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     Daryl wrote --   
      
   >   I guess he was like Jack Benny, and was too cheap to pay his writers.    
      
      I was watching a comedy clip of a show from around 1960.  The owner of a   
   company was being interviewed and one of the questions was the   
   qualifications one needed to work for them.   
      He replied "not knowing what the minimal wage law is".   
      I thought of my company immediately.  :)   
      
   >  JM>   I loved their "feud".  In real life they were good friends.   
   >    
   >   It sounded that way between Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, and W.C.    
   > Fields.   
      
      Theirs was great as well, as they sparred almost every week.   
      Funny thing about Bergen.     
      He would occasionally misspeak as himself, but never as Charlie or   
   Mortimer.  And Charlie was always quick to point out Bergen's mistake.   
      
   >  JM> jokes were funnier when Benny was on Sunday and Allen on Wednesday to   
   hear what they would say about the other each week.   
   >    
   >   Did they ever appear on stage together??   
      
     Oh many times.   
     They each went back to vaudeville, where they met.  Never did anything on   
   stage together that I know of.   
     Each went on national radio in 1932.   
     In 1936 they were both well known to the audience.    
     Fred had a 10 year-old violin player on his semi-variety show and made a   
   crack that a certain violinist on another show should hang his head in shame   
   for calling himself a musician.   
     That started it and the next Sunday Jack replied, then Fred replied to   
   Jack's response, and the rest is history.   
     Its been said theirs was the longest running feud on radio, 20 years,   
   before Fred died in 1956.   
     In real life they were very good friends and appeared on each others   
   shows about once a year, usually when Jack was in NYC where Fred lived.   
        
   >  JM>   When Allen was moved to Sunday following Benny's show Fred could get   
   in a crack but it would be a week before Jack could reply.   
   >    
   >   I think back then, most of the shows were done "live".   
       
      All network shows were live, often done twice.  First for the east coast   
   and three hours later for the west coast.  If a show was from LA it was   
   often done only once.  So Jack's 7 p.m. show was heard live at 4 p.m. when it   
   was 7 in the eastern time zone.   
      NBC had a rule no transcribed (recording) programming was allowed,   
   unless for some special event.  They believed the audience felt cheated having   
   to   
   to listen to a recorded show.   
     CBS was a bit more flexible, allowing for some recorded programs.     
     Both networks had a rule if a recording it was to be mentioned as such.   
     Mutual was a loose confederation of stations and how no real network   
   times, so most of their programming was recorded.     
     The programs were recorded in either NYC, Chicago or LA (after being   
   aired live there) and mailed to stations around the country.  Once the program   
   was aired in the big cities it was passed along to the smaller markets who   
   were to destroy the discs once the   
     NBC/CBS had a show at certain times but Mutual, but no real network,   
   recorded shows for local stations in their network to play pretty much whenever   
   they wanted, but trying to stick to the same day and hour across the   
   country.   
     NBC kept the recording ban till the late '40s/early '50s.   
     By then tape was available which reproduced sound better, it was easier   
   to edit programs (than than wax discs) and so forth.   
     Bing Crosby was a big NBC star and wanted to use tape and left NBC for   
   the new upstart ABC (formerly the old NBC Blue Network) when the FCC said NBC   
   having Red and Blue was a monopoly.   
     NBC Red had the big shows, Blue had the lesser ones.   
     The red and blue originally merely id'ed within the company which phone   
   line the program was carried on.   
         
   >  JM>   Almost all of Jack's radio programs were saved (he started having his   
   show transcribed, at his expense, early in his radio career).   
   >  JM>   Allen's shows are often hit and miss.  Many recordings were made, but   
   many also lost over the years.   
   >    
   >   Interesting.   
      
     Recording programs was expensive.   
     An engineer did the original recording on one side of a 8" disk, which   
   was recorded at 33 1/3, 15 minutes were side.  So at the 15 minute mark he had   
   to start the second recording and so on.   
     And the discs were very fragile.  Drop or damage one and its over.   
     And editing was a pain.   
     You had someone playing a disk and another recording.  Shows for the   
   armed forces during the war were not allowed to play commercials, the war   
   department felt this was an endorsement of whatever product.     
     The second recording had to be stopped, the ad skipped then the program   
   started again.  Once in a while a AFRS disc would include a word or two of   
   the ad then right back to the program.    
      
   >   I was trying to think who had the cluttered closet, but I want to say it   
   was Fibber McGee.   
      
     Yep.  The show was noted for that.   
     And it was only used once or twice a season so it wouldn't get overworked   
   and wear out its welcome.   
     The audience didn't see "the closet" until it was time.  It was hidden   
   away.  And the sound man had to be very careful everything didn't come   
   crashing down from the step ladder until its time.   
      There as all sorts of stuff he pushed onto the stage much to the delight   
   of those listening.   
      
   > Then, when he made a comment, it was "Not funny, McGee".    
      
     "Tain't funny, McGee" Molly would say.   
     Jim and Marian Jordan were a small time vaudeville double.  A double was   
   two people (duh) usually husband and wife, whom theatre owners liked since   
   while a double they were paid as a single.   Marion sang and Jim told   
   stories.   
      They started in radio in the late '20s/early '30s in the Chicago area   
   with a show called "Smackout", with Fibber as the owner of a small town   
   general store who was always smack out of whatever a customer wanted.   
      Johnson and Johnson were looking for a radio show to sell their wax and   
   the Jordans' became FM&M.  They were passing thought Wistful Vista and   
   brought a raffle ticket for a house and won and settled there.  The first shows   
   had just driving around the count   
      Told you probably more than you cared to know.  :)   
      One time at a meeting I was in this fella asked another a question and   
   the other fella went on a long involved answer.  When he finished the first   
   guy sighed and said "I'm sorry I asked" and everyone in the room broke up.   
      Joe   
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