Mr. B: Press your Memory Button!

Frank Benjamin’s book “Mr. B’s Sports Memories” is for sale. At the recent Roast in his honor, Mr. B requested that the evening’s profit be dedicated to the Canal Street Boxing Gym, a place he greatly admires for the work they do with Lawrence youth. This is a great keepsake for anyone growing up in the Merrimack Valley.
Frank Benjamin’s book “Mr. B’s Sports Memories” is for sale. At the recent Roast in his honor, Mr. B requested that the evening’s profit be dedicated to the Canal Street Boxing Gym, a place he greatly admires for the work they do with Lawrence youth. This is a great keepsake for anyone growing up in the Merrimack Valley.

Let’s hit our memory button and bring up some familiar names and incidents. You’re my age if you can remember some of these things. Do you recall the Dave Garroway show? How about the old redhead Arthur Godfrey and his show, Julius La Rosa started on that show and as a matter a fact, when Godfrey fi red him it was national news. Remember the tenor on the show namely Frank Parker who also did beautiful duets with a woman whose first name was Marion but her last name escapes me.

A bumper sticker that reads, “Politicians and diapers both need changing often and both for the same reason.” I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fi sh do in it.

Until I was thirteen I thought my name was SHUT UP! Was the Exorcist one of the scariest movies ever? Remember the lines to see it and the controversy it created. The Movie The Outlaw starring Jane Russell also created long lines but I think for a different reason or make that two different reasons.

Another movie that was banned in many cities and had long lines and a long run was the Linda Lovelace movie.

One of the scariest movies for me was The Phantom of the Opera starring Claude Raines. It wasn’t a musical and I slept with the light on for many nights after seeing that one. The scene where in the cellar of the opera house the woman star slides up behind the phantom who was madly playing the organ and pulled his face covering mask off revealing a badly burned and disfigured face. Wow! Reliving it might make me sleep with the light on tonight. I’m sure the Jane Russell movie wouldn’t create the same situation.

Do you remember Jerry Lester and his late night show with the blonde bombshell called Dagmar? The show was called Broadway Open House. How about the Steve Allen late night show that introduced us to Andy Williams, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme who later married Lawrence and they are still together today. Don Knotts and Tom Poston were regulars on this show.

How about the Ernie Kovacs show? I can remember him doing a bit about gorillas and he called them the Nairobi Trio.

The Rhythm Boys trio featured a young singer named Bing Crosby. His brother Bob had a group called the Bob Cats.

Ina Ray Hutton was a woman bandleader that was also the featured singer of the band.

Harry James was a great trumpeter and the song Cirribirabeen was one of his great hits, he married the great and beautiful Betty Grable and together they bought and raised many race horses. Betty’s beautiful legs were supposedly insure by Lloyd’s of London for two million dollars.

Clyde McCoy’s big hit Sugar Blues was always a pleaser at the “hoodsie hops” and when the lights dimmed all the cool guys slinked onto the floor to show our “smoothness” to the wail of the lonely sounding trumpet that seemed to fit right in with our “peg pants” and loafers. Harlem Nocturne a saxophone solo was also another lure to the floor of the so called” wheels”.

Major Bowes was a talent show and a big one and Horace Heidt and his Musica Knights were stars of the day. Artie Shaw and his clarinet produced great sounds but he was more famous for his many marriages, I think there were at least ten.

Did you know that tires are male because they go bald and are often over inflated?

An hour glass is female because over time the weight shifts to the bottom.

Finally, I was really concerned about this and maybe you were, too. When I heard women were wearing ”thongs” I wasn’t surprised, but then I heard they were wearing them as underwear and that concerned me. I felt that must be very uncomfortable and bulky; it didn’t make sense to me. Understand when we spoke of thongs we are talking about the little rubber slipperlike sandals that we would use to go into the shower, pool, or walk from our blanket to the water at the beach.

I guess I’m not the only one who was confused by that article of clothing.