St. Joseph, Jack Benny and Cockatoos

The Benny-Allen feud wasn’t just for radio and motion pictures. The venue shifted to newspapers on occasion.

Fred Allen couldn’t resist getting in his phoney digs at Jack Benny whenever a reporter or columnist interviewed him. But when Benny announced he was going to St. Joseph, Missouri (“they love me there”), Allen plunked himself in front of his typewriter and went on the attack.

Here’s how it was recorded on the front page of the St. Joseph News-Press of February 13, 1945 (we can’t reproduce the photo with this story).

ALLEN FORECASTS DIRE THINGS . . . Fred Allen, Jack Benny's chum, has written to the St. Joseph Lions Club in regard to the approaching visit of Jack Benny. The letter follows:
"Am sorry to learn that St. Joe intends to lower its social status through planning a welcome for Mr. Benny.
"Mr. Benny was born in Chicago. The city has yet to live it down.
"Mr. Benny spent some time in Waukegan as a boy. The city has labored under a blight from which it has yet to recover.
"Mr. Benny later came to New York but was asked to leave about the same time Tammany received a similar request.
"Mr. Benny has spent some time in Hollywood and I understand tourist travel has declined 71 per cent.
"What effect his visit will have on St. Joe I am loath to venture. I trust that you will make him an honorary member of the St. Joseph Lions Club. Too bad he isn't coming in March. We could use that gag about ‘If Mr. Benny comes in as a ham he can go out as a lion.’”
Sincerely, FRED ALLEN.
Mr. Allen also sent the above photograph to be presented to Jack. The inscription reads, "For Jack Benny. If they loved you in St. Joe this means the end of a beautiful friendship. "P. S.: I played the Crystal Theater in St. Joe. Ask the manager how I went."

While Allen was joking with his long-time friend, it seems not everyone loved him in St. Joseph. The editors of both the News-Press and St. Joseph Union-Observer were Benny defenders against cranks and malcontents. This story comes the latter paper of February 16, when Jack and his troupe were still in the city.

The following episode was observed on one of the city bus lines. Four dear old ladies of uncertain age were en route to an all day bridge party, and were discussing the tables prizes, food, et ceteria.
While many of us are enthusiastic in our admiration of Jack Benny, we fear there are those who think differently.
During a pause one of the ladies remarked, "So Jack Benny is coming here to entertain us and it is costing him $20,000! He could do a lot more with all that money than to come here and make a monkey out of himself. Why don't he do something to bring the dear boys back home? If I had $20,000 to spend I bet I could do better than that."
An elderly man spoke up: "Well, lady, we have to do something to keep up the morale."
"Morale! Morale! Why don't we do something to hurry the end of this war and stop all this nonsense. Morale, indeed!"
"Well, lady," said this man, "you are going to waste this day at bridge and, I suppose, gossip and eating too much. Why don't you try the Red Cross? You could do a lot more to win the war down there than where you are going. And let me ask you this, have you been to the blood bank?"
Perhaps this man was talking out of turn, but to many of us who labor long hours and have to stand up going home from work it does seem that these women of leisure could be better employed. They might try making shirts for the men who are fighting our war.

This editorial is from the News-Press of August 20, 1945

Somehow we cannot get excited about the $10,000 damage suit filed by someone somewhere against Jack Benny.
Plaintiff asserts he suggested a free broadcast by Benny admitting blood donors, that Benny did not take up the idea then, but did use it in St. Joseph.
Jack Benny did not fill that Auditorium or arrange the manner in which it should be filled.
The St. Joseph committee debated days how best to arrange for admission. The committee decided on the blood donor plan and put it into effect. The committee had charge of all ticket distribution.
If Jack Benny has $10,000 to throw away over this legal aftermath of his visit to St Joseph may we offer the suggestion he send the money to the St Joseph committee? If the blood donor idea is worth $10,000, brothers and sisters, we believe we can promise on behalf of the committee the 10 grand will go to a worthy cause, such as providing a legal commission to devise ways and means of prohibiting senseless damage suits.

By the way, in case you’re wondering when Benny played St. Joe, it was the week of November 1, 1915. Variety’s weekly roundup of who-was-playing-where doesn’t mention the duo, but the News-Press published two days beforehand did.

AT THE CRYSTAL. "Happy’s Millions," presented by William Morrow and company, will be the feature of the new vaudeville bill opening at the Crystal for an engagement of a half week tomorrow. "Happy’s Millions" is a Western singing comedy playlet. The company comprises eight persons, among them a midget who plays the part of Cupid. The sketch has special scenery, a number of catchy musical numbers and abundant comedy. "Happy's Millions" has been presented in many vaudeville theaters of consequence in this country and England, and has been on the road steadily for more than fourteen years. Special settings and numerous electrical affects are required for the radium specter, billed as "vaudeville's latest mysterious creation." "Ten Minutes of Syncopation" is furnished in the violin and piano act of Benny and Woods, who play both classic and popular numbers. Bert Wheeler and company offer a comedy pantomime, "The Troubles of a Jitney Bus," and Weber and Fields present themselves in the role of "Broadway’s Youthful Prodigies.” Comedy moving pictures complete the bill.

Two weeks earlier, they played the second half of the week in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with Swain’s Cockatoos. It’s the same Swain who later had an act with cats and rats and earlier put one together with alligators. Let’s see bridge-playing busy-bodies tut-tut about them.

A Panther Lives in Burbank

The most stylish theatrical cartoon series of the 1960? Can it be anything but “Chimp and Zee”?

Well, of course it’s the Pink Panther. (Sorry to any Chimp and Zee fans out there). In a way, the series is an outgrowth of the Warner Bros. cartoons. It was made on the Warners lot by a company run by two ex-Warners cartoon people. And many of the names on the credits—at least at the beginning of the series—are familiar from Warners cartoons.

The Valley Times in North Hollywood profiled DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and the Pink Panther series two years in a row. First up is a feature story from July 13, 1964.

Valley Firm Sparks Film Revolution
By JOHN HOGGATT
Valley Times Entertainment Editor
Sometimes the titles get better reviews than the pictures. It's possible they might defeat themselves with producers.
This wry, half-serious comment came from Friz Freleng, vice president of the Valley company which has started a minor revolution in the movie business.
THIS REVOLUTION has resulted in pleasant viewing of what used to be one of the dullest parts of a movie the showing of the title and those long, endless lists of credits naming everyone from top star to third assistant-powder-puff holder. Now, thanks to the firm of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, those boring openings have been changed in some films to lively, swinging cartoons.
At lunch recently with Freleng and David H. DePatie, they told me how they got in the business of jazzing up film preludes.
The story started in January, 1963, when Warner Bros. in Burbank closed its cartoon division. DePatie, who had been executive in charge of the division, and Freleng, animation director, formed their own company to make cartoons and commercials.
LEASING THE Warner facilities at which they had worked, the two went into business just 14 months ago and soon were turning out amusing characters like Sharpie and Gillette Bird and Charlie Tuna. Then Blake Edwards was given the assignment of directing The Pink Panther for the Mirisch Corp.
“Edwards decided it would be a natural for an animated title,” DePatie explained, “using something with a panther. At his request we whipped up about 150 versions of a panther trademark. He picked one and we were given complete freedom to develop it.”
The result is history. It came out a four-minute-long cartoon starring a rather smug and slap-happy but lovable pink panther who bumbled his way through the titles and credits, sometimes trying to take all the credit for himself, always adding to fun of the proceedings.
WITH THE release and public response to The Pink Panther and its titles, DePatie-Freleng suddenly zoomed to the top of the heap. In quick succession the firm got the assignment for titles of “The Best Man,” “Sex and the Single Girl,” “The Satan Bug” and “A Shot in the Dark.”
“A Shot in the Dark" is sort of a sequel to Panther with Peter Sellers playing the same character in each, and it too features a zany cartoon as the lead. It opens Wednesday at two theaters in the area.
Why the excitement?
“The producers figured the Panther titles added $1.5 millions to the value of the picture,” DePatie said. “They found out that people were checking theaters closely on screen times to make sure they didn’t miss the titles.
“I DON’T KNOW if anyone bought tickets only because they wanted to watch the titles. But the titles certainly influenced viewers to tell their friends it was a good picture.
“I think it’s a good return on an investment of $10,000 to $15,000.”
But will these good results hold true if every picture has a jazzy credit sequence? I wondered.
“We’re trying to make them all different,” explained Freleng. “For ‘The Best Man,’ you'll remember, we used portraits of the Presidents. In ‘Sex and the Single Girl’ the gimmick is using the Ben Casey genetic symbols for male and female.
“NOW WE’RE working on assignments for titles for Hallelujah Trail, The Great Race and How to Murder Your Wife. Writers have been assigned Just as if these were story projects. But all of us are kicking around ideas. For ‘Hallelujah Trail’ we may use titles with live actors.”
“What about the mechanics of the title productions?” I asked.
“We have a staff of 24 and soon will increase it to 40,” DePatie said. “We’re called in nowadays ahead of picture production so a trademark can be worked out to be used in advertising and promoting the picture. Then we spend a lot of time sifting ideas and finally six to eight weeks for actual production.”
IS THE excitement about the new form of titles going to cause a trend? Will everybody want cartoons to open their pictures?
“That’s hard to say,” Freleng said. “Cartoons are no good, of course, for most serious drama. And they probably will be used only on high-budget films.
“But one thing is for sure the old-style credits were a complete bore for audiences. An[y]thing remedying this should stay popular a long, long time.”



The paper checked in again with the studio and columnist Larry Paulson wrote this for the issue of April 23, 1965. And guess who claimed credit for giving birth to Bugs Bunny? No, not Bob Clampett. It is nice to see the artists getting some credit in the popular press.

A GUY walks into another guys office and says, “How'd you like to make the titles for my new motion picture?” The guy answers “Fine," and a new business is born. It’s another Valley success story—a factory where panthers are painted pink!
The entire pink panther plant is pink, and you can pretty well guess the color of the little guard house by the front gate. The location is California Street in Burbank, and even the residence next door has caught the rosy fever.
Blake Edwards and the Mirisch Company asked Henry Mancini to create the music for "The Pink Panther, and Mancini won three Grammy awards for his efforts. They asked David DePatie and Friz Freleng to create the animation behind the titles, (credits) and they won an Oscar. The movie was a success and some people gave more credit to the titles than to the film.
The rubicund feline star proved to be such a hit that his creators are busy producing a series of 113 theatrical cartoons! Titles include “Pink Phink” (which won the Academy Award for cartoons), “Pink Pajamas” and “We Give Pink Stamps.” Coming up: “Sink Pink” and “Pinkfinger.”
The salon de DeFatie-Freleng now has 50 people doing commercials for television, more animated movie titles, advertising film strips, a public service film, shorts and a joke book. To come: a comic strip for newspapers, comic books, coloring books, toys and stuffed animals and undoubtedly a half-hour TV show.
So the pink panther that cavorted about the screen for a brief two minutes to introduce a movie has really begat a lota Pinks. They’re being created for adults, but of course kids watch anything that moves, and they love Pinky’s sophistication.
Dapper DePatie, the firm’s handsome president, started at Warner Bros. as a film editor when he was just 20. Right off he won an Academy Oscar for “Them.”
Freleng (pronounced Freeling, like in free-wheeling) is a living legend in the anima[t]ion business. Five Oscars are engraved with his name. He fathered such brush and ink stars as Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Sylvester and Tweetie Pie and Daggy Duck [sic].
The two genii let me wander the length and breadth of the Pink Panther place on Warner Bros. back lot. I met affable Harry Love, all-around production man who cart act out a cartoon sequence at the drop of a drawing. Hawley Pratt is the animation director who gets the canny pink cat in and out of situations. John Dunn writes plots and Ken Mundie paints Panther backgrounds which are works of art all by themselves.
These people get assists from Tom O’Loughlin, Bob Kurtz and the rest of the unsung heroes who contribute to these wild cartoons.
But we, the audiences, make stars out of a chosen few. “Presently,” says Freleng, “we like the Pink Panther because he’s up to date and on the abstract side.” He’s the first new theatrical cartoon star in about 10 years since the same Friz Freleng created Speedy Gonzales. Bugs Bunny, and his “What's up, doc?” was born 18 years ago on Freleng’s drawing board, and Freleng gets a boot out of Bugsie's record: Number One cartoon character in the theaters for every one of those 18 years!
Pink Panther is a tougher to train for his motion picture shenanigans than the others—because he doesn’t talk. It’s all pantomime. “That makes it a bit more difficult,” says Freleng. “After all, Charlie Chaplin had to be much more of an actor to make his pantomime convincing than does, say, Phyllis Diller.”
You can’t argue with that. Or with the Pink Panthers success.

92 Panthers were made for theatres and then more for TV. Still later, he was given a son. The Panther was finally getting into Chimp and Zee territory.

I'll Take Mine Neat

“Symbolic of this cold alpine region,” says narrator Bob Bruce over artwork of high mountains by Johnny Johnsen, “is the brave and faithful St. Bernard dog, ever on the alert in search for lost travellers.” We see the dogs enter in perspective from the background.



Cut to the gag.



Carl Stalling plays “Little Brown Jug” in the background, with lighter instrumentation for the little dog.

Crazy Cruise was Tex Avery’s last cartoon for Warner Bros. Bob Clampett took over his unit when he went to MGM in 1941 and finished this. It’s not an auspicious end to his career at Warners; one theatre manager in New Paltz, New York told the Motion Picture Herald: “This is poor material to give us in cartoon form. Someone in the studio might think it funny, but on the screen of a small town theatre it doesn't jell. This can’t be booked as a cartoon, as it’s more of a travelogue, and you know how boring some of those can be.”

And what’s a “cruise” doing at the top of the Alps?

I Ain't Got No Body

The Van Beuren cartoon studio had a skeleton fetish.

I haven’t counted how many times a skeleton arbitrarily shows up in one of their pre-Cubby (1933) shorts but it seems to be often.

Wot a Night (1931) is chock-full of skeletons. There’s one bathing, one playing the piano, a bunch of them dancing and even a quartet of skeletons in blackface singing a spiritual.

The cartoon ends with the mysterious guys who rode in Tom and Jerry’s cab (without paying) pointing at Tom and Jerry. Our heroes turn into skeletons!



Off they run to end the cartoon.



John Foster and George Stallings get the “by” credit. I don’t know the happy tune that Gene Rodemich opens the cartoon with, but here’s the song the minstrel quartet sings.

Flip

America and Johnny Carson may have discovered Flip Wilson when he appeared on the Tonight Show in 1965 but, as is usually the case, he had been around before then.

In the late 1950s, he was on stage at clubs in Florida where patrons may have been more interested in the advertised exotic dancers. The future Grammy winner had released a comedy album on Imperial Records in 1961 and was emceeing (and doing an act) at the Apollo in Harlem and other black clubs in the central and eastern U.S.

At the height of his career, his TV variety show was hugely popular and racked up 11 Emmy nominations. And then he just faded away, eventually dying of cancer at age 64.

Let’s look back at when his career was taking off at the clubs, as reported by the black press. Both these stories are from 1963. The first is from the Chicago Defender, February 27th.

New Comic Has Flip Tongue, Fly Style
By BOB HUNTER
An up-and-coming (career wise) new comic with a flip tongue and a fly delivery is now starring in a giant rock n’ roll package at the Regal Theater, 47th and S. Parkway. His name—“Flip” Wilson.
The term “new” is used because Flip is just beginning to gain wide-spread fame. Actually, he’s been in the game for eight years or more. Most of that time he was busy picking up the rudiments of his trade.
Now 30 years of age and a settled family, Flip wants the world to know that he intends to stay on the scene a long, long time.
BERT WILLIAMS
How big does he hope to get? “As big as Bert Williams was.” How does he plan to get there? “By telling any kind of jokes that will make people laugh.”
To make people laugh is all he ever wanted to do. “I’ve always wanted to be a comic,” he says. “No other profession entered my mind.”
When did he become a funnyman? “Back in 1953, when I was in the Air Force. The guys thought I was quite a cut-up, so they suggested that I go on stage. I did.” Flip is part of a Regal bill that includes Chuck Jackson, The Drifters, The Shirelles, LaVern Baker, Don Gardner and Dee Dee Ford and many, many more, all backed by Red Saunders’ wailing big band.
BIRDLAND CONTRACT
Wilson has just finished a gig at Birdland in New York City, where he starred with Cannonball Adderley and Thelonious Monk. He’ll be in Chicago for a week, then he returns to New York and the “Living Room.” That engagement will be followed by another stint at Birdland, the most famous jazz house in the world.
Flip won’t say so himself, but he’s the first comic to ever play Birdland on a contract basis. His pact with the club is good for all of 1962, and calls for him to work there six times during the year.
Wilson, who writes about 20 per cent of his own material, has no set routine. “I just go out there and fire away.” However, before he goes “out there” to fire away, he sits among the audience to “feel” the mood.
“Then,” he says, “when I go on stage, the first joke is for them, but the rest are all mine.”
The Jersey City, New Jersey born comic has five brothers and six sisters, plus a mother. Is his father dead? “No, he’s still alive, I guess.”
Switching the conversation to another subject, Wilson revealed that he steers clear of most racial jokes because “they are very touchy.” He believes that people will laugh at them for a while, “but them they become sensitive.”
Some comics have trouble controlling hecklers, but not our star. He has a plan which never fails. “There are hecklers in every audience,” he said, “but if you go out front with a forceful air about yourself they are wary and won’t attack. When one does—I shoot him down, but good.”
Wilson was working in San Francisco hotel as a bell hop when he made up his mind to root-hog-or-die as a comic.
FIRST TIME OUT
“They were having a show at the time,” he said. “But something was wrong. I suggested that a drunk stagger onto the stage. So they said, ‘OK, you’re the drunk’.”
“Anyhow, I went out there. The place was so quiet you could hear a feather floating onto the floor. Understandably I was quiet nervous. Yet somehow I managed to open my mouth. The place broke up. I’ve been making people laugh ever since.” And then he adds, “For pay, that is.”
Like most performers, Flip had to gain confidence in himself. “For two years after I got started, I was always afraid that one day I’d walk out on the stage and nothing would come out. But it still has, and still is.”
Wilson’s real first name is Clerow, but he never uses it. “Isn’t that some tag,” says the star. “I would much rather use Flip than that.”
HELPING HAND
Not too many know it, but Chuck “Tell Him I’m Not Home” Jackson is the big reason for Flip’s amazing rise to the top in the last 18 months. Chuck caught Wilson’s act and liked it so much, he introduced Flip to his managers, Julie and Roy Rifkind.
“To me, there isn’t anyone in show business today, as far as I’m concerned, who is greater a person than Chuck Jackson,” Wilson said. “He told me to come to New York and if his managers couldn’t do anything for me right away he’d pay me $10 a day as long as I was there, and then if I decided to return home, he’d buy the plane ticket. I’ll never forget him, ever.”
Flip’s career has really been sky-rocketing as of late. He has appeared on stage with some of the most renown[ed] jazz and rock ‘n roll artists in the world. They include Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Count Basie, Sam Cooke, Gloria Lynne and many others.
This past season he appeared on the Broadway stage in a production of “Old Bucks and New Wings,” co-starring with the hightly regarded vaudeville team of Smith and Dale. Wilson received great reviews from the critics of New York’s leading newspapers.
FIRST ALBUM
He also has recorded his first comedy album. It’s called “Flippin” and it’s on Imperial Records.
He has scored his greatest success with “preacher” jokes. In the beginning, that’s all he used, but now mixes them up with other material. However, some people still refer to him as “Rev.” Wilson. “They say I look like a preacher, too,” he said.
Wilson’s wife’s name is Blondell. They have three children: Michele, 7, David, 3, and Kevin, 1. “Oh, yes,” he says with a smile. “My wife and I have been married seven years.”
Flip Wilson is a very funny man.

Now a story from the New Amsterdam News of April 13th. We learn about typing prowess.

Comedian “Flip” Wilson Wanted To Be A Teacher
By LES MATTHEWS
“I wanted to be a teacher, specializing in English,” clean shaven comedian, “Flip” Wilson, told this reporter after completing a week at the Apollo Theatre. “I wanted to be a performer, too. Now I’m happy in my chosen vocation,” he said.
“Flip” Wilson who [sic] was born in Jersey City, N.J., and christened Clerow by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Wilson.
He confessed: “I didn’t know the late mayor Frank Hague, but I heard and read a lot about him. I have six sisters, Mart, Doris, Betty, Constance, Lorraine and Eleanor. Wait a minute, I also have five brothers, Lemuel, Vernon, Clifford, William, and Bernard. Can you imagine the fun we had at dinner time?”
No Dancing
“Appearing on the stage is thrilling and a challenge,” continued Flip. “You see I don’t dance, sing or mimic and I have to keep my audience interested and happy. I’m unable to rest during my act with a dance or song. I must have material and improvise others,” the five-foot six comedian said. “I work on new material in the evenings. I don’t allow anything to distract my attention, radio or television.”
“I spend a great deal of time reading, books, magazines, or newspapers. I also spend time with my family. My wife, Blonel, and three youngsters, Michelle, 7; David, 3, and Kevin, 1 at home in Philadelphia when I’m not traveling. I keep on the run.”
In Miami
“I played in Miami for almost four years and I was also fortunate to appear in Chicago several times. During my visit to Chicago I appeared on television and radio shows. I will appear at the Shell House on Long Island and return to the Birdland Café on Broadway.”
“Flip,” a United States Air Force veteran who was stationed in the Pacific Theater speaks distinctly. He’s really funny.
An excellent bowler with an average of 175, “Flip” is also an excellent typist. He says he drinks moderately and plays a game of cards whenever he can get an interested group together. An excellent listener, according to his manager, Roy Rifkind, “He can stay in a room for hours without saying a word.”

In 1965, Flip was still emceeing and playing with black acts but things were changing. Ads for the hungry i in San Francisco in October 1965 call him “Johnny Carson’s Comedy Find” (though the Examiner called his routine a “monotonous, hesitant, and tasteless string of bad jokes,” including puns about American Indians). Carson put him on in August then two times thereafter in ’65. He hit the Playboy Club circuit. He appeared in Carnegie Hall in November. In summer of ’66, he was a regular on the Kraft Music Hall. If Flip wasn’t on his way before, he was now.

Multiple Snafus

Ben Washam treats us to more stretch in-betweens in No Buddy Atoll, a 1945 Snafu cartoon for the Army/Navy Screen Magazine.

Snafu and a Japanese naval officer inspect each other’s dog tags then both realise who the other guy is—the enemy!



The soundtrack plays “Tea For Two” in the background of this scene. Later in the cartoon, one of the chase tunes is the Paramount-owned “I’ve Got Spurs That Jingle, Jangle, Jingle” which showed up in all kinds of Paramount-owned cartoons.

Since this is the Chuck Jones unit of Warners at work, Ken Harris and Bobe Cannon likely animated portions of this cartoon as well.

What's on the Tangled TV Set Today?

Tangled Television (1940) isn’t really about television. There wasn’t much on TV in 1940 worth parodying so, instead, about half the cartoon is about tuning in to Africa and Italy instead of a TV show.

Mind you, we do get radio and movie references—Amos ‘n’ Andy, Walter Winchell, Stepin Fetchit, the Three Stooges.

But Africa means it’s time for familiar old stereotypes and, here, the story people combined two stereotypes into one character.

The scene starts with a skull and evil laughter. A sinister native is wearing the skull.

“Sinister?” No, not at all. He suddenly becomes all effeminate, gushing about birds, flowers, life being wonderful (at least the dialogue doesn’t say “gay”). A narrator stops his enthusiastic exhortations and demands to know why he’s so happy. “Oh, I’m just a Good Humor Man,” he swishes, adding in an obligatory “Whoops!” for good measure. He then pushes his ice cream cart out of the cartoon (“Without vanilla, chocolate, tutti fruitsi,” he calls out).

Mel Blanc plays both parts. Sid Marcus moves the camera around a lot as the director of this short, with Art Davis and Herb Rothwill getting the animation credits. Music by Joe De Nat.

Boxoffice called this “First-rate cartoon entertainment.” Kinematograph Weekly out of England declared “Gags ingenious and draughtsmanship clever. Capital short of its type.” It was screened at a showing in Boston called “Eleven More of the Greatest Cartoons Ever.” (One of the others was the 1932 Columbia short The Birth of Jazz, with dancing musical instruments, the Earth bopping to music, and a caricature of New York mayor Jimmy Walker.) These reviewers liked it more than I did. I still don’t get the closing gag involving the motorboat and a hat. You can see an ad to the right for a theatre that ran it.

They DID Love Him

It started with Rochester singing “Blues in the Night,” and when he got to the line “From Memphis to St. Joe,” Jack Benny interrupted with a wistful comment about how they loved him there in the vaudeville days.

From that, Benny’s writers blew it up into a running gag. It was supposed to culminate with an appearance show in the Missouri city in March 1943 but Jack became seriously ill, postponed the trip and remained off the air for five weeks to recover.

Some people in St. Joseph said the planned trip was all a hoax, but the local paper put them in their place on December 26, 1944 by revealing Benny would be coming, doing a number of shows and taking part in community events.

It’s only appropriate on Jack Benny’s latest 39th birthday that we re-live some of that trip to the city where they loved him. It was front page news for several days—the News Press was a big Benny booster. This is the main story from February 17, 1945; the Benny gang had arrived two days earlier. Among a number of things, the city celebrated his birthday. Unfortunately, we cannot post the paper’s photos.

Benny Luncheon Hilarious With Star in Fine Fettle
By RUTH BELL
"In my whole career in the show business, including my home town of Waukegan and shows for the men overseas, I've never had a reception as great as the one St. Joseph has given me and all of my troupe," said Jack (They Love Me in St. Joe) Benny, radio and screen star, at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon in honour of him and his company yesterday in the Crystal room of the Hotel Robidoux.
He said it seriously and sincerely.
For the most part, the luncheon program was an hilarious one, with wisecracks cropping here and there, but there was an underlying sincerity of fellowship and friendliness between guests and hosts, A good time was had by all.
Entire Troupe Here.
Jane Wyman, Hollywood motion picture star, whom St. Joseph claims as its own, and who is to be a guest on the Benny broadcast from the Municipal Auditorium tomorrow night, was one of the honored guests at the luncheon.
The whole Benny troupe was there, including Mary Livingstone, Jack's wife; Rochester (Eddie Anderson); Phil Harris, orchestra leader; Larry Stevens, soloist; Don Wilson, announcer, and Mrs. Anderson, who gets Rochester to broadcasts on time. Also at the speakers' table were David W. Hopkins, toastmaster; Mayor Phil J. Welch; Russell E. Wales, president of the Chamber of Commerce; Miss Pearl McClurg, president of the women's division of the Chamber of Commerce; Henry D. Bradley, E. A. Prinz and Sheriff Gus Hillix.
St Joseph presented its own "Oscar" to Jack Benny, a miniature bronze statue of the Pony Express monument, bearing an inscription naming Jack as the city’s choice for the No. 1 spot in radio, stage and screen roles.
Gift to Miss Wyman.
A memento of the occasion to Jane Wyman from St. Joseph was a silver engraving of Lover's Lane, on which there is a portion of the famous poem by Eugene Field. In a brief acceptance speech, Miss Wyman thanked St. Joseph for its overwhelming reception, and spoke of her remark at a club meeting Thursday about the beautiful sun the Chamber of Commerce had produced for her arrival.
“But what I want to know is,” she asked, “what happened to it?" As the orchestra played “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” drapes and screens were pulled aside on the stage, immediately in back of the speakers' table, revealing a huge six-tiered birthday cake, bearing the lettering, "Happy Birthday Jack Benny, We Love You in St Joe."
That Question of Age.
"Some people think Feb. 14 is Valentine's day," said Mr. Hopkins. "But others know what the day really is. It's Jack Benny's birthday, but we're celebrating it two days late."
"Hope there aren't too many candles." cracked Jack, who insisted on his nation-wide broadcast last Sunday that he was only 36.
Jack took off his horn rimmed glasses (which he maintains he wears only because they look smart), stuck his finger on the icing and licked it. Mary Livingstone did the same. Because she's Jack's wife she got by with it.

Message from Truman.
Messages were read from several persons who were unable to be in St. Joseph for the luncheon. From Vice-President Harry S. Truman came the message, "Tell Jack it's too bad he can't have his Washington accompanist for the broadcast, but maybe Harris can mix things up just as well." (The Benny troupe had been in Washington for the President's birthday.)
There were welcome to Missouri messages from Governor Phil M. Donnelly, and from Senator Frank Briggs, and one from Walter Winchell saying, "Don't ask Benny for blood, but maybe one of those pints will do him good."
A message was read from the chairman of the American Red Cross, expressing the deep appreciation of the organization to the people of St. Joseph and nearby territory in donating to the blood bank this week and previous times. Jack himself was a donor yesterday, and tickets for the two shows Sunday night at the Auditorium have been given to blood donors.
Can't Forget Allen.
The huge gold key to the city of St. Joseph was given to Jack by Mayor Phil J. Welch, who said: "I've lived here all my life, and only one other time has there been such an occasion as this, that was in 1918, the year Fred Allen came to town.
To extend the welcome from outside the city limit, and give Jack further authority, Sheriff Gus Hillix pinned a deputy sheriff's badge on him.
“Gosh,” quipped Jack, “I ought to be able to turn all these things in for a little cash!”
Following his formal introduction by Mr. Hopkins, Jack had his say:
“Ladies and gentlemen, and all the folks who love me here in St. Joe. I was very happy to hear the mayor say a few words a while ago. You know we're planning on using him on our broadcast Sunday night, and I wanted to hear his speaking voice.
“I can understand the governor of Missouri not being here, and Vice-President Truman's absence but why President Roosevelt is not here is inexcusable. We're having a wonderful stay. Even the food is good, which is unusual at a banquet. I've excused them for not having Lucky Strikes, but for Old times' sake, I do think they could have had Jell-O for dessert!
Things In Common.
“If the people or Waukegan knew about this big reception they'd be sore. Oh, Waukegan is like St Jo. St. Jo is Waukegan with people. We have many things in Waukegan like St Joseph. We have lover's lanes, but of course, they're called by different names. We haven't a Jesse James—but I have an uncle. It costs a quarter to see his house. Of course he's still living.
"I can remember this old Rob-your-dough, I mean Robidoux Hotel. I looked through the register. I've seen lots of hotel registers with 'John Smith and wife,' but this is the first place I ever have seen 'John Smith and Pocahontas.'
"Reminiscing about a visit here 30 years ago, when he played either at the Electric or the Crystal, he's still not sure which, Jack said: "I was a violinist in those days, and a good one, too. I lived here at this hotel at that time. Yes, 30 years ago. Let's see, 30 from 36—well, I was a child prodigy!"
President Is Finicky.
The Benny troupe is on its last lap of a March of Dimes and service camp tour. The trip to Washington, to appear for the President's birthday celebration was sudden. Jack said, and he'd sent his clothes on to New York.
“So when I was in Chicago, I bought Montgomery, Roosevelt & Ward,” he said. “I used that gag in Washington and the President said, ‘No, it’s Roosevelt Montgomery Ward.’ I tried to get a room in Washington and pleaded and pleaded for one. ‘Look, I'm Jack Benny, I have to have a room,’ I told the desk clerk at one of the hotels. ‘I don't care if you're Rochester, we're loaded,’ he told me. I told him I was doing a show for the President. Finally he let me sign the register. And instead of a key to my room—I hate to tell you—but he gave me a nickel! Why I wouldn't sleep on a streetcar for a million dollars!"
Jack spoke of the time it takes to prepare their 17-minute program on the air each Sunday night, and introduced all of the group and his staff of writers. The luncheon party, attended by more than 200 persons, broke up jovially as girls from the high schools and Junior College, dressed in jeans and bright shirts, ran through the crowd calling "Extra, Extra" and passing out eopies of The Benny Bugle.
Many Are Disappointed.
Many persons in St. Joseph, including every school child in the city, were disappointed when the parade scheduled for noon yesterday was called off because of the snow. Public schools were to have been dismissed in time for the parade, but those plans were canceled at 9 o'clock in the morning. Jack was just as disappointed as the "kids" and said, "I wanted to see everyone, meet everyone and let them know that while I have said they love me in St. Joe, I love them even more."

BENNY BITS

Sh! Girls and boys! Alice Faye, motion picture actress, is in town. But she’s just here to be with her husband-Phil Harris—leader of the orchestra on the Jack Benny program. Tired from traveling, she rested yesterday and didn't appear at the testimonial luncheon.
— — —
The Benny troupe will leave St. Joseph earlier Monday than had at first been anticipated. The plan is to leave at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Because of the earlier departure, a dinner scheduled by the Chamber of Commerce for Monday evening has been changed to luncheon at noon at Hotel Robidoux.
— — —
Rochester and his wife are to make an appearance Monday morning at the Bartlett High School.
— — —
Larry Stevens, soloist, is to sing at the Sunday morning service at Francis Street Methodist Church Mary Livingstone "discovered" him at a gas filling station. He has been honorably discharged from the Army air forces.
— — —
Jack and Mary have been married for 18 years.
— — —
Don Wilson has been announcer with the Jack Benny program for 11 years.
— — —
Jack says Phil Harris doesn't know anything about leading an orchestra, he just wields the baton. And when the orchestra stops playing, he quits too. The reason he is an orchestra leader, Jack explains, is because he used to be a drummer but lost one stick.
— — —
Rochester has put away that lovely miniature electric train set you may have seen in a technicolor "short" he made. It's put away until after the war because he can't get equipment he said. No priority.
— — —
The 6 o'clock broadcast of the Jack Benny show, will be picked up by radio and rebroadcast from the stage of the Missouri Theater tomorrow, Irwin Dubinsky, manager of the theater, said yesterday. In order to carry the Benny show, the theater schedule has been rearranged and doors will be opened at 12:30 o'clock, half an hour earlier than usual.

We’ll have a post-script next week.

The Search For Norman Spencer

Trying to dig up information about animated cartoons decades after the fact is like solving a jigsaw puzzle. The pieces have to fit. Sometimes you don’t have all the pieces. When they do fit, it’s quite satisfying.

This brings us to Norman Spencer.

Fans of Warner Bros. cartoons will recognise Spencer as being responsible for (some of) the musical scores before Carl Stalling arrived in 1936. We’re fortunate Stalling was interviewed several times before his death so we know something about him.

But what about Norman Spencer? Who was he?

Well, he wasn’t Norman Spencer. At birth, anyway. This may get a little convoluted, but let’s put the pieces together.

We will start with information previously recorded on this blog. Ralph Wilk’s column in the Film Daily of April 29, 1936 states:

Norman Spencer, composer and director of music for the “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” cartoons being produced by Leon Schlesinger, has signed a new, three-year contract. His son, Norman, Jr., handles the musical arrangements for the series.

Okay. We know Spencer has a son. Now piece number two. A newspaper search of Spencer’s son reveals a story about Norman, Jr.’s wedding. The Evening Citizen News told Los Angeles on August 5, 1938:

Newlyweds to Live In New York City
Mr. and Mrs. Norman Spencer Jr. (Emilie Bean) today were on their way east with the intention of making their home in New York City. The Rev. E. S. Gates solemnized their marriage Wednesday afternoon in the Little Chapel of the Dawn at Santa Monica.
The ceremony was a private one and was followed by a family dinner at the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel. Those present were the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. E.H. Willumsen of Beverly Hills, the bridegroom’s mother, Mrs. Leona Spencer, and Mrs. A. Clerici, the bride's grandmother.
Mrs. Spencer graduated from the Beverly Hills High School. Mr. Spencer, a graduate of the Homer Grunn Conservatory of Music, will assist his father, Norman Spencer, Sr., in radio work.

Now we know the name of Spencer’s wife and daughter-in-law. To FamilySearch.org we go. Nothing about either Spencer, Jr. or Leona Spencer. But now we know his daughter-in-law’s maiden name. Aha! A match. The marriage license discloses Norman Spencer is a stage name.



Norman Spencer is, in reality, Norman Spencer Matthews. And another search of the same site shows us he was born in Minneapolis on March 3, 1891. Now that we have his real name, we can tiny trace a bit of his non-musical career.



At the age of 19, he married an 18-year-old daughter of a woman running the Lorraine Hotel in Salt Lake City, giving his address as Los Angeles. I’ve found no story on the wedding, but he was revealed in 1911 as a piano player in Salt Lake papers covering a trial involving his underage sister-in-law being held against her will by another woman in a “lewd house,” as one paper put it.

Norman Jr. was born in Los Angeles in 1912; the family was at 907 East 6th Street. A squib by Harry Sloan in Billboard of August 15, 1914 says “Norman Matthews has taken the piano at the Ship Café [in Venice, California]. A good man for a good job.”

In 1916, the San Francisco city directory shows Spencer and his wife living there. A story in the Chronicle of April 2, 1916 talks about Kids Day at Golden Gate Park and one of the performers “Norman Matthews, the latter being a pianist as well as a vocal expert.” His World War One draft card in 1917:



Let’s get into Spencer’s musical career, because it grew in fits and starts. One thing we do not know is why he dropped his last name professionally at this point.

He wrote a tune with Henry Williams called “Slow and Easy” in 1919 which was a hit. It was plugged all across the U.S. in ads for piano rolls. The following year, music publisher Daniels & Wilson stated its catalogue included Spencer’s numbers (Buddy De Sylva and Byron Gay were represented; their songs appeared in Warners cartoons of the 1930s).

Spencer spent two months in New York composing the score for “Gre-Na-Da” (Variety, April 2, 1920), returning to the Bay Area but eventually heading back to Big Town. A story in Variety of April 8, 1921 says he was appearing at the Moulin Rouge. He tried to break onto the Great White Way, as we see in various trade and regular publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, June 12, 1921:

Frank Bacon, star and author of the three-year dramatic success, “Lightnin’,” is collaborating with Milt Hagen, Joe McKiernan and Norman Spencer—all of San Francisco—on a new operetta to be produced in New York next season.
The title of the play is “Tahoe.” Milt Hagen, collaborator with Frank Bacon on the libretto, is a member of the Press Club of San Francisco and is a graduate of Stanford University, where he wrote many plays, such as “Biff! Bang! Bullsheveck!”, “The College Prince,” etc. He was also editor of the Chaparral at Stanford. Joe McKiernan and Norman Spencer are writers of some of New York’s greatest hit songs, such as “Cuban Moon,” “Don’t Take Away Those Blues,” “New and Then,” etc.

Spencer seems to have been back and forth across the country during the ‘20s. A fascinating story involves a party in 1925 for actor Sam Allen, a friend of the aforementioned Frank Bacon. The Los Angeles Times of November 8th reports the people who took part in the merry entertainment were “Bernard Brown’s jazz orchestra, composed of Bernard Brown, Norman Spencer and Scotty Denton.” I think it’s safe to assume they’re Schlesinger’s Norman Spencer and Bernard Brown.

Now comes the Warner Bros. connection. Variety of December 28, 1928 reported Warners was starting production of shorts at the old Vitagraph studios in Brooklyn. Departments were being set up, including “music captained by Norman Spencer, who assisted Louis Silvers on the coast.” Billboard added the next day “He is a well-known musician and composer and for many years was on the vaudeville stage. He played in local orchestras while getting his musical education.” The January 16, 1929 Variety stated Vitaphone had seven-piece orchestra under Spencer.

Flatbush didn’t keep Spencer for long. He return to Los Angeles to take charge of Warners’ new popular music department (Variety, January 30, 1929). Things changed quickly. Ray Perkins was placed in charge (Los Angeles Times, February 22). Spencer and Herman Ruby were assigned to compose the music for Colleen Moore’s first talkie, Smiling Irish Eyes. The tunes were published by Witmark.

Spencer’s piano playing (like Stalling’s on cartoons for Disney) could be heard on the early talkies; he accompanied Eddie Buzzell in Little Johnny Jones (Billboard, August 17, 1929).

Spencer was put in charge of the First National studio chorus. The Los Angeles Times of February 23, 1930:

At present they are rehearsing for “Mlle. Modiste,” Victor Herbert’s operetta soon to start filming.
The chorus will be in charge of Norman Spencer, who has been directing the studio’s choral numbers, and who is in charge of all voice tests. Spencer selected the thirty-two members from more than 5000 applicants. They are of all types and ages as they will frequently be called upon to appear in minor roles.
Every one of them, according to Spencer, knows three languages well, and has a knowledge of five.

Whether Spencer fell out of favour at Warners is unclear. On Song of the Flame, he assisted Ernest Grooney who was in charge of the choruses (Plainfield Courier-News, August 8, 1930). Motion Picture News of September 24, 1931 refers to a male trio in the Vitaphone short Gates of Happiness as being the Norman Spencer Singers.

Then we hear no more of Spencer until Leon Schlesinger entered the picture. But it had nothing to do with cartoons. Leon was testing out a new venture. The Hollywood Reporter of Nov. 20, 1931:

Arrangements to score features for independent producers have been made by Leon Schlesinger, of the Pacific Title and Art Studios. He has engaged Bernard Brown as head of the technical department, and Norman Spencer to run the musical branch. The recording will be RCA-Photophone.
The studio will have a 25-piece orchestra which will score original music, thereby saving the producer the usual fee for clearing music. Also all trailers will be accompany by the orchestra and have sound effects.

How long the venture lasted is unclear, but we find Spencer and Brown together in another company. Film Daily of February 25, 1933:

Norman Spencer and George Waggner of Brown, Spencer and Associates, have just finished six songs for the next W.T. Lackey production, “False Fronts.” Spencer was with Warner Bros. for eight years while Waggner has written several song hits.

While this was going on, Leon Schlesinger was negotiating a renewal deal for cartoons with Warner Bros.—without the services of the Harman-Ising studio. Leon decided to build his own animation operation. Film Daily of June 10, 1933 stated Schlesinger had hired his staff, with Brown to head the sound department and Spencer to head the music department. Whether Brown actually did any composing is debatable. According to Mike Barrier’s book “Hollywood Cartoons,” he was also working in sound engineering on the main Warners lot. And I defy anyone to outline the difference in scores in cartoons where Brown has a credit and Spencer has a credit. The credits could have been alternating by contractual agreement, but that’s speculation on my part, based on an interview Friz Freleng had with Jerry Beck that Brown’s rare cartoon directorial credits were because of studio policy.

This brings up to the Wilks story that opened this post. That three-year contract signed at the end of April 1936 didn’t last long. Film Daily of August 3rd reported Carl Stalling had been hired to replace Spencer, whom it said had “resigned.” Mike Barrier’s fine interview with Stalling, published in Funnyworld 13 four decades ago, has the infamous quote about Spencer and Schlesinger having differences: “I don't know what the trouble was about, but the inside of the music room desk was all cluttered with empty whiskey bottles.”

If you ever read or hear Mel Blanc tells the story of him seeing Spencer week after week to get a job, then coming in one week and learning Spencer had “died,” Mel’s telling a fish story. At first, he never mentioned a death but he must have realised it was a better story if he did. Spencer was very much alive and next surfaced at Warner Bros. radio station KFWB. He hosted a show on Monday nights from 8:30 to 9 called “Can You Write a Song.” It began on October 4, 1937 (Radio Daily, Sept. 29, 1937) with Harry Warren and Al Dubin as the first guests. It awarded cash prizes to amateur songwriters. The show aired on other California stations as well. This is the programme Norman Jr. was assisting on.

Despite critical praise, the show left the air less than two months later. No sponsor. (Hollywood Reporter, Nov. 24, 1937). Then Spencer ended up in court, where he won ownership of the show after a lawsuit by two men claiming a half interest in it and its copyright (Broadcaster, Feb. 10, 1938).

Spencer moved to New York City and took his music-writing show concept with him. “The Musical Night Court of the Air” was its new title, starring “judge” Norman Spencer. It began life on the small WVFW in Brooklyn on November 29, 1938, and moved to WINS New York on Monday nights at 7 p.m. by April 1939.

Norman Spencer Matthews died in New York on February 15, 1940. He was 48. Municipal death records give his occupation as “music publisher” living at 246 West 70th Street in Manhattan. Unfortunately, the site gives no cause of death and even odder, there is no obituary in any of the New York newspapers I have looked through.

As a postscript, Spencer’s widow and son’s family moved back to California. Spencer Jr.’s son, named after his grandfather, died when he was six days old. Leona Hannah Matthews passed away in Los Angeles on February 12, 1980. Likely no one ever recorded her thoughts on her late husband’s musical career.