1950-01-08 - Season 21, Episode 18 - "Murder At Rominoffs" MP3, VTT PDF (Tobacco Documents), 39F Pg 297 First Line: Ladies and gentlemen, 1949 is gone and forgotten, but to Jack Benny 1950 will always be remembered ... because 1950 is what he paid for his new suit .. and here he is, Jack Benny Summary: Opening dialogue hijacked by Don's "Drear Pooson" fluff... Phil's brass section is missing, parole was cancelled..Jack and Mary watched the Rose Bowl on his new television set... Dennis late and sassy (Phil told him to get tough) Rochester calls, insurance man asked questions bout Jack... Jack wanted to be the beneficiary of his own life insurance policy... skit Murder at Romanoff's... Captain bawls out officers... police dog does math... Mitzy LaRue calls, punctuated with drum breaks... reports Carlton Quince murdered two hours ago...doorman ("Drear Pooson') won't let O'Benny in without a reservation... Romanoff thought blood on Quince's shirt was borscht, was eating at Simon's Drive-ln... O'Benny questions Frank Sinatra...police dog keeps burying Sinatra...O'Benny questions Rosalind Russell. ..asks Russell to walk around in tafetta gown ("I always wanted to hear Rosalind RUSSELL")... O'Benny questions Gene Kelly, promos his movies... everyone blames each other. ..Carlton Quince leaves, wipes off borscht...next week Fred Allen Cast: nm0026655 - Anderson, Eddie -- Rochester nm0000912 - Benny, Jack -- Jack Benny nm0000305 - Blanc, Mel -- Prince nm0206376 - Day, Dennis - Dennis Day nm0365201 - Harris, Phil -- Phil Harris nm0000037 - Kelly, Gene (Guest) nm0515331 - Livingstone, Mary -- Mary Livingstone nm0625372 - Nelson, Frank - nm0738985 - Romanoff, Michael (Guest) nm0751426 - Russell, Rosalind (Guest) nm0792311 - Sherrin, Leo "Ukie" - Screamer, Teletype Man nm0000069 - Sinatra, Frank (Guest) nm0811351 - Snowden, Eric - Carlton Quince nm1041594 - Sportsmen Quartet -- Sportsmen Quartet (Stevens, Sperzel, Days, Garsen, Bell) nm0933311 - Wilson, Don -- Don Wilson Songs: 1 - Marta - Day 2 - (Hurry music) - Quartet 3 - unidentified - Harris Notes: Blooper - Sportsmen miss their cue after Rosalind Russell Blooper - Mary says "Carlton Quince was quilled" instead of Carlton Quince was killed Blooper - Don says "Drear Pooson" insted of Drew Pearson Notable - Remley can be head clearly laughing by himself at Jack's line about him Notable - Frank Nelson's original line was "No, I'm the clothes rack, they hang the silliest tings on me." Notable - First time jack says "STUPID dog!" (later adapted to various other stupid things) Recording - Part of opening commercial clipped Skit - Murder at Romanoff's Newspaper Clippings Pasadena Independent, Pasadena, California - Page 32 - Radio Fare Notes From Others 18. 01/08/50 "DREER POOSON" FLUB Don's Introduction: "Ladies and gentlemen...1949 is gone and forgotten, but to Jack Benny 1950 will always be remembered...because 1950 is what he paid for his new suit...and here he is, Jack Benny~!" The Show: The cast performs a murder mystery, "Murder at the Romanoffs" Guest Stars: Frank Sinatra, Rosalind Russell, Gene Kelly, Prince Michael Romanoff Dennis' Song: Dennis sings "Marta" Note: The (in)famous "Dreer Pooson" flub follows immediately after Don Wilson's introduction of Jack, as listed above: Jack: "Thank you, thank you, hello again, this is Jack Benny talking....and Don, I want to ask you something...how did you know that I bought a new suit?" Don: "I heard it on Drear Pooson....." Jack: "You heard it on what? Wait a minute...I want to hear this. You heard it...you heard it on what?" Don: "I heard it on Drew Pearson's broadcast." Jack: "Ladies and gentlemen, he got the award for being the best announcer. That gives you a rough idea. Dr. Gallop must have given it to him. Now, wait a minute, Don, Drear Drearson...Drew Pearson is a commentator who specializes in national affairs. Why would he mention that I bought a suit for nineteen dollars and fifty cents?" Don: "Because Wall Street feels that it indicates a definite trend toward a Bull Market." Note: The scene later in the episode with Frank Nelson's line: Jack: "Okay, men...this is Romanoff's Restaurant...and that man there in the red uniform and the gold braid must be the doorman...I'll ask him....Pardon me, are you the doorman?" Nelson: "Who do you think I am, Drear Pooson?" (Nelson's original line as listed in the script was: "No, I'm the clothes rack, they hang the silliest things on me".) Note: This became a rather famous old time radio flub, both for Don Wilson's original mistake, and for the speed in which the Benny show writers worked a reference the flub into the show as it was being broadcast live. This excerpt is from the book "The Jack Benny Show: The Life and Times of America's Best-Loved Entertainer" by Benny show writer Milt Josefsberg, published in 1977: "Radio had such an immediacy to it, something TV lacks, that sometimes we didn't even wait for the following week to correct or capitalize on a mistake. If it happened early enough in the program, and an appropriate spot was found later in the script, we'd change it while we were on the air. When veterans of the radio era gather and reminisce, one such situation stands out. It happened when Jack was supposed to get into a political argument with Don Wilson, and, as usual, Don was to stick to his guns because he had a full fund of facts. The clincher came when Jack asked Wilson why he was so sure he was right, and Don was to answer with firm finality "Because I read it in Drew Pearson's column'. And because this was to terminate the debate, Don was to deliver it with more emphasis than any of his other dialogue. But what he boomed out was "I read it in Dreer Pooson's column'. Jack repeated "Dreer Pooson', the audience laughed and the show went on. As I said, however, it happened in the opening lines of the show. The program was to end with a scene where Jack went to a swanky hotel to meet someone. And prior to entering the hotel, Jack was to talk to the doorman played by his always encountered arch-enemy, Frank Nelson, who hated Jack in every role that he played. In this scene Nelson was the doorman at the hotel and Jack was to open the conversation by asking, "Excuse me, are you the doorman?" And Nelson would sneeringly say, 'Well, who do you think I am in this red uniform---Nelson Eddy?" (For those readers too young to remember, Nelson Eddy was a wooden-visaged actor who sang beautifully, usually opposite Jeanette MacDonald, and it seemed that in every other picture he was cast as a member of the Canadian Royal Mounted Police whose red uniforms look so splendid in Technicolor). This hotel doorman scene took place a full fifteen minutes after Don tongue-twisted Drew Pearson's name into "Dreer Pooson'. Jack, a completely unsuspecting shnook, now approached Frank Nelson and asked, "Excuse me, are you the doorman?', and Nelson shattered Jack's composure when he answered, "Well, who do you think I am, Dreer Pooson?' The new answer not only undid Jack, but it had the same hysterical effect on the cast, crew, and musicians, all of whom had heard Frank rehearse the regular written line about 'Nelson Eddy', and all of them thought 'Dreer Pooson' was an ad-lib on his part. What actually happened was that when Don made his fluff the writers, listening to the programs proceedings in the control booth, got the happy idea of changing Frank's line. We qucikly motioned to him where he was sitting on stage waiting to go on. We got him into the booth, suggested our change, and he immediately penciled in our new line" Note: As can be seen by the lines from the actual episode as listed above, Milt's memory isn't quite 100% correct. Don and Jack weren't having a political argument before Don's "Dreer Pooson" flub, and later in the episode, Frank Nelson's original doorman line as shown in the script actually had nothing to do with Nelson Eddy. Nelson's "who do you think I am, Dreer Pooson" line does bring the house down, though, stopping the show for several seconds as the audience, crew and Jack all crack up laughing. Another, much lesser known second flub: Near the end of the murder mystery, playing "Mitzi LaRue", Mary's line "yes...Carlton Quince was killed...there he is at that corner table...dead" instead came out as this: Mary: "Yeah, Carlton Quince was quilled..." Jack: "Quilled?....one lousy rehearsal..." Another, much lesser known third flub: A running joke during the murder mystery this episode has been that, after every time Jack says "...or my name ain't.." , it is followed by the Sportsmen Quartet doing a quick LSMFT song set to "chase" type music. After his "Captain O' Benny character interrogates Rosalind Russell, Jack says his "...or my name ain't.." line, and the Sportsmen Quartet completely and totally flub the quick song. Jack ad libs : "That was the lousiest thing I ever heard in my life~! One rehearsal, that's all I ask~!" Note: Incidentally, this is really the first "old style" Don Wilson "joke" introduction of Jack this whole season, so far. It also leads into the Drew Pearson mistake. Note: Prince Michael Romanoff ran the restaurant "Romanoffs", where this episodes' murder mystery play takes place. Note: Dennis usually got very funny lines for his entrances, and this episode is no exception: Jack: "...but tonight we're doing a very important play. It's an exciting melodrama that takes place in a restaurant in... Dennis: "Well, come on, come on, let's get this corny sketch over with" Jack: "Huh?....Dennis you're late" Dennis: "So what, you wanna make something out of it?" Jack: "What?"" Dennis: "You heard me, Clyde, you ain't wearin' ear muffs" Jack: "Dennis...Dennis..." Dennis: "Dennis Dennis Dennis...you make me sick~!" Jack: "Now, look kid, if you think you can come in here and.." Dennis: "Don't crowd me, son" Jack: "For heavens sake, Dennis, what's come over you?" Dennis: "It's my New Year's resolution. Nobody's pushing me around anymore. Phil: "That's telling him, wormy" (Phil's "wormy" remark was apparently an ad-lib) Note: During the play, in this very funny scene Jack, as Police Captain O'Benny, gains another new catchphrase: Jack: "...but I'm really disgusted with you men...why even our bloodhound, Prince, is smarter than you...come here Prince...here, Prince" Prince (Mel Blanc): ((Mel pants like a dog)) Jack: "Prince, how much is one and two?" Prince: ((barks three times)) Jack: "That's right...now, what's six minus four?" Prince: ((barks two times)) Jack; "Right again, Prince....now, what is the square root of seventy three thousand, four hundred twenty nine?" ((pause...then light scratching sound)) Jack: "Put down that pencil and figure it out in your head~!.....Stupid dog~!" Note: As with the "Chiss Sweeze Sandwich" episode, the most commonly used title for this episode is a reference to a famous flub. In the case, if not for the flub this episode would most likely be named "Murder at Romanoff's". It's also interesting that, while this episode is almost always mentioned due to the famous flub, it does feature as guest stars Rosalind Russell and Frank Sinatra. --- Don makes his famous "Drear Poosen" fluff. The cast does, "Murder At Romanov's." Listen for Frank Nelson's spectacular ad-lib. Mary then blows a line, then The Sportsmen miss their cue. A funny and memorable program. Don Wilson, Jack Benny, Phil Harris, Mary Livingstone, Eddie Anderson, Rosalind Russell (guest), Frank Sinatra (guest), Gene Kelly (guest), Michael Romanoff (guest), L. A. Speed Riggs (tobacco auctioneer), Mel Blanc, Dennis Day, Del Sharbutt (commercial spokesman), Ukie Sherrin, Eric Snowden, The Sportsmen, Frank Nelson, Bud Hiestand (commercial spokesman), Mahlon Merrick (music director), Hilliard Marks (producer), Milt Josefsberg (writer), Sam Perrin (writer), George Balzer (writer), John Tackaberry (writer). Collection Information MP3 - 32kbps, 30m08 Joint Stereo 44100