Thanks Margaret!

Once in a while some really good stuff comes along in email. A lot of the "humor" that passes between mailboxes does not hit my funny bone, well maybe a glancing blow. I received one a few days ago that hit me dead on! Right square on the funniest part of the funny bone. One of my high school classmates sent it to me. My friend Margaret passed along an email she received dealing with the humor from the old Hollywood Squares. These are ad libs from the kings, and one queen, of the ad libbers, George Gobel, Paul Lynde, Don Knotts, Marty Allen, Rose Marie, and my favorite Charley Weaver. These were comics who could be funny, very funny, without talking dirty, referring to body parts, or referring to women without resorting to disrespectful nomenclature. The responses to the questions really bring back some good times watching the tube. A lot of these were seen in black and white before I got prosperous enough to buy that first color set.

I think that Rose Marie is the last one alive. The rest left us one by one over the years, Don Knotts just a few years ago. George Gobel was one of people I enjoyed in my younger days when my family had a black and white TV that only got about three stations. George would look into the camera and with a deadpan look say "I'll be a dirty bird." I loved his blank look and his dry delivery.

Charley Weaver was the stage name of Cliff Arquette. The character was dressed in a rumpled white shirt with an open collar and a too short necktie of indeterminable age. Charley was topped off with a slightly too small pork pie hat. He was a country character from somewhere in the South. Cliff Arquette was a short overweight man and his overall look was bordering on ne'er-do-well. I still think it was one of the great comedy acts ever. When Charley made appearances away from the Squares his act centered around "Letters to Momma." He would pull a rumpled piece of paper out of his shirt pocket and begin to read what he had written to his momma, they were always reflections of life as he saw it. The letters always ended with Charley having to go check on Grandpa. One time he wrote, "Well I have to go check on Grandpa, he was up on a ladder fixing the chimney and stepped back to admire his work." Another time he had to check on Grandpa because he had seen the postman in his blue uniform, thought he was a Yankee soldier and shot him.

The humor of Charley and the rest often made you pause for a moment before the impact hit you. They were all great! Thanks Margaret!