Bob & Ray: The Soap Operas

THE LEGENDARY ADVENTURES OF THE BACKSTAYGES

Legendary American humorists Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding, known as Bob & Ray, have influenced comedians and humorists since 1946 such as Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno, George Carlin, Al Franken, Garrison Keillor and Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut wrote:

"Their jokes turn out to be universal…because much of life presents itself as the same dilemma: how to seem lusty and purposeful when less than nothing is going on."

On Bob & Ray: The Soap Operas, Volume 1, we follow the Backstayges (Mary, Harry, their next door neighbor, Calvin Hoogavin, and stage door man Pop Beloved) on the way to Casablanca, then to Marrakech and the mysterious Villa Bagatelli near Rome, where they meet Count Yorkash, hear spooky organ music and listen to The Ritual. Between Backstayge episodes, we return to the studio for a discussion of bratwurst between old time radio announcer Kent Lyle Birdley and Mary McGoon;Wally Ballou takes us to the Northern Woonsocket Machine Works; Bob interviews a "human TV antenna "; and much, much more.

4 hours on 4 CDs

Listen to Mary Backstayge: Harry Can't Remember His Line from Bob & Ray: The Soap Operas, Volume 1

Also available:

• Bob & Ray: A Nigh of Two Stars
• Bob & Ray: The Lost Episodes, Volume 1
• Classic Bob & Ray, Volume 1
• The Best of Bob & Ray, Volume 1
• Vintage Bob & Ray, Volume 1

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Bob & Ray's 40-year career began at WHDH in Boston. Bob was a disc jockey, and Ray a newscaster. When the Red Sox games were delayed on account of rain, they began to amuse each other to fill the time. Soon they had a daily show of their own, Matinee with Bob & Ray, an improvised, madcap exercise in controlled chaos. Their first program ran daily until July, 1951 when Bob & Ray left Boston for New York. Over the next three decades, the Bob and Ray Show appeared on NBC, CBS, the Mutual Broadcasting System, and New York stations WINS, WOR and WHN. Their last series was a weekly program for National Public Radio. The Bob & Ray Public Radio Show ran on public radio until 2004.

Over their long career, they created more than a hundred characters, including Wally Ballou, the hapless journalist; Mary McGoon, whose recipe for frozen ginger ale salad prefigures Martha Stewart; Biff Burns in the sports room; Webley Webster; Barry Campbell, a third rate actor with an ego the size of the universe; and Mary Backstayge, noble wife whose pals travel the world in search of goofy adventure.

Their humor is subtle, dry, intelligent and clean. Bob & Ray have a keen ear for language and how it is used and misused by the con artists, hucksters and hustlers who populate radio and television. Their humor is timeless. Bob & Ray’s satire of soap operas, game shows, radio shrinks and other self-appointed “experts,” and commercials is as pertinent today as it was in 1946.

TRACK LISTING

DISC 1 (55:09)

1. Mary Backstayge: Flying to Casablanca
2. Studio Tour
3. Mary Backstayge: Message for Harry and Mary from the Captain
4. Kent Lyle Birdley and Mary McGoon: Bratwurst
5. Mary Backstayge: Stormy Weather on the Plane
6. Call-in Questions
7. Mary Backstayge: In the Cafe in Cassablanca
8. Grime Promo
9. Mary Backstayge: Kidnapped from the Cafe
10. Bob & Ray Psychological Laboratory: Artistic Ability
11. Mary Backstayge: Helicopter to Marrakesh
12. Mary Backstayge: Flying to Paris
13. Wally Ballou: at the Northern Woonsocket Machine Works, RI
14. Mary Backstayge: Taxi in Rome with Pepe LeCoco
15. Audience Feedback
16. Mary Backstayge: Count Yourcash's Organ Recital
17. Gerhard Difewick: Human Television Aerial
18. Mary Backstayge: Count Yourcash's Breakfast
19. Chester Hasbrook Frisbee
20. Mary Backstayge: Greg Marlowe and Jacobus Pike in New York City

DISC 2 (55:57)

1. Mary Backstayge: Pop Gets Amnesia
2. Coffee Vendor
3. Mary Backstayge: Talking to Dr. Stole about Pop
4. Caller
5. Mary Backstayge: Pop's Robbery
6. Chester Hasbrook Frisbee
7. Mary Backstayge: Harry's Lawyer
8. Wilfred Nepp: Orchestra by Ear
9. Mary Backstayge: Calvin's New Show
10. Webley Webster
11. Mary Backstayge: In Skunkhaven with Calvin and Greg Marlowe
12. Harlow Humstrum: Does Things on a Dare
13. Mary Backstayge: New Song for "Treasure Island, The Musical"
14. Audience Participation
15. Mary Backstayge: Talking to Norman Lear about Treasure Island
16. Audience Member Builds and Igloo
17. Mary Backstayge: Planning to Travel to California

DISC 3 (56:00)

1. Mary Backstayge: Harry Can't Remember His Line
2. Kent Lyle Birdley
3. Mary Backstayge: Calvin Ruins Several Takes
4. Webley Webster
5. Mary Backstayge: More Filming of the Final Scene
6. United States Post Office PSA
7. Mary Backstayge: Room Service
8. Mary Backstayge: Heading to Hawaii
9. Hawaii Review
10. Mary Backstayge: Arriving In Hawaii
11. Cleaner in the Studio
12. Mary Backstayge: Greg Marlow becomes Second Unit Director
13. Mulcahey's Home Canning Equipment
14. Mary Backstayge: On the Tonight Show

DISC 4 (57:27)

1. Mary Backstayge: Calvin's Escape Trick
2. The Most Average Woman
3. Mary Backstayge: Harry's Long Lost Brother
4. You and Your Symptoms: Arlington Garment, MD
5. Mary Backstayge: Calvin Mows the Lawn
6. Kent Lyle Birdley
7. Mary Backstayge: Stuck in an Elevator
8. Fred Falvy, Do It Yourself: Solar Heating
9. Mary Backstayge: Rescued From the Elevator
10. Mary Backstayge: Tailor for New Costumes
11. Personality Test
12. Mary Backstayge: In Mystic Seaport
13. John Hamilton Bostock: The Millionaire Man
14. Mary Backstayge: Shanghaied to Yokohama
15. You and Your Symptoms: Sharp Eyed Physicist
16. Mary Backstayge: Mary Paints the Crow's Nest in a Hurricane
17. Aunt Sophie's Popovers
18. Mary Backstayge: Captain Larsen's Amnesia

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