Radio, Vaudeville & Camps

Fortnight ago the most widely audible of radio's comedians decided to rule out the rough-&-tumble cantonments of the U.S. armed forces as scenes for his weekly Sunday broadcasts, put them back in the studio for the duration. Although willing to do special camp shows, fretful Jack Benny, after several attempts, had concluded that he couldn't entertain soldiers and the home folks from the same script. His advertising agency agreed, but its announcement of the disassociation raised a few eyebrows. No slacker, Jack Benny this week is right back on the Army air.

Benny's plight has not been shared by those of his rivals who depend on punch rather than finesse--particularly ex-Hoofer Bob Hope, who has been going great guns before soldier audiences. Last week Hope put on his tenth straight broadcast from a training camp (location censored). Benny has found that incalculable whoops and whistles upset his expertly worried lines. No ad-libber, he has to stick to his painfully prepared script, feels that a lot of mugging thrown in for a visual audience is a sin against his radio listeners.

Uninhibited Bob Hope adores his soldier audience. Monologist and avid ad-libber, he can and does depart from his prepared script at the drop of a hat. His camp followers drop their hats so willingly that they have to be cautioned beforehand to hold down the uproar. It could spoil the timing of jokes like this, which warm a soldier's heart:

Girl: I meant to ask you, Bob . . . are there any sharks around San Diego?

Hope: Did you ever meet a Marine with a pair of dice?

The military circuit is hard work, but scoop-nosed Comedian Hope thrives on it. One week he took the Military Police apart (a sure-fire routine for soldiers); next week, when he arrived at Camp Haan, the M.P.s threw him in the guardhouse. At Camp Roberts a distraught recruit whose girl in the Midwest had just returned his engagement ring asked Hope to say a word to her in his broadcast. Hope explained that that was against the FCC rules; but after the show he looked up the jilted soldier and put in a telephone call for him. With half the camp hanging around, Hope kidded the girl until she was so delirious she not only made up to her boy friend but apologized for sending back the ring.

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