Book-form Jack Benny Times 2000-2005

[Clyde]

Expecting the usual junk mail and bills in the mailbox today when I came home for lunch. What a great surprise to find my copy of The Jack Benny Times 2000 - 2005!!! Laura, I have to hand it to you. Your labor of love is appreciated by so many of us...thank you!! I just wish I didn't have to go back to the office for the afternoon. I don't think it would look too good if I sat at my desk all afternoon reading it, so I will have to wait until tonight.

[LLeff]

Thanks very much. Putting that together took longer that I expected with having to relay out everything (and discovering my various little Word cheats to make everything come out properly aligned), and much of the index was done in a 16-hour marathon session. I think it came out looking pretty good, but I'll let you be the judge of that! Enjoy...

[Mike]

I got mine today. Wow, it's fantastic! I'm sure I'm going to have many hours of enjoyment reading this book. What an incredibly good job you've done on this book! BTW Laura, have you thought of asking Larry Edmund's bookstore in Hollywood to stock a few copies? You know, it is THE showbiz bookstore in Hollywood. The front cover picture is so good I'm sure it would make a good attention-getter on one of their displays. Maybe stop by there on your next trip to L.A.? It's on the corner of Hwd Bl. and Cherokee, (but I suppose you know that). Great book!!!!! Mike

[LLeff]

I got mine today. Wow, it's fantastic! I'm sure I'm going to have many hours of enjoyment reading this book. What an incredibly good job you've done on this book! BTW Laura, have you thought of asking Larry Edmund's bookstore in Hollywood to stock a few copies? You know, it is THE showbiz bookstore in Hollywood. The front cover picture is so good I'm sure it would make a good attention-getter on one of their displays. Maybe stop by there on your next trip to L.A.? It's on the corner of Hwd Bl. and Cherokee, (but I suppose you know that). Great book!!!!! Mike

Hmmm...not a bad idea. I was even in that neighborhood a few times on this trip. I can always use an additional outlet for the books, although quite a lot of them (specifically the back issues) were sold before I even got them. It was funny having UPS carry up all the cases, only to grab them, tear them all open, and within a few hours repackage them into individual packages and drive them all to the post office.

Beats carrying inventory though. Thanks everyone for your enthusiasm!

[Mike]

It was a treat to read the interview with Frank Nelson. (I didn't have the newsletter). I have a little confession to make. I actually think Frank was funnier than Jack, (in his own sidekick/"second banana" sort of way, of course, and acknowledging that Jack gave him the good lines). It was interesting to read that the "Yes" gimmick sort of came about by chance. My jaw kind of dropped open when I read the insert that you were only 15 when you interviewd him. You ARE a brave girl/woman to have approached him at such a young age! If you don't mind me asking, where did the interview take place, and how did you go about approaching him for it? You know, I think Frank deserves his own star on the Walk of Fame. Maybe if we all kick in a few bucks we could get him one. (YEEEESSSSS, I know... the going rate for a new star is about $15,000)! Mike in L.A.

[LLeff]

My jaw kind of dropped open when I read the insert that you were only 15 when you interviewd him. You ARE a brave girl/woman to have approached him at such a young age! If you don't mind me asking, where did the interview take place, and how did you go about approaching him for it?

I did it over the phone from my kitchen (can't say where Frank was other than at home). I was recently trying to remember exactly how I got in touch with him. I'm sure I networked through someone, maybe Jay Hickerson or SPERDVAC. There's probably a letter or two buried in my IJBFC correspondence files about it.

Frank is one of the cases where I really wished that I "knew then what I know now", and I would have asked better, more in-depth questions. I didn't even know at the time that Veola Vonn was his wife or that she had been on the Benny show, and Frank (and perhaps even she) was gone by the time I learned that. You run across things in research and say, "Gosh, I wish I could have asked so-n-so that." Unfortunately, we've lost so many of them that there are many stories and details which have now been lost to the ages. At least it's easier than, say, studying ancient Egypt where there's simply no first-hand or second-hand accounts to talk with any more.

[Mike]

I know what you mean - so many things that I never got around to asking Gisele. :( !!!
You know, I have a feeling that Frank was probably very flattered that someone so young at the time was so interested in his career! Mike

[LLeff]

You know, I have a feeling that Frank was probably very flattered that someone so young at the time was so interested in his career! Mike

A funny thing that only hearing the tape can really convey...since I was so early in my interviewing career *and* I was going to broadcast the interview on a radio show I had at the time, I wanted to insure that I wasn't laughing or otherwise creating noise on the tape. So Frank would tell a wonderfully funny story and get this completely dead air from me--I knew that the story was funny and I was giving the audience a chance to laugh but not adding my own to it--and I think Frank may have thought that I didn't "get it" or just wasn't responding much to his stories. As anyone who listens to my spots on Yesterday USA knows, I'm a LOT more relaxed now and laugh freely whenever the spirit moves me to do so!

[mrdj]

I got mine yesterday. Thanks so much! A job well done! I read when I go to bed, and am usually good for about 10 minutes before my eyes get heavy. I started last night on yours and after an hour and a half I had to quit only because my arms got tired. Instead of football today it's going to be more Jack Benny Times. I again thank you for all your hard work.

[LLeff]

I got mine yesterday. Thanks so much! A job well done! I read when I go to bed, and am usually good for about 10 minutes before my eyes get heavy. I started last night on yours and after an hour and a half I had to quit only because my arms got tired. Instead of football today it's going to be more Jack Benny Times. I again thank you for all your hard work.

Thanks much. I was reading through your post and was thinking that I needed to ask if the book was boring, until I read that your arms got tired!

[Brad from Georgia]

We came back from visiting our daughter in Orlando, picked up our mail at the PO, and there was the lovely, lovely book. I'm spot-reading around in it, finding tons of things I'm enjoying to no end!

Thanks, Laura!