Bob and Ray

About this book

In Bob and Ray, Keener than Most Persons, David Pollock, with the full cooperation of Bob Elliott and of Ray Goulding's widow, Liz, and with the insights of numerous colleagues, traces the origins and development of the unique sensibility that defined their dozens of local and network radio and television series, later motion picture roles, Carnegie Hall performances, and hit Broadway show, Bob and Ray: The Two and Only. Bob and Ray's many parodies, including "Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife" and "Mr. Trace, Keener than Most Persons," and storehouse of recurring characters, such as ace reporter Wally Ballou, cowboy singer Tex Blaisdell, and book reviewer Webley Webster, were known and adored by millions, but the twosome deflected all intrusions into the personalities behind their many masks and the dynamics of their relationship, and rarely elaborated on their career trajectory of methodology. Bob and Ray were a team for 43 years, longer than Laurel and Hardy, Burns and Allen, Abbott and Costello, and Martin and Lewis. "Bob and Ray, Keener than Most Persons" explores the craft and culture behind that longevity and behind the laughter they brought into millions of American homes. - Publisher