Another joke I didn't "get".

[johnbasalla]

"The Jack Benny Program". He's at the office with his secretary and his agent. It was revealed that she formerly was a waitress. She keeps calling him Mack in a loud voice, like a stereotyped hard-nosed waitress might. Jack tells her it's Jack, and then says... "It's Mr. Benny to you". She responds... "You didn't mind (me calling you "Mack") yesterday. Jack says incredulously... "That's because we were on Mulholland Drive"... (laughter).

I don't understand the joke.

 

[bpatrick]

Benny's writers were notorious about making jokes about
LA-area landmarks; Mulholland Drive, if I'm not mistaken,
was a "lover's lane" where couples would go and "park."

I don't know how many people back East caught the bit
about "Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga" either; maybe
most of them had heard of them, but at worst they're funny-
sounding names, made even funnier by Mel Blanc's recitation
of them.

 

[jwk1979]

Speaking of Mel Blanc, where did the line that Bugs Bunny always used when he was lost "Must have taken a wrong turn in Albuquerque'' come from? And why did he have to go to Albuquerque to go anywhere? And some of the places he ended up in, he would have been going way out of way to get there if he went through Albuquerque to get there.

 

[Tom Wells]

I've always wondered if Albuquerque had some incredibly difficult, confusing roads due to geography or something that
make navigation mistakes likely.

 

[Markxxx]

Burns and Allen used Glendale as a "joke"

Ray Parker) Let's run away and be married

Gracie) But would we be happy in Glendale

---------

Ray Parker) Who knows what lies beyond the great unknown

Gracie) Glendale?

-----------

To the mail clerk in the post office

Gracie) Don't talk to me like that, my husband will have you walking a beat in Glendale

------------

Blanche) Wasn't Cary Grant terrific

Gracie) Yes, well we've seen the movie enough times already

Blanche) Yes, let's go home to our husbands

Gracie) Spending the afternoon with Cary Grant and going home to our husbands, is kind of like getting off the Super Chief and onto the Glendale Bus

------------------

George) But he's big and strong and knows all about sports

Bill Goodwin) So? I'll give you a phone book to rip in half

George) I can't rip a phone book in half

Bill Goodwin) This is a Glendale phone book.

-----------------

See not really funny on their own but a continuation over the years.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

(Jack) Benny's writers were notorious about making jokes about LA-area landmarks; Mulholland Drive, if I'm not mistaken, was a "lover's lane" where couples would go and "park."

Comedians and their writers based in Hollywood have long done jokes about local landmarks that may not be familiar to out-of-towners.

Although I'm a lifelong resident of the Boston area, a former girlfriend of mine lived in Los Angeles for a time, and I have twice visited there on vacation, so I am a little familiar with some of the local landmarks there. I can tell you a bit about Los Angeles International Airport (known as "LAX" to the locals), Hollywood, Griffith Park (and the Los Angeles Zoo, which is part of the park), the Santa Monica Amusement Pier, Disneyland, Olvera Street, Burbank, and Wilshire Boulevard.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

I don't know how many people back East caught the bit
about "Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga" either; maybe
most of them had heard of them, but at worst they're funny-
sounding names, made even funnier by Mel Blanc's recitation
of them.

Listeners had no need for familarity with Los Angeles landmarks. The humor of The Anaheim-Azusa-Cucamonga gag was Mel Blanc's marvelous knack for comic timing, inserting a pregnant pause in Coo..................... camonga. And it sounded even funnier on the radio, where the routine aired long before playing on TV .

 

[KeithE4]

Listeners had no need for familarity with Los Angeles landmarks. The humor of The Anaheim-Azusa-Cucamonga gag was Mel Blanc's marvelous knack for comic timing, inserting a pregnant pause in Coo..................... camonga. And it sounded even funnier on the radio, where the routine aired long before playing on TV .

On at least one radio show, Benny and the cast did a complete segment between Blanc's "Cuc..." and "...amonga."

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Listeners had no need for familarity with Los Angeles landmarks. The humor of The Anaheim-Azusa-Cucamonga gag was Mel Blanc's marvelous knack for comic timing, inserting a pregnant pause in Coo..................... camonga. And it sounded even funnier on the radio, where the routine aired long before playing on TV .

On at least one radio show, Benny and the cast did a complete segment between Blanc's "Cuc..." and "...amonga."

And I'll bet that was funnier on radio than it would have been on TV.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Glendale's obviously an LA suburb, and I'm guessing back in the 40's and 50's that it was waaayy out in the sticks (probably not so much now, and likely a lot bigger). It seems like shows set in New York used to use Yonkers and Poughkeepsie in a similar fashion.

 

[KeithE4]

On at least one radio show, Benny and the cast did a complete segment between Blanc's "Cuc..." and "...amonga."

And I'll bet that was funnier on radio than it would have been on TV.

For the most part, I thought the radio show was funnier than the TV show. Mel Blanc as the violin teacher and the "Si Sy Sue" guy, as well as Frank Nelson, were exceptions. They went over as good or better on TV than they did on radio.

 

[Tom Wells]

Some 40 years ago, Jerry G Bishop developed the Svengoolie character, and "Berwyn" became a similar reference in the
Chicago area. It is still used in the modern Svengoolie show, and often, here the region, when someone mentions Berwyn in conversation, another person will chime in with the comedic, extended " Berrr--wyyn!?"

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

On at least one radio show, Benny and the cast did a complete segment between Blanc's "Cuc..." and "...amonga."

And I'll bet that was funnier on radio than it would have been on TV.

For the most part, I thought the radio show was funnier than the TV show. Mel Blanc as the violin teacher and the "Si Sy Sue" guy, as well as Frank Nelson, were exceptions. They went over as good or better on TV than they did on radio.

I agree-- Mel Blanc, and even more so, Frank Nelson, proved well suited to TV since their routines evolved into sight gags, at least on the Jack Benny Program. Blanc's dour-faced humor was hillarious on TV, as were Frank Nelson's surprise pop-ups as store clerk, ticket agent, and an endless host of other roles.

 

[hubcity]

I've always wondered if Albuquerque had some incredibly difficult, confusing roads due to geography or something that
make navigation mistakes likely.

I don't always geek about broadcasting, but when I do, I prefer to also geek about roads...

US Route 66 was specified along a daisy chain of roadways that led from, as the song goes, Chicago to L.A., and while having it specified was convenient, having it paved was even more so. Much of the highway was eight feet wide, enough for one car; when two met coming in opposite directions, they'd pass each other slowly, one side of each in their respective gutter.

So upgrades were fast in coming - sometimes just widening the existing road, and sometimes requiring an entirely new (and often safer) path for the highway. So fast, in fact, that the mere possession of last year's map did not guarantee that you were on the road that was marked "US 66" *this* year, and in the arid southwest, the no-longer-current alignment started looking abandoned quickly. This was particularly egregious at a particular intersection in Albequerque, where over the course of a few years, the marked route for Route 66 required you to either turn left, turn right, or go straight, depending on the whims of that year's alignment.

For cross-country travelers - many of who were doing so to relocate into L.A. - the "wrong turn at Albequerque" was a very real concern.

 

[Bob1370]

"Speaking of Mel Blanc, where did the line that Bugs Bunny always used when he was lost "Must have taken a wrong turn in Albuquerque'' come from?"

Some folks think it refers to a confusing section of Route 66 (the main road between LA and Chicago before Interstate 40 and Interstate 15 were built) in Albuquerque. But Albuquerque was also the last city of any size you encountered heading west from Chicago on the Santa Fe Railroad before you got to LA, at least up to the time of Las Vegas' growth into an important city after 1960. So maybe it's just a general joke about the way west from Chicago to the west coast.

If they were writing those cartoons now they'd work a Las Vegas joke into the script...it's a confusing, sprawling place to get around as well. Come to think of it, they still make new Bugs Bunny cartoons for a weekly prime time series on the Cartoon Network (featuring Bugs and Daffy Duck as suburban roommates, each with his own exasperated girlfriend and Porky Pig and Yosemite Sam as neighbors) so maybe they've updated the joke.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Both Laugh-In and Johnny Carson got plenty of mileage out of joking about Burbank.

 

[Tom Wells]

There are many Route 66 re-routes through all of Illinois, too, the towns of Dwight and Pontiac have seen multiple routes.
The highway doesn't really exist now, but some towns have marked the "original" route through town.

Almost every town and city that could afford it, built a bypass for Route 66 around town.


I have personally tried to follow the original Lincoln Highway US 30 through a few incomprehensible areas.
Fort Wayne makes it almost impossible to go east while not getting sidelined downtown....Philadelphia hides the route through
a residential neighborhood and all signage disappears... yet, somehow, it continues on the Jersey side....
Before Canton, Ohio built a bypass, the original route through the city was tortuous, and easy to lose.

 

[landtuna]

The whole joke about Alba-quirky was simply its pronunciation and perhaps that it is in the middle of nowhere (and even moreso when those old cartoons were made). It didn't really have anything to do with Route 66.

 

[visaman]

"The Jack Benny Program". He's at the office with his secretary and his agent. It was revealed that she formerly was a waitress. She keeps calling him Mack in a loud voice, like a stereotyped hard-nosed waitress might. Jack tells her it's Jack, and then says... "It's Mr. Benny to you". She responds... "You didn't mind (me calling you "Mack") yesterday. Jack says incredulously... "That's because we were on Mulholland Drive"... (laughter).

I don't understand the joke.

Returning to the OP, I might be totally wrong, but I'm guessing Benny was inferring that the lady was a prostitute working on Mulholland Drive, and she solicited Benny, hence her calling him Mac.

 

[landtuna]

Returning to the OP, I might be totally wrong, but I'm guessing Benny was inferring that the lady was a prostitute working on Mulholland Drive, and she solicited Benny, hence her calling him Mac.

Mulholland Drive, in those days, was a very rural road. Daytimes it was used to try out that new sports car and nights was for watching the submarine races. AFAIK, ladies of the evening never worked the Drive.

"Mac" was used to address people you didn't know much like "Buddy" or "Mister". It had very common usage during the WWII years and shortly thereafter.