I'm kind of surprised Jack Benny and any one member of his radio cast hasn't been mentioned: Mary Livingston, Dennis Day, "Rochester," Phil Harris.

I had always been a huge fan of Jack Benny. He appeared with the orchestra I was managing one time and I asked him why he always had tenors on his show {Dennis Day, Kenny Baker, and others). He said, "I didn't give a shit whether or not they were tenors. I wanted somebody who could do comedy."

Benny's manager, Irving Fine, who also managed George Burns, told me that Burns was one of the few people who could absolutely devistate Benny with laughter. Benny would to to any length to get Burns to laugh but couldn't succeed. One day during their vaudeville days they were playing a small theater in the midwest. Benny vowed to himself that he would pull such a fantastic trick on Burns that he was sure to laugh. Benny went to his hotel room and called Burns to come to his room quickly and enter without knocking because he had something to show him. Then he took off all his clothes, clutched a rose between his teeth, climbed up on the bed and was doing an imitation of Swan Lake when the maid, who Burns had sent to his room instead of coming himself, burst through Benny's door.

I read this same story in a autobiography of Benny so I suspect it really happened.

DougR