Adventures In Recordland, #15: The Bs, part 12

I tried to do three records today. Turned out one was cracked and I had to do throw it away! So here are the two I got done today.

#1: Oscar Brand- "For Doctors Only", 1960:

Oscar Brand (who, I found out, is still with us and 94 years old at the time of this writing) was a folk singer who released an impressive number of albums in the '60s. This album consists of a whopping 14 songs, all humorous ditties about various aspects of the medical profession. As the title implies, I'm sure it's funnier if you're actually a doctor- not all of the humor is quite knee-slappingly hilarious for a layman like myself. And while some of the tunes are clever and generally enjoyable, a full half-hour of this sort of thing is a bit much. The humor is a bit on the corny and slightly naughty side (a line about a gynecologist "starting from the bottom"- which is used in just one, but two different songs). I find it wears out its welcome after a while- 14 songs concerning one general topic is more than enough- but fortunately the songs are all about 2-3 minutes long, so even the one-joke songs are not completely run into the ground. There are some cute moments.

#2: Fanny Brice- "Baby Snooks And Daddy", 1974:

Coincidentally enough, today is Fanny Brice's birthday. She was one of the great stars of vaudeville for many years, but I find it unfortunate that she's best-known today, if at all, for the child character Baby Snooks which she played on radio for many years.
In small doses, these routines are fine, and a good showcase for Brice's good comic timing, and Hanley Stafford as Daddy was a solid straightman. They can be funny- I got some laughs out of this album- but I was never a big fan of the character. Neither one of them is really likeable or sympathetic- Snooks is a rather obnoxious brat, and Daddy gets easily frustrated with her and yells at her a lot. There's not much more to it than that. Not to mention that most of the routines end with Daddy giving Snooks an abusive smack- certainly something which is uncomfortable to hear today. But it's never been my favorite of the old-time radio shows. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

Adventures In Recordland, Post #12: The Bs, part 9

#1: Herschel Bernardi- "An Evening With Herschel Bernardi (Chocolate-Covered Matzohs)", 1960:

Herschel Bernardi, a Jewish actor, singer and comedian, spends this album doing humorous monologs about Jewish assimilation and family life, and singing Yiddish folk songs. It's a delightful, funny, nostalgic album for those of us with Jewish roots. The monologs are very entertaining, and the songs are wistful and delightful. I have several records of Jewish humor- similar performers like Sam Levenson and Myron Cohen come to mind- but Bernardi's is one of the most enjoyable.

#2: "Beyond The Fringe", 1962:

"Beyond The Fringe" was a satirical revue featuring four very talented English university students: Peter Cook, Dudley Moore (may they rest in peace), Dr. Jonathan Miller (still living) and Alan Bennett (also still living). It was a big hit in England- John Cleese recalls it being the funniest show he ever saw, and a major inspiration to Monty Python several years later- and equally successful when it crossed the Atlantic and played on Broadway.
Unfortunately, I think this album fails to capture the magic of what was a very important show in its day. Highlights include Cook's classic monolog "Sitting On The Bench" about a coal miner who laments that he never became a judge, the closing "End Of The World" sketch, and Dr. Miller's "Portrait From Memory", a satire on philosopher Bertrand Russell. But much of the rest of it just comes across as dated and not especially funny now, at least to my ears- and in the case of Dudley Moore's piano solos, I'm sure they were much funnier when you could see the visuals. So while I love British comedy and I respect "Beyond The Fringe"'s place in its history- not to mention I think Peter Cook was one of the great comic geniuses- it just doesn't hold up on disc. Of course, the album only contains about 40 minutes of what I assume was about a two-hour show- it seems the editor just made some bad choices.

 #3: "The Bickersons", 1962:

"The Bickersons" was a radio sitcom that lasted for a few years in the late '40s, starring Don Ameche and Frances Langford as John and Blanche Bickerson. Long before the Bundys, the Ropers, even the Kramdens, the Bickersons were the original married couple who insulted each other and fought over.. just about anything. Writer Phil Rapp created it as an antidote to all the squeaky-clean happily-married couples one heard on the radio at the time- and while I like a bit of cynicism in my humor as much as anyone else, the Bickersons can get tiresome after a while. Ameche and Langford were very good actors and they work well together, and the gags and one-liners can be funny- they're not only cynical, but often vaudevillian, which I also like- but the constant yelling can get unpleasant and tedious. There are funny moments, but I'd say this is a pretty good album, not a great one.

Adventures In Recordland, post #9: The Bs, part 5

#1: Benny Bell- "Kosher Comedy"

Benny Bell is probably best-known today because of the Dr. Demento Show and the fact that the good doctor used to play "Shaving Cream" and a few other slightly risque songs Benny recorded. What people might not know is that Benny Bell spent many years recording in his first language, Yiddish. This album contains a dozen Yiddish comedy songs, originally issued on 78s in the '40s. Unfortunately, I don't speak the language, or at least not enough to really understand the lyrics, so I can't really comment on this record. I bought it because I'm Jewish and I've always enjoyed the colorful sounds of the Yiddish language. Benny's amusing delivery and the bouncy klezmer-style accompaniment make the songs sound fun, and I get the gist of what he's saying, but I'm sure a lot of the details of the humor are lost on me.

#2: Jack Benny & Fred Allen- "The Radio Fight Of The Century", 1974

For those who might not be familiar with two of the great radio comedians of all time- Jack Benny and Fred Allen were both vaudeville comedians who found their greatest success in radio (although Benny was also very popular on television later, a medium which Allen never quite found his niche in). Allen was known for his sardonic, often ad-libbed, wit, and for the "Allen's Alley" segment of his show (see blog #1 for more details on that). Benny was famous for many running gags throughout his long radio career, the most famous of which was his reputation as the world's biggest cheapskate. (All a gag, of course- Benny in real life was by all accounts an extremely kind and generous man). The two were great friends in real life, but they in 1937 they started to insult each other on their respective radio shows, knowing the other one was listening. The Benny-Allen "feud" became a running gag between them for 20 years. This two-album set collects a lot of highlights from the feud- guest appearances by Allen on Benny's show and vice versa, and various other appearances they made together.
Two hours' worth of this material is a bit much, but it's always great fun to hear them together, especially on Benny's shows where the writing was always first-rate- and even then, Allen's ad-libs are sometimes even funnier than the script!
I don't feel the need to go into great detail on this one. If you know about the Benny-Allen feud (and most of my friends reading this probably do), you love them both and have been listening to them for years like I have, and if you don't...well, you should start listening to those shows, because you're missing out.

That's about all for today. Tomorrow I have a six-record set coming up(!), so I'll have to split it over two days. See you soon.