Jack Benny and Other Subjects

Among his many running, self-deprecating gags — his stinginess, his age, his alleged hairpiece, his vanity, his violin playing, etc. — Jack Benny had his movie career.  It really wasn't unsuccessful, what with the classic To Be Or Not To Be and others that weren't as great but were entirely watchable.  Still, he did jokes about making a swarm of bad movies until The Horn Blows at Midnight was so bad, no one ever wanted to let him in front of a camera again.  This is not true, as you can see for yourself.  Turner Classic Movies is running The Horn Blows at Midnight the morning of November 15.

We were talking here recently about John Cleese and his assistant, the Pantomime Goose named Kim "Howard" Johnson.  The other day, DC Comics announced that a forthcoming project in their "Elseworlds" series will be a Superman story called True Brit, created by Mr. Cleese and Mr. Howard.  The "Elseworld" line contains tales of the DC characters in alternate realities, and this one is about what might have happened if Superman's spaceship had landed in Great Britain instead of the U.S. of A.  Sounds like fun.

DC also announced a two-volume Archives set reprinting the issues of Challengers of the Unknown by Jack Kirby.  An excellent comic, well worth collecting in hardcovers.

This is pretty silly.  The cable/satellite channel Bravo is running The Larry Sanders Show in its laundered version.  Some language is edited or replaced via alternate takes.  But if you go to the Bravo website each week, you can watch a clip with the "f" word intact.  Isn't this just admitting to their own timidity?