Heyeeyeup, Glad To See Ya, Look Alive

The 50th anniversary (approximately) of the great Sergeant Bilko show was marked by a 3 Disc, 18 show DVD collection. Mickey Freeman (Zimmerman) was at J and R signing autographs. I think only he and Henshaw (Allan Melvin) are alive from the main characters. I found a Bilko fan site that had several sound clips and I tied them together as the sound track for this Bilko slide show. Did you know Bilko is one of the all time favorite sit coms in England? The borrowed text from the slide show talks about how Bilko was revolutionary in lampooning the previously sacred cow view of the military. Boy have we come a long way. And boy how we miss (in my view) those old vaudeville trained, Borscht Belt comics: Silvers, Hackett, Jack E. Leonard, Sheckey Greene, Henny Youngman, Berle, etc. It's interesting these guys grew up hungry from the depression era and there's a passive aggressive (actually not so passive) edge to their humor that's missing from Seinfeld and Larry David. Sure Larry can be hostile, but a lot of it it is self directed. Bilko was always looking to con someone or make someone look like a schmuck. His look alive line resonates (ugh oh-pseudo alert) with me. That was a favorite line of my father when he wanted to criticize, "Come on David, Look alive, look alive." Strange, but I miss that.