Jack Benny and me

I have inadvertently written a "series" of blogs of late on my love affair with radio.

So, I thought I'd conclude it by telling you about my all-time favorite series -- radio, TV, or otherwise -- and my favorite comedian.

I speak, of course, of Jack Benny. If you are too young to know about Mr. Benny (I probably should be, but that's a different story), let me tell you this: in his day, he was bigger than the biggest celebrity you can name today. And more talented. And funnier. And smarter.

Jack was a master at comedic timing. I've never seen a performer milk a laugh simply by standing there. As George Burns once said, "Jack would stand there until you started laughing. If you didn't start laughing, the show was over."

He was a true genius, one-of-a-kind, the man who practically invented the situation comedy as we know it.

All the greats loved him -- Burns, Carson, Cavett, Hope, Newhart -- need I go on? His incredible career began in vaudeville and his popular radio (and later TV) series ran from the early 1930s well into the 1960s. He kept working right up until the last few weeks of his life. Trends came and went, but Jack's brand of comedy never got old. He proved that you don't have to pull down your pants -- either literally or figuratively -- to get a laugh.

In a fantastic blog post, TV comedy writer Ken Levine talks about Jack's ability to even get laughs out of his greatest professional disaster, a stinker of a picture called "The Horn Blows At Midnight." Again, he milked it for almost 30 years.

Another great thing about Jack Benny is he didn't care who got the laughs. He was nothing like his vain, miserly alter ego. Once, he opened a season of his radio show by having his cast do the ENTIRE episode by themselves. He only showed up at the end for ONE LINE.

Name a so-called "star" who would do that today...

As I told you before, I listen to Benny's radio shows at night when I can't sleep. Catch a few of them here, but skip forward to the episodes beginning in the mid-1940s, when the show really hit its stride.

To hear Mel Blanc tell it, Jack also had a heart of gold. That may be the best part of it all.

Take a listen sometime, or do a "Jack Benny" search on YouTube.

Just for fun, here is a clip of Benny's "mystery guest" appearance on the popular CBS game show "What's My Line?"

As the cartoon character The Brain would say, "Now THAT'S entertainment, Pinky!"

'Harbor Lights' on Saturday night

Survived a stop at the ER yesterday afternoon.

Whew. Surprising diagnosis, but everything is going to be fine.

Meanwhile, I am taking it easy. Also, remember my wifey, if you will. She is in some serious pain and is worried she may have to have surgery.

Tonight, I caught an old episode of "The Bing Crosby (radio) Show" on Sirius/XM. From 1950. Guest star Dick Powell. Bing was crooning "Harbor Lights."

Guaranteed to cure what ails ya!

Ba boo, ba boo, ba boo boo boo boo...

Tuning the dial to the mists of time...

I love old-time radio.

I know what you're thinking. "Here Mabe goes again. He's standing at the corner of Nostalgia and Anachronism."

I don't care. I love it.

(I still prefer listening to the news on the radio than on television, such as I can get it. CBS Radio News. NPR. BBC World Service.)

I like to listen at night, just before bedtime. It is relaxing. It is fun.

Sirius/XM has a great OTR channel, but I still like to listen to the shows a la carte. My favorite website is www.otr.net. My favorite show is Jack Benny's. He invented the modern sitcom as we know it. I've gotten to laughing at these things so much I can't get to sleep. That was entertainment, baby.

I also love "Gunsmoke." Entertaining. Inventive, especially with its sound effects. Trivia: Marshal Dillon was played by William Conrad. Chester was played by Parley Baer. Doc was played by Howard McNear. (The last two were part of "The Andy Griffith Show" cast.)

Radio shows aren't as passive as TV. You have to use your imagination. My pictures are still better than those on the boob tube, even on "Gunsmoke."

Plus, it's a lot of fun.

Left in the dark...

I had it all planned.

Sunday afternoon was going to be my time. I was skipping the UT baseball finale (good move as it turned out), had already gone to eat with Mom and given her a present (Happy Mother's Day!) and now had the day to myself.

I threw some laundry into the washer (sigh), put Jon Schwartz's "Sunday Show" on XM and leaned back in my recliner. Now, this is more like it!

Then I heard the clap of thunder. Tony Bennett stopped singing on the XM. The power was out.

But, wait. No clouds. Huh?

A few minutes later I heard the utility trucks. Seems the high winds had knocked down a power line. After awhile, KUB blocked off a section of Brown Gap Road while they worked.

This isn't so bad, I thought. I opened all the blinds, grabbed the issues of Sports Illustrated and Newsweek I'd neglected all week and polished them off. Somewhere in the midst of stories about Obama's pastor and the upstart Arizona Diamondbacks, I drifted off to slumber.

Woke up about 4. Still no power.

I met some friends for supper at Puleo's, hoping things would be fixed in a couple of hours.

Nope. Still black as the night. So much for watching that Sinatra special on TCM.

Instead, I grabbed the iPod and tried to listen to Charles Frazier read "Cold Mountain," a book I'd read a decade ago. But that got boring, so I managed to find a candle, then sat back in the chair, picked back up the iPod and tuned to some old time radio shows I'd downloaded a year ago.

Suddenly I was solving a mystery with Ellery Queen. After that, Marshal Matt Dillon and I helped Doc Holiday get out of a jam on "Gunsmoke." It was silly, but it was fun, and I couldn't help but wonder how many kids developed their imaginations doing this exact same thing on rainy Sunday nights of yesteryear.

Between acts, the announcer told us to "stay tuned to CBS Radio for the upcoming Democratic National Convention." I couldn't help but feel nostalgic for something I'd never known.

After "Gunsmoke" ended, I listened awhile to Miles Davis and his quintet work magic on "Flamenco Sketches." Then I gave up and went to bed.

Loud jazz music woke me up about 1 a.m.; the TV receiver was still resting in the "on" position. I shut it off and went back to sleep, glad in a way that I'd been left in the dark.

Live365

I am an unashamed nostalgic.

People tell me all the time that I was born in the wrong era. And, as much as I like TiVO and modern medicine, I suspect they're probably right.

Course, that might also mean the multiple kidney stones I've had would have killed me back then. Minor details, friends, minor details.

There wasn't too much on the tube last night after I got home from work. So I went surfing on the Web and came across this great site, live365.com. It boasts all kinds of radio stations, most of them free, all loaded with different programming.

I was delighted to discover that several stations are devoted to classic old-time radio. Even better, the shows, at least on the station I tuned into last night, appear to have been digitally remastered.

What's fun about this site as opposed to an on-demand OTR site is you're at the mercy of the disc jockey rather than you're own inclinations. So I dialed in a "catch all" station and eased back in the recliner for a few minutes before bedtime.

Jack Benny came on first, followed by "Duffy's Tavern" and "George Burns and Gracie Allen." "The Life of Reilly" popped up as I was heading to bed.

Later, I had trouble sleeping, so I went to the couch and caught another Jack Benny before finally drifting off to sleep.

Most of these shows are a bit silly. The plots, shall we say, aren't exactly the most witty. But, it's fun and you get a kick out of the special effects and anachronisms like cigarette commercials.

The site isn't relegated to old-time radio, though. Live365 have channels filled with any kind of music you could want. I'll definitely be surfing back again on nights before baseball, or when I happen to be home and our wonderful slate of broadcast and TV channels don't offer anything -- which seems to happen with more and more regularity.

I swear there was more good stuff on back when we only got three or four stations...

Info: www.live365.com