Ben Blue? Really?

[Frank Flood]

My dad is a big comedy fan. He has a contagious sense of humor and laugh, and it's always fun to watch Laurel & Hardy, Bob Hope or the like with him. Some of the humor genes my brothers and I got certainly came from him. And he is old enough to have been a kid in the 1930s when many of our favorite films were new.

Whenever I ask him who he liked back then, he says L&H, the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges, Our Gang, Wheeler & Woolsey, the Ritz Brothers, Hope & Crosby - and without fail, he always mentions Ben Blue. Years ago, I searched out Mr. Blue to see for myself, and was surprised to find how little I liked him. There are other funnier performers - Charley Chase, Andy Clyde and Edgar Kennedy come to mind - that he has no particular memories of. And I take it that there are others that share my opinion of the one-time Taxi Boy.

Over the years I've wondered about this, and it dawned on me that when Ben's Roach and Vitaphone films were released, Dad was between the ages of 5 and 7. What seems sort of annoying to an adult, strikes a little kid as pretty funny. Much like clowns who act silly, make children laugh, but maybe wouldn't be considered all that funny.

So, here's to Ben Blue, a favorite of the younger set. Who knew?

[Richard M Roberts]

I first saw Ben Blue when I was six........I thought he was annoying, still do.

Then again, I also thought most kids my age at the time were annoying too, still do.


RICHARD M ROBERTS