POOR, POOR ME

Back before TV, in 1941, 42, 43, somewheres back then, a very curious puzzle happened on the radio. There was a big censorship uproar. Censorship in those days rested with the sponsers of the various radio programs. The problem was with a comedy skit that went like this: One guy says, "I'm a thinker." The comedian goes, "You thirtenly are."

Now that's a pretty lame joke, but it caused a sensation, and back then there was no "politically correct" brouhaha like there is now. It was kinda understood that if a comedian used this joke, he was subject to being fired. It is my own personal belief that somehow the joke was too "racy." Don't ask me how that could be, because I don't know.

Two comedians - one of them I am pretty sure was Bob Hope, said they were not going to do the joke, Jack Carson said he was going to use it, he didn't care what they did to him. He wasn't afraid. Can you imagine?

Now that is bad enough, the commotion that bad joke caused , but think on this:

At least three national comedians were publicly stating that they would use jokes that originated with other comedians. They didn't care about telegraphing a punch line in the papers even before the show aired. I was about seven years old at the time and even at that age something seemed kinda crazy about the whole thing.

I remember listening to Jack Carson and hearing that joke - just like he said he was going to do.

I didn't laugh.