On Bloggers Beating a Dead Horse, Mel Blanc, Jack Benny and Everything In Between

This is going to be a ramble, not a rant, so stick with it. As usual, I did the NYT Puzzle, and have spent part of my day reading and commenting on the Rex Parker Blog. Now one of today's clues was, "Blanc who voiced Porky Pig". The answer, a three letter word was "Mel".

This of course got me thinking about Mel Blanc who was the voice of all the great Warner Bros. cartoon characters. But he was a very funny deadpan comedian, and a sometimes guest on "The Jack Benny Show".

Here's another link to a Mel Blanc clip about how he created all the voices which I think is worth viewing.

Now I posted that clip on the comments page, but shortly before I did, someone else posted a link to a very negative article about Billy Joel, causing the group to go off on this equally negative tangent (IMO because Rex had commented about the author, whom Rex seems to have a strong dislike for going back to a previous article the man had written). I mean a tangent! It seemed that every third or fourth post referenced what a jerk the guy is, and really got boring.

There were so many fun things in this puzzle that would make great fodder for commenting. So I finally said something, and now await the negativity aimed at me.

Anyway, Mel Blanc got me remembering how much I enjoyed listening to or watching Jack Benny. His show was a favorite of mine growing up, featuring many other great cast members. Here's a brief list:

• Phil Harris
• Don Wilson
• Mary Livingston (Jack's wife)
• Dennis Day
• Eddie (Rochester) Anderson

I left Eddie Anderson for last because he was really ahead of his time. An African-American, in the days when very few were major players, Eddie was. In a way, the TV show Benson was derived from Eddie's character on the Benny show. Benson never took any guff from his employer either. Here is some Rochester at his best (I can still hear Jack saying Oh Rahchester).

Those were the days.

allan

jai guru deva