I wish this continuity had been published a few years ago while I was still teaching the history of broadcasting. It would have been fun to assign my students to read and compare this to “The Jack Benny Program.”
I’m not a betting man, but the joke involves this guy giving all of his advice in horse race terminology— “scratch” is used here in that vein. I think it’s a clever and enjoyable sequence, and I’d like to see the routine from Jack Benny’s show to which it pays homage (judging from some of your comments). As for the complainers, they will be with us always, but I can’t relate. I come here because I enjoy the strip often enough to make it worth my while. If I hated it, I’d stay away. To do otherwise would be like someone going to the race track, and complaining that all the horses ever do is run in a circle, but then returning each day to annoy the enthusiasts with the same whine.
If the disk is not seated squarely and rotated with no wobble, it will hit things. Auto-load always makes me say a little prayer! I am waiting for them to rotate the beam and leave the disk still — nothimg moves but the light, and the mirrors that redirect it. To make it compact might require a precision fresnel mirror.
OK— from wikipedia: In radio, [Sheldon Leonard] played an eccentric racetrack tout on The Jack Benny Program in the late 1940s and early ’50s. His role was to salute Benny out of the blue in railroad stations, on street corners, or in department stores (“Hey Bud, come here a minute”), ask Benny what he was about to do, and then proceed to try to argue him out of his course of action by resorting to inane and irrelevant racing logic. Ironically, as “The Tout,” he never gave out information on horse racing, unless Jack demanded it. One excuse the tout gave was “Who knows about horses?”
I was privileged to see Jack Benny in one of his final performances in Las Vegas. He was just as funny as ever. I also knew a lady who had been one of his neighbors in Beverly Hills. She told me about how he used to overtip to try to dispel the image he had portrayed as a cheapskate. I also watch reruns of his tv series on JLTV. Only a few episodes that are being replayed. I wish more were available.
DaJellyBelly almost 12 years ago
Groans!
Hillbillyman almost 12 years ago
Does this shady character work at the store?
axe-grinder almost 12 years ago
I believe this man is a local disc jockey.
More or Less Premium Member almost 12 years ago
oh, c’mon. isn’t it about time to put this strip out of its misery?
Blindfolded Wildcat almost 12 years ago
I wish this continuity had been published a few years ago while I was still teaching the history of broadcasting. It would have been fun to assign my students to read and compare this to “The Jack Benny Program.”
boldyuma almost 12 years ago
I had a cheap Toshiba player that,(right before I tossed it in the
trash),actually “threw” up a spinning disk as the door opened.
axe-grinder almost 12 years ago
I’m not a betting man, but the joke involves this guy giving all of his advice in horse race terminology— “scratch” is used here in that vein. I think it’s a clever and enjoyable sequence, and I’d like to see the routine from Jack Benny’s show to which it pays homage (judging from some of your comments). As for the complainers, they will be with us always, but I can’t relate. I come here because I enjoy the strip often enough to make it worth my while. If I hated it, I’d stay away. To do otherwise would be like someone going to the race track, and complaining that all the horses ever do is run in a circle, but then returning each day to annoy the enthusiasts with the same whine.
DavidGBA almost 12 years ago
If the disk is not seated squarely and rotated with no wobble, it will hit things. Auto-load always makes me say a little prayer! I am waiting for them to rotate the beam and leave the disk still — nothimg moves but the light, and the mirrors that redirect it. To make it compact might require a precision fresnel mirror.
axe-grinder almost 12 years ago
OK— from wikipedia: In radio, [Sheldon Leonard] played an eccentric racetrack tout on The Jack Benny Program in the late 1940s and early ’50s. His role was to salute Benny out of the blue in railroad stations, on street corners, or in department stores (“Hey Bud, come here a minute”), ask Benny what he was about to do, and then proceed to try to argue him out of his course of action by resorting to inane and irrelevant racing logic. Ironically, as “The Tout,” he never gave out information on horse racing, unless Jack demanded it. One excuse the tout gave was “Who knows about horses?”
boldyuma almost 12 years ago
On e good thing about this arc..It sends some of us
scurrying to the www.imdb.com site to search for
Jack Benny and all those wonderful performers he
worked with over the years in radio and TV..
Stevero almost 12 years ago
I was privileged to see Jack Benny in one of his final performances in Las Vegas. He was just as funny as ever. I also knew a lady who had been one of his neighbors in Beverly Hills. She told me about how he used to overtip to try to dispel the image he had portrayed as a cheapskate. I also watch reruns of his tv series on JLTV. Only a few episodes that are being replayed. I wish more were available.