Kiss Me Stupid (1964)

This movie is one of the many sex comedies that were popular in the 1950's and 1960's.  Orville (Ray Walston) is a piano teacher in a small town who loves his wife Zelda (Felicia Farr).  However, Orville is very jealous and in the habit of accusing everyone from the milkman to one of his piano students of giving his wife the eye.  Orville doesn't much trust Zelda to be faithful, either.

A popular singer named Dino (Dean Martin) stops in the town on his way to Los Vegas to get gas.  Barney (Cliff Osmond), who runs the gas station, sees this as a perfect opportunity to sell Dino some of the songs he and Orville have written together.  Barney and Orville cook up a scheme to keep Dino in town for the night.  But Orville regrets allowing Dino to stay in his house when he sees how much the singer is impressed by a photo of Zelda.  Urged on by Barney, Orville picks a fight with Zelda to get her out of the house before Dino sees her.  Polly the Pistol (Kim Novak), the prettiest cocktail waitress in town, is pushed into service to masquerade as Zelda.  The plan is to offer Polly's charms up to Dino so he'll buy Orville and Barney's songs.  But as usual in these types of films, things get way out of hand very quickly.

Dean Martin basically played an exaggerated version of himself in this film.  Martin's public persona was that of a good time guy who liked women and booze, and that worked well in this movie.  It's funny to see Ray Walston, known for playing mostly controlled wily characters with common sense, play a guy who is out-of-control.  I found this film to be quite bawdy for the time that it was made.  I have no doubt that if this movie was remade today, the situations presented would have gone a lot further.

Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) and Henry Gibson (of TV's "Laugh-In") have small roles in this movie.

"The Jack Benny Program" (1950-1965)

One night while dealing with the usual insomnia, I noticed that a local station was running reruns of "The Jack Benny Program" during the wee hours of the morning.  I remembered the comedian from when I was a kid, but I didn't get his humor back then.  I decided to familiarize myself with his sitcom, and I've been sitting up late watching it ever since.  Benny (1894-1974) was one of the few performers of the 20th century whose career spanned vaudeville, stage, radio, movies, and television.  His radio show had made a seamless transition to TV in the 1950's.  During the early days of its run, the show didn't appear every week, often alternating weeks with other sitcoms such as "Private Secretary". It was one of TV's longest running sitcoms, and it is often considered the model for other sitcoms that came after it. 

Similar to shows like "The Gary Shandling Show", "Seinfeld", and "The Bernie Mac Show", Jack Benny played a fictionalized version of himself.  On the show, Benny was a bachelor who fancied himself a ladies' man.  Benny's TV character, as on radio, was also vain (always claiming to be 39 years of age), cheap, and easily irritated and confused by those around him.  Some plots were shows-within-shows as Benny interacted with scores of guest stars -- a who's who of Hollywood, basically - who came to perform in stand alone segments and/or skits with him.  Other plots involved Benny dealing with various incidents that took place at his home and elsewhere. 

Benny was a master at timing.  Often, he didn't have to say anything.  A look of confusion or irritation, and a hand up to his cheek was enough to express the humor.  He knew exactly how long to draw out a joke for laughs.  Other staples of the show were Benny's catchphrases of "Well!" and "Now cut that out!"  He would often make references to the fact that he was from Waukegan, IL.  I notice in many episodes he would use the expression "lookit", to get someone's attention.  Only people from the Midwest say that.  Sometimes, guests on the show would make cracks about the mincing way that Benny walked.  "Walk like me," Benny told guest star Milton Berle in one episode.  "I would if I didn't think I would get arrested," Berle grinned.  Benny was also always looking for opportunities to play his violin, despite the fact that usually every wrong note was played.  However, in real life, Benny was a decent violin player.

What made this show particularly tight was how cohesive the cast - most of whom had been on Benny's popular radio show of the 1930's, 1940's, and early 1950's - worked together.  Mary Livingston (who was Benny's wife in real life), announcer Don Wilson, singer Dennis Day, singer/dancer/actor Eddie Anderson, and voice actor Mel Blanc dished out a lot of fun on the episodes.  Frank Nelson, Herb Vigran, Joe Besser, Sheldon Leonard, and Benny Rubin were a few others who helped provide the laughs.