Jack Benny 341202 Rose of the Rio Grande

Through some record skips, Don and Jack joke around about going to the movies. Frank Parker, and Don Besser prove they can jump into the jokes, in a pinch. All that pinching turns into a running gag for the evening. Jack wants to get some new tallent for the show, and has Mary call an agent.   As is typical for these old programs, the music is snipped. After what would have been Don Besser's song, the cast talk about Boston. The new tallent arrives. A man who tells jokes and juggles plates. Jack gives commentary on the plate juggling. More tallent arrives. More pinching jokes.  After Frank Parker's song is snipped, and another from Don Besser, the drama begins. the Rose of the Rio Grande. The cast try out their Spanish accents. Jack is the protective dad. Mary is the daughter who wants to elope with a gringo, Frank Parker. Plenty of humorous butchered dialect. The hair joke shows up again. Don Besser doesn't do dialect, but still gets a laugh. At the big climactic end, Schlepperman makes an appearance, but it's Jello that saves the day.  Bonus Tracks: Leah Raye, 1933. Fit as a Fiddle. Trivia and Extras: Eddie Cantor is mentioned, but I don't have any of his radio shows from this early period. Yet. I may try to bring him into the lineup, eventually.  Don announces Jack as a self made man, which is true of course. Most folks in show biz are. I love the joke that Don turns on Jack when Don is asked whether he is also self made.  In an earlier episode, just a few weeks prior to this show, the gang did a spoof of the film, The Barret's of Wimpole Street. Mary keeps the running gag going as she imitates the character that Charles Laughton played in the movie. "Ya hear me?" The joking juggler tells a joke that had been a running gag on these early shows. One about hair. It's one of those things where the same set up can have various punch lines. Another method for word plays was to ask a definition of a word, and get a crazy one back.  Other famous joking jugglers of the early 20th century were Fred Allen, and WC Fields. On tonight's show, Fred isn't talked about, but WC Fields is.  The female voice actress who plays the extra tallent sent by Jake, and later the voice of the Spanish maid, is Mary Kelly. A former girlfriend of Jack, she frequently appeared on the show through the 1930's.  Schlepperman, along with other recurring characters were voiced by Joe Kern. In the 1940's and later, Artie Auerback would make similar appearances as Mr. Kitzel.