Gladys has a new job?

[epeterd]

Hello. Last night I listened to the 29Feb48 show and I was wondering. When did Gladys become a plumber? Any other time I've heard her job mentioned, she was a waitress. Any ideas?

Peter

[Yhtapmys]

Hello. Last night I listened to the 29Feb48 show and I was wondering. When did Gladys become a plumber? Any other time I've heard her job mentioned, she was a waitress. Any ideas?

Peter

Yeah. Humour meant more than continuity.

Babe Livingstone had any number of occupations. They were all designed to get laughs, not construct an official life story of a character.

Yhtapmys
"Drive Your Blues Away!"

[Gerry O.]

You're looking for continuity? What about all of the different jobs that FRANK NELSON had on the show?

[DerekVOF]

Or for that matter, how about Rochester. In the late 30's/early 40's his background was a train porter that Jack found coming back from New York ("He he! Albuquerque! What'll you think of next?!"). By the mid to late 40's when Jack was recounting how he found Rochester, the story was as a taxi driver working for Amos & Andy...

[epeterd]

I don't think he was actually supposed to be the same character when he was the porter. It's just that they liked him as an actor so they created the role of Rochester for him. Or like Harry Morgan who played a general in MASH before becoming Colonel Potter later on.

Peter

[Roman]

I remember a couple of episodes from the late 1930s when Jack mentioned that Rochester had been a train porter when he met him (usually as a prelude to having Rochester do that Albuquerque bit again). So I'm not sure that epeterd is right. Of course, Jack himself was supposed to have held any number of jobs from boxer, wilderness scout, laundry service owner, parking valet and three man vaudeville act with George Burns and [insert that week's guest].

[LLeff]

And no one ever seems to remember that Eddie Anderson played a "French" waiter in a Buck Benny skit ("Confidentially...uh uh!") and a "finder" of Jack's watch before becoming the Rochester we know and love.

[DerekVOF]

Laura's right (of course) about "Rochester's" earlier roles. And actually, I can point right to an instance in the early 40's where he was mentioned as a porter -- Jack's 10 Year Anniversary on the radio. They did that musical tribute to Jack and I'm 99% sure they mentioned that Jack found Rochester on the train coming back from New York.

[epeterd]

Well, I'm not overly familiar with the older shows so I guess I've never managed to hear a show where Jack mentioned finding Rochester on the train. I've heard the episode where he tells the story of Roch being a cabbie. And of course that ends with Mary's famous "grass reek" line. I'm just more used to Babe being mentioned as having all the jobs you wouldn't expect a woman to have. At any rate, I stand corrected.