Seeing Eddie Carroll Live

[Mister Kitzel]

On April 19 I will be seeing Eddie Carroll's Laughter In Bloom in Newberry, South Carolina.

What can I expect?

Will anyone else from this message board be attending?

[Brad from Georgia]

Hoo-hoo-hoo!

Expect a fun evening with "Jack" strolling onstage, sitting in his living room, talking about his career, cracking jokes, and being warm and wonderful. Eddie does a terrific show. He'll probably have a prop violin on hand--of course, he can't really play it, but it's nice.

And he'll recreate a few minutes of a radio broadcast. Pay attention to the microphone--a friend of mine made it for Eddie!

Have a great time!

[Brad from Georgia]

Doggone it, I wish I could be there, but on April 20 I'm speaking at a book festival in Bowling Green, KY, and the nineteenth is our travel day to get up there. Looking at Eddie's show schedule, however, I think we may just possibly be able to catch him in Jacksonville, FL. early in May!

[Mister Kitzel]

Tonight's the night! I hope to post a short review tomorrow!

[Brad from Georgia]

Looking forward to the review! As it happens, I did not make the Bowling Green symposium--the son of one of my old and dear friends was the young German teacher killed in the shooting in West Virginia, and I canceled my trip so I could attend the funeral. Sad, sad.

But Eddie always brings a smile to my face. And my wife and I have bought tickets to his first show in Jacksonville at the end of next month.

[Mister Kitzel]

OK, I am a little late in posting this, but here are my impressions of seeing Eddie Carroll perform his show, Laughter In Bloom.

About a month ago I saw Don McArt performing Good Night, Gracie at the Newberry Opera House on a rainy night. Since I was unable to walk up and down the street that night I chose to get there a little bit earlier this time around. So, after the car was parked I took a walk up and down the street. As I headed away from the theater I saw Eddie Carroll and his wife walking toward me, so what else could I do but give him my best Mister Kitzel imitation with a "Hello, Meester Benny!" and kept walking. Mr. Carroll replied with a quick, "Now cut that out!" After walking up and down the street I found a place to have a nice dinner.

At the theater the audience was predictably older with no more than 10 people being in their 40's or younger. The stage was decorated according to the requirements of Mr. Carroll's technical rider. Whoever made arrangements for stage decorations did not really understand what an "old time" radio is because the radio that was on stage had a cassette player on the front of it. That radio appeared to be about 20 years old. The "old fashioned looking" microphone appeared to be a Shure SM-55 (see Good Morning, Viet Nam for an example), a microphone that would not have been used in the days of OTR even though it has an old look. Shockingly, the furniture was the same type that I grew up with in the 60's. It is now considered antique to some people. Yikes!

As the lights were dimming music played. Beginning with Love In Bloom and continuing with other radio and early television themes the music continued as the last of the crowd found their seats. A short video presentation began with clips from the Jack Benny television show and then... Jack Benny appeared on stage.

Not knowing what to expect, I still had ideas of what the show would be like. Instead, the show caught me off guard. Jack Benny was speaking to the audience from the present, as if he never went away. He was there with us. The jokes were a cross between the Jack Benny of radio and TV and what I assume would have been his Las Vegas era. Some of the jokes would never have made it on television during his lifetime, but there was no profanity. During one portion of the show a radio program was recreated. That was the part where I already knew the routine because I have listened to the shows so many times, but I can listen to that humor over and over. Even though Laughter In Bloom covers Jack's life it did not end with his death. Instead, Jack Benny was still with the audience right through the end. No sad ending depressed the audience. Jack never went away. It was an upbeat show.

Having read three of four Jack Benny biographies of which I am aware, I did notice some factual discrepancies which could be argued, but it is also understandable when thinking about the flow of the show. For instance, discussion of Jack's movie career was kept together. The timeline of events jumped past a few years, but that made the story less confusing for those people not so well studied in Jack Benny history. The artistic license is acceptable.

Before ending the show and leaving the stage, Jack (or Eddie) announced that he would be in the lobby to talk with anyone who wanted to stay. Because of the respectable size of the line of people waiting to speak with Mr. Carroll, I walked to the ticket booth and bought a front row seat to see Barbara Eden in Love Letters. When I returned to the area where Mr. Carroll was speaking with people I listened to the conversation and he eventually addressed me, complimenting my Kitzel imitation from earlier in the evening. Others were more talkative than I was, and as I heard what was spoken betweem them and Mr. Carroll I could tell that the older people in attendance were moved by old memories of Jack Benny. It was also made absolutely clear that Mr. Carroll's enthusiasm for preserving the history of Jack Benny and his respect for the audience was undeniable. He did tell people about the Jack Benny Fan Club and this forum, too.

[Alan]

MisterKitzel:Thank you for the very detailed description of the show...and i enjoyed hearing about the nice compliment you got on the in-character exchange.

About the age demographics of the audience: reminded me that a DVD collection, if and when?, will probably make a big contribution to bringing on new fans.

Also very neat to hear that he mentions this site!

[Brad from Georgia]

Nice review, Mr. Kitzel! Next month my wife and I will see the show again down in Jacksonville. I'm looking forward to it!

When Eddie did his show in my home town, I was the "producer" (more like Gene Wilder than Matthew Broderick!) and my wife picked out the furnishings for the "set." You can bet they had an old-fashioned look! The radio we used actually belongs to my Mom--doesn't work, but it's a cathedral radio from the 1930s and its cabinet is pristine. It looked wonderful up on the stage!

[Brad from Georgia]

We saw Laughter in Bloom in Jacksonville last Friday night, then had lunch with Eddie and Carolyn on Saturday (in honor of Cinco de Mayo, at a Mexican restaurant).

It was a vey good show as usual, though Eddie told us his energy was down because they'd had such an exhausting day--they flew in from CA, having gotten up at four a.m., then had a slew of publicity to do--TV interview for which they had to get up at 5:00, radio interviews, and then a three-hour tech rehearsal BEFORE the show! However, the magic was there, and Eddie, always the trouper, delighted the audience.

One older gentleman was very talkative--and very enthusiastic--during the short intermission. Barbara and I heard him say, "This fellow must be a genius, to stand up on stage and ad-lib like that!" He also remembered Benny from radio--but said he didn't know that Jack had ever done TV! And he was absolutely delighted with the recreation of the radio program. We were seated front row center, by the way--a closer seat than when I produced the show for our college!

At lunch, Mr. Kitzel, Eddie told us with obvious delight of your Kitzel impression in SC. He really got a kick out of that! And see his article in the Jack Benny Times for another recent experience that warmed his heart.

As to the set, the radio was pretty good, the mic was good (looked like a Heil, which is a close imitation of a 1940 RCA ribbon mic), the furniture sort of nondescript. This time, by the way, I was struck by how the spotlight picked up Eddie's blue eyes--a very nice touch in a Benny performance.