tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89445271457652620112024-03-13T00:22:54.575-04:00Robert Benchley Societytomshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03279674220712896692noreply@blogger.comBlogger484125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-68086231112993537142021-04-01T10:19:00.000-04:002021-04-01T10:19:01.623-04:00One Final April Fools Day Entry<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oQzCuuRX7eY/YGXWSSl_f-I/AAAAAAAAAzI/5rCcA4N85VMnBHMPAj3wmdjay6IT_fjOgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/endearing-young-charms-2018-03-17_1.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oQzCuuRX7eY/YGXWSSl_f-I/AAAAAAAAAzI/5rCcA4N85VMnBHMPAj3wmdjay6IT_fjOgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/endearing-young-charms-2018-03-17_1.JPG"/></a></div>David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-80399392760414314982021-04-01T10:14:00.008-04:002021-04-01T10:14:53.190-04:00March 23, 2021 - April Fools Memory- By Joy Schwabach<p>Mom was the queen of April Fool’s jokes. One time, when my sister and I were little, she told us there was no school that day. We doubted her at first. But she convinced us that it was a Saturday. “Hooray!” we cried, running about in our excitement for a few minutes. “April Fools!” she said.
<p>Our own April Fools jokes were more primitive. “There’s an ant on your pants,” just about covered it. Or: “Your slip is showing.”
<p>Mom’s best April Fool’s joke occurred when my brother Dave, a young Marine, was visiting. “Dave, there’s a whale at the end of the dock,” Mom said. Dave dutifully rushed out to see it. He didn’t see a whale, so he asked the neighbors. They hadn’t seen one either. So he walked to the next house, and then the next, getting a lot of sand in his shoes as he walked under dock after dock. Finally he came back empty handed. “April Fools!” Mom said gleefully.
David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-50888393654315760202021-04-01T10:09:00.004-04:002021-04-01T10:13:32.408-04:00From the Mail Bag for April Fools Day
<p>Dear David,
<p>I love the idea of the prank roundup! Here are some of my favorite pranks and writing about pranks:
<p>Feynman taking his roommates' door (this is an excerpt from his memoir Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman), published 1985:
<p><https://sloth.hell.pl/~szymon/archiwalia/humor/feynman.html>
<p>Many of the comic short-short stories in Saki's collections (being the pen-name of Hector Hugh Munro), including in particular my favorites, "The Unrest-Cure" from The Chronicles of Clovis (1911), "The She-Wolf," "The Open Window," "A Touch of Realism" all from Beasts and Super-Beasts (1914), and "Bertie's Christmas Eve" from The Toys of Peace and Other Papers (1919). They're a bit like P. G. Wodehouse or John Collier but with a streak of brilliant wickedness reminiscent of Oscar Wilde:
<p><https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Clovis/The_Unrest-Cure>
<p><https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Beasts_and_Super-Beasts/The_She-Wolf>
<p><https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Beasts_and_Super-Beasts/The_Open_Window>
<p><https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Beasts_and_Super-Beasts/A_Touch_of_Realism>
<p><https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Toys_of_Peace_and_Other_Papers/Bertie%27s_Christmas_Eve>
<p>Although it is more directly inspired by Saki than by Benchley (the two were worlds apart but not entirely divorced; Benchley was influenced by Leacock, and Leacock by Saki), you're also free to include this story of mine, "The He-Bear" (attached).
<p>I don't have links but any roundup of pranksters is of course woefully incomplete without Horace de Vere Cole, who orchestrated, among many other larks, the Dreadnought hoax as well as a party where the guests, strangers to each other, eventually discovered that their names all contained the word "bottom."
<p>Best,
<p>Daniel Galef
<p>THE HE-BEAR
<p>(1400 words)
<p> The sun in her splendour shone her radiant face on all creation, thawing frozen lakes and misers’ hearts, nursing the winter wheat from the sleeping earth, turning the flowers’ heads in humble worship, and turning the back of my neck to roast beef.
<p> I was a guest in the palatial country cottage of a Russian Countess while certain financial halma puzzles were being teased apart in London on my behalf. A simple rest cure for overtaxed nerves practically necessitated that I conduct the hassle of the trip, and force myself against my will to swallow prescriptions of Slavic sea air, the Bolshoi Ballet, and breakfasts in bed of poached Fabergé eggs.
<p> And yet this afternoon I was not appointed in the Countess’s gingerbread villa, a glass of tea inexplicably stirred with jam in the one hand and a smartly moustachio’d hussar in another. Instead, I was stumbling through the untamed wilds of a pitiful bald little monadnock known locally as the Czar’s Pate, from which, my host assured me in the tones one might use to discreetly disclose an indiscreet item of society gossip, one could catch a glimpse of the sea.
<p> In fact, I had already seen the sea the previous week, but I suppose the distinction arose in that from the Czar’s Pate it could be viewed from a safe distance, thus avoiding the pinches of crabs and American holidayers.
<p> And yet I would have given all the gallimaufry and guano of the seaside my enraptured adoration in exchange for the torment I now endured in its stead—also staying with the Countess was a curly red-haired beast of a fellow who was supposed by our mutual host simply by virtue of his nation (he was German, I think, but to her all the sons of Saxony were alike in blood brotherhood) to be a perfect touring companion for me during my stay, and vice-versa. Yorick (or possibly Orrick, or York, or Ulricht) had been staying at the villa for a full week before I arrived, and it is not impossible that the Countess recommended the arrangement out of a sense of self-preservation—but to suspect that sweet old lady of such shrewdness would suggest a Slavonic capacity for torture at a degree not recognized since Ivan the Terrible.
<p> Because I had once stolen a newspaper from my neighbor at the London Rhopalic Club, or perhaps for some other indiscretion now remembered only by my personal devil, my guide possessed, and shamelessly abused, a small Dutch melodeon which apparently permitted only two different tunes—“Ach, Du Lieber Augustin” was the first, and the second, to quote Yorick’s toothy witticism, “isn’t.” Had I the breath to retort, I might have pointed out that the first wasn’t quite, either.
<p> My eyes assaulted by sun, my ears by the screeching squeezebox, and the rest seen to by the Sisyphean burden of my hiking-pack and the local bird of biting gadflies, I cherished the few senses I had left to me, until those too surrendered at a final onslaught by my merciless companion. Retiring for a few minutes in a small clearing that with more pleasant circumstances might have been described as idyllic (and with more pleasant company would have been ideal), I looked on in mute horror as Yorick withdrew a brown paper package from his rucksack like an Israelite priest revealing the fires of the Covenant. He had brought a string of smoked herrings for his reeking luncheon, which he unfurled as if laying out the procession carpet of some greater yet Prince of Hell.
<p> As it happens, I do not care for smoked herrings. As it happens, some others do, chief among them being the aberration Yorick and the Russian brown bear. It was not the former hulking, hairy beast that stumbled in from the bushes at the edge of the clearing like the Turkish Knight making his grand entrance at a Christmas masque. The he-bear did not stop to offer a formal introduction, but made straight for the herrings, sniffing at the air like a ten-foot-tall bloodhound. More than anything, however, the interloper provoked uncanny resemblance to my great-aunt Lady Toopsilily, who has been known to don a fur coat of even bulkier dimensions and, at least after a certain number of flutes of champagne, lope in an almost identical manner.
<p> The bear peeled back its black lips to bare its arsenal of teeth the size of chessmen and reared up on its hind legs to the height of a lamppost, looking hugely changed from its relatively benign appearance on the guildhall’s arms down in the village square. Even at her most fearsome, for example when she discovered the butler nipping at the port, my aunt Toopsilily did not achieve quite this level of ferocity—and, as the butler at least was still alive, albeit in a shaken and repentant state and also in Hastings, I almost wished that it were her rearing and roaring in the clearing and not the flesh-eating Russian beast before us.
<p> The protocol for such adventures had been mentioned in passing in a penny novel I had once read set in the Canadian frontierland. “Quick!” I hissed. “I need you to unhook my pack. We mustn’t make any sudden movements. If we back slowly out of the clearing together, we run much less risk of setting off the beast’s territorial instincts.”
<p> There came no reply, and, without taking my eyes from the beast, I tried to turn to see if Yorick had fainted dead from fright. What I saw was his hastily cast-off backpack falling to the earth as he ran at full speed through the clearing and out in an Yorick-shaped hole in the shrubs, leaving me to fend for myself.
<p> Of course, I might have done the same thing had I been favored by fortune with such a head start. But I didn’t, and a hypothetical insult really doesn’t count for much when measured against the unmistakable reality of one.
<p> Luckily, I am well practiced in standing very still from my days in the St. Ballyhoo College common room performing competitive tableaux vivant, and had kept my hand in after being sent down by pretending to be out of the house when the vicar came round for tea. And luckier yet, unlike anything else I had absorbed in those dim, departed days, be it Greek or green chartreuse, this talent for impersonating the statue of Nelson in Dublin had not so soon passed from me, which prevented me from resembling Nelson even further than intended by having my arm torn off at the shoulder.
<p> After relieving our haversack of the string of herrings, the bear made a contented and leisurely path out the other end of the clearing and disappeared into the brush, leaving in his hairy wake all the bits and bobs spilt from the mauled rucksack, including Yorick’s accordion—miraculously intact in the middle of the broken, scattered supplies. Like Auntie, the he-bear’s presence and demeanor alone had constituted the bulk of the distress, and in his absence I found a sort of respect for the forthright manner in which the bear pursued his aim, without recourse to half-cloaked intimations and garden-party politics.
<p> As Yorick had in his haste departed without his pack and thus without the benefit of our map, I set off in a direction I favored due to the pleasing coloration of the flowers along the trail. As fortune would have it, it wasn’t very long before I happened upon Yorick, eager and uneaten and sitting at the bottom of a steep run of gravel, holding his right leg. His grimace, untranslated from the Teutonic, seemed as likely to have been out of sheepishness at confronting me whom he abandoned as it was to have been out of physical pain. Like a thorough medic, though, I gave the limb a few trial blows just to be certain.
<p> “Ah! Careful, chap! I twisted my right leg.”
<p> “I might have gotten devoured!”
<p> “Yes, but you didn’t. And a hypothetical injury really doesn’t count for much measured against the unmistakable reality of one. My leg will be useless, why, for days.”
<p> I was forced to admit his argument, and reluctantly acknowledged that we were even.
<p> When I took my leave from the Countess and Yorick the following week, holding my handkerchief to my eyes to disguise my lack of tears, he had yet to drum up the expense of a new melodeon to replace that so callously destroyed by the he-bear.David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-39681700242243519352021-03-28T15:23:00.007-04:002021-03-28T15:23:53.286-04:00From the Mail Bag<p>Dan C. asked, "Is there a DVD somewhere I can buy to see all of Robert's comedy shorts please? I'd really like to buy it.
<p>Answer: You can find them easily on Amazon (other vendors as well). There is no single collection of all in one place because he worked for competing studios, so the copyrights are held by various companies.
<p>Anyone care to add to this response to Dan? David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-19246140155151789812021-03-28T15:15:00.001-04:002021-03-28T15:15:39.292-04:00The Robert Benchley Society is Now Old Enough to Have a Legal Drink (Not that Stopped Us in the Past)<p>On March 29, 2003, the Robert Benchley Society was organized in an Irish pub on Beacon Hill, Boston. Mr. David Trumbull of Boston was elected chairman, Miss Pamela Siska of Cambridge was elected vice-chairman, Mrs. David (Sharon) Lyon of Boston was elected secretary, Mr. Dave Lyon of Boston was elected treasurer, Mr. Kevin Fitzpatrick of New York, N.Y. was elected a director.
<p><a href='http://robertbenchley.org/rbs/minutes030329.htm' target='_blank'>minutes of the meeting</a>.
David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-50562443003416410032021-03-21T17:48:00.002-04:002021-03-21T17:49:53.941-04:00Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me<p>Robert Benchley was a prankster. Among his practice jokes, he left a note for the milkman at Grant's Tomb, and left two Beacon Hill Boston families in confusion as to the origin and ownership of a sofa (which is why "We've Come for the Davenport" is the name of the Boston Chapter of the Robert Benchley Society.
<p>With April Fools' Day just ten days away, I invite Society members, friends, and followers, to submit suggested short essays or excerpts from longer works, that contain a practical joke. Your submissions will be collected into a list to be posted on the Robert Benchley Society blog and Facebook page.
<p>Each submission must include:
<ul>
<li>The name of the author,
<li>the name of the work (is okay to submit your own work),
<li>the date of the work, and
<li>a link to the work so people can read it.
</ul>
<p>Optionally, a brief sentence on why you chose this particular piece.
<p>The list of your submissions will be published on the eve of April Fools' Day.
<p>To submit, please email <a href='mailto:david@robertbenchley.org'>david@robertbenchley.org</a>.
David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-76771448160731659362021-03-20T13:30:00.006-04:002021-03-20T13:41:18.010-04:00Call for Volunteers<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JIOUzTjzDmc/UQSM8eH7NnI/AAAAAAAAAXA/7-l8bEOoOokCsfgJOW87Vy5On0TTjZ38ACPcBGAYYCw/s1200/ernst_gordon.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="915" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JIOUzTjzDmc/UQSM8eH7NnI/AAAAAAAAAXA/7-l8bEOoOokCsfgJOW87Vy5On0TTjZ38ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/ernst_gordon.jpg"/></a></div>After a long period of inactivity, a few persons have stepped forward with interest in giving the Robert Benchley Society a "reboot." Come on and join us. We did active members at whatever level of commitment you care to make. Together we can make the '20s roar with laugher, once again, as our beloved Mr. Benchley did in the '20s of the late century.
<p>To volunteer, email <a href='mailto:david@robertbenchley.org'>david@robertbenchley.org</a>.
<p>PHOTE: Gordon Ernst (1959-2012), author of the most comprehensive listing of Robert Benchley's books, essays, newspaper writings, and drama criticism, <i>Robert Benchley: An Annotated Bibliography</i>. It also contains a publishing chronology, filmography, and discography. We miss Gordon's dry wit at Society gatherings.David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-33351587853419092812021-03-20T13:13:00.003-04:002021-03-20T14:50:56.508-04:00Garden of Allah Hotel’s 1930 Neon Sign Hits the Market<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3y16cNYXkPY/YFYyiuUHomI/AAAAAAAAAy4/3coJ_ttECl4i0mk3gS37-jKxAAOF7nAJwCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/Garden-of-Allah-sign-today-600x468.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3y16cNYXkPY/YFYyiuUHomI/AAAAAAAAAy4/3coJ_ttECl4i0mk3gS37-jKxAAOF7nAJwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Garden-of-Allah-sign-today-600x468.jpg"/></a></div>Algonquin Round Table members Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and others lived at the hotel off and on for years.
<p>Read more at <a href='https://wehoville.com/2021/03/18/a-piece-of-hollywood-history-garden-of-allah-hotels-1930-neon-sign-hits-the-market/' target='_blank'>https://wehoville.com/2021/03/18/a-piece-of-hollywood-history-garden-of-allah-hotels-1930-neon-sign-hits-the-market/</a>.
<p>Or, visit the website of the owner, Martin Turnbull, at <a href='https://martinturnbull.com/about-the-garden-of-allah-series-of-books-by-martin-turnbull/want-to-visit-golden-era-hollywood/' target='_blank'>https://martinturnbull.com/2020/10/30/an-original-garden-of-allah-hotel-sign-rescued-and-awaiting-restoration-october-2020-2/</a>.David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-66691403742236460692021-03-06T10:35:00.000-05:002021-03-06T10:35:04.228-05:00Thurber Prize for American Humor 2020 Finalists<p>The Thurber Prize for American Humor is a recognition of humor writing in the United States. A panel of national judges selects three finalists to attend the awards ceremony in Columbus, Ohio, where the winner is announced, presented with the Thurber Prize for American Humor, and awarded $5,000.
<p>See who the finalists are at <a href='https://www.thurberhouse.org/current-finalists' target='_blank'>https://www.thurberhouse.org/current-finalists</a>David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-5572013330793569482021-03-06T09:42:00.001-05:002021-03-06T09:42:50.387-05:00Robert Benchley in ColorIn the first half of the 20th century, America transformed from a young country on the rise into a global superpower. It's a decisive period in our nation's history, and much of that history was caught, at the time, in black-and-white motion picture newsreels. The Smithsonian Channel, available on many cable TV providers, presents those historic moments, colorized in 17 episodes of
<a href='https://www.smithsonianchannel.com/details/series/america-in-color' target='_blank'>America in Color</a>
<p>The movie industry was born in West Orange, New Jersey, in 1893 by Thomas Edison. Within thirty years, Hollywood grew into America's fourth largest, and by far most glamorous, industry. Revisit the Golden Age of Hollywood, when actors became global celebrities, moguls became millionaires, and the entire nation became movie crazy. Using digitally remastered news footage, rare studio archives, and home movie footage, look back on the dawn and meteoric rise of Tinseltown in color. Watch "America in Color: Hollywood's Golden Age" on your cable provider and keep on eye open for an uncredited Robert Benchley serving up a meal for our service men at the Hollywood Canteen.David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-83115248288107859072020-11-22T15:35:00.001-05:002020-11-22T15:35:01.508-05:00R.I.P., Robert C. Benchley, September 15, 1889 - November 21, 1945<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mnvRg-rmZpo/X7rLYcT_hII/AAAAAAAAAxM/pS7npQKlmesc_UyY1eHJ9NonHy8gLXDDQCLcBGAsYHQ/s416/Hirschfeld.gif" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="405" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mnvRg-rmZpo/X7rLYcT_hII/AAAAAAAAAxM/pS7npQKlmesc_UyY1eHJ9NonHy8gLXDDQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Hirschfeld.gif"/></a></div>David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-49990433811263552612019-07-03T19:53:00.001-04:002019-07-03T19:54:13.960-04:00Arte Johnson, 1929-2019The Robert Benchley Society is saddened by the death of friend and supporter, Arte Johnson. Johnson was an American comic actor who was a regular on television's Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. His best-remembered characters on the sketch show were a German soldier with the catchphrase "Verrrry interesting...", and an old man who habitually propositioned Ruth Buzzi's spinster character.
<p>In 2012 he was the celebrity judge of the <a href='http://robertbenchley.org/competition/index.htm' target='_blank'>Robert Benchley Award for Humor</a> and was the after dinner speaker at the Society's October 13, 2012, <a href='http://robertbenchley.org/AG2012/registration.htm' target='_blank'>Annual Gathering</a>, in Los Angeles.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8eWKR2dbsAM/XR0_fJlt3PI/AAAAAAAAAug/bDqpwkFas3sQ6YECjgGXR7f3aKME6JDCACLcBGAs/s1600/2012-10-13-jbc-c03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8eWKR2dbsAM/XR0_fJlt3PI/AAAAAAAAAug/bDqpwkFas3sQ6YECjgGXR7f3aKME6JDCACLcBGAs/s320/2012-10-13-jbc-c03.jpg" width="320" height="240" data-original-width="960" data-original-height="720" /></a></div>
<p>Johnson with 2012 RBS First Place winner, Tim French.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z_kFUV0oHGA/XR0_yoGEXRI/AAAAAAAAAuo/OrcrSzQPTlI8uHo7EjY9j197UypQC01rwCLcBGAs/s1600/2012-10-13-jbc-d04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z_kFUV0oHGA/XR0_yoGEXRI/AAAAAAAAAuo/OrcrSzQPTlI8uHo7EjY9j197UypQC01rwCLcBGAs/s320/2012-10-13-jbc-d04.jpg" width="320" height="240" data-original-width="960" data-original-height="720" /></a></div>
<p>Johnson with competition runner-up, Jesse Levy.David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-33585437960620479292019-05-08T01:30:00.000-04:002019-05-08T01:30:04.456-04:00From the MailbagA query from one of Mr. Benchley's fans.
<p>"Reading Meade's biography of Dorothy Parker, and on page 175 a mistress he would visit in Chicago is mentioned, who went on to have a 45 year career on the American and British stage. I assume she was still alive in 1987. Any idea who she was?"
<p>If anyone can answer this inquiry please contact David Trumbull at <a href='mailto:david@robertbenchley.org'>david@robertbenchley.org</a>
David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-9818790608540851492019-05-07T01:00:00.000-04:002019-05-07T01:00:03.830-04:00From the MailbagHello David:
<p>I was wondering if you had any leads as to which of Robert Benchley shorts are in the public domain?
<p>I am researching film for a classic comedy film fest, but working on a shoestring budget, and would really like to include something of Mr. Benchley's. [But I only want to include something if it's public domain/legally appropriate to do so.]
<p>Here are the titles of films I'm wondering are public domain:
<p>"Home Movies" (1940)
<br>"How to Sleep" (1935)
<br>"Sex Life of a Polyp"(1928)
<br>"How to be a Detective" (1936)
<br>"A Night at the Movies" (1940)
<p>I appreciate your time and information.
<p>Peace and take care,
<br>Deb Mortenson
<br>Owner/Curator of the New London Roaming Cinema
<p>If anyone can answer this inquiry please contact David Trumbull at <a href='mailto:david@robertbenchley.org'>david@robertbenchley.org</a>
David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-68566478766536413712019-05-05T15:07:00.002-04:002019-05-05T15:17:05.594-04:00Joseph Daggy ("Horace J. Digby") 1950-2019<p>Joseph Daggy, a Kelso, Washington attorney known for his many creative undertakings and sharp sense of humor, died March 7 at home after a 12-year battle with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. He was 68.
<p>Daggy, whose articles under the penname “Horace J. Digby” earned him the Robert Benchley Society Award for humor writing, in 2005, the first winner of this award, was remembered by his friends for his diverse range of interests, sense of humor and selfless dedication to his friends.
<p>Fellow attorney Kurt Anagnostou was Daggy’s partner at Daggy & Anagnostou for 35 years. One word came up frequently in his description of his former legal partner: talented.
<p>Qhether it was his bass playing in the 1960s Woodland band “The Brougham Closet,” his humor column as Horace Digby for the Columbia River Reader, or his dedication to practicing law, Anagnostou said Daggy excelled at his passions. Daggy operated a film company, “Lexington Film,” and ran unsuccessfully in 2010 and 2012 for judicial positions on the state Court of Appeals and Cowlitz County Superior Court bench.
<p>“It’s a big loss in my life,” Anagnostou said. “He was extremely intelligent, talented (and) had a lot of different interests that he pursued. He had a great, quirky sense of humor; that’s why he was part of the Sandbaggers. I’m gonna miss him a lot.”
<p>In the Sandbaggers, a loose affiliation of Longview community promoters, pranksters and mischief-makers, Daggy played an all-important role: the voice of reason.
<p>“He always kept us on the legal side,” Sandbagger and Longview City Councilman Ken Botero said. “We pushed the limits a lot. ... Joe is one of the most inspirational guys for sandbaggers.”
<p>Daggy was one of a kind and cared deeply about Longview and the county, Botero said.
<p>“He’s gonna be missed terribly, especially some of his humor. Joe Daggy was one of a kind. He always had something positive for everybody to work with,” Botero said.
<p>Whether it was with local residents or people he met on the plane, “Joe was everybody’s friend,” his wife Sharon Daggy said. She continues to work part-time as a bookkeeper at Daggy & Anagnostou.
<p>“Many people have said that he changed their life,” she said. “I remember people from high school saying high school had cliques, but he wasn’t a part of a clique.”
<p>Daggy’s decades of legal experience included some time as a District Court judge pro tem and as a public defender, and he argued cases before the state Court of Appeals. Later in his career, he focused on civil law. Daggy received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Washington and earned his law degree from Willamette University in 1974. He was a past president of the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Bar Association.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HepPopplQvc/XM82pLmKwfI/AAAAAAAAAts/cKeE6LED18AMeH0xtVge6A18TRfnJVW2QCLcBGAs/s1600/digby-barry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HepPopplQvc/XM82pLmKwfI/AAAAAAAAAts/cKeE6LED18AMeH0xtVge6A18TRfnJVW2QCLcBGAs/s400/digby-barry.jpg" width="282" height="400" data-original-width="233" data-original-height="331" /></a></div>Daggy was friends with Pulitzer Prize-winning American columnist Dave Barry, one of many guests he interviewed on his online radio show “The Horace J. Digby Report.”
<p>Dwain Buck, one of Daggy’s closest friends, recalled Daggy having the ability to crack jokes that were funny but didn’t punch down, and added that his wife and son, Adam, were a huge part of Daggy’s life and success.
<p>“He always had something very uplifting,” Buck said. “It’s the most difficult type of humor to be able to pull off, because it doesn’t insult or make fun of anybody.”
<p>When Buck first learned Daggy was fighting cancer, he rushed to see him at the hospital and ask how he could help.
<p>“He looked at me and said, very seriously, ‘don’t worry,’ “ Buck said. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, not to worry.”
The We Only Came to See if There Really is an Award is the third, or gamma, chapter of the RBS. Members are in southwest Washington and northwest Oregon.
<p>David Trumbull, Chairman of the RBS said, "It Labor Day weekend, 2005 at the Benchley in Boston 2005 celebration at which Joe Daggy (aka Horace Digby), of Kelso, Washington, was presented with the first annual Robert Benchley Society Humor Award that I first met this funny and caring man. Horace with the founder of the "We Only Came to See if There Really is an Award" chapter of the RBS, with members in southwest Washington and northwest Oregon. He was also West Coast Vice-Chairman of the Society.David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-23700080307513017752018-03-28T15:21:00.001-04:002018-03-28T15:21:10.018-04:00The Roaring Twenties in the United StatesIt was an era of wealth and poverty, Prohibition and speakeasies, flappers and revivalists, when America was a world power that didn't want to get involved with the world, when the business of America was business, and silent films were in their heyday. For the first time in its history, the United States had more people living in urban communities than in the country, and this social transformation reverberated through its politics and culture. We'll look at politicians and criminals (sometimes the same people), writers living abroad, laborers barely getting by at home. Chronological and bibliographical handouts provided.
<p>Starting April 5, 2018, the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Center for Adult Education will be offering a six-week course on this fascinating period. The instructor has confirmed that cultural icons such as Robert Benchley and Dorothy Parker will be part of the mix. Learn more or sign up at <a href='https://ccae.org/' target='_blank'>https://ccae.org/</a>David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-89919789674441482602018-03-28T15:12:00.000-04:002018-03-28T15:14:31.264-04:00Benchley Beside Himself<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hGBvbwC6FrM" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>Get your own <a href='http://benchley.blogspot.com/2018/03/robert-benchley-likeness-in-3d-plastic.html' target='_blank'>REPLICA OF THE BUST OF BENCHLEY</a> seen in this movie clip.David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-19484754899785697072018-03-15T14:37:00.003-04:002018-03-15T14:37:40.814-04:00Robert Benchley' Likeness in 3D plastic, 10 inches high, sanded and dipped to be a perfect white bust for any book shelf or mantle<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9M6cnMbSNcE/Wqq9Muq7GLI/AAAAAAAAAsw/mWJNXAuNes0U0f8kNySfDAquib5hlROEgCLcBGAs/s1600/Benchley%2Bor%2BBust%2B%2BFinal%2BJ.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9M6cnMbSNcE/Wqq9Muq7GLI/AAAAAAAAAsw/mWJNXAuNes0U0f8kNySfDAquib5hlROEgCLcBGAs/s400/Benchley%2Bor%2BBust%2B%2BFinal%2BJ.jpg" width="400" height="306" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1224" /></a>David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-27233225864776607222018-03-07T14:45:00.001-05:002018-03-07T14:45:35.008-05:00Winners Named in the Erma Bombeck Writing CompetitionPulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry and award-winning novelist and short story writer Bonnie Jo Campbell, finalist judges in the 2018 Erma Bombeck Writing Competition, have selected four winners and awarded 14 honorable mentions. Betsy Bombeck, a social worker, community volunteer and daughter of the legendary humorist Erma Bombeck, will deliver the keynote address at the Erma Bombeck Writing Competition Awards Ceremony at 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 4, at the Centerville Library, 111 W. Spring Valley Rd. It’s free and open to the public, but advance registration is required. Read more <a href='http://humorwriters.org/2018/02/08/winning-writers/' target='_blank'>HERE</a>.David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-3567376108973402092018-02-14T10:00:00.000-05:002018-02-14T10:01:01.690-05:00For the Year of the Dog, Nine Dog-Themed Benchley Essays<TABLE BORDER=1 BGCOLOR=#ffffff CELLSPACING=0><FONT FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000><CAPTION><B>Lookup Keyword Dogs</B></CAPTION></FONT>
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<TH BGCOLOR=#c0c0c0 BORDERCOLOR=#000000 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>Essay Title</FONT></TH>
<TH BGCOLOR=#c0c0c0 BORDERCOLOR=#000000 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>Appears in</FONT></TH>
<TH BGCOLOR=#c0c0c0 BORDERCOLOR=#000000 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>On Page</FONT></TH>
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<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>Animal Stories: Georgie Dog</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>Love Conquers All</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>174</FONT></TD>
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<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>Dog Libel</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>My Ten Years in a Quandary and How They Grew</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>16</FONT></TD>
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<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>Dogs and Public Service</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>Benchley--Or Else!</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>248</FONT></TD>
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<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>Dogs and Public Service</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>From Bed to Worse, or Comforting Thoughts about the Bison</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>251</FONT></TD>
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<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>The French, They Are –</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>My Ten Years in a Quandary and How They Grew</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>88</FONT></TD>
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<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>How Doggie Goes</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>No Poems, Or Around the World Backwards and Sideways</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>14</FONT></TD>
</TR>
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<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>How Doggie Goes</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>Benchley Lost and Found</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>94</FONT></TD>
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<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>A Protest</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>After 1903--What</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>252</FONT></TD>
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<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>Talking Dogs</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>My Ten Years in a Quandary and How They Grew</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>120</FONT></TD>
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<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>The Vigil</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>My Ten Years in a Quandary and How They Grew</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>285</FONT></TD>
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<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>Your Boy and His Dog</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>Chips off the Old Benchley</FONT></TD>
<TD BORDERCOLOR=#c0c0c0 ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR=#000000>94</FONT></TD>
</TR>
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<TFOOT></TFOOT>
</TABLE>
David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-60267969932187271352018-02-14T09:30:00.000-05:002018-02-14T09:30:11.019-05:00Celebrating the Year of the Dog - The Lunar New Year Begins Tomorrow, February 16, 2018How Georgie Dog Gets the Rubbers on the Guest Room Bed, by Robert Benchley (as it appears in "Love Conquers All", the full text of which is available of the <a href='http://www.robertbenchley.org/sob/index.htm' target='_blank'>RBS website</a>.
<p><b>How Georgie Dog Gets the Rubbers on the Guest Room Bed</b>
<p>Old Mother Nature gathered all her little pupils about her for the daily lesson in "How the Animals Do the Things They Do." Every day Waldo Lizard, Edna Elephant and Lawrence Walrus came to Mother Nature's school, and there learned all about the useless feats performed by their brother and sister animals.
<p>"Today," said Mother Nature, "we shall find out how it is that Georgie Dog manages to get the muddy rubbers from the hall closet, up the stairs, and onto the nice white bedspread in the guest room. You must be sure to listen carefully and pay strict attention to what Georgie Dog says. Only, don't take too much of it seriously, for Georgie is an awful liar."
<p>And, sure enough, in came Georgie Dog, wagging his entire torso in a paroxysm of camaradarie, although everyone knew that he had no use for Waldo Lizard.
<p>"Tell us, Georgie," said Mother Nature, "how do you do your clever work of rubber-dragging? We would like so much to know. Wouldn't we, children?"
<p>"No, Mother Nature!" came the instant response from the children.
<p>So Georgie Dog began.
<p>"Well, I'll tell you; it's this way," he said, snapping at a fly. "You have to be very niftig about it. First of all, I lie by the door of the hall closet until I see a nice pair of muddy rubbers kicked into it."
<p>"How muddy ought they to be?" asked Edna Elephant, although little enough use she would have for the information.
<p>"I am glad that you asked that question," replied Georgie. "Personally; I like to have mud on them about the consistency of gurry -- that is, not too wet -- because then it will all drip off on the way upstairs, and not so dry that it scrapes off on the carpet. For we must save it all for the bedspread, you know.
<p>"As soon as the rubbers are safely in the hall closet, I make a great deal of todo about going into the other room, in order to give the impression that there is nothing interesting enough in the hall to keep me there. A good, loud yawn helps to disarm any suspicion of undue excitement. I sometimes even chew a bit of fringe on the sofa and take a scolding for it—anything to draw attention from the rubbers. Then, when everyone is at dinner, I sneak out and drag them forth."
<p>"And how do you manage to take them both at once?" piped up Lawrence Walrus.
<p>"I am glad that you asked that question," said Georgie, "because I was trying to avoid it. You can never guess what the answer is. It is very difficult to take two at a time, and so we usually have to take one and then go back and get the other. I had a cousin once who knew a grip which could be worked on the backs of overshoes, by means of which he could drag two at a time, but he was an exceptionally fine dragger. He once took a pair of rubber boots from the barn into the front room, where a wedding was taking place, and put them on the bride's train. Of course, not one dog in a million could hope to do that.
<p>"Once upstairs, it is quite easy getting them into the guest room, unless the door happens to be shut. Then what do you think I do? I go around through the bath-room window onto the roof, and walk around to the sleeping porch, and climb down into the guest room that way. It is a lot of trouble, but I think that you will agree with me that the results are worth it.
<p>"Climbing up on the bed with the rubbers in my mouth is difficult, but it doesn't make any difference if some of the mud comes off on the side of the bedspread. In fact, it all helps in the final effect. I usually try to smear them around when I get them at last on the spread, and if I can leave one of them on the pillow, I feel that it's a pretty fine little old world, after all. This done, and I am off."
<p>And Georgie Dog suddenly disappeared in official pursuit of an automobile going eighty-five miles an hour.
<p>"So now," said Mother Nature to her little pupils, "we have heard all about Georgie Dog's work. To-morrow we may listen to Lillian Mosquito tell how she makes her voice carry across a room."David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-46652880787999506642018-02-11T17:48:00.002-05:002018-02-11T17:48:22.705-05:00Valentine's Day GreetingSand is also a good place on which to write, "I love you," as it would be difficult to get into court after several years have passed. -- Robert Benchley, from the essay "All Sandy," and published in <i>No Poems, or Around the World Backwards and Sideways</i>, 1932.
<p>For more Benchley authenticated quotations see, <a href='http://www.robertbenchley.org/sob/quotes.htm' target='_blank'>www.robertbenchley.org/sob/quotes.htm</a>David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-41187762050985567262018-02-05T10:50:00.001-05:002018-02-05T10:50:31.801-05:00Animated Marx Brothers by Matthew Hahn<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bJ6RQcnfWRI" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-50334743196266015232018-01-28T10:51:00.000-05:002018-01-28T10:56:02.520-05:002018 Thurber Prize for American Humor CALL FOR SUBMISSIONSSee <a href='http://www.thurberhouse.org/thurber-prize/' target='_blank'>http://www.thurberhouse.org/thurber-prize/</a>David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944527145765262011.post-60725210427177078162018-01-28T10:39:00.001-05:002018-01-28T10:47:51.866-05:00Kevin Fitzpatrick January 2018 Newsletter1. The New York Public Library launched citywide “Community Conversations.” On January 31 I am speaking at the flagship library on Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street. The topic is <a href='http://www.algonquinroundtable.org/algonquin-round-table-conversation-january-31-at-new-york-public-library/' target='_blank'>literary New York and the Algonquin Round Table</a>.
<p>2. My weekly <a href='http://bigapplefanaticstours.com/walk-in-the-footsteps-of-the-vicious-circle/' target='_blank'>walking tours</a> resume January 29 with literary Manhattan tours and Dorothy Parker’s hangouts (I started leading this tour 19 years ago!)
<p>3. My book <a href='http://www.fitzpatrickauthor.com/books/world-war-i-new-york-a-guide-to-the-citys-enduring-ties-to-the-great-war/' target='_blank'>World War I New York: A Guide to the City’s Enduring Ties to the Great War</a> is nominated for an Apple Award by the Guides Association of New York City for Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction NYC Book Writing.
David Trumbullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843353504446253840noreply@blogger.com0