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Looking good, Joan Jett!

Photographs by Josefin Larsson📸

Joan Jett had her matchup against 3-time NHRA Funny Car world champion Raymond Beadle, blasting down the quarter-mile dragstrip. And she won! With Jett power, no doubt!

If you look it up, you will find some nice, surviving video footage of the occasion.

Took place in 1981 at Raceway Park (Englishtown, New Jersey) during one of their popular "Night of Thrills" motorsports and entertainment events.

I just discovered this roughly 15 minute serial by the underrated Peg Lynch, not long ago, and has quickly become one of my all-time favorite programs!

There are a couple of surprising things about it though:

One, it started after the popular TV series “Ethel and Albert“ ended its run, itself, based on an earlier radio program.

That’s probably a very unusual case, for a radio show to come after the success of a TV show.

A second really surprising thing that I’ve noticed, is that the daughter on the show is so bratty! I’m not used to children of 1950s TV or radio programs being so obstinate to their parents, for example. That aspect does take some getting used to, because I love the manners that I’m used to in programs from the era.

While having the wholesomeness that we associate with programming of the 1950s era, it feels very timeless and human.

This show is unique in another way, too, in the way that it’s serialized, without being a straight up soap opera. There is a storyline about the couple debating on whether or not to sell their house and move to an apartment, for example. And that storyline continues through several episodes.

I would call this, “soap opera lite“. It’s got elements of both sitcom and drama, without being heavy or hard hitting in either case. It’s very simplistic and relaxing.

And there’s also Margaret Hamilton (of “The Wizard of Oz” fame), playing the aunt on the show sometimes, just like she did on the “Ethel and Albert” TV series.

If anyone likes soap operas and sitcom, and would like to hear a little bit of a relaxing, lighthearted hybrid, definitely check this out! In its simplicity, it is addictive!

If you enjoy husband and wife shows, definitely check this one out as well. Even though the two leads, Peg Lynch and Alan Bunce, weren’t actual husband and wife in real life, they have fantastic chemistry in the show.

I know the general public has mixed feelings about the comedy hours, mainly because of what was going on in the private lives of Lucy and Desi at the time.

Generally, people don’t like the last two, the Japan episode, and the Ernie Kovacs episode, for those reasons. But, those happen to be two of my favorite episodes!

The comedy hours are definitely a mixed bag, though. My favorites are as follows:

1.Lucy and Red Skelton
– I love the musicals skit they did, and this is definitely one of the best episodes of the whole series!

2.Lucy meets the mustache
– Ernie Kovacs– hot take, but I just love this episode! Lucy was the most beautiful in this episode, as well!

3.Lucy and Tallulah Bankhead
– funny from start to stop!

4.Lucy and Robert Cummings
– exciting! Trip to Japan, her and Ethel getting into trouble, it’s fun!

5.Lucy and Fred McMurray
– again, some of the best comedy of the whole series!

6.Lucy and Maurice Chevalier
– gotta love, Maurice Chevalier! And this did not disappoint.

So to me, those are the best half of the comedy hours. There were 13, total. So pretty much the other seven hit a sour note with me at some points, or on some level.

How would you all rank the Lucy-Desi comedy hour episodes, and why?

Anybody else as crazy about her show as I am?!

Originally, the George Burns and Gracie Allen show was my favorite old-time radio show. But after discovering this show and listening to it, it’s my favorite! And believe me, by now, I’ve listened to so many old-time radio comedies, dramas, mysteries, etc.!

Collectively, all of the shows that Joan Davis starred in are now referred to as just the Joan Davis Show, as one entity, because she starred in all of them, and there was some crossover in the characters and everything. But my favorite iterations of her show are The Sealtest Village Store, and Joanie's Tea Room. I think I might like the tea room one a little more though.

This show makes me so happy!!

I don’t know why, but I see the setting as being a seaside village. It feels breezy and exciting, the way catching a wave is, or a strong wind!

I love how the audience is alive in this show, how there is music included, and how the opening is so electric! It feels almost like a game show, when it’s starting, because everybody’s clapping, but it feels outside of the studio. It feels like it’s happening outdoors, at the beach or something. It feels so much like vaudeville as well. It’s like the perfect cross between that, and a rural sitcom from the early days of TV, like Petticoat Junction!

This show is just perfect to me. I love it so much, I wish I could live in it! The ads* *for soap get a little tiring, but other than that, this show is perfect!

It’s my ideal radio show. I love to listen to it with my eye mask on, in the dark, just relaxing. I know people sit by the radio a lot of times and just look at the radio*. But I like to listen to it with my eyes closed**, lying in bed.* It’s so much more relaxing than watching a regular TV show. I just adore it!

But*, as happy as this show makes me, it also makes me very sad, because I found out that only about 12 to 17 episode episodes of the** tearoom show still exist, and only about as many of the village shows still exist. Combined with her other radio shows, only about 40 episodes of every iteration of The Joan Davis Show combined still exists. And that is devastating, because it is my favorite old-time radio show! And I just thought I would come here to ask if anyone else considers* it their favorite too*?*

Most people who are familiar with Joan Davis know her from the TV series I Married Joan. But to me, her radio show was so much better, because it wasn’t trying to copy something else, like the TV series was trying to copy. I love Lucy. The radio show was its own thing, unique, and so brisk and refreshing! It feels beachy to me, I don’t know why. But I adore that!

I sure hope some people stumble on more episodes, in private collections and things. Maybe the whole stash will be discovered, and we can hear them all someday!