Larry King: 1933-2021

As a night owl I'm typically beginning my day in the mid-morning or afternoon. I woke up today and after taking my morning medication I got onto the internet and found out Larry King passed away at age 87. My grandfather religiously watched Larry's show on CNN every night. I don't know if he watched it in it's earliest years but he definitely watched it throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s. Larry's CNN television show, Larry King Live, aired 25 years: 1985-2010. I would sometimes watch Larry's television show if he happened to have a guest I was interested in. Larry would sometimes have celebrities on that you wouldn't regularly see on any talk show on cable or network television...by that I mean he would have legendary actors/actresses on. Their appearance was almost always tied to a just released autobiography, some upcoming public event, or a milestone in their career. I'm writing this blog entry through my own point of view and my own interpretation of events. If you read something on here and think to yourself "hey, that doesn't sound right" or "that doesn't make sense" I encourage you to seek out information on Larry King for specifics. This is just my take on Larry King through my own research and through how I remember him.

Larry's career began in radio in Florida in the 1950s. He was interested in sports and political news and spent much of his career interviewing sports, political, and entertainment figures from all time periods and backgrounds. He also interviewed infamous personalities...giving airtime to people that a general audience may view with skepticism or mistrust (psychics, fortune tellers, mind readers) or he'd have exclusive interviews with some sort of public figure that had either just been released from prison or were heading for prison and it wouldn't be uncommon for tabloid-driven figures to show up on Larry's shows. However, for the most part, Larry's programs stayed within the realm of traditional guests (actors/actresses, politicians, authors). Larry's long running radio series, The Larry King Show, aired in syndication and for much of it's run it aired during an all-night time slot on the Mutual Broadcasting System. The show had started out locally on a Florida radio station and it went national. 

The concept of the show was for Larry to speak to the audience and relate his opinions regarding the news of the day; interview a guest; and then take calls from listeners who had questions for the guest and then, after the guest left, Larry would take calls from listeners who discussed any topic. This series ran almost 20 years (1978-1994) and aired Monday through Friday from 12am to 5:30am. In it's final year the show was no longer airing in an all-night slot and was placed in afternoon time slots which, by the early '90s, was becoming increasingly crowded as AM talk radio was expanding. Some local radio stations began to fill their mid-morning, afternoon, and early evening time slots with syndicated talk programs...call-in shows that originated from New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles. Then there were radio stations that preferred to 'keep it local' and have call-in/talk radio shows hosted by local radio personalities and local callers. Larry's syndicated radio series came to an end in 1994...swallowed up by the competitive nature of talk radio and the lack of major market clearances. Larry continued on, of course, hosting the CNN television series Larry King Live. 

When he stepped away from the CNN show in 2010 it was played up in the media that he was forced off the network due to his folky, traditional, non-threatening demeanor being in sharp contrast to the bomb throwing, lightning rod personalities that were reshaping the execution of cable news...particularly from the hosts airing prior to and after Larry's 9pm show. Larry's show wasn't a gigantic ratings champion at 9pm anymore because rival network, Fox News Channel, had audience sizes almost doubled that of CNN and MSNBC. His departure from CNN in 2010 was a worldwide news event. He didn't entirely retire in 2010...he got involved with social media/digital media. He had talk shows that were hosted by Hulu, Ora TV, and RT America: Larry King Now (2012-2020) and Politicking with Larry King (2013-2021). Ora TV is a company Larry created with his wife, Shawn Southwick. There are 1,000 episodes of Larry King Now and there's 257 episodes of the weekly series, Politicking with Larry King. On internet/digital television they're called podcasts rather than broadcasts.

One of the interesting things that most don't know but I had actually seen on Game Show Network in the early 2000s is Larry appearing on an episode of To Tell the Truth in the early '80s before he became nationally recognizable. It was hugely funny, to me, to see two people walk out and say "I'm Larry King" and then see the actual Larry King walk out and say that they're Larry King. The announcer's line was: "Only one of these men is the real Larry King and is sworn To Tell the Truth; the other two are imposters.". Larry had been hospitalized since December 2020 with complications from COVID-19. The news of his hospitalization, though, wasn't released to the public until January 2nd. In the press release on January 2nd it was reported that Larry had been hospitalized for the last 10 days...which, as mentioned, would take one back to December 2020. 

He won a lot of industry awards in his career. He won two Peabody Awards for Excellence in Broadcasting (1982 for radio and 1992 for television). He won 10 Cable Ace Awards. That award was handed out between the years 1978 and 1997. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1989 and received induction into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 1992.  

Larry King: 1933-2021

Benny Hill: Happy Birthday!!

Well, now, we've gotten to January 21st and the birthdate of the comedic genius, Benny Hill. Happy birthday to the late Benny Hill!! 

Everyone has their idea of what a 'comedic genius' is...I think that Benny is a genius because of his ability to be innovative with visual comedy in the early days of television. Some may shrug that off as irrelevant and take the cynical attitude of "well, it wasn't like someone else wouldn't have figured it out...". As a visual comedian I rank Benny Hill along side the likes of Ernie Kovacs and Red Skelton. I'd say that Benny was like a combination of those two...with a stage name inspired by Jack Benny. 

Benny Hill was born Alfred Hill on January 21, 1924. His upbringing was that of most in his era...and for entertainment it was radio or live theater. In numerous on-line biographies and documentaries on Benny it's reported that live theater had a profound influence on Benny...and as a kid he'd see the comedians on stage and loved the idea of causing other people to laugh. He also took note of the emcee's of these theatrical performances and the sea of girls that would come out on stage and dance and have a fun old time. He remarked that the emcee always tended to be surrounded by a lot of beautiful women and that the comic made the people laugh...so, in a lot of ways, Benny combined two of those elements from British Music Hall theater into one and became: Benny Hill! The hallmarks of the Victorian Music Hall traditions that were still being performed during his childhood obviously played a huge role in the style of comedy he would gravitate to. Benny's affinity for this style of comedy put him at odds with 'contemporary' British comedians several decades later...but nevertheless there was an audience for it and millions would tune in to watch his television specials. His television career began in the 1950s and he taped a lot of comedy specials for the BBC.

This is a publicity photo from one of his early television specials...surrounded by a collection of beauties. It's been documented that television made Benny Hill a legendary entertainer...someone that became a popular entertainer exclusively through television rather than having a lengthy run in the theater or in radio. Benny had a spotty presence on BBC radio...but it's generally viewed that the greatness of his comedy wouldn't arrive until the visual medium and television. He was an under-rated master of pantomime. He could be hilarious with no dialogue whatsoever. So many of his most recognizable sketches are the non-verbal routines. These are largely recognizable for several reasons. The main reason they're recognizable is because of how great they're executed/timed and how they're a throwback to the sped-up silent sketches of the Keystone Kops and silent movie comedy in general. He was a big fan of Charlie Chaplin. It's a legendary anecdote now but when Benny visited Chaplin's residence he was shocked, stunned, and highly emotional upon discovering that within the personal collection of Charlie Chaplin were dozens of Benny Hill recordings on video tape. Benny's visit to the Chaplin estate happened in the late '70s following Chaplin's 1977 death. Benny's television programs on the BBC throughout the '60s featured many sight-gags, patter songs, and topical comedy. His inventiveness with the camera enabled him to appear on screen with himself...not once...but three or more times in the same scene. In the days of early television production this trick was performed through the use of covering part of the camera lens to block out certain areas and then, in post production, splicing all of the separately recorded images together to appear as if all images of Benny are appearing at the same time on screen. 

He invented a character named J. Arthur Clinker...world's fastest film maker. Benny once remarked that Clinker wrote the story in the morning, cast it during the afternoon, and filmed it in the evening and it's ready for viewing. The character probably was created as a vehicle for Benny to showcase sped-up or slowed-down camera footage and the haphazard approach of patching unrelated scenes together to create a film. One sketch featured the characters not speaking in-synch with the audio. The Clinker productions were always filled with errors, blunders, bizarre camera edits, and all kinds of other visually jarring activity. Benny may have been spoofing the reputation of Ed Wood.

Benny Hill's comedic seeds were sown in the brief appearances on BBC radio as well as his semi-regular appearances on BBC television in the early to mid '60s. He hit the 'big time' when he joined Thames Television in 1969. The company would be his home for the next 20 years. His legacy and impact took shape during his decades at Thames Television. He continued his appreciation for silent comedy and tackling British celebrities of the time period...one of his frequent spoofs happened to be newscasters and game show hosts. In the BBC years Benny's main comic foil was Jeremy Hawk. Benny's main character, Fred Scuttle, came with him to Thames Television. Benny's comic foil eventually became Henry McGee. Patricia Hayes appeared in several of Benny's early Thames Television specials. She was a hold over from the BBC era. Rita Webb, another ensemble member from the BBC years, also made some appearances on the early Thames Television specials. Benny's television specials were sporadic...the show wasn't on every week or every other week or every month...the specials would show up whenever they were completed and they were treated as television specials...garnering millions upon millions of television viewers. In the photo above Benny Hill is portraying Oliver Hardy and Sue Upton is portraying Stan Laurel in a sketch from the late 1980s. Benny's core ensemble throughout much of his Thames Television years consisted of Henry McGee, Bob Todd, Jackie Wright, and Jon Jon Keefe. 

In 1979, during it's 10th year in production, the series got a new producer/director named Dennis Kirkland. The series also added an all-girl dance group called The Hill's Angels. The most notable of the Angels happened to be Louise English and Sue Upton. In addition to the production and aesthetic changes in 1979, Don Taffner, an American television syndicator, began distributing half hour syndicated versions of Benny's television specials. These specials hit the American television airwaves, slowly at first, but the demand was so high that numerous half hour programs were created to fill all of the time-slots on local television stations as cable television and network television stations began popping up and staying on the air all night long rather than signing off at Midnight with a test pattern airing until 5 or 6am. The half hour programs that aired, first, on American television beginning in 1979 were edited versions of his hour long television specials. Some of those half hour episodes featured sketches taken from several of his hour long specials...meaning that in a single half hour episode Benny could age 5 to 10 years from sketch to sketch. These half hour episodes would become internationally popular...heavy emphasis placed on his silent sketches. The non-verbal comedy in those sketches was obviously helpful. 

Benny's television specials for Thames Television came to an end in 1989. A cave-in to political correctness brought the curtain down on Benny's harmless, whimsical comedy. It was a win for authoritarianism and a loss for comedy. The half hour shows were still airing all over most of the planet...and they continued airing...except in Benny Hill's home country. The accusations of sexism and the condemnation of 'contemporary' British comics in the late 1980's was too much for Thames Television to ignore, apparently. Don Taffner, in the meantime, arranged for Benny and the gang to star in another comedy special. The special, Benny Hill's World Tour: New York, was taped in 1990. The exterior scenes were shot in New York. USA Network aired the comedy special in May of 1991. Benny's syndicated programs were still airing in many television markets...and there was talk of Benny putting together a series of future television specials using the World Tour concept. He passed away, however, in April of 1992 at the age of 68...and reportedly among the papers found in his house was an unsigned television contract which called for the production of new comedy specials. 

This is by no means a detailed overview of his life/career...some out there may find my style of writing incoherent and grammatically challenged...be that as it may Benny Hill was a comedic genius...his work is on video hosting sites for millions of people to discover. In a 2007 poll of the Top-50 Greatest Television Stars conducted by ITV, Benny Hill was ranked 17. I think that was an incredible showing particularly in Britain and particularly nearly 20 years after he passed away. So much hate was written about him during the final years of his television career and so much hate-filled rhetoric directed at Benny has spewed forth since 1989 that having him rank at 17 in a public poll of the 50 Greatest British television stars in 2007 was something of a revelation. It shows me that the public, if you really think about it, was never truly offended by Benny Hill's comedy. The hate and criticism came from special interest groups rather than the public at large. Why is it wrong to cater to special interests? It's wrong because special interests only reflect the views of a small group who share a single interest...it's wrong to cater to the whims of a faction but instead try to reflect the interests of a public as a whole. I'm going to close this blog entry with a funny song and dance from Benny Hill and Jackie Wright...it's wonderful...

Benny Hill: 'National Smile Week' sketch...

As we're a day away from celebrating the birthdate of the legendary Benny Hill I was searching the video clips and came across a sketch uploaded a couple of days ago. It's a sketch from the January 13, 1988 special...it's the closing sketch called National Smile Week. It's one of his sped-up sketches...no voices...the only thing a viewer hears is the accompanying music and the sound effects. In the sketch you'll practically all of Benny's familiar co-stars as well as some of the Hill's Angels. There is also a kid in this sketch...in case you're not familiar, during this point of his television career, he incorporated children of the stage crew and his co-stars and they were billed on-screen as Hill's Little Angels. The concept of the sketch is to take a look at people, at random, going about their day with smiles on their faces regardless of the misfortune and chaos going on around them. This being a 1988 sketch means Jackie Wright, the little bald guy, isn't among the ensemble. He retired due to illness in 1983. Johnny Hutch, a somewhat similar looking actor, filled in for Jackie and you'll see Johnny in this sketch...he, too, doesn't lose his smile in spite of the bad luck that comes his way. As you can see in the screen cap, Benny is all smiles during this particular scene. Earlier in the sketch he encounters an elderly woman, Hill's Angel Sue Upton in disguise, and he gets car exhaust and fumes blown in his face...but he remains smiling. An image from that scene is in the thumbnail below...

Tomorrow marks the birthdate of the legendary British comedian, Benny Hill. I don't want to get into a lot of other details too soon...I've posted blog entries about him in the past and no doubt the blog entry I write tomorrow will probably cover a lot of information that can be found in the previous blog entries but with a 2021 time stamp. I'd read one of those blog entries that I'd written...I included several photo collages of Benny and I included my own facial expressions, too...sort of a comparison between the two of us as far as comical expressions for the camera are concerned. I don't think I'll be including any of that this time around but I may. I was snapping photo's of myself with my web-camera the other day and I was making some of the most silly, ridiculous faces I could think of...perhaps they'll be in a future blog entry on Benny Hill's birthday tomorrow!?! I don't have those kind of prop teeth to make it appear I'm forever grinning as Benny's wearing in the sketch. I made a collage a couple of minutes ago while simultaneously writing this blog entry. I multi-task. The collage is a side-by-side photo of Jackie Wright and Johnny Hutch.  

 

Benny Hill: The Master of the Sight Gag...

Benny Hill; 1990

Hello all! I wrote a Benny Hill-themed blog entry back in early  January and I'm back with a follow-up. Benny's birthdate is coming up soon...the actual date is January 21. We're a few years shy of  celebrating the 100th birthdate of the late Benny Hill in 2024 and if  I'm still active on-line in 2024, and why wouldn't I be, I'll be  celebrating the occasion on this blog! I title this blog entry not  necessarily to do any kind of in-depth dissection of Benny's famous  visual comedy but more or less to highlight that how photo's can be  powerful and sometimes misleading. In this screen cap we see Benny performing one of his classic routines where he does the  dropping of the handkerchief bit. Typically Benny would be  walking along minding his own business and he'd see, one by one, "good looking men" drop their handkerchief and some woman would stop, pick it up, and go off walking with the man. Benny, after taking note, would then drop his handkerchief in the hopes a woman passing by would hook up with him but you see how the woman reacted...she picked the handkerchief up, blew her nose on it, and handed it back to him. 😄 

Benny Hill was a master of the sight-gag. He could manipulate the camera, for example, and have his image appear side-by-side-by-side. Camera tricks were also employed when the process of undercranking was used...time lapsed images often appeared on camera...a flower perfectly erect would wilt downward in seconds...he would also use the camera to speed up, edit, or dramatically slow down the pace of a sketch. The most internationally known use of the camera happened to be what's called The Benny Hill Chase. This is something that happened at the end of most episodes of the half-hour syndicated versions of Benny's show. A sketch would begin calmly but through a series of comical blunders and errors Benny would find himself being chased by practically everyone to the tune of Boots Randolph's "Yakety Sax". This sketch was typically sped-up and in pantomime to mirror the silent comedy that Benny was partially influenced by. Benny performed so many non-verbal sketches...typically sped-up with bouncy music...where the humor came with the visual gags. 

He would have words painted onto buildings that carried on a conversation with each other. A written statement found on the side of a brick wall, in graffiti style, might read: "I've not even begun to fight!!" and then the camera would show a sign just below that reads: "You could've fooled me!" with an image of a beaten up person laying on the ground. One of his recurring jokes happened to be the poster board where there was usually a series of 5 or 6 sentences written on a large poster board next to a door...Benny would then open the door and covering everything on the poster except the first letter in each sentence. It would usually spell out a double-entendre word. One of the ways that photos can be misleading is that they're a snapshot...and based upon the person using the photo it can either be a tool of publicity or a tool of deception.

Benny's comedy is all over the internet. If you look for it you're going to find a lot of his comedy sketches from all time periods of his career. The bulk of the sketches that appear on the internet were uploaded by fans and those who are simply curious or intrigued by Benny Hill. The material has all been issued on DVD and so there's rarely anything that shows up on-line that hasn't already appeared on a DVD somewhere. I like the fact that his comedy continues to be discovered. A photo like the one off to the left is of Benny and what were billed as the Hill's Angels. This dance group shown up in Benny's television specials in 1979. In the half-hour syndicated episodes that aired all over the world there are some installments where it's heavy with Hill's Angels dance numbers. Benny's half-hour syndicated programs, which aired all over the world starting in 1979, were edited versions of his hour long television specials from England. The Benny Hill Show that we seen on American television throughout the '80s and into the early '90s during the late-night/over-night hours were half-hour glimpses into Benny's comedy. If you have his full, hour length programs on DVD or if you've seen them on-line you'll see a lot more variety than what's on the half-hour versions. However, those half-hour versions of his show are what brought Benny Hill international fame. The photos of Benny and the Hill's Angels are used as a tool of deception. They're designed to make you think that's all Benny's show was all about...and it wasn't. If you know your Benny Hill history and are familiar with the various documentaries and taped remarks from Benny himself then you'll know how much he loved the British Music Hall tradition of entertainment. In a lot of his shows he put on large, highly choreographed song and dance presentations not unlike the kind one would find taking place in the music hall venues at the turn of the century. A big production and lots of dancing women and the comedy of it all were heavy influences on his distinctive style. Benny's use of dancing women, songs, patter, and sight gags, goes back to his years at the BBC and even prior to that on his earliest of television specials in the '50s. The Hill's Angels, however, weren't officially christened until 1979. Benny joined Thames Television in 1969. 

I know why those Hill's Angels photos are used...it draws a person's eyes...and in television as well as the internet you want the viewer's/reader's eyes. Those photos are like hundreds that are all over the internet. Do I think some people watched his shows just for the Hill's Angels? Probably! Do I think that there's some people who think that's what his show was all about? I'm sure there are those who think that way and having so many publicity photos on the internet of Benny surrounded by a collection of women goes a long way at further perpetuating that image. Am I going to set people straight once and for all and admonish those who misunderstand Benny's comedy? 

Let's look at this rationally. Do those four guys really look that terribly threatening or controversial? Come on...take a look. We have Henry McGee standing next to Benny Hill. In front we have Jackie Wright and Roger Finch. Bob Todd was also a familiar presence but isn't in the photo. The show's producer, the late Dennis Kirkland, had that sentiment that I'm echoing. I, too, don't feel that those four entertainers should send anyone into fits of anger, rage, and hostility. They're perfectly harmless. Jackie Wright, as you can see, became famous for the sped-up sketches where he'd get the top of his head patted on and in many cases, slapped, to the sound of rapidly strung together tapping sound effects. He was part of Benny's Thames TV specials until 1983. Health problems caused his 'retirement' from Benny's show and he passed away in 1989, ironically, the same year Thames TV canceled Benny's show following a 20 year run with the company. Anyway, after Jackie stepped away from the show in 1983, they tried a look-a-like for several television specials. Henry McGee was the straight man and the show's announcer. Henry had a flair for comedy, though, and would get a chance to play bizarre characters, too. Henry's talent was being able to have a perfect reaction to whatever Benny happened to be doing. There are numerous routines where Henry is acting as the interviewer to one of Benny's characterizations and in a decent number of those sketches Henry could get laughs by just holding a facial expression or get a laugh with a twitch or raise of an eye. Benny's television specials were much more than eye candy.   

I'll be writing another blog entry spotlighting Benny Hill in the days ahead...most likely on his birthdate. I'll close this blog entry with a clip of Benny and one of those sight gags I was explaining earlier in the blog. This one is the poster board gag where a series of lines are shown on a board and the visual punchline at the conclusion...

Benny Hill is still one of Comedy's Masters...

I've written several blog entries about one of my all-time favorite British comedians, Benny Hill. I continue, every so often, to watch video clips on YouTube from his various television specials. I feel that my discovery of Benny Hill in the late 1980s mirrors a lot of other people my age...if they're like myself I discovered him in the summer months when I'd watch television in the late night hours. School was out in the summer months and so I didn't have to go to bed in order to wake up in the morning for school...and so I discovered one of Benny's television shows at some point after midnight. Later this month is Benny's date of birth. He was born January 21, 1924. His comedy programs go back to the 1950s on the BBC...at one point he was appearing on BBC radio. His longest tenure arrived in 1969 when he joined Thames Television. He remained with Thames Television for 20 years! His comedy was rooted in the British Music Hall tradition. His comedy relied heavily on wordplay, patter songs, and costume/visual humor. He was not a "sexist" nor is his comedy "offensive". He is a genuine comedy master. When you find yourself laughing at the funny or silly things he does in his television specials then he's done his job! As mentioned I often watch clips from his television specials on YouTube and I have some VHS tapes of his BBC sketches. Arts and Entertainment issued a 6-volume DVD collection titled Benny Hill: Complete and Unadulterated. I have Volumes 1, 2, 5, and 6. Those DVD's contain complete episodes of his Thames Television specials which aired from 1969 until 1989.

Benny's programs that aired in England were a series of hour long television specials. He would typically do a handful of television specials per year. In 1979 a syndicator, Don Tafner, brought Benny's comedy to America's television sets. Don's idea was to create a syndicated series featuring half hour episodes of sketches edited from Benny's hour long television specials. The syndicated, half hour series aired on American television during late night and eventually, over-night timeslots, once cable television expanded to all-night service. Once upon a time television channels used to sign-off near Midnight or just after the 'late night movie' ended. These syndicated half hour programs officially aired from 1979 until 1989 on many local television stations across America...however, some local TV stations continued airing the half hour sketch-filled show on into the early 1990s. Some of the members of Benny's supporting players included Jeremy Hawk, Patricia Hayes, Bella Emberg, Rita Webb, Henry McGee, Bob Todd, Jackie Wright, Louise English, Sue Upton, Jenny Lee Wright, Diana Darvey, and others. Some of the women were character actresses but others were part of a larger ensemble collectively referred to as Hill's Angels. This ensemble appeared in their own segment...typically a dance routine. Now, of all the Hill's Angels, the two that appeared more frequently in comedy sketches, too, were Sue Upton and Louise English. The two of them remain the most popular of the Hill's Angels to this day. Henry McGee was Benny's straight man and the announcer of the Thames Television show...often heard introducing Benny as "here he is...that lad himself...Benny Hill!!" or "Yes!! It's the Benny Hill Show!!". Jackie Wright was the short, bald headed guy that always got his head slapped in rapid fashion from Benny. In some of the later episodes following Jackie's 1983 retirement they had a fill-in take over that characterization due to the rapid head slapping sight gag being so hysterical.   

I know I can't speak for all fans of Benny Hill but I'm getting tired of seeing video clips pop-up from time to time bashing his comedy or seeing video where the uploader of the video is trying to insist that Benny was somehow "lonely" or lived a "sad, lonely life". That description of Benny is inaccurate. He enjoyed his life and he had a close circle of friends. Yes, it's true he lived alone and by most people's accounts anyone "who lives alone" must therefore be "lonely"...but I reject that assertion. Benny Hill was a master at what he did...and the fact that in the year 2021 there's so many video clips of him on the internet and the fact that I'm writing my third or fourth blog entry about him just goes to show anyone that Benny Hill is still one of comedy's masters!

      

Benny Hill: 1924-1992