Tralfaz Sunday Theatre: Prescription For Life

Presciption For Life isn’t a campy short, nor is it a very exciting one.

I’m posting it for one reason—about 14 minutes of Mel Brandt.

His voice was heard every day for years saying the words “The following program is brought to you in Living Color on NBC.”

This short needs a straight-forward, matter-of-face tone, and that’s one thing Brandt can do well.

The item below has been cobbled together from network news releases and other sources of Nov. and Dec. 1957.

Mel Brandt, Formerly Unseen 'Voice' On `Modern Romances,' Welcomes His Host, Narrator, Story Editor Role 'On Camera'
Mel Brandt, the new host, narrator and story editor of NBC-TV's MODERN ROMANCES (Monday through Friday, 4:45 P. M., EST) is delighted the network decided to give a chance to "Home talent" in replacing Martha Scott on the dramatic day-time series. When Martha requested release to star in a Broadway play, Mel was a "voice" on the show—the announcer. Now he faces the TV cameras in his triple assignment.
He has not always been an unseen "voice" on television. In 1947 he was appearing regularly on many network dramatic shows, including "Kraft Television Theatre", "Gangbusters" and "Counterspy" among others.
He came to NBC as a "voice," however, quite by accident. He was auditioning for a dramatic role, and the agency believed he had come for 'the announcing job.' He was hired as announcer for NBC Radio's "When a Girl Marries." Next he became staff announcer, and in the years to follow handled many announcing assignments remaining — as Mel says—"relatively anonymous."
Besides being a communicator for NBC Radio's "Monitor", from 1955 to 1957 he was the familiar "voice over" for the NBC-TV "Producers' Showcase" colorcasts. Then in January, 1957, he became announcer for "Modern Romances." "This is the second time in my life that I have appeared in a theatrical venture in which Martha Scott also has been associated," Mel says." The first time she never knew it.
Introducing a male personality on the show suggested a new format might be tried, as well. [Producer] Wilbur Stark says, of this: "Whereas Martha Scott appealed to housewives as a next-door neighbor or friend — woman to woman -- Mel is more the ’voice* of the story being presented. Unlike Martha's daily appearance behind a desk, Brandt now sits on a stool in front of the set, and lights from behind bring alive the action as he outlines the situation."
The latest change in "Modern Romances" is its home. Previously telecast from the NBC studios in New York's Radio City, it now emanates from the Century Theatre.

Brandt died in retirement in 2008. I cannot embed this short, so you’ll have to watch it here.

Rochester Will Not Be Heard Tonight

Rochester became a key cog in the Jack Benny radio machine, but there was one problem that Jack had with Eddie Anderson. “In real life,” he wrote in his memoirs, “Rochester often worried me because he was rarely on time for line readings, rehearsals and the broadcast itself.”

Jack and Irving Fein both told a story about one broadcast. Their versions are different and neither was altogether accurate in their reminiscences. Here’s Jack’s version:

Rochester came so late to the Saturday rehearsal that he missed it. He started giving me his excuse but I refused to listen. I was so mad that I told Sam Perrin, who was now my head writer, that I must punish Rochester. “I want you to write him out of the show this week,”’ I said.
The four writers set up a hue and cry. It would mean rewriting the entire show. There wasn’t time enough. Rochester was punished enough already. He promised never to do it again. We would never get a show as good as this one if we wrote him out of it. They begged me to change my mind. I consented.
On Sunday, we began our first rehearsal at 12:30. The call was for noon. Rochester was not there at noon and he was not there at 12:30 and he had not telephoned to explain. At his home, Rochester’s butler (he had his own butler) explained that the master had left for the NBC studio long ago. At 12:45 we began rehearsing without Rochester. His character didn’t make his entrance until about ten minutes after the show’s opening. I hoped he would arrive in the nick of time. He did not arrive.
Well, I lost my temper completely. I blew my stack. I stomped over to the control room. I opened the heavy door. I threw a look of withering scorn on my four writers, who were now huddled in a frightened heap. ‘‘Well, I have you four idiots to thank for this!” Then I departed and slammed the door shut violently.
However, the door was so heavy that its closing was controlled by an air-pressure valve which released the air slowly. Not only could I not exit on a vicious door slam—but the door closed so slowly that it let out a long razz noise like a Bronx cheer. Even the door was against me.
But I cracked up just the same. And then the writers felt it was safe to laugh. And we all laughed. And Rochester finally showed up, accompanied by two policemen in uniform.
It seems he had been driving along the Hollywood Freeway and right in front of him a five-car smashup had taken place. He had been trapped for over an hour until the traffic started moving. Knowing that 1 would not believe this obviously trumped-up story, Rochester had persuaded these two Los Angeles policemen to come to the studio and testify that once again Rochester had a legitimate alibi for being so late.

Laura Leibowitz’s 39 Forever Vols. 1 and 2 go into depth about each radio show and would be able to possibly answer which broadcast is being discussed. My copies had to be trashed due to bedbugs deciding to turn them into a litter box. However, I spotted a script for the show of April 27, 1952 where Rochester’s part has been deleted.



There was nothing in any of the entertainment columns the following days about Eddie Anderson being sick or unavailable. The show was recorded two days before broadcast.

Both Jack and Mr. Fein refer to a show with the Colmans appearing, but the guest on this broadcast was Jimmy Stewart. Perhaps Ronnie was busy in the library. Laura has graciously (and rather expensively) sent me replacement books, but as this is the last Benny post for the forseeable future, I won’t be able to follow up other broadcasts where he’s missing.

The American Tobacco scripts on-line show plenty of other cuts, likely for time in many cases as the closing PSA is crossed out.

Here’s an example from the April 20, 1952 show (recorded on March 31). A page of Dennis Day’s routine is deleted, and so is part of Phil Harris’ spot involving drummer Sammy Weiss.



Sammy appeared both on mike and on camera with Jack in the later ‘50s. You can read a bit a bout him here. I like Sammy, but he’s no Rochester. No one was.

The Adventures of Bosko in Comics

Bosko had already left Warner Bros. when Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising, through Hugh’s brother Fred, syndicated a Bosko comic in newspapers.

They are certainly well drawn and I like the how-to-make-cartoons panel.

This is only a smattering of them. The series went into the end of October with a prolonged story about Bosko going big-game hunting in Africa and meeting with some cannibals. These are from May 6, 13, 20, 27, 30, June 4, 10 and 15, 1934.



Next Oct. 8, 9, 10, 17, 22, 24, 26, 29, 30 and 31.



And Nov. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12 and 16.

An Appetite For Music

The Fleischer Screen Song Come Take a Trip in My Airship (1930) doesn’t start out with a trip or an airship. A piano is delivered to the apartment of a female cat. The two kiss when it arrives outside her window.

Later, during the song portion, the cat accompanies herself on the piano. A heckling mouse shows up.



The cat tries to grab the mouse, but only succeeds in collapsing the piano, with the keys flying off and the cat twirling backwards against a wall.



The mouse plays the keys like a xylophone. The cat kicks it out of the frame. Somehow, this causes the keys to fly backward, where they are swallowed by the piano.



The piano resumes its normal form and the cat resumes playing and singing.



If any cartoons need restoration, it’s the early Fleischer Talkartoons and Screen Songs. They’re full of imagination and odd gags.

Incidentally, the Motion Picture News of June 14, 1930 insists the cat is Krazy Kat. Well, the cat is female (falsetto) and wears a ribbon.

Billy Murray is heard introducing the song; another plus.

Solving the Fridge Mystery

“To clear up the mystery of whether the light stays on or goes off when you close the door of your refrigerator,” says the narrator in The House of Tomorrow (1949), “we have this model equipped with a window, so you can see just what happens to the light when you close the door.



Cut the next scene which reveals the answer. A tinkling bell accompanies the gnome as he comes in and goes out.



Jack Gosgriff and Rich Hogan worked with director Tex Avery on the spot gags, while Walt Clinton, Mike Lah and Grant Simmons provided the animation.