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Revision as of 10:53, 26 March 2021
Laughing Back - A Movie For Radio
Oswald Spengler was an early 20th century German historian and philosopher who wrote The Decline of the West (published 1917) which influenced many intelligentsia for a few decades, got some popular attention, then faded. It was a joke when I was a young man, the notion that it had ever influenced anyone serious. I think Joe took up the joke for the title; Joe's show has nothing to do with Spengler's philosophy. - Arthur Peabody (talk) 01:42, 19 February 2021
- The only women's voices are people working at the night watchman's business. I think the same actor speaks the first and third segment, perhaps the fifth. Mark Hammer was old enough to have had their experiences and lived in Washington at the time. I don't hear Tim Jerome or Arthur Miller in them; I don't know F. Murray Abraham's voice well enough to guess. Arthur Peabody (talk) 20:06, 2 July 2021 (EDT)
The Queen Of Puerto Rico (Show)
When She's Asleep, She Looks Like An Angel
This show has 3 parts: the dreamscape journey on a jungle river, a middle-aged would-be musician (about 40) who has wasted his life and is trying to avoid feeling badly about it, a woman speaking in German (first the ship's captain, then a whore in a negligee in a house by the river, then Greta, the waitress at the Gold Rail he has a relationship with, then the ship's captain again - all the same voice.).
The German sounds like soft-core porn to my ear. A German acquaintance and a German Redditor both say it reads like a Groschenroman (a dime novel). 2 German Redditors say the accent is definitely Austrian; 2 say it sounds like a man, not a woman.
Joe re-uses the failed musician's story in Fat Man Down, with some differences; Fat Man Down ends with the German that appears at 46:20 in this episode.
Thanks to Professor Ned of the Joe Frank Mailing List for the transcription and translation.
Are the women who call in to have their pictures taken the same ones who call in to Joe Frank Live - Women Police Officers?
Sandy Faison had a serious acting career.
Joe used the story of his relationship with Kim in 4 shows. I think that's the most times he used any story.Arthur Peabody (talk) 23:36, 8 January 2023 (EST)
Who's the woman at 56:40? Is it meant to be someone talking about Joe? Someone voicing the sentiment of Lady Wentworth to Monmouth? Who's the actor?Arthur Peabody (talk) 23:36, 8 January 2023 (EST)
The singer in the version of 'Great Pretender' sounds like Eric Idle to me. It sounds like a British parody, or one of those awful British band versions. BBC wouldn't pay royalties in the '50s for popular American songs so people made do with uninspired versions by uninterested bands. I heard Paul McCartney comment recently that he never heard Etta James's version of 'At last' until he came to America.Arthur Peabody (talk) 23:52, 8 January 2023 (EST)
Ocean City is as they describe it: the worst place on Maryland's Atlantic coast.Arthur Peabody (talk) 00:49, 15 March 2022 (EDT)
I attended parties in group homes in Mount Pleasant in the '80s!Arthur Peabody (talk) 20:44, 16 March 2022 (EDT)
The narrator says 'Canada Dry' is popular in North Yemen. Yemeni Redditors tell me it is today.Arthur Peabody (talk) 20:22, 16 March 2022 (EDT)
A Yemeni Redditor wrote that Ali's summary of the history of Yemen is basically correct.Arthur Peabody (talk) 20:22, 16 March 2022 (EDT)
I'm pretty sure the director of River Valley camp is Arthur Miller. I'm less sure he sings the 2 pop songs; jfwiki attributes them to Joe, but I disagree, cite the amateur ukulele accompaniment as additional evidence for Mr Miller.
I'm less sure about Lester Nafzger calling for Coco and the guy with the impossible life at 45:50.
The hypnotist sounds like a stock recording. The street preachers sound real. The church service sounds real, perhaps recorded off TV, as I think the preacher in 29:30 is, the horror movie too.
Joe re-used much of it in 'Woman and bull in paint factory'. (Is bull a joke or did he forget?)
I'm ready to believe that Joe slapped together odds and ends to make this show.
I have no record of WBEZ, WNYC, or KPFA airing this episode.Arthur Peabody (talk) 04:20, 27 August 2021 (EDT)
Who's talking in the interludes? The narrator talks in the first person, mentions a woman. A 'he' says 'Do you know that you are very angry at her?' - who's that? Is the narrator talking to himself? Joe had a club foot, made his living with his voice and words, lived in Santa Monica near Montana Avenue - does he allude to himself? Is he talking to himself? I can imagine it all as internal monologue.
Joe tells the story of an affair, interspersed with a description of a church, finally of a wedding, possibly in that church. I quoted those portions in full, hoping that I would find a source, but didn't.Arthur Peabody (talk) 01:28, 6 October 2021 (EDT)
At 4:20 she moved to a friend's; later in the story she's still living with Jeremy.Arthur Peabody (talk) 01:28, 6 October 2021 (EDT)
A message Joe wrote to the mailing list on 2006 August 9:
'No, the ex-husband who delivers the final tirade is the actor Mark Hammer, who was working at Arena Stage in Washington DC at the time and performed all the scenes over the phone with his wife (DC to LA). Larry played the president of the company called, "Rent-a-Family," who attempted to rationalize his vision. Barbara Sohmers played the unhinged ex-wife--a wonderfully talented person who also appears in a short film available on the web site called "Memories." I've been out of touch with her for years. She could be the writer of mystery novels (I think she spoke of that ambition). When last I communicated with her she had been ill with a disease that affected her ability to speak and therefore could no longer perform as an actress. I am shocked to hear that she died--if she's the same person.'
In The Middle Of Nowhere (Part 1)
In The Middle Of Nowhere (Part 2)
In The Middle Of Nowhere (Part 3)
The legacy synopsis is of At The Border (Remix) - an excusable mistake because many stations misidentified.
I see no unifying theme in this show. Arthur Peabody (talk) 04:20, 17 November 2023 (PST)
I didn't listen for years: the opening conversation is hard to make out and not worth any effort - a witless version of Monty Python's 'Cheese shop' sketch; I expected the rest to be no better. Thanksgiving afternoon about 10 years ago I went for a walk, copied 3 episodes of Joe's shows to my Coby, then added 'To the bar life' in case I went long, which I did. I found Johnny's story, and the accompanying music, excellent, one of Joe's best. I don't care for the rest, especially after re-evaluating Merton.Arthur Peabody (talk) 13:04, 26 July 2022 (EDT)
I kept track of the last 14 years of the episodes KPFA aired, the last 13 of those WBEZ and WNYC did, the last 8 years KDVS did. None of them aired it - perhaps for the reason I didn't listen for so long.Arthur Peabody (talk) 13:04, 26 July 2022 (EDT)
A number of homeless people on Venice and Santa Monica beach have chatted me up. Johnny doesn't sound like one of them. I think it's fictional - it has too much detail, is too neat. The portions of 'A kiss is just a kiss' that I have heard are much more detailed.Arthur Peabody (talk) 13:04, 26 July 2022 (EDT)
At 5 minutes, a male police officer, talking to someone on the phone, to report a gunshot wound, addresses him/her as ‘hon’, a Baltimore-ism. He has a Baltimore accent. The Potomac river (at 33:50) and the Chesapeake bay (at about 57 minutes) are also mentioned.Arthur Peabody (talk) 13:08, 25 September 2023 (PDT)
I think 'Five part dissonance (remix)' is just another name for this episode. The words are identical; I think the music is, too.Arthur Peabody (talk) 12:35, 13 August 2023 (PDT)
Thanks to people in the German subreddit for help identifying the 2 Marlene Dietrich songs mentioned at 34 minutes; one said her voice is authentically German.Arthur Peabody (talk) 17:59, 23 August 2021 (EDT)
Most of the panel segments are also in 'Case studies'. They sound of a piece; I speculate that they were recorded at the same time, that Joe didn't use all of them in 1986 ('Case studies').Arthur Peabody (talk) 17:59, 23 August 2021 (EDT)
Thanks to people in the German subreddit for help identifying the 2 Marlene Dietrich songs mentioned at 19 minutes; one said her voice is authentically German.Arthur Peabody (talk) 17:59, 23 August 2021 (EDT)
The Truth About Women (Part 1)
The Truth About Women (Part 2)
A note at jfwiki reads, 'The version of this program currently available on Joefrank.com is a slightly longer remix of the original.' Iceland originally came in 3 parts. Later, it was distributed as 2 parts, the second an abridged version of the original Parts 2 and 3. Later, the original Parts 2 and 3 were released again and the second Part 2 was identified as 'Part 2, remix'. The segments of Part 2 that are reused from Part 1 aren't in Part 2, remix. Could Part 1's second version have had segments from the original Part 2 inserted?Arthur Peabody (talk) 14:28, 27 August 2023 (PDT)
2 things made identifying the narrator possible: Richard Looney's note that JB Allison told this story, from the first extant published notes about Joe's shows. I asked him where he got this name. He doesn't remember; it was a long time ago. (personal communication). The second is the obituary of Guy Sterling Allison Jr (1966-2001, died in an auto accident), which includes, among the survivors, a brother, ‘J. B. "Willie" Allison of Petaluma, California’. This is the only mention of JB Allison in the available records of the Allison family descended from Guy Elzie. He's nowhere in the 1950 Census. A JB Allison of Petaluma has a LinkedIn page; he's an ‘independent events services professional’. Ancestry.com's ‘Life story’ of Guy Sterling reads ‘He also had one son from another relationship. ’. One of his daughters, communicating with me on Reddit, says JB's mother was a German lady Guy Sterling met while serving in the war.
Guy Elzie was raised in rural Appanoose County, Iowa. The rest of his family stayed there. Why did he end up a servant in a tiny town in rural Harford County, Maryland in 1910? It's a puzzler. He was a servant in the 1910 Census, a laborer in a sawmill in the 1920 census, a ‘farm helper’ in his draft registration in 1942. In his draft registration he wrote, for middle name, ‘E (no middle name)’. Odd that he repudiated it but gave it to his third son.
Why did a 15-year-old girl marry a 39-year-old servant? She gave birth 2 months later. I think rape is more likely than love.
Gertrude Ellen Lowe Allison is identified as in the household of her parents in the 1930 Census, just 5 years into the marriage. She's the head of her own household in the 1940 Census. Guy Elzie is in neither household. She filed for divorce on grounds of desertion in 1942, according to the historian at the Harford Historical Society, something that requires 5 years of absence. In 1943 she married Wilber Scott Norris Sr, bore 3 more children - sturdy woman.
Homer applied for a gravestone for Neil from the VA. He identified Neil's unit as the 582nd Engineering Detachment (which isn't in the 82nd Airborne), which is a field maintenance detachment. On Neil's death certificate he identified Neil's occupation as ‘motorcycle mechanic’. The Army would rather have a skilled mechanic than another foot soldier. I think it more likely Neil and JB were mechanics together.
Neil's death certificate reads, ‘laceration right lung gunshot wound abdomen’ and ‘gun went off as he broke it’ (opened it up as one does for reloading or cleaning). No serious gun owner points a gun at himself except to kill himself. It's more convenient to point a gun away from you if you want to clean it or reload it.
Homer successfully fought his discharge from the Air Force, spent the rest of his career there. He married again, had 3 more children. He made a statement to the ‘Washington Post’ for the 2000 January 1 issue:
‘I'm Homer Allison, 74, retired USAF, served in two wars. Two wives, six children. First wife died when she fell out of a car. They said I pushed her and I served two years’ jail time for manslaughter. Fought dishonorable discharge and won. One son in Vietnam; both sons killed, one in a gun accident, one hanged himself and I never knew why. I survived a plane crash, two auto wrecks and a killer hurricane. I love my God and church, my wife and family, my country and its heroes. Impatiently and breathlessly awaiting new millennium and my next 25 years.’
Guy Sterling Allison Sr, JB's father, married in 1961 to William
Elzie's widow, Billie Elaine McIntire (1934-1983), who had a
daughter by William already. She had 3 children with Guy Sr.,
including Guy Jr. Her obituary lists only her daughters and Guy Jr as
survivors, not JB. Guy Jr's obituary lists all the daughters she
had (including the one with William Elzie).
Guy Elzie is buried in Waldorf, Maryland (Charles County). Homer moved to Charles County, is buried there, as are his 2 sons. Charles County is in the southwest corner of Maryland, on the Potomac, south of Washington. Harford County is just northeast of Baltimore, on the Pennsylvania border, different places culturally. I wonder if Homer ever saw his father, who lived until 1975.Arthur Peabody (talk) 18:31, 26 March 2024 (PDT)
I listened to this on headphones. I enjoyed it more. They speak in separate channels, so I felt as though I were at a bar between them, felt more involved in the conversation.Arthur Peabody (talk) 18:31, 28 April 2024 (PDT)
I hear the voices of Joe, Ryan Cutrona, Grace Zabriskie, and a third man (in the last segment), which I can't identify. Various sources put Philip Proctor, Alan Arbus, and Douglas Johnson in the cast. I don't hear 4 male voices.
joefrank.com and jfwiki.org disagree over the cast. The former lists the cast as 'Larry Block, Arthur Miller, Keith, Cousin Bob, Noemi, Joe Frank', the latter as 'Farley Ziegler, Larry Block, Arthur Miller, Grace Zabriskie, Bob Gordon, Naomi Schwarz, Mike Meloan, Joe Frank'.
I'm certain about Larry and Arthur.
I think the guy at 5:50 and 12:10 sounds like the same person as John, the depressed guy in the group therapy session in 'When I'm calling you'. joefrank.com has Keith in the casts of both.
The last guy to speak sounds like Mike Meloan. (He tells the story about the fortune-teller who screams 'Don't deny me!' at him in 'The nature of things' and 'Karma, don't deny me'.)
Women have 3 segments: the first, 5:20, and 7:10. The voice at 7:10 could have a fake accent. The segment at 5:20 could refer to the first. joefrank.com identifies the first as 'a woman', 5:20's as 'an ex-girlfriend'. Joe sets up a date to see a movie with Naomi in 'Jam'. Farley Ziegler sounds like a southern name; I think the woman in the first segment sounds like she has a trace of a southern accent. Wikipedia says 'Noémi' is a French variant of Naomi. Grace Zabriskie could put on an accent like the woman in 7:10; she's from New Orleans so can probably do a southern accent too.
Perhaps I'd make friends with Brooks, but I wouldn't give him a car - just me? Arthur Peabody (talk) 16:23, 7 March 2022 (EST)
I've lived in Bethesda, driven all these streets. Arthur Peabody (talk) 16:48, 7 March 2022 (EST)
Telehealth and telecounseling increased greatly in 2020, in response to the pandemic.
Please see guidelines on commentary and share your personal thoughts in this section.
The mood of this is similar to her performance in Thank You, You're Beautiful. I wonder if they weren't recorded in 1 session. I can imagine a show made of them.Arthur Peabody (talk) 04:23, 1 August 2023 (PDT)
The listed cast has 7 members; I hear only 6 parts. joefrank.com lists only 2 cast members: Joe and Paul.Arthur Peabody (talk) 17:01, 13 November 2023 (PST)
Third World Country (Includes Raymond)
I've listened to a lot of homeless people in downtown LA - this guy talks coherently (his ideas are nonsense), more like an actor playing a part.Arthur Peabody (talk) 23:28, 29 July 2023 (PDT)
I think this is identical, at least in words, to Five Part Dissonance. I've inspected transcripts of both.Arthur Peabody (talk) 13:33, 28 August 2023 (PDT)
Can the half of the phone conversation at 47:40 be the other half of the phone conversation at 17:00?Arthur Peabody (talk) 04:04, 5 September 2023 (PDT)
Because 1980 was the last year she could have graduated from Neff, she was born 1962 or earlier. Because the show was released in 1996 she would have been born in 1968 (She's 28.) at the latest. So the show took place 1990 or earlier. The Nixon mask at the roadside bar argues earlier. He stopped being funny not long after he resigned. Not that any of this is true.Arthur Peabody (talk) 21:03, 26 December 2022 (EST)
I've tried to imagine the geography: why someone from La Mirada (one of the many nondescript towns of LA county, in the southeast, on the Orange County border, buried in the megalopolis of, literally, hundreds of towns) who took a cab would be at a roadside bar that Joe had to drive a rural road and pass by a lake to get her home. Lake Mathews in Riverside County? Irvine Lake?Arthur Peabody (talk) 21:03, 26 December 2022 (EST)
The bizarre surgery of the second dream sequence, the support of the Indian army, the suicidal pilgrims who worshipped the patient suggest, to me, a parody of Hinduism.Arthur Peabody (talk) 21:03, 26 December 2022 (EST)
I can't help but notice the similarities between Joe's escape plan and that of the guy in 'The Shawshank Redemption' and that Joe used music from the score in 5 of his shows. Michal Story says he neither saw the movie nor read the novella on which it was based.Arthur Peabody (talk) 20:49, 9 November 2023 (PST)
I think the singer of "There Will Never Be Another You" is Arthur Miller, especially because of the ukulele accompaniment.Arthur Peabody (talk) 11:22, 23 August 2023 (PDT)
2 segments from 'Iceland' are abridged: in the original, Joe meets the rabbi and talks to him; and the driver of the pickup delivers a subpoena (sic) for alimony for his ex-wife.
Most of this show is taken from Either/Or parts 1 and 2. The 11 minutes beginning at minute 15 is new. The last 7 minutes repeats the collage of women's voices that started at minute 15.
Joe Frank Live - Women Police Officers
I saw Breaking the waves at Laemmle's 4-plex in Santa Monica; perhaps it was a different showing.Arthur Peabody (talk) 23:39, 6 January 2022 (EST)
Milton Schindler sounds like a braggart to me; I don't automatically credit everything he says.Arthur Peabody (talk) 23:39, 6 January 2022 (EST)
I've been to Gelson's; I don't know that they carry the discount brand of anything. When I lived in Pasadena (early '70s), for a few years I lived a block away from Pasadena's Gelson's. I almost never saw a car in the parking lot. They delivered, possibly the only grocery store in Pasadena that did. Most of their business may have been delivery to the wealthy people.Arthur Peabody (talk) 23:39, 6 January 2022 (EST)
The second segment is set in a similar location as the first. I didn't notice that it was separate the first few times I listened.Arthur Peabody (talk) 23:35, 6 January 2022 (EST)
This show has 3 components: Larry's story of living in Seattle while acting in a new play; Joe's childhood reminiscences (some of which have to be fictional; I suspect they all are); Jack Kornfield with his usual shtick.Arthur Peabody (talk) 19:06, 12 January 2022 (EST)
Joe's story about breaking a pane of glass, at 16:30, includes a comment about Jewish law, which I think is incorrect. I'm no expert. I'd appreciate an opinion from a more knowledgable person.Arthur Peabody (talk) 19:06, 12 January 2022 (EST)
This is the only time I've heard of Ted Joans. Arthur Peabody (talk) 22:18, 11 January 2022 (EST)
I find this, along with Caged Heart, Larry Block's most-touching episodes.Arthur Peabody (talk) 13:04, 11 July 2024 (PDT)
I didn't think about the order of Joe's shows until I figured out the order of the 'Karma' episodes, which I identified as starting with 'Karma Part 1' (That's the way radio stations aired them.) With that as my starting point, 'The nature of things' seemed a later episode, because every segment is also in a 'Karma' episode, but it precedes 'Karma Part 1'. WFMU's notes place the show in 2002 - they made the same mistake.
22 years seems like a short time for Barbara, an actor, to have married, become a professor at Rutgers, have 2 grown daughters. Arthur Peabody (talk) 12:43, 1 September 2024 (PDT)
Perhaps Barbara found out about the other 2 women. Did any 1 of these 3 women come back to him? NO! Ingrates. Arthur Peabody (talk) 12:43, 1 September 2024 (PDT)
I suspect the story in 'Karma part 1' exaggerated. I can imagine how Larry's wife reacted to his characterization of their marriage when the show came out. They stayed married until his death in 2012, 12 years later; she was making more money than he, they lived in a small apartment - she didn't have to put up with him. Arthur Peabody (talk) 12:43, 1 September 2024 (PDT)
Santa Monica's 3rd Street Promenade is a well-known shopping district. The street is closed to automobiles. Joe mentions it in Clement At Christmas; the Laemmle's 4-plex movie theatre Joe mentions in Lover Man is on it. The Bodhi Tree hosted lots of new-agey events. (I never went in: I'm insufficiently hip. Arthur Peabody (talk) 22:07, 17 December 2021 (EST))
I was listening to KPFK the day the LAPD searched, followed the story of Will Lewis's incarceration, remember the LA Times's supporting the cops.Arthur Peabody (talk) 22:59, 10 January 2022 (EST)
This episode is 70% recycled material; only the first and last 2 segments appear first (or at all) in this episode.
If you haven't read Dubliners, you should.Arthur Peabody (talk) 09:18, 25 November 2022 (EST)
A friend went to the sacred women's dance circle in Topanga; she told me they were naked.Arthur Peabody (talk) 01:01, 16 January 2022 (EST)
I lived there for 20 years, didn't find it lonelier than anywhere else.Arthur Peabody (talk) 22:20, 18 January 2022 (EST)
I was one of the proles who lived far south of Montana.Arthur Peabody (talk) 22:20, 18 January 2022 (EST)
I find Donna's singing more impressive than Danny's playing.Arthur Peabody (talk) 22:43, 21 January 2022 (EST)
Maude Gaines is almost a parody of a 20-year-old.Arthur Peabody (talk) 22:43, 21 January 2022 (EST)
I think this is one of Larry Block's most-touching performances, along with The Wire. Arthur Peabody (talk) 08:47, 11 July 2024 (PDT)
At The Dark End Of The Bar (Remix)
I think the story the guy with the dogs tells is fictional; his knowledge of DC is accurateArthur Peabody (talk) 22:48, 31 January 2022 (EST)
Mr Brezsny's horoscopes read like parodies to me.Arthur Peabody (talk) 23:20, 2 February 2022 (EST)
Woman And Bull In Paint Factory
The bristlecone pines are wonderful. You can see them in the White Mountains of California.
