Graeme Cree Episode Notes

37.    06/07/36        BENNYMOUNT FILMS WITH ROBIN & RAINGER (Incomplete)         (15:01) 

ORCHESTRA OPENING:  The opening of the show is cut, and picks up immediately after the orchestra has played "I Don't Want to Make History" from "Palm Springs". 

In last week's (lost) episode, Jack and Johnny had a fight of some kind, and Jack ended up splitting with Paramount in a dispute over the size of his role in "The Big Broadcast of 1937". Don says they've got nothing prepared for tonight, but Johnny notices that Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger, the authors of "Love in Bloom" are in the audience, and calls them onstage. Jack tells them about songs that Johnny and Don have written. Since Robin and Rainger also wrote "I Don't Want to Make History", Jack plays it for them on his violin, but they fail to recognize it from his rendition. Robin and Rainger smash Jack's violin and leave in a huff. Paramount calls, begging Jack to come back. Wait no, it's just Jack's cook asking what he wanted for dinner. (Well, it SHOULD have been Paramount begging). Kenny sings "You Started Me Dreaming". Kenny has already started shooting a picture of his own now that they're back in California. Speaking of that, Paramount still hasn't called. Jack decides to form his own film company, Bennymount Studios. The orchestra plays "I've Got A Heavy Date", by Johnny Green (cut), while Jack constructs the Bennymount Films studios. Transition to a Sitcom scene at Bennymount. 

SITUATION COMEDY: Jack is in his office at Bennymount Studios, putting movies on the drawing board with a fervor similar to his part in the "Open Up That Goldwyn Gate" sketch from 11-3-1935. Jack plans movies, all the while asking if Paramount has called yet. Jack listens to script pitches, and buys one sight unseen for $10. He plans to film it, since Paramount still hasn't called. Jack hires an Irish tenor and negotiates with a director (Pat C. Flick) to help make his new picture, but is unable to close the deal. The episode cuts out. 

DON'S INTRO: Unknown (cut). 

PLAY: None. 

SPECIAL GUEST STARS: Leo Robin, Ralph Rainger 

RECURRING GUEST ROLES: Mel Blanc, Pat C. Flick 

MINOR ROLES: Harry Baldwin 

NOTHING PLANNED FOR TONIGHT: Jack says that they have nothing planned for tonight. It sounds like a throwaway line, as they immediately go into a routine with Robin and Rainger. However, the nearest I can tell, this is the first episode made after Jack's split with his first writer, Harry W. Conn, who left them in the lurch without a script. So they REALLY had nothing planned, at least not until the last minute. A lot has been said about the split between Jack and Conn. I can't add much to that, except to say that the scene between Jack, Robin and Rainger, is quite probably the funniest scene Jack had ever done on radio up to that time. I made an .mp3 of the sequence, listened to it a couple of dozen times over the space of a month, and, between the repartee, and Jack's wonderfully bad rendition of "I Don't Want to Make History", I laughed out loud at it every time. 

NOTE: "Love in Bloom" is from the movie "She Loves Me Not", released in 1934, and starring Bing Crosby and Kitty Carlisle. Apparently it has no relation to the movie "Love in Bloom", released in 1935 and starring George Burns and Gracie Allen. A Bing Crosby recording of the song was a hit in 1934. The notes to 2/9/36 explain how it became Jack's signature piece. In their writing partnership, Rainger did the music and Robin the lyrics. Leo Robin died in 1984 at the age of 1984, but Rainger was killed in a plane crash in 1942. Their biggest hit was "Thanks For the Memory", which later became Bob Hope's signature song. 

JOKE: 

Jack: "So you're Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger, the writers of Love in Bloom!" 

Robin: Yep, that's us." 

Rainger: Yep, that's us." 

Jack: "Well, I'm sure glad to meet you." 

Robin: "Thanks, Mr. Benny." 

Rainger: "Thanks, Mr. Benny." 

Jack: "Well, one thing you have to admit, boys, I certainly put your song over." 

Rainger: "Yeah." 

Robin: "Yeah." 

Mary: "The echo spoke first that time." 

JOKE: 

Jack: "Well, I want to tell you something, fellas. That's one of the greatest numbers ever written! Ah, what a song! Can it be the trees that fill the breeze, with rare and magic perfume. You know, I've been playing that number for the last two years. Did you fellas make any money on it?" 

Rainger: "Not in the last two years." 

JOKE: 


Mary: "Yeah, with separate checks." 

JOKE: (Jack tunes up his violin) 

Jack: "Some tone, hasn't it, boys?" 

Rainger: "Yeah, yeah. Is that a Stradivarius?" 

Jack: "If it ain't, I'm out ten bucks." 

Robin: "Why Jack, you can't buy a Stradivarius for ten dollars." 

Jack: "Well, this is a demonstrator." 

JOKE: (Jack plays "I Don't Want to Make History") 

Jack: "Well, how did you like it boys?" 

Rainger: "That's a catchy tune. What is it?" 

Jack: "Why that's your song!" 

Robin: "It is?? Give me that fiddle." 

Jack: "Here." 

(Smashing sound) 

Jack: "Awww, fellas!" 

Robin: "Goodbye, Mr. Benny." 

Rainger: "Let that be a lesson to you." 

(door slam) 

Jack: "Hmmm. I don't NEED lessons!" 

NOTE: Mary takes a call from Jack's unnamed female cook, who's never been mentioned before, and never will be again. 

JOKE: 

Jack: "Did Paramount call yet?"

Mary: "No." 

Jack: "Well, one thing about me, I don't worry." 

Mary: "You don't? Then why are you so grey?" 

Jack: "Well, battleships are grey, they don't worry, do they? (in Jewish mother voice) Believe me, you find a battleship that worries..." 

JOKE: (At Bennymount) 

Jack: "Have you written anything before?" 

Writer: "Yes, The Story of My Life and How I Was Killed." 

Jack: "How you were killed??"

Mary: "He must be a ghostwriter." 

NOTE: This marks Mel Blanc's first appearance on the show. However, his lines all seem to be in the part of the show that's missing. 

NOTE: The UCLA Collections notes that the skit is " Bennymount Pictures", and that point of origin is NBC Studios, Hollywood. It also states that "these Hollywood shows were recorded off the air (KFI) at 7:30-8:00 pm. This is explained by the fact that the Benny programs, like many other radio shows of the period, were actually done twice: once for convenient listening in the eastern part of the country, then repeated for Western listeners 2 or 3 hours later." The Collection also notes that the orchestra’s 2nd number and the close of program were both not recorded. The recording is incomplete: the 1st of 4 sides is missing. The recordings are 12" 33-1/3 acetate transcriptions dubbed from 78’s. (BC)