "Buck Benny Rides Again" sequence? Andy Devine, whose entrance line was "Hiya, Buck" was the chief stooge of this comedy turn. The skit ceased with the release of the Paramount film "Buck Benny Rides Again," in which Jack and most his ribbers appeared.
Mr. Billingsley was a quaint character dreamed up and played by Ed Beloin, a former Benny writer. A subnormal, self-appointed house guest Mr. Billingsley consistently made wry comments at the wrong time in a dry voice. Beloin, never an actor, always had Benny worried that he'd miss his cues or fluff his lines. Another witty specimen knocked on the Benny door an[n]ouncing "A telegram for Mr. Benny." The role was played by Harry Baldwin, Benny's secretary, who would glow with Barrymore-like pride at the end of each performance, over his laconic line.
Mr. Kitzel, a current fabrication, is played by Artie Auerbach, former New York newspaper photographer. His "peekle in the meedle with the mustard on top" and his baseball stories are laugh toppers. Mable Flapsaddle and Gertrude Gershift, the Benny telephone operators, enacted by Sarah Berner [sic] and Bea Benadaret, tie the program in knots with their saucy badgering of the boss.
Schlepperman's "Howdy Stranger"
Off and on the show have been Sheldon Leonard, Sam Hearn, Frank Nelson and many other stooges. Leonard is the racetrack tout with the soft, patronizing voice. Hearn played Mr. Schlepperman. whose greeting, "Howdy, Stranger." stirred a ripple of chuckles. Nelson is often heard as the haughty floorwalker, the butler or some generally nasty type, with a mocking "Yeahus" when addressed.
Jack's main foils of course, have come in for equally hilarious typing. Tenor Dennis Day is the timid mama's boy who is always asking for his salary, and Phil Harris is ribbed as a lady-killer with a predilection for word-mangling and liquid refreshments. Rochester as the extrovert valet and chauffeur constantly befuddles the harassed Benny. Mary Livingstone, Jack's wife, is the heckling girl friend whom Benny constantly threatens to send back to the hosiery counter at the May Company department store.
Practically every important figure in show business has guested on the Benny funfest, but Fred Allen's visits have been among the most notable. Jack and Fred carried on a feud for years, on their own programs. Every once in a while they crossed over for mutual calls, letting the quips and sparks fly at close range. "If I had my writers here," Jack once exploded, "you wouldn't talk to me like this."
Benny at His Best
For years, the Benny comedy situations have run the gamut of thing that could possibly happen to Jack Benny has been satirized. Last season, for example, he did a takeoff on an actual operation on his nose, and in another skit he roved through the script for several weeks spending his money like a drunken sailor after a can of tomatoes fell on his head and put him out of his mind. It was Benny at his best.
To his sheer delight, the fabulous funnyman has taken the worst beating from his stooges of any comedian in radio history. Everything about him is mercilessly lampooned . . . his thinning hair, his baby blue eyes, his age (39 years), his romantic attractiveness, his Maxwell, his money vault, his thriftiness and his fiddle. A few years ago his writers even dreamed up a contest in which listeners were invited to send in letters of 25 words or less dwelling on the theme "I can't stand Jack Benny because . . ." More than 500,000 letters poured in. Benny revelled in the scheme.
That's why Jack Benny is the indestructible comedian, who never changes himself but keeps his show over fresh with funsters. That's the secret of his 19 years of radio success.

Leon's Staff, 1940

This post is going to be as exciting as reading the phone book. Because that’s pretty much what it is.

In October 1940, men in the U.S. were supposed to register for the draft. The male staff at Leon Schlesinger Productions did their duty and filled out little cards. The purpose of this post was actually to uncover whose draft numbers were used in Tex Avery’s Of Fox and Hounds (released December 1940). Unfortunate the numbers on the draft card don’t refer to the draft numbers. That’s the military, I guess.

This is not a complete list. Only 80 of the approximately 100 names below came up in a search of “Leon Schlesinger.” The spelling of Poor Leon’s name got butchered in the others that I found through individual searches. A few wrote “Ray Katz” because, at the time, the Looney Tunes were made by a separate company called “Ray Katz Productions;” it was probably set up for tax reasons. There are others I likely have not found.

Some people who started the year at Schlesinger’s weren’t there by October. Paul J. Smith is listed as “unemployed” (as is Rollin C. “Ham” Hamilton). Jack Hoyer Miller had moved on to George Pal, Bugs Hardaway was employed by Walter Lantz. Bob Holdeman and Irving Heineman (not Art Heinemann) became self-employed. Ray White went to work for Compton Metals. Hal Julian (not Paul) got a job with Compton Printing Co. And I can’t find either Lee Halpern or Peter Gaenger, though Halpern shows up in the 1940 voters list. Bill Oberlin was hired by the Tretrolite Company. Art Loomer, who had been a background artist as early as 1930 and is listed as one in the May 1940 Census, is self-employed on his draft card dated 1942. He later worked as an illustrator for Lockheed Aircraft. And you won’t see Hawley Pratt’s name. He was still at Disney.

The database is screwed up so there’s no entry for Edwin Botsford, other than a birth date. He was a new employee of Schlesinger’s, having been a commercial artist. He died in 1949.

It’s unfortunate that I can’t tell you what a number of people were doing at Schlesinger at the time. Some people who eventually became animators were on the lower rungs as assistants and in-betweeners. Veotis Richmond and John Marks were cel washers; they were apparently the only two black men on staff.

Phone exchanges still had names in the ‘40s so you’ll see reference to GR for “Granite,” etc. Several people put the studio’s phone number as theirs.

FREDRICK BEAN AVERY, born 26 Feb 1908, Taylor, Texas.
4445 Carpenter Ave., North Hollywood. Sunset 2-8325.
ROBERT ATKINS, born 23 Jun 1915, Minneapolis, Minn.
1739 Garth Ave., Los Angeles. Ashley 4-2594.

HARRY DOWELL BARTON, born 16 Jun 1909, Cairo, Illinois.
1553 N. Hudson Ave., Los Angeles. GR, 4161.
WILLIAM WARREN BATCHELDER, born 18 Apr 1917, Los Angeles.
446 16th, Santa Monica. Santa Monica 5-8695
RICHARD FREDERICK BICKENBACH, born 9 Aug 1907, Michigan City, Indiana.
1161 Rosedale Ave., Glendale. CI3 1987.
HENRY BINDER, born 23 Nov 1906, Bayonne, N.J.
1857 N. Wilton Pl., Los Angeles. Hillside 2418.
MELVIN JEROME BLANC, born 30 May 1908, San Francisco.
117 Ellen St., Playa del Rey. Santa Monica 62365.
RAYMOND BERT BLOSS, born 19 Dec 1915, Batavia, New York.
6112 Winans Dr., Los Angeles.
EDWIN NEWTON BOTSFORD, born 5 Jan 1903, Kalkaski, Michigan.
Los Angeles.
DAVID WILLIAM BROWN, born 27 Mar 1918, Havre, Montana.
10718 Riverside Dr., North Hollywood.
TREGOWETH EDMOND BROWN, born 4 Nov 1899, Eveleth, Minnesota.
5805 LaMirada, Los Angeles. GR 6445.
JOHN WILLIAM BURTON, born 18 Aug 1906 Belvidere, Illinois.
11430 Decente Dr., North Hollywood. Sunset 26071

ROBERT FRANKLIN CANNON, born 16 July 1909, Alliance, Ohio.
5915 Chula Vista, Los Angeles. Hillside 2273.
JOHN NELSON CAREY, born June 4, 1915, St. Louis, Mo.
2912 Palm Drive, Hermosa Beach. Redondo 8627.
KENNETH FRED CHAMPIN, born 15 Aug 1911, Clifton, New Jersey.
2465 Bywood Dr., Glendale.
REVALEE GUY CHANEY, born 13 Feb 1915, Los Angeles.
5169 Fountain Ave., Los Angeles. Normandie 21915
GERMAIN ADOLPH CHINIQUY, born 23 Jun 1912, Kankakee, Illinois.
611 N. Bronson, Los Angeles. HI 3651.
ROBERT EMERSON CLAMPETT, born 8 May 1913, San Diego, California.
120 Fifth St., Manhattan Beach. RE 6895.
HERMAN ROBERT COHEN, born 25 Mar 1913, New York City.
1933 N. Bronson Ave., Los Angeles. HI 2559. (Note: Cohan was 5’ 3”).
JOSE MANUEL CORRAL, born 16 Jan 1907, Chihuahua, Mexico
6112 Winans Dr., Los Angeles. None.
ROBERT A. COTA, born 19 Feb 1912, Santa Rosatia, Mexico
3737 Woodlawn Ave., Los Angeles.

KEITH NIRAM DARLING, born 24 Nov 1919, Kokomo, Ind.
1750 N. Wilton Pl., Los Angeles. HE 5576.
CALVIN MOORE DALTON, born 2 Dec 1908, Pasadena, Calif.
1474 Locust St., Pasadena. SY3-4336.
ROGER JAMES DALY, born 31 Mar 1913, Salt Lake City
812 Ocean Dr., Manhattan Beach.
PHILIP De LARA, born 1 Sept 1911, Los Angeles
6195 Oak Crest Way, Los Angeles. AL 2677.
ELIEL (Lyle) ERNEST ELLIS, born 14 July 1906, Burke, S.D.
128 22nd St., Costa Mesa, Calif.
(employed at South Coast Yacht Landing, Newport).
ISADORE HYMAN ELLIS, born 19 Jan 1910 Newark, New Jersey.
1423 S. Ogden Dr., Los Angeles. Wyoming 4586.

SIDNEY HARRY FARREN, born 3 Feb 1909, Coventry, England
106 S. Sixth Street, Alhambra.
WARREN BARTH FOSTER, born 24 Oct 1905, Brooklyn.
1519 Elevado St., Los Angeles. MO 1-5648.
MILTON JULIUS FRANKLYN, born 16 Sept. 1897, New York City.
3212 Strand, Manhattan Beach. Redondo 3544.
ISADORE FRELENG, born 21 Aug 1904, Kansas City, Missouri.
1058 S. Alfred, Los Angeles. WY 0182.

ADOLPH CHARLES GAMER, born 13 May 1899, Chicago.
2438 Creston Dr., Los Angeles. HE-7721.
LESLIE RALPH (Bud) GARCIA, born 24 Oct 1918 San Luis Obispo, California.
11837 N. Alexandria Ave., Los Angeles. OL 9391.
HAROLD HENRY GARNER, born 9 Oct 1911, Springfield, Mo.
4604 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles. Morningside 1-0574.
ROBERT HERMAN GIVENS, born 2 Mar 1918, Hanson, Kentucky.
3700 Arbolada Rd., Los Angeles. NO 7048.
LUCIFER BEVENUTO GUARNIER, born 21 Jul 1914, New York City.
119 S. Sycamore, Los Angeles. WA 5879.

KAROL ROSS (Ken) HARRIS, born 31 Jul 1898, Tulare, California.
2980 Passmore Dr., Los Angeles. Granite 3484.
DAVID THOMAS HOFFMAN, born 1 Feb 1906, Milton, Penn.
5800 Carlton Way, Los Angeles. Hollywood 9352.
RICHARD ADAMS HOGAN, born 7 Jun 1913 Buffalo, New York.
3700 Arbolada Rd., Los Angeles. NO 7048.
WINFIELD MURRAY HUDSON, born 19 Dec 1908, Little Rock, Ark.
1362 N. Serrano, Los Angeles. GR 7740.

ALEXANDER IGNATIEV, born 16 Apr 1913, Tsaritsin, Russia.
1157 N. Kingsley Dr., Hollywood. NO 6074.
LEWIS IRWIN, born 9 Oct 1913, New York City.
173 S. Sycamore, Los Angeles. Webster 6504.

JOHN DIDRIK JOHNSEN, born 23 July 1885, Denver.
5139 ¼ De Longfre Ave., Los Angeles OL-1884.
CHARLES MARTIN JONES, born 21 Sep 1912, Spokane, Wash.
6747 Milner Rd., Hollywood. HE 8728.
FREDERICK WINSTON JONES, born 2 Jun 1910, Wrexham, North Wales.
704 N. Lima, Burbank. Charleston 6-8173.
JOHN ROGERS JONES, born 20 Apr 1908, St. Joseph, Mo.
1825 Flourney Rd., Manhattan Beach, Calif.
RICHARD KENT JONES, born 5 Feb 1915, Los Angeles.
904 Strand, Manhattan Beach. Redondo 5331.
PAUL HULL JULIAN, born 25 June 1914, Marshall, Ill.
1422 S. St. Andrew’s Pl., Los Angeles. Rochester 1446.

RAYMOND G. KATZ, born 16 Aug. 1892, Mattoon, Ill.
715 N. Walden Dr., Beverly Hills. CR5-8142.
MILTON PERRY KAHN, born 24 Feb 1912, Hartford, Conn.
5712 Fountain Ave., Los Angeles. GL 3653.
JOHN PHILIP KENNEDY, born 18 Nov 1914, St. Paul, Minn.
2062 Argyle Ave., Los Angeles. HO 7089.
LENARD KESTER, born 10 May 1913, New York City.
807 Hyperion Ave., Los Angeles. NO2-3261.
ANATOLE KIRSANOFF, born 2 Sep 1911, Kiev, Russia.
1777 N. Vermont St., Los Angeles. OL 9469.

RUDOLPH LARRIVA, born 12 Feb 1916, El Paso, Texas.
5746 ½ Fountain Ave., Los Angeles. Hillside 8542.
GEORGE WARREN LARSON, born 22 Feb 1906, Worcester, Mass.
2574 ½ Thames Pl., Los Angeles. Hillside 5907.
LESLIE HENRI LARSON, born 29 May 1903, Seattle
808 ½ El Centro, Los Angeles. GL 4131
CONSTANTINE VLADIMIROVICH LEBEDEFF, born 31 Dec 1904, Polton, Russia.
4674 ½ La Mirada Ave., Los Angeles. NO1-8581.
ABRAHAM LEVITOW, born 2 Jul 1922, Los Angeles.
5447 Monroe St., Los Angeles. GR 9773.
HAROLD KNIGHT LORIMIER, born 11 Apr 1908, Colorado Springs.
1160 Benedict Canyon Dr., Beverly Hills.

JOHN HOLCOMBE MacLACHLAN, born 11 Apr 1908, Cleveland.
3630 Effie St., Los Angeles. OL 2338.
NORMAN HILDRETH McCABE, born 19 Feb 1911, Newcastle, England.
1840 N. Berendo St., Los Angeles. GL-4131.
THOMAS JOSEPH McDONALD, Jr., born 25 Nov 1909, Pomona, California.
3008 South Hunter, Los Angeles.
JOHN BURTON McGREW, born 19 Mar 1910, New York City.
1945 Cerro Gordo, Los Angeles. OL 8744.
CHARLES E. McKIMSON, Jr., born 20 Dec 1914, Fort Lupton, Colorado.
10718 Riverside Dr., North Hollywood.
ROBERT PORTER McKIMSON, born 13 Oct 1910, Denver.
439 N. Kilkea Dr., Los Angeles. York 3902.
MICHAEL MALTESE, born 6 Feb 1908, New York City.
1216 N. Gower, Hollywood.
JOHN MARSHALL MARKS, born 4 Dec 1906, Pine Bluff, Ark.
5436 Ascot Ave., Los Angeles. CE2-5442.
PAUL FREDERICK MARRON, Jr., born 20 Dec 1912, Los Angeles.
1030 N. Evergreen, Burnaby. Charleston 6-5704.
ROBERT HOWARTH MATZ, born 8 Jul 1912, Cleveland.
7512 W. Norton Ave., Los Angeles.
GODFREY JOSEPH (Fred) MAYERHOFER, born 9 May 1911, London, England.
5500 Monroe St., Hollywood. Hollywood 9041.
MELVIN EUGENE MILLAR, born 6 May 1900, Portis, Kansas.
2709 Alameda, Burbank. CL6-0760.
ARTHUR (Steve) MILMAN, born 6 Jan 1880, Vallejo, Calif.
4632 Kingswell Ave., Los Angeles. MO1-8615.
DAVID LLOYD GEORGE MONAHAN, born 3 Mar 1918, San Bernardino, California.
5945 Barton Ave., Los Angeles. Hempstead 2467.
PHILIP MILTON MONROE, born 31 Oct 1915, Long Beach, California.
5744 Fountain, Los Angeles. HE 2360.
KENNETH LAVERN MOORE, born 12 Feb 1908, Holland, Michigan.
553 Westmount Dr., N. Hollywood. GL 4131.

SAM WARD NICHOLSON, born 3 March 1918, El Paso, Texas.
1216 Tamarind Ave., Hollywood. GR 6586.
ROBERT FRANK NORTH, born 11 Nov 1906, Havelock, Neb.
4063 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles. GL 4131.

ALBERT FRANK PABIAN, born 13 Jan 1918, Rochester, New York.
1417 N. Bronson Ave., Hollywood. HO 0503. (Note: Frank Tipper is father-in-law)
MANUEL PEREZ, born 17 Jun 1914, Morenci, Arizona.
9012 Graham Ave., Los Angeles.
JACK LEROY PHILLIPS, born 20 Nov 1919, San Bernadino.
2316 Veteran Avenue, Los Angeles. Arizona 3-2335.
JOHN FRANK POWERS, born 14 Feb 1898, Muncie, Indiana.
5740 ½ Fountain Ave., Los Angeles.

VEOTIS TIMOTHY RICHMOND, born 8 Dec 1917, Tarry, Arkansas.
5436 Ascot Ave., Los Angeles. CE 25442.
VIVE WILHO RISTO, born 1 Nov 1902, Terry, South Dakota.
4124 Laurel Grove Ave., Studio City. Sunset 1-3741.
VIRGIL WALTER ROSS, born 8 Aug 1907, Watertown, New York.
3337 Bennett Dr., Hollywood. GR 5911.

MICHAEL SASANOFF, born 15 Dec 1903, Odessa, Russia.
851 ¼ N. Formosa Ave., Los Angeles. Walnut 7248.
LEON SCHLESINGER, born 20 May 1884, Philadelphia.
1160 Benedict Canyon Dr., Beverly Hills. CR5-8724
RODERICK HENRY SCRIBNER, born 10 Oct 1910, Joseph, Oregon.
2925 Hill Drive, Los Angeles. AL 0591.
SIDNEY FRANCIS SEARLS, born 21 Mar 1915, West Side, Iowa.
1526 6th Avenue, Los Angeles. RO 7801.
BENJAMIN SHENKMAN, born 3 Jul 1913, New York City.
539 N. Manhattan Pl., Los Angeles. GR 7858.
SEYMOUR ALVIN SLOSBURG, born 19 Sep 1920, Los Angeles.
1219 Point View, Los Angeles. WA 2280.
(Note: Seymour didn't return to Schlesinger's after serving in the U.S. Navy during the war. He went into the clothing business. He was 95 when he died in 2006).
HAROLD SOLDINGER, born 21 Jul 1917, Arverne, New York.
1417 N. Bronson Ave., Los Angeles. HO 0503.
CARL WILLIAM STALLING, born 10 Nov 1891, Lexington, Miss.
2644 Hollyridge Drive, Los Angeles. GR 8739.
SIDNEY EDSEL SUTHERLAND, born 7 Aug 1901, Los Angeles.
12045 Hoffman St., North Hollywood.

ROGERS EVANS TALIAFERRO, born 21 Nov 1920, Kansas City.
1157 Tamarind Ave., Los Angeles. HO 6761.
ALBERT LLOYD TARTER, born 3 Dec 1913, New York.
2412 ½ N. Beachwood, Los Angeles. GL 5814.
RICHARD HASTINGS THOMAS, born 3 Jan 1915, Hackensack, New Jersey.
723 N. Myers St., Burbank.
RICHARD LESTER THOMPSON, born 25 Aug 1914, Wilmot, South Dakota.
112 N. Mariposa, Los Angeles.
GILBERT HENRY TURNER, born 1 Dec 1911, Milwaukee, Wis.
1536 Marmont Ave., Los Angeles. Hillside 0352.

LLOYD LINCOLN VAUGHAN, born 2 Jan 1909, Portland, Oregon.
1348 Lincoln, Burbank.

ALEXANDER MACKINTOSH WALKER, born 22 Feb 1897, Croy Inverness-Shire, Scotland.
351 N. Western Ave., Los Angeles. Hillside 9781.
BENJAMIN ALFRED WASHAM, born 17 Mar 1915, Newport, Arkansas.
220 S. Jackson, Glendale. Cit 3402.

RUDOLF ALFRED ZINGLER, born 18 Oct 1905, Breslau, Germany.
900 North Ford Street, Burbank. Gladstone 3141.

Note: Drawings purloined from Jerry Beck's Cartoon Research site.

Let's Steal This Idea

Warner Bros. had gophers. Disney had chipmunks. So it was that Paul Terry decided to have beavers. Terrytoons’ version of a pair of animals vs dog appeared in Beaver Trouble (1951).

The dog notices the beavers carting away his logs for a dam. There’s no huge take. The dog’s eyes grow wide and he has an odd leap to get out of his doghouse.

>

Carlo Vinci gives the beavers a jaunty walk cycle, while Tom Morrison’s story is more Disneyesque than a Chip and Dale short. The dog can’t bring himself to shoot the thieving rodents, and they can’t bear to see him shiver in the cold over the winter, so they make him an honorary beaver and they trot off toward their lodge in the background as the picture ends.

Connie Rasinski is the director. Phil Scheib has variations of the same two bars of music through the whole cartoon (including a minor key version). Fans of the Terry Splash, Cymbal Crash and Drum Thump will be pleased watching this one.

Bugs Bunny Stretch In-Betweens

An attractively drawn Bugs Bunny kicked Wile E. Coyote, Genius, into an empty rabbit hole and clamps a pressure cooker lid on top of him in Operation: Rabbit (screened by some theatres in late 1951).



Here are some stretch in-betweens on ones. Naturally, you can’t see the extra eyes when the frames go so quickly. They’re fun to stop the film and look at.



Off strolls Bugs to Mike Maltese’s classic song “I’m Lookin’ Over a Three-Leaf Clover That I Overloaded Be-three.” I’ve been fond of that one since I was a kid.



Lloyd Vaughan, Ben Washam, Phil Monroe and Ken Harris are the credited animators on this, with appropriate settings painted by Phil De Guard for Mr. C.M. Jones.

John Wald

“Oh, oh. It looks like they’re going to warm up the new pitcher,” says the narrator in the Tex Avery cartoon Batty Baseball. It was released April 22, 1944. The narrator is a man named John Wald. This was the second cartoon where he was employed by the MGM studio. The first was Avery’s What’s Buzzin’ Buzzard, released November 27, 1943. He came on at the end and announced the requests of the theatre patrons would be honoured and a picture of a steak would be shown again. As far as I know, those are the only two cartoons where he can be heard.

Who was John Wald? He was an announcer back in the days when announcers did everything—hosted shows, read commercials, presented newscasts, went on location for remote broadcasts. While Avery was animating for Walter Lantz in 1933, Wald was announcing at KSTP in St. Paul; he has been born in Hastings, Minnesota on September 6, 1908.

He came to Los Angeles in February 1937 for a job at the Evening Herald Express station KEHE. Within two months, he was a “Richfield Reporter,” commenting on the news 15 minutes nightly on the six-station NBC Pacific network. As the war came, the number of stations jumped to 13.

Coincidentally, in May 1942, Frank Bingman was added to the newscast as the commercial announcer. Bingman, too, did narration on MGM cartoons, though not for Avery (one of them is Hanna and Barbera’s non-Tom and Jerry short The Goose Goes South).

Let’s jump ahead to May 18, 1947. That’s when Radio Life magazine profiled him. It’s a little miffing (is that a word?) to see these feature stories with no mentions of cartoon work. But the magazine is about radio.

Come V-J Day and High Water, Your "Richfield Reporter" Has Carried On Unremittingly for Ten Years
By Evelyn Bigsby
Sunday-Friday, 10 p.m.
NBC - KFI-KFSD
PLEASANT-VOICED "Richfield Reporter" John Wald has achieved two of his greatest ambitions this year: in April he rounded out ten years on the famous news program, AND he made a hole in one!
(After twenty years at golf).
Placid John admits his golfing companions were more excited about his feat than he was. Wald calmly tossed off the remark, "Why, this game is easy!"
"I'm a phlegmatic person," he summed up succinctly. But we have a sneaking hunch his "Reporter" training has made him take a sane view of most any event.
Wouldn't you be tranquil if you had to report in unheated manner such world-trembling events as V-J Day, D-Day, and President Roosevelt's death?
John Wald, a sandy-haired, ruddy, complexioned 180-pounder, six feet tall and blue eyed, has made over 3,000 broadcasts as the "Richfield Reporter." He followed Sam Hayes in the spot, working first as a team with Ken Barton, then with Alan Ladd, later with Don Forbes. Since the first of this year (and for three years during the war) John has broadcast as "a single." A world upheaval has happened in the decade of his reporting, Wald placing the stories most personally interesting in the following order: the broadcast on V-J Day ("I almost didn't go on"), D-Day, V-E Day, Roosevelt's death, and the flood of 1938.
"I was living at Hermosa Beach then," he recalled, "and when the waters got precariously high, I had to find a place to stay in town so I wouldn't miss the show. I remember we broadcast with lanterns hanging around the studio, just in case the power went off."
When Wald originally started with "Reporter," world news was breaking at such a furious pace that editor Wayne Miller tried to pack as many items as possible into the nightly broadcast and John tried to spiel off his news at the rate of 220 words a minute. Since peace has come, he has assumed a more leisurely pace—180 to 200 words a minute.
Wald, whose presentation of the news is always unimpassioned, with a minimum of alarmism and morbidity, credits editor Miller for writing the broadcasts in newsworthy manner. "In reading of a story," John enlarged, "I try to give an intelligent, factual account of the incident."
John's schedule calls for him to eat seven o'clock dinner with wife and fourteen-year-old daughter
Susan in their Beverly Hills home. He reaches NBC at 8 p.m., goes over his script, looking up any uncertain pronunciations in Webster's International, then does the Arizona broadcast at 9:30.
"What do you do after 10:15?" Wald was questioned.
"You sound like my wife!" he exclaimed kiddingly, adding that twenty years of night work have turned his routine upside down and that he seldom goes to bed until one o'clock.
Suppressed Desire
Golf is John's passion—he plays two or three days a week at Riviera Country Club. He's also an avid reader of New Yorker, Time, Life, and Sunset. A native of St. Paul, he was staff announcer there in 1929 and also played in stock and little theater and although he's afraid he's been definitely typed now as a newscaster (he's played one in fifty pictures, "Body and Soul" being the latest). Wald hungers for an acting career and yearns to be a heavy. The meager taste he had of portraying Japs, Russians, and Chinese on NBC's "Pacific Story" served merely to accentuate his appetite for acting.
But then, again, he might have two new ambitions: to complete another decade as "Richfield Reporter" and to make another hole in one. Golfing probably gives him leeway to indulge in cherries jubilee and other fancy desserts which are John's weakness. And newscasting isn't exactly dull. One never knows what's going to develop in a new script.
Biggest tongue-twister John's run across to date is the name of the Russian Dam: Dnepropetrovsk.

The story doesn’t mention it, but Wald started taking on announcing duties elsewhere. In 1945, he announced The Eddie Bracken Show, in 1947 he was the announcer on the Great Gildersleeve summer replacement, Summerfield Bandstand, and slid into the same role when Gildersleeve returned. Maybe his best-known announcing gig was when Fibber McGee and Molly changed to 15-minute week-nightly format from October 1953 into early 1956.

The Richfield Reporter moved to CBS in 1958. Wald went along, announcing Frontier Gentlemen and then Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar in 1960 until the end of November, when the show moved to New York. The same year, he was caught in a “change in direction” and dumped by Richfield as of July 1st (I know how Mr. Wald felt). He stayed on as a CBS staff announcer until he retired in 1975.

Despite Wald’s long tenure on the longest sponsored newscast in its day, his death was ignored by his colleagues. He died in Los Angeles on March 22, 1988.

Now, let’s show you the steak again.

Another Helpful Sign By Tex Avery

There’s a snake gag in the middle of a bunch of war rationing gags in Tex Avery’s What’s Buzzin’ Buzzard (1943). The Leo Gorcey buzzard (or is it a vulture?) skids to a stop, turns green and faints when he sees a rattle snake. The snake is just the Jimmy Durante buzzard in a poor disguise.



“Lookit ‘im!” says the Durante buzzard to the camera (he gestures just like Durante). “He’s even a-scared of a snake!” He turns and then walks right toward a real snake, whom we are assured is a real snake thanks to one of Avery’s helpful signs.



Now the Durante buzzard turns green and faints. There’s a momentary pause, the buzzard lifts his head up and says in a normal voice “And so am I.”



Kent Rogers is the Gorcey buzzard. The Durante buzzard sounds to me like the Durante cat in The Cat That Hated People a few years later (listen to the way the two say “Ya see what I mean?”.

Betty's Victory March

Toys have vanquished a stuffed gorilla in Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, a 1934 Betty Boop cartoon released a year after King Kong.

It was a horrible war, apparently. We have mismatched parts of toys put together marching along.



Even the Betty Boop doll suffered an injury.



The toys collapse and the camera pans back to end the cartoon. There’s a lot of stuff to animate here, so the pan saves on some footage.



Seymour Kneitel and Bill Henning are the credited animators.