My Grand Conspiracy Theory (And Laura is in on it!!) ;)

[bboswell]

(This is all tongue-in-cheek, but I couldn't find a smiley with his tongue in his cheek! I guess a will have to do)

Here is my theory...

Jack hated ad libs because he didn't have control, but he loved the resultant laughs from the audience, so... He intentionally wrote in certain fluffs, especially for Mary, and made them sound like they were accidental.

Case in point: Grass Reak...

My "Proof": No one has been able to tell me what the punch line of the gag was originally supposed to be:

"How could you hit Rochester's car when it was up on the grease rack?"

The government is also in on it: the tobaccodocuments.org website is conveniently missing that volume of scripts! (That also could fit into another conspiracy theory I'm working on about government coverup of Tweety Bird selling cigarettes to small children, since, I believe, that episode is also in that same volume.)

[shimp scrampi]

Actually you're not totally off the mark! Laura's got a bunch of instances in the 39 Forever volumes (and I'm sure some postings or chat transcripts around here) where apparent "bloopers" or ad-libs actually were in the script. Apparently this happened at each stage of the process, whether the fluff or ad-lib happened during the writing, the rehearsal, or during an east coast broadcast that was kept for the west coast performance.

If it got a laugh, why not? It's impressive nonetheless that the faux-fluffs still manage, usually, to sound spontaneous.

[krledu]

But if you read the biographies and listen to interviews of the writers and even interviews of Jack, he saws they could never plan a fluff. When they did it never got a laugh or as big as a laugh as it did when it was unintentional. The writers said that even when they tried to duplicate it, it just never went over. As far as the grass reak fluff, Mary says and then says it again, as if she wasn't aware of what she had fluffed. But, I guess you just never know.

[shimp scrampi]

Good point. I think the late additions to the script were generally more improv punch-lines or other off-the-cuff improvements and riffing, rather than true fluffed lines like "Drear Pooson" or "Chiss Sweeze". Definitely almost impossible to pull that off with a plan.

[Mister Kitzel]

In an interview with Phil Harris that was included among the MP3's that I have Phil said that it is impossible to fake a flubbed line and continued to stress that point.

[krledu]

Sorry, I didn't mean to start a hole punching campaign in your conspiracy theory. Though I loved listening to the fluffs just as much as I did the polished material. They gave spontaneous (sp?) humor to the show that was sometimes even funnier. Things like Grass Reak and Chiss Whiz turned up in scripts weeks later. Though one thing I found interesting about the Chiss Whiz fluff was that Jack admited later that after the fluff, the whole script was thrown away and the rest of the program was ad-libbed. He hated ad-lib but knew when to play it out.

[bboswell]

It's interesting, since Jack and the writers would generally refer to the fluffs in future scripts, they would almost be forced to "re fluff" for the west coast, since it wouldn't make sense to them listening the following week(s).

But, what if the east coast show went down fine, and then a fluff happened on the west coast broadcast? I guess you would have to do what they did in the week following "Grass Reak," Gather the cast in an on-air meeting and have a perturbed Jack play the transcription record as part of the show to let both coasts hear the fluff.

The thing that bugs me is... everytime we hear Jack say something like: "Goodnight folks, we're a little late." That means there is a Jack Benny joke (generally called a "gag tag,") that didn't make it to the air due to time constraints.

We have been cheated!! Jack Benny fans UNITE!! Oops, there I go. I get a little emotional sometimes!!

It's just the Grass Reak joke that really gets me, because we get half of it, but not the rest!!! A taste of honey, if you will.

Do I hear strains of Charles Ives' "The Unanswered Question?"

OK, I'll stop pontificating now!

It is nice, however, that Jack is quick to go off script to praise someone who is perhaps uncomfortable. For instance, we can all remember Jack telling newcomers: "You read that beautifully!"

[LLeff]

It's interesting, since Jack and the writers would generally refer to the fluffs in future scripts, they would almost be forced to "re fluff" for the west coast, since it wouldn't make sense to them listening the following week(s).

Actually, when I was researching 39 Forever, I found that the first of the really famous flubs (can't remember right off, but I think it was chiss sweeze) happened within a short time of them starting to transcribe the shows for the West Coast. So no refluff needed.

There are stories about Jeanette or Joan fluffing a line when they were standing in for Mary and her having to recreate the blunder when she separately recorded her lines. But again in the 39 Forever research, I found so few shows where Mary was dubbed in, and I don't remember any specific fluffs from her in them. Not to say they're not there, but nothing stands out in my memory.

[Yhtapmys]

The thing that bugs me is... everytime we hear Jack say something like: "Goodnight folks, we're a little late." That means there is a Jack Benny joke (generally called a "gag tag,") that didn't make it to the air due to time constraints.

We have been cheated!! Jack Benny fans UNITE!!

Oops, there I go. I get a little emotional sometimes!!

Jack should have done what Fred Allen did. Fred explained the audience missed the music bridge at the half-hour mark because the show was faded out for a local ID. So, he had Peter Van Steeden play the 2 1/2 bars everyone missed.

Alas, Jack didn't think of it. So maybe Laura can dig out the old scripts, glue the odds and ends together to create one, new Benny script that could be reenacted.

Hmm. On second thought...

Yhtapmys
"Drive Your Blues Away"

P.S.: The "grease rack" line is the punch line. We get the whole joke.