From the Mail Bag

Dear Mr. Trumbull,
I am looking for a story by Robert Benchley and I wonder if you would help me. A favorite childhood memory is of my father reading Benchley aloud to us. One of our family's favorites, one that always resulted in our laughing ourselves out of breath, was his woeful tale of substituting at his wife's afternoon bridge party. I remember the way he described the silence at his table amidst the hum that arose in the room as the players finished their hands and began their postmortems: "at our table there was no postmortem, but not because there had been no death." I have lost this story; I don't remember it's title or what book it is in. Can you help? Sincere best wishes from a life-long Benchley lover, Linda W.

Dear Linda,
Thank you for contacting the Robert Benchley Society. The essay you seek is called "Not According to Hoyle" and appears at page 77 of the book Of All Things. The book is available for purchase through a link to Amazon.com on our website at http://www.robertbenchley.org/shop/index.htm. The work is in the public domain in the United States and is available to view or print out free on our website at http://www.robertbenchley.org/oat/index.htm. Yours, David Trumbull

Benchley's "Of All Things" Available Free Online

Thank you, Chris Morgan of the Boston, "We've Come for the Davenport" Chapter of the Robert Benchley Society for alerting us that the complete text and illustrations of Benchley's 1921 book Of All Things was, last month, made available on Project Gutenberg. This is the second Benchley book, after Love Conquers All, to be scanned and uploaded to Project Gutenberg which make books in the public domain available free online.

Of All Things and Love Conquers All are also now available on the Robert Benchley Society website at http://www.robertbenchley.org/sob/index.htm

Hear Ted Delorme Read Benchley

Ted Delorme has contacted the Robert Benchley Society with the exciting and welcome news that he has created an audio recording of Robert Benchley's book Love Conquers All and has uploaded it to the Librivox project where it is available free of charge. For more information about Mr. Delorme's audio recording projects see his website http://glassmask.net/ted/librivox.html. For a direct link to Mr. Delorme's recording of Love Conquers All click on http://librivox.org/love-conquers-all-by-robert-benchley/.

"The Tooth, the Whole Tooth, and Nothing But the Tooth"

The Robert Benchley Society has been contacted by someone asking:

In 1950, I was in a public speaking class at LA High School, and was entered in a speech contest at Redlands University. My teacher had me memorize "The Tooth, The Whole Tooth, and Nothing But The Tooth", by Robert Benchley. Now, with 24 grandchildren, I'd love to re-memorize it. Can you tell me if it is in "The Best of Robert Benchley", and if not, what of his works might it be in?? Any help would be much appreciated.

The answer is that "The Tooth, the Whole Tooth, and Nothing But the Tooth" appears in Love Conquers All (1922), beginning on page 131, and Inside Benchley (1942), beginning on page 73. We also note that Love Conquers All is available free online on the Robert Benchley Society website at http://www.robertbenchley.org/lca/index.htm#toc_47.

I'm a Civilian Here Myself update

The entire short of Robert Benchley's I'm a Civilian Here Myself may be viewed online in this series of clips:

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675031663_American-sailors_Robert-Benchley_civilian-in-every-sailor_separation-camp

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675031664_American-sailors_sailors-return-to-hometown_sailor-discusses-about-jobs_pension

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675031665_American-sailors_Robert-Benchley_security-men-stand-near-him

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675031666_American-sailors_Robert-Benchley_talks-to-his-own-portrait_physical-checkup-of-sailors

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675031667_American-sailors_Robert-Benchley_sailors-discuss-about-the-interview_man-plays-the-piano

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675031668_American-sailors_Robert-Benchley_gathering-for-official-discharge_certificate-of-discharge