How are the spinoffs?

[haverpopper]

I like Phil and Dennis a lot; how are their spinoff shows compared to Jack's? Worth checking out? For that matter, how's Mel Blanc's show also?

[TheSportsmenQuartet]

I was never a fan of Dennis' show but Phil Harris' show? That's another story! The "Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show" was incredible! Funny and smart it is one of the great readio shows. Learning a lesson from Jack, Phil let Elliot Lewis (as Frankie Remley) and Walter Tetley (as Julius) get a lion shares of the laugh. I love this show and would recommend it to anyone who has yet to hear it. "The Mel Blanc show" was okay. It proved that Mel was much better as a second banana than star. A highlight of the show each week was a number by The Sportsmen A good show but nothing spectacular.

[Clyde]

I've never really cared too much for either the Dennis Day Show or the Mel Blanc show. Both were pleasant diversions, but the Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show...now that was an excellent series. The writing and the entire atmosphere of the show made for an excellent series. Many of the shows, now over fifty years old, are still quite funny. I like to listen to OTR when I take my walks, and I can almost guarantee that the Harris-Faye shows almost always make me laugh out loud. Not too long ago, I listened to a "Salute to You and Your Red Cross" (a fifteen minute version of a half-hour show) that featured Phil's ill-fated venture into the new medium of television with "The Torchy Tomato" compliments of his buddy, Frankie Remley. Frankie, played by Elliot Lewis, was well known to get Phil in trouble by saying something like, "....I know a guy...." and the trouble would start. There was one story-line that stretched over several weeks where Mr. Scott (Gale Gordon) of the Rexall Company (the sponsor at the time) fired that left-handed guitar player (Frankie)....who then moved in with the Harrises and made their lives miserable. And who can forget Walter Tetley as Julius, with a crush on Alice? Just a fun, fun show and I highly recommend the series!

[Huxley]

Doesn't Remly get re-hired by Rexall as a dishwasher? Fun series. Last week I listened to the episode were Remly signed Phil's renewal contract and attempted to take over his show, even re-styling "That's what I like about the south" into "That's what I like about the north". Even on Jack's show Remly was an occasional target by Jack when ribbing Harris wasn't enough.

Question: Can anyone actually tell that there's a guitar in Phil's band when they play? Guitar must have more of a role of playing rythym than anything else back then.

[Alan]

I agree, the Phil Harris show was, by far, the best of the 3, especially the hilarious Harris-Elliot Lewis segments. Though personally, i find the Julius character too corny and dated.

Wasn't "The Halls of Ivy" also a spin-off of sorts? I have only listened to a few eps, and not for a while, but i recall enjoying the segments featuring the starring Colmans ( but don't the shows also include some incongruous "variety" segments?).

[Maxwell]

Question: Can anyone actually tell that there's a guitar in Phil's band when they play? Guitar must have more of a role of playing rythym than anything else back then.

During that era the guitar was unamplified (acoustic), used strictly as part of a 4-piece rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass, drums). Occasionally a guitar player would solo, but it wasn't very common in a big band or orchestra.

[shimp scrampi]

I'm just getting into the Phil Harris - Alice Faye show, checking out a few episodes here and there. Definitely agree with the others here that it is exceptionally well-written and very funny. The mental block I'm sure I will eventually get over is that Phil's character is really...domesticated in comparison to his Benny show image. Basically the transformation of a lecherous drunk into a loving father is what gets me. But, hey, it happens in real life all the time!

[Huxley]

The best example of Phil's gusto on the Jack Benny show is during the war years when they were entertaining the troops. He'd always be the last of the regulars to appear every show and almost always interupt Jack. "Okay fellas, Phil's here! Let's get started!" And the troops would always roar back their approval. Yeah, Harris did change his role for his own show but that tends to happen. Harris became more of the straight man but he had Remly to fill his old role.

[LLeff]

Occasionally a guitar player would solo, but it wasn't very common in a big band or orchestra.

Unless it was a big name like Django Rinehart.

[shimp scrampi]

I've noticed that several of the Phil Harris - Alice Faye shows circulating actually have the entire 10-15 minutes of audience warmup and cast introductions before the show, listening to that is really interesting! 1. Any idea why this was recorded? And 2. Do any such materials exist for the Jack Benny Program? (I'm guessing not, sadly).

[Gerry O.]

I'm just getting into the Phil Harris - Alice Faye show, checking out a few episodes here and there. Definitely agree with the others here that it is exceptionally well-written and very funny. The mental block I'm sure I will eventually get over is that Phil's character is really...domesticated in comparison to his Benny show image. Basically the transformation of a lecherous drunk into a loving father is what gets me. But, hey, it happens in real life all the time!

True, Phil was more domesticated on his own program, but there were still traces of the "old" Phil there....It was more like Alice kept a tight leash on him. I liked it when Phil would tell Alice that he saw something wild and outlandish and Alice would say, "Phil, have you been..." and Phil would quickly interrupt with "NOT A DROP!"

Remember too that by the late 40's (when Phil's own show premiered), Phil's career had mellowed a bit on Jack's show too. He was still an illiterate loudmouth, but now instead of talking about his big dates and wild nights out, he would talk about Alice and his daughters: "Yeah Jackson, my kids love havin' me around....They think I'm a character!"

[shimp scrampi]

I should probably know this, but did Phil acknowledge his marriage to Alice on the Benny show before his own show premiered, or was his character still supposed to be a bachelor until the spinoff was developed?

And I agree there is still plenty of the "old" Phil in the spinoff show to enjoy. Great stuff.

[Gerry O.]

I should probably know this, but did Phil acknowledge his marriage to Alice on the Benny show before his own show premiered, or was his character still supposed to be a bachelor until the spinoff was developed?

And I agree there is still plenty of the "old" Phil in the spinoff show to enjoy. Great stuff.

No, when Phil married Alice Faye in real-life (around 1940 or so), that's when the "wild bachelor" gags stopped and Phil's character became a married man on Jack's show....but they DID keep up the "drinking" gags.

[shimp scrampi]

Interesting that Phil of all characters was allowed to "mature", at least a little unlike Dennis - or any acknowledging of Jack and Mary's marriage on the show. I've often wondered what effect there would have been on the show if, like George Burns and Gracie Allen, Jack and Mary decided to to play their roles as a real life couple. I can see it really working, or really NOT!

[Gerry O.]

Interesting that Phil of all characters was allowed to "mature", at least a little unlike Dennis - or any acknowledging of Jack and Mary's marriage on the show. I've often wondered what effect there would have been on the show if, like George Burns and Gracie Allen, Jack and Mary decided to to play their roles as a real life couple. I can see it really working, or really NOT!

Hmmm...Jack and Mary as an on-air married couple...interesting thought!

Something tells me that the dynamics of the whole Jack-Mary relationship would have had a different effect on the audience if they appeared as husband and wife. While the public loved Mary's smart-mouthed put-downs of Jack when she was just a fellow cast member (or even "semi-girlfriend"), there might be something sad and unfunny about hearing a wife talking to her husband like that. Even when Molly McGee put Fibber in his place, there was always a bit of good-natured humor about it....but we all know how MARY'S verbal jabs came across!