Just in time for the holidays: Your comprehensive-ish guide to "Thurber (et al.) Tonight" (the whole dang series)

Including Woody Allen, Robert Benchley, Bob and Ray, Will Cuppy, Wolcott Gibbs, Ring Lardner, S. J. Perelman, Jean Shepherd, and E. B. White Tonight


All I asked Santa for was a better picture of the great Will Cuppy; the one I've been using looks like it was taken clandestinely while he was in the Witness Protection program. However, given my lack of faith in the fat phony, I wasn't optimistic that he'd come through, so I went searching on my own once again, and once again my Google Images search for "Will Cuppy" yielded the swell pix of Will Rogers and Ring Lardner which somehow always turn up, and once again I had to decide, with heavy heart, that no, they wouldn't really fill the gap better than what we've got. But then the above image turned up, and I figured that since it purports to be part of a book cover, the chap portrayed therein must actually be our Will. I have to say, though, that this pic creeps the dickens out of me, and so I don't think I'll be popping it into the Will Cuppy slot below. I think I'm actually going to be trying to forget I ever saw it. Sheesh!

by Ken

You look around and see all those decked halls, then close your eyes and hear all that fa-la-la-la-la-ing, and almost instantly you know something's up, am I right? Or else you read Noah's post last night, "Profiles In Cowardice: The Electoral College," and noticed that it's also Part 1 of his annual, er, tribute to the outgoing year, this time out: "2016: America Off The Rails."

That's right, it's the Holiday Season!

Okay, okay, I know it's been going on since about Columbus Day, if not Labor Day, and tonight is already Christmas Eve, for Bill O'Reilly's sake! I believe in letting the damned thing sneak up on me, so sneakily that with any luck it's almost past before it announces its presence. In a week or so we'll be ushering in a new year, and then begins the Countdown to Inauguration Day. And then we're on to wishing for a minimum of four more good years for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

So in the holiday spirit, or at least what passes for it hereabouts, I'm looking to slip into the DWT schedule some of what Tom and Ray Magliozzi, the Car Talk guys, liked to bill as "encore presentations" of memorable shows, which they hastened to explain were really things they pulled more or less randomly out of a box of old tapes. Naturally I never believed they were chosen entirely at random -- after all, there had to be some reason why those particular tapes were in that particular box, right? 

And I'm not going to be choosing entirely randomly either. On the theory that along about now we could all use a few laughs, and also because it's one of the things i'm proudest of having done, I'm planning to dig into the "Thurber (et al.) Tonight" series I did here way back in some previous century.

Earlier this year I did perform a couple of resurrections from the series. There was a June post called "Having trouble getting things done? Learn from the master, the great Robert Benchley," which brought back a piece I think of just about every day, "How to Get Things Done." (Short version: "The psychological principle is this: anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment.") Then in August I felt the itch again, and again it was a Benchley piece I had to bring back, in a post called "Comedy Tonight: 'Why We Laugh -- or Do We?': Another 'Benchley Tonight' Resurrection."

And I didn't even get (back) to what may be my very favorite Benchley piece, "A Little Sermon on Success." (As noted in the comprehensive-ish listing below -- "comprehensive-ish" in that I can't help feeling that I've missed an instance or two here or there -- you can find it here.) Not to mention the sublime "My Five- (or Maybe Six-) Year Plan." And . . . .

And no Thurber encore presentations at all! Yikes!

So I've cooked up this scheme for the holiday season (and perhaps the January slump season as well) to find post slots where I can slip in some especially cherished posts from these revered masters, and maybe some suggested "must reads" from among the stuff of theirs that was previously presented, at least until Howie cries out, "Please stop already!"

But, first things first (not my usual practice, as readers may be aware), I thought we would start with the comprehensive-ish listing itself. This is essentially unchanged from the version to which I have been providing a link since time immemorial. The one change I contemplated was to be able to pop in, finally, a better picture of Will Cuppy, but as noted in the photo caption above, that project came to a creepier-than-dead end.

And so, without further ado, excepting one tiny click-through --


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Having trouble getting things done? Learn from the master, the great Robert Benchley

Harking back to our comedy nights with Benchley plus James Thurber, Woody Allen, Bob and Ray, Will Cuppy, Wolcott Gibbs, Ring Lardner, S. J. Perelman, Jean Shepherd, and E. B. White


"The secret of my incredible energy and efficiency in getting work done is a simple one. I have based it very deliberately on a well-known psychological principle and have refined it so that it is now almost too refined. I shall have to begin coarsening it up again pretty soon.

"The psychological principle is this: anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment."

-- Robert Benchley, in "How to Get Things Done"

by Ken

Today, a long-delayed labor of love: the resurrection of a series that was itself a prolonged labor of love, running here in the late-night slot -- for which, in fact, the late-night slot was invented -- over a long and fondly remembered period. It started with Thurber but then went on to include all the names you see above. And in resurrecting it, the name that has crowded to the forefront of my consciousness is that of the great Robert Benchley, specifically in the form of the piece we're about to revisit: "How to Get Things Done," which was first published in the Chicago Tribune in 1930 and first appeared here as a "Benchley Tonight" post in January 2011.

Lately I've been trying to get bits of my life in order, or at any rate a bit more in order, and have had frequent occasion to talk about this as well, frequently with other people trying to do the same thing with their lives. As a result, I've had frequent occasion to try to synopsize this all-but-definitive treatise on how really and truly to get things done -- the secret, as our Bob puts it, to "how I manage to get so much work done and still keep looking so dissipated." By the way, I tried unsuccessfully to track down a picture of our Bob "riding to hounds" or "going to fancy-dress balls disguised as Louis XIV"; there don't seem to have been photographers present on these occasions.

So there was no question in my mind that of all the thousands of sublime pieces that appeared in this series, "How to Get Things Done" is the one for which present-day readers are likely to have the most urgent need. The master list for the series, by the way, can still be found here.



Now let's get down to business -- or, rather, business Benchley-style.

How to Get Things Done

by Robert Benchley

A GREAT MANY PEOPLE have come up to me and asked me how I manage to get so much work done and still keep looking so dissipated. My answer is "Don't you wish you knew?" and a pretty good answer it is, too, when you consider that nine times out of ten I didn't hear the original question.

But the fact remains that hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country are wondering how I have time to do all my painting, engineering, writing and philanthropic work when, according to the rotogravure sections and society notes I spend all my time riding to hounds, going to fancy-dress balls disguised as Louis XIV or spelling out GREETINGS TO CALIFORNIA in formation with three thousand Los Angeles school children. "All work and all play," they say.

The secret of my incredible energy and efficiency in getting work done is a simple one. I have based it very deliberately on a well-known psychological principle and have refined it so that it is now almost too refined. I shall have to begin coarsening it up again pretty soon.

The psychological principle is this: anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment.

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Bob and Ray Tonight: "Lucky Phone Call" (plus an encore presentation of "The Cranberry Man")

At the moment our host doesn't seem to be loading audio or video files. Well, this too shall pass. (I hope.) -- Ken



With the addition now of the above photo (from Write If You Get Work: The Best of Bob & Ray), I thought it was worth what the Car Talk guys would call "an encore presentation" of Wally Ballou's Times Square interview of Floyd Smith, the cranberry grower, from the Original Broadway Cast album of Bob and Ray: The Two and Only. And now we proceed to tonight's new business, a Bob and Ray "Lucky Phone Call." -- Ken


FOR TONIGHT'S "LUCKY PHONE CALL," CLICK HERE


THURBER TONIGHT (including WOODY ALLEN, ROBERT BENCHLEY, BOB AND RAY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, S. J. PERELMAN, JEAN SHEPHERD, and E. B. WHITE TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

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Bob and Ray Tonight: Part 2 of "Spelling Bee" -- the annual Bob and Ray Grand National Spelling Bee Contest (plus Bulletin No. 4)

Bulletin No. 4 (see Bulletin No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3)

"We are ready to go round in our second, deciding go-round in our Grand National Semifinal Spelling Bee. Our contestants are still bickering among themselves about the unfortunate fact that two of them drew hard words and one of them drew an easy word in the first round."

-- Bob, in tonight's Part 2 of "Spelling Bee"

by Ken

Last night, in Part 1 of "Spelling Bee," we witnessed the thrill-packed and controversial first round of the finals of the annual Bob and Ray Grand National Spelling Bee Contest. Contestants Betsy Ross (representing the middle Atlantic states) and Benjamin Franklin (replacing the scheduled Russell Plume representing the Southern states) seemed to feel that, even though the contestants were picking their own words blindly from the "barrel of words," third contestant Paul G. Revere (representing the Western states) was receiving unfairly favored treatment, simply because they were receiving words like "paleolithic" and "interfenestration," while Paul Revere's word was "who."

That spitfire Betsy Ross went so far as to ask, "What kind of badger game is this?" As we left last night, we were going to commercial before returning for the second and final round.


FOR PART 2 OF "SPELLING BEE," CLICK HERE


THURBER TONIGHT (including WOODY ALLEN, ROBERT BENCHLEY, BOB AND RAY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, S. J. PERELMAN, JEAN SHEPHERD, and E. B. WHITE TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

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Bob and Ray Tonight: Part 1 of "Spelling Bee" -- the annual Bob and Ray Grand National Spelling Bee Contest (plus Bulletin No. 3)

Bulletin No. 3 (see Bulletin No. 1 and Bulletin No. 2)

BOB: Russell Plume, are you here?
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: Russell couldn't be here.
BOB: Well, Russell was the Southern states champion . . . Well, who are you?
FRANKLIN: I'm Benjamin Franklin from Altoona, Pennsylvania, and I'm gonna substitute for him.

-- from tonight's installment of "Spelling Bee"

Now you know that a spelling bee chez Bob and Ray isn't going to be like any other kind of spelling bee. This one gets so out of control that I've had to split it into two parts. -- Ken


FOR PART 1 OF "SPELLING BEE," CLICK HERE


THURBER TONIGHT (including WOODY ALLEN, ROBERT BENCHLEY, BOB AND RAY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, S. J. PEELMAN, JEAN SHEPHERD, and E. B. WHITE TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

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Bob and Ray Tonight: "Emergency Ward" (plus Bulletin No. 2)

Bulletin No. 2 (see Bulletin No. 1)

DOCTOR GERHART SNUTTON (HANDSOME YOUNG PHYSICIAN): Carrying the burden of mankind's survival is serious business, Nurse Rudehouse. But I think I've made a major breakthrough. Yesterday, I injected germs of the common cold into sixteen charity patients. And would you believe that every one of them is sneezing and sniffling today?
NURSE RUDEHOUSE (HIS ASSISTANT): Well, yes, I'd believe it. In fact, I don't see anything very thrilling or surprising about it at all.
SNUTTON: Nurse Rudehouse, if you want thrills and surprises, go to Disneyland. Medical science offers nothing but hard work.

-- from "Emergency Ward"

by Ken

There are a number of pieces in Write If You Get Work where the printed version gives no indication as to who -- i.e., Bob or Ray -- takes which part(s). This used to frustrate me, but now I find it a plus, because it makes it possible to imagine each part done by both. This might at first seem to change the piece dramatically, but actually playing multiple versions in my head, I realize it really doesn't. Oh, you would get differences of emphasis and momentary effect, but I'll bet the overall result would have changed surprisingly little.

In "Emergency Ward," for example, the female part of Nurse Rudehouse naturally suggests to me Ray, which would leave handsome young physician Doctor Gerhart Snutton to Bob, and it's certainly not hard at all to hear the piece that way. But it occurs to me that it's also not hard to hear the roles reversed. And since the man with the unfortunate facial misalignment would have been done by whoever did Nurse Rudehouse, that role too would be flipflopped, to intriguing effect. It would be different, yes, but at the same time remarkably undifferent.

Which raises the interesting question of the writing process. I imagine that generally when the fellows were writing they had a clear idea of who would do which voices, but there were other times when they didn't, and perhaps more times when in the course of writing and preparing a daily radio show they changed their minds in the face of all the rigors of getting the show produced. It seems likely that a fair number of such decisions were made, and changed, on the fly.


TO SAMPLE LIFE IN THE BOB AND RAY
"EMERGENCY WARD," CLICK HERE


THURBER TONIGHT (including WOODY ALLEN, ROBERT BENCHLEY, BOB AND RAY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, S. J. PERELMAN, JEAN SHEPHERD, and E. B. WHITE TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

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Bob and Ray Tonight: "Elmer W. Litzinger, Spy" (plus Bulletin)

"A blue moon over salmon-pink mountains [isn't] a drink, my good man. I thought you were one of our agents, so I gave you the secret greeting. You see, I'm Elmer W. Litzinger, Spy. Here's my business card."

-- Elmer W. Litzinger, Spy, in "Elmer W. Litzinger, Spy"

by Ken

Luckily I haven't kept count, so I couldn't tell you if I wanted to how many times I've reread, in whole or in part, last night's "Bob and Ray Tonight" offering, the stupendous foreword that Kurt Vonnegut Jr. provided for Write If You Get Work: The Best of Bob & Ray, with such gently fond remembrance of that Bob and Ray radio broadcast he witnessed the day he was ostensibly there to talk about a writing job, mingled with the undiminished awe he felt at the wonders he witnessed; and the witness he bore to the boys' puzzling melancholy; and finally the eerily accurate appreciation of their humor, culminating in the speculation:

Man is not evil, they seem to say. He is simply too hilariously stupid to survive.

And this I believe.

"Too hilariously stupid" indeed!

As for Kurt's description of Bob and Ray's characters as "almost always fourth-rate or below, engaged in enterprises which, if not contemptible, are at least insane," people who "threaten to wreck themselves and their surroundings with their own stupidity," well, meet Elmer W. Litzinger, Spy.


FOR THE FINE POINTS OF SPYCRAFT
BOB AND RAY-STYLE, CLICK HERE


THURBER TONIGHT (including WOODY ALLEN, ROBERT BENCHLEY, BOB AND RAY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, S. J. PERELMAN, JEAN SHEPHERD, and E. B. WHITE TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

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Bob and Ray Tonight: Kurt Vonnegut Jr. remembers being interviewed for a job by the fellows

[Bob and Ray's jokes] feature Americans who are almost always fourth-rate or below, engaged in enterprises which, if not contemptible, are at least insane.

And while other comedians show us persons tormented by bad luck and enemies and so on, Bob and Ray's characters threaten to wreck themselves and their surroundings with their own stupidity. There is a refreshing and beautiful innocence in Bob's and Ray's humor.

Man is not evil, they seem to say. He is simply too hilariously stupid to survive.

And this I believe.

-- from Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Foreword to
Write If You Get Work: The Best of Bob & Ray

by Ken

In most anybody else's book, this line on the copyright page might be the funniest thing in it, attributing copyright to a pair of dubious characters name of "Robert B. Elliott" and "Raymond W. Goulding." Coupla bankster exec types? FBI agents, maybe? (No, but they probably played them at some point on radio or TV.) This isn't anybody else's book, though, it's Write If You Get Work: The Best of Bob & Ray (Random House, 1975).

And the book came rigged out with a foreword by one of the few people on the planet who might fairly be described as "Bob and Ray-worthy," the great Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Could there be a better way to kick off this siege of "Bob and Ray Tonight"? (Note: For a listing of previous "Bob and Ray Tonight" offerings, check out the series index.)


FOR KURT VONNEGUT JR.'S FOREWORD, CLICK HERE


THURBER TONIGHT (including WOODY ALLEN, ROBERT BENCHLEY, BOB AND RAY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, S. J. PERELMAN, JEAN SHEPHERD, and E. B. WHITE TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

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Bob and Ray Tonight: Act II of "The Two and Only," Part 5 -- Curtain calls

Sad to say, these encores bring our traversal of the Original Broadway Cast recording of Bob and Ray: The Two and Only to a conclusion. There's lots more Bob and Ray out there, though, so I expect this won't be the last we hear from our boys. -- Ken


BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY:
Act II, Part 5

Curtain call -- encores:

* Kiddie menu
* McBeebee Twins

From the Original Broadway Cast recording of Bob and Ray: The Two and Only (Columbia Records, 1970)


THE COMPLETE BOB AND RAY TONIGHT

Act II of BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY

Part 1: The Larry Lovebreath Show: Dog trainer; Grand Canyon public service announcement; Truffle hunter
Part 2: Classic sports interview -- Biff Burns and Stuffy
Part 3: News in Depth: Gov't bureaucrat Hap Whatney; Unusual political concession speech; David Chetley analyzes the speech (plus video clip of Chet Huntley's Huntley-Brinkley Report signoff)
Part 4: More News in Depth: Announcement for the Treasury Dept.; Corrupt mayor of Skunk Haven, NJ; Return of Gabe Preston with his breaking story

Act I of BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY
(PLUS ASSORTED OTHER BOB AND RAY GOODIES)

Sunday, 4/3/11: The Two and Only: Overture; Wally Ballou (Bob) and Hector Lassie (Ray); Introductory remarks; Wally covers a fast-breaking cranberry story in Times Square -- meet Floyd Smith the cranberry man (Ray)
Video clip: Bob and Ray appear with a young David Letterman, part 1
Monday, 4/4/11: World's largest living lizard . . . some kind of lizard? (Komodo dragon expert, plus Gabe Preston calls in from Washington with breaking news)
Video clip: Part 2 of the Letterman appearance
Tuesday, 4/5/11: "Most Beautiful Face" (plus Gabe Preston tries again)
Video clip: First half of a 1952 outing of the 15-minute NBC TV Bob and Ray Show
Wednesday, 4/6/11: Barry Campbell talks about his Broadway opening (and closing) night
Video clip: Part 2 of that TV Bob and Ray Show: an episode of Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife, with Audrey Meadows as Mary B and actress Jessica Culpepper
Thursday, 4/7/11: STOA (Slow Talkers of America)
Video clip (audio only): No Dragnet Here -- The men of Squad Car 119 are just a locked door away from being on the Case of the Ruffled Shirt Bandit

THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, BOB AND RAY, E. B. WHITE, JEAN SHEPHERD, and PERELMAN TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

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Bob and Ray Tonight: Act II of "The Two and Only, " Part 4 -- More "News in Depth," including the return of Gabe Preston

At 84, Gabe Pressman reports on Roosevelt Island (June 20, 2008). In tonight's installment of "Bob and Ray Tonight," reporter "Gabe Preston" makes one last effort to get his breaking news story on the air. Gabe bears a certain resemblance to a New York City legend, WNBC-TV newsman Gabe Pressman -- that is, if Gabe Pressman had had to contend with the Finley Quality News bunch.

CORRUPTION: "IT'S A RICH, FERTILE FIELD"

INTERVIEWER: Would you say it's easier to be corrupt today than it was , oh, 10, 15 years ago?
RALPH MOODY THAYER, CORRUPT MAYOR OF SKUNK HAVEN, NJ: Oh my, yes. Here, 10 or 15 years ago it was a disgrace to be corrupt. No, no, it's a rich, fertile field. I would recommend it to anybody with a devious mind, who is willing to put in long, long hours -- without working hard -- that he will find it terribly enriching, fully rewarding.

-- from tonight's installment

In Act I we heard Finley Quality Network newsman Gabe Preston make repeated efforts to phone in a breaking news story, about edible food packaging, only to be thwarted by the studio personnel. Tonight he attempts to report the story live.

By the way, Wikipedia says of Gabe Pressman: "Gabe Pressman (born February 14, 1924) is the senior correspondent for WNBC-TV. Pressman has been a journalist in the New York City area for over 60 years. He is considered one of the pioneers of United States television news." -- Ken


BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY:
Act II, Part 4

More News in Depth:

* Money announcement on behalf of the Treasury Dept.
* The corrupt mayor of Skunk Haven, NJ
* The return of Gabe Preston with his breaking news story

From the Original Broadway Cast recording of Bob and Ray: The Two and Only (Columbia Records, 1970)


THE COMPLETE BOB AND RAY TONIGHT

Act II of BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY

Part 1: The Larry Lovebreath Show: Dog trainer; Grand Canyon public service announcement; Truffle hunter
Part 2: Classic sports interview -- Biff Burns and Stuffy
Part 3: News in Depth: Gov't bureaucrat Hap Whatney; Unusual political concession speech; David Chetley analyzes the speech (plus video clip of Chet Huntley's Huntley-Brinkley Report signoff)

Act I of BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY
(PLUS ASSORTED OTHER BOB AND RAY GOODIES)

Sunday, 4/3/11: The Two and Only: Overture; Wally Ballou (Bob) and Hector Lassie (Ray); Introductory remarks; Wally covers a fast-breaking cranberry story in Times Square -- meet Floyd Smith the cranberry man (Ray)
Video clip: Bob and Ray appear with a young David Letterman, part 1
Monday, 4/4/11: World's largest living lizard . . . some kind of lizard? (Komodo dragon expert, plus Gabe Preston calls in from Washington with breaking news)
Video clip: Part 2 of the Letterman appearance
Tuesday, 4/5/11: "Most Beautiful Face" (plus Gabe Preston tries again)
Video clip: First half of a 1952 outing of the 15-minute NBC TV Bob and Ray Show
Wednesday, 4/6/11: Barry Campbell talks about his Broadway opening (and closing) night
Video clip: Part 2 of that TV Bob and Ray Show: an episode of Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife, with Audrey Meadows as Mary B and actress Jessica Culpepper
Thursday, 4/7/11: STOA (Slow Talkers of America)
Video clip (audio only): No Dragnet Here -- The men of Squad Car 119 are just a locked door away from being on the Case of the Ruffled Shirt Bandit

THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, BOB AND RAY, E. B. WHITE, JEAN SHEPHERD, and PERELMAN TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

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Bob and Ray Tonight: Act II of "The Two and Only," Part 3 -- "News in Depth," including an unusual political concession speech

Chet Huntley's farewell to The Huntley-Brinkley Report (Oct. 29, 1956-July 31, 1970), and David Brinkley's farewell to Chet


My goodness, it's more than 40 years now since Chet Huntley made this famous signoff! This confirms my hunch that perhaps modern-day listeners may need some "background" for the speech analysis provided in tonight's installment of Bob and Ray: The Two and Only by "David Chetley." -- Ken


Act II, Part 3

A preview of the Finley Quality Network's upcoming-for-fall program News in Depth:

* Gov't bureaucrat Clyde L. "Hap" Whatney offers a carefully scripted interview
* A sore political loser makes an unusual concession speech
* David Chetley analyzes the sore political loser's speech

From the Original Broadway Cast recording of Bob and Ray: The Two and Only (Columbia Records, 1970)

NOTE: There's more News in Depth coming up tomorrow night in Part 4

ADDITIONAL NOTE: I've added a photo of retiring grizzled veteran Stuffy with interviewer Biff Burns to last night's installment


THE COMPLETE BOB AND RAY TONIGHT

Act II of BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY

Part 1: The Larry Lovebreath Show: Dog trainer; Grand Canyon public service announcement; Truffle hunter
Part 2: Classic sports interview -- Biff Burns and Stuffy

Act I of BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY
(PLUS ASSORTED OTHER BOB AND RAY GOODIES)

Sunday, 4/3/11: The Two and Only: Overture; Wally Ballou (Bob) and Hector Lassie (Ray); Introductory remarks; Wally covers a fast-breaking cranberry story in Times Square -- meet Floyd Smith the cranberry man (Ray)
Video clip: Bob and Ray appear with a young David Letterman, part 1
Monday, 4/4/11: World's largest living lizard . . . some kind of lizard? (Komodo dragon expert, plus Gabe Preston calls in from Washington with breaking news)
Video clip: Part 2 of the Letterman appearance
Tuesday, 4/5/11: "Most Beautiful Face" (plus Gabe Preston tries again)
Video clip: First half of a 1952 outing of the 15-minute NBC TV Bob and Ray Show
Wednesday, 4/6/11: Barry Campbell talks about his Broadway opening (and closing) night
Video clip: Part 2 of that TV Bob and Ray Show: an episode of Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife, with Audrey Meadows as Mary B and actress Jessica Culpepper
Thursday, 4/7/11: STOA (Slow Talkers of America)
Video clip (audio only): No Dragnet Here -- The men of Squad Car 119 are just a locked door away from being on the Case of the Ruffled Shirt Bandit

THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, BOB AND RAY, E. B. WHITE, JEAN SHEPHERD, and PERELMAN TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

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Bob and Ray Tonight: Act II of "The Two and Only," Part 2 -- a classic sports interview

"I don't know, this game passed me by somewhere."

-- the retiring grizzled veteran Stuffy, to Biff Burns

Last night we began a weeklong march through the second act of the Original Broadway Cast recording of Bob and Ray: The Two and Only. Here's the next installment. -- Ken


BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY:
Act II, Part 2

A classic sports interview: Biff Burns and Stuffy

From the Original Broadway Cast recording of Bob and Ray: The Two and Only (Columbia Records, 1970)


THE COMPLETE BOB AND RAY TONIGHT

Act II of BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY

Part 1: The Larry Lovebreath Show: Dog trainer, Grand Canyon public service announcement, Truffle hunter
Part 2: Classic sports interview -- Biff Burns and Stuffy

Act I of BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY
(PLUS ASSORTED OTHER BOB AND RAY GOODIES)

Sunday, 4/3/11: The Two and Only: Overture; Wally Ballou (Bob) and Hector Lassie (Ray); Introductory remarks; Wally covers a fast-breaking cranberry story in Times Square -- meet Floyd Smith the cranberry man (Ray)
Video clip: Bob and Ray appear with a young David Letterman, part 1
Monday, 4/4/11: World's largest living lizard . . . some kind of lizard? (Komodo dragon expert, plus Gabe Preston calls in from Washington with breaking news)
Video clip: Part 2 of the Letterman appearance
Tuesday, 4/5/11: "Most Beautiful Face" (plus Gabe Preston tries again)
Video clip: First half of a 1952 outing of the 15-minute NBC TV Bob and Ray Show
Wednesday, 4/6/11: Barry Campbell talks about his Broadway opening (and closing) night
Video clip: Part 2 of that TV Bob and Ray Show: an episode of Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife, with Audrey Meadows as Mary B and actress Jessica Culpepper
Thursday, 4/7/11: STOA (Slow Talkers of America)
Video clip (audio only): No Dragnet Here -- The men of Squad Car 119 are just a locked door away from being on the Case of the Ruffled Shirt Bandit

THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, BOB AND RAY, E. B. WHITE, JEAN SHEPHERD, and PERELMAN TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

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Bob and Ray Tonight: Act II of "The Two and Only," Part 1 -- including the world's most unconventional dog trainer

by Ken

Back in April we covered Act I of the Original Broadway Cast recording of Bob and Ray's 1970 Broadway show, Bob and Ray: The Two and Only, with an assortment of other goodies from the boys thrown in. (See the listings below.) This week I thought we'd knock off Act II.


BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY:
ACT II, Part 1

The Larry Lovebreath Show:

* An unconventional dog trainer (formerly a parakeet trainer)
* Grand Canyon public service announcement
* Truffle hunter Clinton Snidely


From the Original Broadway Cast recording of Bob and Ray: The Two and Only (Columbia Records, 1970)


THE COMPLETE BOB AND RAY TONIGHT

Act II of BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY

Part 1: The Larry Lovebreath Show: Dog trainer; Grand Canyon public service announcement; Truffle hunter
Part 2: Classic sports interview -- Biff Burns and Stuffy

Act I of BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY
(PLUS ASSORTED OTHER BOB AND RAY GOODIES)

Sunday, 4/3/11: The Two and Only: Overture; Wally Ballou (Bob) and Hector Lassie (Ray); Introductory remarks; Wally covers a fast-breaking cranberry story in Times Square -- meet Floyd Smith the cranberry man (Ray)
Video clip: Bob and Ray appear with a young David Letterman, part 1
Monday, 4/4/11: World's largest living lizard . . . some kind of lizard? (Komodo dragon expert, plus Gabe Preston calls in from Washington with breaking news)
Video clip: Part 2 of the Letterman appearance
Tuesday, 4/5/11: "Most Beautiful Face" (plus Gabe Preston tries again)
Video clip: First half of a 1952 outing of the 15-minute NBC TV Bob and Ray Show
Wednesday, 4/6/11: Barry Campbell talks about his Broadway opening (and closing) night
Video clip: Part 2 of that TV Bob and Ray Show: an episode of Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife, with Audrey Meadows as Mary B and actress Jessica Culpepper
Thursday, 4/7/11: STOA (Slow Talkers of America)
Video clip (audio only): No Dragnet Here -- The men of Squad Car 119 are just a locked door away from being on the Case of the Ruffled Shirt Bandit

THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, BOB AND RAY, E. B. WHITE, JEAN SHEPHERD, and PERELMAN TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

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Bob and Ray Tonight: Slow Talkers of America (plus: The men of Squad Car 119 are almost on the case)

No Dragnet Here: The men of Squad Car 119, Sam Finch (Bob) and Ralph R. Kruger Jr. (Ray), "the unsung heroes of the police force," are just a locked door -- the one that has them imprisoned in the day room -- away from being on the Case of the Ruffled Shirt Bandit.

RALPH R. KRUGER JR.: Guess we'll have to make a rope out of bedsheets, go down the outside of the building.
SAM FINCH: Aren't any bedsheets in here. You know that.
RALPH: Yeah. Guess you're right.
SAM: Probably have to break down the door.
RALPH: Well now, Sam, you know the regulations when you destroy police property. It comes out of your paycheck. I'll bet this door cost plenty.
SAM: Yeah, probably did. You can see the nice even grain in the wood there.
RALPH: That's right. A good grain in the wood. That's fine workmanship in the paneling there.
SAM: Yeah. That's top-quality hardware on it too. Notice the hinges and knob there? They look real brass.
RALPH: Oh, it's an expensive door all right. Yep, you can tell that easy.
SAM: Probably cost us plenty if we broke it down.
RALPH: I sure wouldn't want to break it down.

Tonight's excerpt from the Original Broadway Cast Album of Bob and Ray: The Two and Only, in which the interviewer (Ray) tries desperately to get on with an interview with the president and recording secretary of the Slow Talkers of America (Bob) is sort of the Earthly Essence of Bob and Ray. -- Ken

TO HEAR THIS HILARIOUSLY EXASPERATING
(EXASPERATINGLY HILARIOUS?) INTERVIEW, CLICK HERE


More BOB AND RAY TONIGHT to come: As you'll hear, an exasperated Ray has the curtain lowered on the president (and recording secretary) of the Slow Talkers of America -- and on Act I of Bob and Ray: The Two and Only. I can't say when exactly, but in the not-too-distant future we'll flip the record over and listen to Act II.


THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, and BOB AND RAY TONIGHT):
Check out the series to date (now actually updated to include Ring Lardner and Bob and Ray!)

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Bob and Ray Tonight: Barry Campbell talks about his opening (and closing) night

We saw part 1 of this clip from the early '50s NBC Bob and Ray Show last night. Part 2 is an episode of a TV version of the timeless radio drama Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife. Note who plays both Mary B and Jessica Culpepper!


In Night 3 of BOB AND RAY TONIGHT, actor Barry Campbell talks to Finley Quality Network talk-show host Larry Lovebreath about the opening (and closing) night of his play The Tender T-bone (a title that Larry has ascertained is not, by the way, "something out of Shakespeare"), including that awkward patch in the second act when Barry forgot his line and "for some 20 or 30 mintues no one said a word." -- Ken

THE AUDIENCE HAD "A PERFECTLY
CHARMING EVENING IN THE THEATER"

BARRY CAMPBELL: Three people got up out of their seats and came right up on the stage, and one with great hostility singled me out. I couldn't get over it.
LARRY LOVEBREATH: Did the rest of the audience realize that wasn't part of the show?
BARRY CAMPBELL: Oh, I don't know. They were walking up and down the aisles, visiting with one another. They were having a perfectly charming evening in the theater.

FOR THE FULL BARRY CAMPBELL INTERVIEW, CLICK HERE


UPDATE: Be sure to check for the comment in the click-through in which our friend Woid tells the story of the performance of Bob and Ray: The Two and Only he attended with his highly excitable friend Michael.


TOMORROW in BOB AND RAY TONIGHT: The president (and recording secretary) of the Slow Talkers of America


THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, and BOB AND RAY TONIGHT):
Check out the series to date

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Bob and Ray Tonight: "Most Beautiful Face" and a 1952 TV "Bob and Ray Show"

The first half of a 1952 outing of the 15-minute NBC TV Bob and Ray Show -- part two tomorrow in "Bob and Ray Tonight"


IN TONIGHT'S EXCERPT FROM THE BROADWAY CAST ALBUM OF BOB AND RAY: THE TWO AND ONLY --

INTERVIEWER: You know, now that I look at you, you do have a beautiful face at that.

"MOST BEAUTIFUL FACE" CONTEST WINNER: My neatly chiseled features stand out.

INTERVIEWER: Classic Grecian, I think.

"MOST BEAUTIFUL FACE" CONTEST WINNER: I'm told they're Roman.

INTERVIEWER: Ah.

THE "MOST BEAUTIFUL FACE" CONTEST WINNER
THROWS THE INTERVIEWER FOR A LOOP -- CLICK HERE


TOMORROW in BOB AND RAY TONIGHT: Barry Campbell talks about his Broadway opening (and closing) night


THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, and BOB AND RAY TONIGHT):
Check out the series to date

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Bob and Ray Tonight: World's largest living lizard . . . some kind of lizard?

We saw the first part of this Bob and Ray appearance on Letterman last night.


In tonight's BOB AND RAY TONIGHT excerpt from the Original Broadway Cast Album of Bob and Ray: The Two and Only:

KOMODO DRAGON EXPERT: We have two in this country, two Komodo dragons, which were given to us some years ago by the late former premier of Indonesia, Sukarno.

INTERVIEWER: I believe I read somewhere where a foreign potentate gave America some Komodo dragons. Is that true?

FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH THE KOMODO
DRAGON EXPERT (AND MORE!), CLICK HERE


TOMORROW in BOB AND RAY TONIGHT: "Most Beautiful Face" and Gabe Preston tries again


THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, and BOB AND RAY TONIGHT):
Check out the series to date

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Bob and Ray Tonight: The Two and Only

The first part of a Bob and Ray appearance with a young David Letterman -- we'll have the second part, in which the boys do some actual material, tomorrow night


"I've discovered over the years that if you strike up a conversation with a perfect stranger, you usually get a pretty good news story."

-- reporter Wally Ballou, reporting live from Times Square,
about to get a scoop on a fast-breaking cranberry story

by Ken

I don't know what to say about Bob and Ray, except maybe that they were two of the funniest people who ever lived, and as a team . . . well, they were Bob and Ray. In the Letterman interview Dave brings up their 1970 Broadway show, Bob and Ray: The Two and Only, which remains one of my great memories. (In the decades since I've been trying to work up some sort of joke based on people seeing their understudies. I haven't made it yet.) So we're not going to do anything fancy this week, just watch some clips and listen to five excerpts from the Original Broadway Cast Album, recorded with a select invited audience in Columbia Records' 30th Street Studio.

In the Letterman clip Dave asks the boys about Bob's seminal character, Wally Ballou, a career-long victim of up-cutting, as we hear in our curtain-raising Two and Only clip. Bear in mind that the Times Square from which we hear Wally (real name: Wallace, we learn here) reporting is the chaotic, dangerous old Times Square I was just writing about.


Overture; Wally Ballou (Bob) and Hector Lassie (Ray); Introductory remarks; Wally covers a fast-breaking cranberry story in Times Square -- meet Floyd Smith the cranberry man (Ray)




TOMORROW in BOB AND RAY TONIGHT: The second, longer part of the Letterman appearance, and our next clip from Bob and Ray: The Two and Only


THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, and BOB AND RAY TONIGHT):
Check out the series to date

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Thurber (et al.) Tonight: The series to date

Including Woody Allen, Robert Benchley, Bob and Ray, Will Cuppy, Wolcott Gibbs, Ring Lardner, S. J. Perelman, Jean Shepherd, and E. B. White Tonight

Here's what we've had so far in "Thurber Tonight":

Special Edition: At the 6/12/2011 92nd Street Y Thurber "do," Keith O gives a virtuoso performance

"The Pet Department" (from The Owl in the Attic and Other Perplexities [1931] and The Thurber Carnival [1945]), in six installments:
(1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6)

Fables from Fables for Our Times and Famous Poems Illustrated (1940)
"The Little Girl and the Wolf"
"The Hen and the Heavens"
"The Unicorn in the Garden"
"The Birds and the Foxes"

Fables from Further Fables for Our Time (1956)
"The Cat in the Lifeboat"
"The Fox and the Crow" (plus "Variations on the Theme")
"The Lover and His Lass"
"The Bears and the Monkeys"
"The Grizzly and the Gadgets"
"The Peacelike Mongoose" (in special edition: At the 92nd Street Y Thurber "do," Keith O gives a virtuoso performance)

"My Fifty Years With James Thurber" (preface to The Thurber Carnival)

"The Ladies' and Gentlemen's Guide to Modern English Usage" (from The Owl in the Attic and Other Perplexities [1931])
I. Who and Whom
II. Which
III. The Split Infinitive
IV. Only and One
V. Whether; and VI. The Subjunctive Mood
VII. Exclamation Points and Colons
VIII. The Perfect Infinitive
IX. Adverbial Advice

Short fiction
An extended note on "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and "The Catbird Seat," with a link to the full text of "The Catbird Seat"
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"

from My World -- And Welcome to It (1942)
"Here Lies Miss Groby"
"A Ride With Olympy"; encore presentation
"The Letters of James Thurber," accompanied by part of an actual 1938 Thurber letter (from The Thurber Letters), on New York City life among "our horrible bunch"

The great correspondence sagas, both from Thurber Country (1953)
"File and Forget"
"Joyeux Noël, Mr. Durning"; encore presentation

more from Thurber Country (1953)
"The Figgerin' of Aunt Wilma"
"A Friend of the Earth"

from Let Your Mind Alone!, and Other More or Less Inspirational Pieces (1937)
1. "Pythagoras and the Ladder"
2. "Destructive Forces in Life"
3. "The Case for the Daydreamer"
4. "A Dozen Disciplines"
5. "How to Adjust Yourself to Your Work")
6. "Anodynes for Anxieties"
7. "The Conscious vs. The Unconscious"
8. "Sex ex Machina"
"No Standing Room Only" (with an explanatory note on the early theatrical career of Vincent Price)

from My Life and Hard Times (1933, included in The Thurber Carnival [1945])
Preface to a Life
1. The Night the Bed Fell; encore presentation
2. The Car We Had to Push
3. The Day the Dam Broke
4. The Night the Ghost Got In
9. University Days
10. Draft Board Nights
A Note at the End

from The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
"The Greatest Man in the World" read by Keith Olbermann -- Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3
"The Topaz Cufflinks Mystery"
"The Curb in the Sky"

"The Bloodhound and the Bug":
part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5

from The Beast in Me, and Other Animals (1948)
"Look Homeward, Jeannie" (also in Thurber's Dogs [1955])

from The Years with Ross (1959)
1. A Dime a Dozen: part 1, part 2, and part 3

from The Thurber Album (1952)
7. Gentleman from Indiana (appreciation of his father), part 1 and part 2 (including some of Thurber's obit for John McNulty)
8. Lavender with a Difference (appreciation of his mother), part 1, part 2, and part 3

About Wolcott Gibbs (Thurber on Gibbs, Gibbs on Thurber, and E. B. White's New Yorker obituary of Gibbs)

Obituary of John McNulty (from The New Yorker of Aug. 4, 1956), plus Thurber's letter to New Yorker editor William Shawn of July 31, 1956, about the published text

Special Edition: At the 92nd Street Y Thurber "do," Keith O gives a virtuoso performance


WOODY ALLEN
TONIGHT

from Getting Even (1971)
"A Look at Organized Crime"
"Death Knocks," Part 1 and
Part 2
"A Twenties Memory"
"Hassidic Tales, with a Guide to Their Interpretation by the Noted Scholar," Part 1 and Part 2
"The Schmeed Memoirs," Part 1 and Part 2
"Count Dracula," Part 1 and Part 2


BENCHLEY TONIGHT

"My Five- (or Maybe Six-) Year Plan"
"A Little Sermon on Success" [plus video: The Treasurer's Report]
"Back in Line" [plus video: That Inferior Feeling]
"One Minute, Please!" [plus video: How to Be a Detective]
"Why We Laugh -- or Do We?" [plus video: introducing "a man who needs no introduction," from The Sky's the Limit]; August 2016 encore presentation
"How I Create" [plus video: How to Eat]
"How to Get Things Done" [plus video: Home Movies]; June 2016 encore presentation
"Announcing a New Vitamin" [plus video: the start of How to Take a Vacation]
"Down With Pigeons"
"The Bathroom Revolution"
"The Sunday Menace"
"Ask That Man"
"One Set of French Dishes"


BOB AND RAY TONIGHT

Bob and Ray: The Two and Only (Original Broadway Cast recording)
Act I (plus other Bob and Ray goodies)
Sunday, 4/3/11: The Two and Only: Overture; Wally Ballou (Bob) and Hector Lassie (Ray); Introductory remarks; Wally covers a fast-breaking cranberry story in Times Square -- meet Floyd Smith the cranberry man (Ray)
Video clip: Bob and Ray appear with a young David Letterman, part 1
Monday, 4/4/11: World's largest living lizard . . . some kind of lizard? (Komodo dragon expert, plus Gabe Preston calls in from Washington with breaking news)
Video clip: Part 2 of the Letterman appearance
Tuesday, 4/5/11: "Most Beautiful Face" (plus Gabe Preston tries again)
Video clip: First half of a 1952 outing of the 15-minute NBC TV Bob and Ray Show
Wednesday, 4/6/11: Barry Campbell talks about his Broadway opening (and closing) night
Video clip: Part 2 of that TV Bob and Ray Show: an episode of Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife, with Audrey Meadows as Mary B and actress Jessica Culpepper
Thursday, 4/7/11: STOA (Slow Talkers of America)
Video clip (audio only): No Dragnet Here -- The men of Squad Car 119 are just a locked door away from being on the Case of the Ruffled Shirt Bandit

Bob and Ray: The Two and Only: Act II
Part 1: The Larry Lovebreath Show: Dog trainer; Grand Canyon public service announcement; Truffle hunter
Part 2: Classic sports interview -- Biff Burns and Stuffy
Part 3: News in Depth: Gov't bureaucrat Hap Whatney; Unusual political concession speech; David Chetley analyzes the speech (plus video clip of Chet Huntley's Huntley-Brinkley Report signoff)
Part 4: More News in Depth: Announcement for the Treasury Dept.; Corrupt mayor of Skunk Haven, NJ; Return of Gabe Preston with his breaking story
Part 5: Curtain call -- encores: Kiddie menu; McBeebee Twins

from Write If You Get Work: The Best of Bob & Ray (1975)
Foreword by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., who remembers being interviewed for a job by the fellows
"Elmer W. Litzinger, Spy" (plus Bulletin No. 1)
"Emergency Ward" (plus Bulletin No. 2)
"Spelling Bee," Part 1 (plus Bulletin No. 3) and Part 2 (plus Bulletin
No. 4)
"Lucky Phone Call"


WILL CUPPY TONIGHT

from How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes (1931)
from the Preface
Memoirs of the Jukes Family, or Where We Come In
"The Java Man" (plus background on the Jukes Family)
"The Peking Man"
"The Piltdown Man"
"The Heidelberg Man"
"The Neanderthal Man"
"The Cro-Magnon Man"
"The Modern Man"
How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes, or A Monkey a Day
"The Chimpanzee"
"The Gorilla"
"The Orang-utan"
"The Gibbon"
"The Baboon"
"The Howling Monkey"
"The Lemur"
Mammals You Ought to Know, or Why Be a Rhinoceros?
"The Lion"

from How to Become Extinct (1941)
"Own Your Own Snake"
"Aristotle, Indeed!"

from How to Attract the Wombat (1949)
"Are Wombats People?" (the introductory piece)
"The Wombat"
"More About Wombats"
Pliny the Elder special edition: "The Goose," "The Oyster," and "The Ostrich"

from The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody (1950)
"Alexander the Great"
"Cleopatra"
"Lucrezia Borgia"
Afterword by Thomas Maeder (1984)


WOLCOTT GIBBS TONIGHT

About Wolcott Gibbs (Thurber on Gibbs, Gibbs on Thurber, and E. B. White's New Yorker obituary of Gibbs)

"In Memoriam: Robert Benchley" (New York Times remembrance)

"The Mantle of Comstock"

"To a Little Girl at Christmas" -- meet Comrade Jelly Belly

"One with Nineveh" -- Gibbs's 25-years-later reencounter with Lucius Beebe, Part 1 and Part 2

"Glorious Calvin (A Critical Appreciation)" -- "a critical appreciation of Calvin Coolidge as a movie comedian"


RING LARDNER TONIGHT

Presenting the Master, with "Who's Who -- and Why" and the Preface to "How to Write Short Stories"

It was part of his charm: Prefaces to The Love Nest and The Story of a Wonder Man by Sarah E. Spooldripper

The Young Immigrunts (The road to "Shut up he explained"): Part 1, Part 2 (plus Ring Lardner Jr. on The Young Immigrunts), and Part 3 (plus Ring Lardner Jr.'s excerpts from Daisy Ashford's The Young Visiters, the source of the parody)

You Know Me Al
John Lardner's Introduction (1958): Part 1 and Part 2
Chapter I: A Busher's Letters Home
Part 1, Preface and Jack's letters of Sept. 6 and Dec. 14 and 16
Part 2, The busher reaches the bigs -- March 2, 7, 9, and 16
Part 3: Countdown to Opening Day -- March 26 and April 1, 4, 7, and 10
Part 4: The busher makes his big-league debut -- April 11 and 15
Part 5: A major development for Jack -- April 19, 25, and 29
Chapter II: The Busher Comes Back
Part 1, The busher comes back! -- Jack's letters of May 13 and 20
Part 2: After a two-month silence, Jack has big news for Al -- July 20
Part 3, A surprise for Jack -- August 16
Part 4, Back in the bigs -- August 27
Part 5, Big doings in Detroit -- September 6
Part 6, "Boston is some town, Al" -- September 12
Part 7, Bedford, IN, meets New York, NY -- September 16
Part 8, Rain day in Philly; arrival in D.C. -- September 19 and 22
Part 9, In D.C., it's Jack vs. Johnson -- September 22 and 27
Part 10, The "city serious," and Jack's biggest news yet -- October 3 and 7
Part 11, Reversal(s) of fortune -- October 9 and 12
Part 12, Did you see this one coming? -- October 13 and 14

Bed-Time Stories:
How to Tell a True Princess
Cinderella
Red Riding Hood

Champion (in seven parts):
Part 1 -- We make the acquaintaince of young Michael Kelly
Part 2 -- In Milwaukee, Midge makes connections
Part 3 -- In Boston, Midge makes his mark
Part 4 -- In New Orleans, Midge reads some mail
Part 5 -- Back in his hometown, the champ knows how to deal with a sponger
Part 6 -- Back in Milwaukee, the champ rearranges more old arrangements
Part 7 -- In New York, the champ meets the press
Postscript: How "Champion" and the other stories in How to Write Short Stories (with Samples) found their way into book form

Three New Yorker "Talk of the Town" items about Ring


PERELMAN TONIGHT

from The Most of S. J. Perelman:
Intro to Part I and "Strictly from Hunger," Part 1 and Part 2
Intro to Part II and Acres and Pains, Chapter One, Chapters Two and Three, Chapters Four and Five
How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth, Part 1 and Part 2

Perelman the mini-dramatist:
"How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth," part 1 and part 2

from Westward Ha!
I. Goodbye Broadway, Hello Mal-de-mer, Part 1 (It started in Philadelphia) and Part 2 (Departure day looms)

from The Swiss Family Perelman
Chapter 1, "Rancors Aweigh"
Part 1 -- Launching yet another journey
Part 2 -- San Francisco-bound
Chapter 2, "Low Bridge -- Everybody Down"
Part 1 -- The journey begins!
Part 2 -- Hooray for Hollywood!
Part 3 -- "Move over, Asia"
Chapter 3, "The Wild Blue Yonder"
Part 1 -- Aboard the S.S. Grover Cleveland
Part 2 -- Putting on the feedbag
Part 3 -- Hawaii to Hong Kong
Chapter 4, "Mama Don't Want No Rice"
Part 1 -- Breaking news!
Part 2 -- "You rat!"
Part 3 -- On the town in Hong Kong


JEAN SHEPHERD
TONIGHT

Radio clips:
Cafe Incident
The Attic
The Great Ice Cream War
of Hammond
Ham Radio, Part 1 and
Part 2

From In God We Trust -- All Others Pay Cash:
Chapter I -- "We Meet Flick, the Friendly Bartender"
Chapter II -- "Duel in the Snow, or Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Street Kid," Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4


E. B. WHITE TONIGHT

From The Second Tree from the Corner":
Foreword (1954) and Introduction (1984)
"Air Raid Drill" (plus E.B.W. notes on the notes reprinted from The New Yorker's "Notes and Comment" page)
"Afternoon of an American Boy," Part 1 and Part 2
"The Second Tree from the Corner," Part 1 and Part 2

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