help with a joke in the Dorothy Kirsten episode

[mjacobs]

Jack, dressed as Charley's Aunt, is walking down the street, musing, "Gee, if I pass Georgie Jessel, I'm dead...but it'll be interetsing."

What does that mean?

[Gerry O.]

Jack, dressed as Charley's Aunt, is walking down the street, musing, "Gee, if I pass Georgie Jessel, I'm dead...but it'll be interetsing."

What does that mean?

Jessel had a reputation as a comedian with an eye for the ladies...and that's putting it mildly! He had been married several times, and his most recent marriages (at that time) had been to very young and sexy girls, so he had kind of a "dirty old man" reputation.

I read something very interesting about that whole Jessel situation. During the 1940's when Jessel was married to a VERY young girl, just about every radio comedian was making endless jokes about the marriage. Even fellow comedians who were personal friends of Jessel's were doing it....Jack, Eddie Cantor, George Burns, etc.

Just about the only major radio comedian who DIDN'T crack jokes about the marriage was Fred Allen. These jokes were upsetting and embrassing to Jessel's wife, and when Jessel ran into Allen, Jessel thanked Allen for not making jokes about Jessel's "May-December" marriage on his radio program. Fred purposely didn't make such jokes because he was being kind and respectful, but he didn't want to let on....instead, he snarled, "George, when I have to resort to making jokes about someone's marriage to get a laugh, then it's time for me to get out of the business!".

Allen was actually being a nice guy by not making those jokes, but he made it seem like the subject was beneath his professional level of comedy. That was Fred....even when he was being NICE he never wanted to let it show and ruin his "old sourpuss" reputation!

[scottp]

I tried to do a bit of research on this question on IMDB.com, and boy do I have a headache now!
According to that site, when George Jessel married Norma Talmadge in 1934, she was no spring chicken. But he married Lois Andrews in 1940, the year she turned 16. That marriage lasted until 1943. However, she has three other husbands listed, including composer M.K. Jerome... shown as "1940-43" also! But I'm not done... another wife of M.K. Jerome was Norma Talmadge ("1934-1934").
I've never heard of M.K. Jerome, but what kind of weird deal was going on there? Was he the guy who road-tested Jessel's wives or what?
I've found lots of inconsistencies on that site, composed as it is of volunteer "expert" submissions... The Norma Talmadge part is probably OK, but the two husbands for Lois Andrews shown for the same three year span is either wrong, or it's bigamy. (Yes, Groucho, it's big of ALL OF US... let's be big for a change.)

[LLeff]

Jessel had a reputation as a comedian with an eye for the ladies...and that's putting it mildly! He had been married several times, and his most recent marriages (at that time) had been to very young and sexy girls, so he had kind of a "dirty old man" reputation.

If you want an uncensored version of the Jessel story, Joey Adams tells a lot in "Here's To the Friars"...including Jessel's ongoing (and...ahem...free of charge) relationship with Xaviera Hollander.

[Roman]

It's amazing that Jessel didn't suffer a crippling blow to his career for his "indiscretions" while someone like Ingrid Bergman was practically run out of Hollywood because of hers, which were of a lesser magnitude. Perhaps it's because he was a man or maybe it's because his career never attained the heights that Bergman's did. It was a certainly an odd era back then when it came to Hollywood's standards of morality.

[Gerry O.]

It's amazing that Jessel didn't suffer a crippling blow to his career for his "indiscretions" while someone like Ingrid Bergman was practically run out of Hollywood because of hers, which were of a lesser magnitude. Perhaps it's because he was a man or maybe it's because his career never attained the heights that Bergman's did. It was a certainly an odd era back then when it came to Hollywood's standards of morality.

I think that a big factor of "Old Hollywood Morality" and the public's acceptance or rejection of a celebrity's off-screen behavior had to do with the star's public image.

In Ingrid Bergman's case, much of the public's outcry of shock and disgust had to do with the fact that Ingrid had played a nun in "The Bells of St. Mary's", as well as other wholesome "nice girl" roles. If someone like Mae West or Marlene Dietrich had done what Ingrid did, it probably wouldn't have raised so many eyebrows.

It was the same way with male stars....Errol Flynn could be caught in bed with underaged girls and the public would wink and say, "Oh, that's just Errol!"....but if Jimmy Stewart or a similar "innocent nice guy" had been caught in that situation, he would have been rejected and hated by the public.

In Jessel's case, his comedian buddies like Benny, Cantor and Burns may have actually been doing George a FAVOR by making jokes about Jessel's active sexual activities and his eye for extremely young ladies.....THAT way, the public saw Jessel's behavior as comical (sort of like Phil Harris and Dean Martin's drinking) and nobody was shocked or outraged when things REALLY happened.

[LLeff]

In Ingrid Bergman's case, much of the public's outcry of shock and disgust had to do with the fact that Ingrid had played a nun in "The Bells of St. Mary's", as well as other wholesome "nice girl" roles. If someone like Mae West or Marlene Dietrich had done what Ingrid did, it probably wouldn't have raised so many eyebrows.

Case in point...I've heard some interesting stories of the various and exotic "entanglements" of Joan Crawford and Clara Bow.