Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 207

I Page 3 BEA BENADERET She Was Jack Benny's Turkey By JOHN HEISNER Democrat and Chronicle TV-Radio Editor Bea Benaderet must just LOOK nervous and uncomfortable. She appeared that way in a recent stint on "Password," and she had seemed a bit on the edgy side which didn't detract in the least from the lady's charm during a conversation we had with her at another time. But the stability of her show "Petticoat Junction" certainly would give no reason for undue concern. It is, in the words of Channel 10's Bill Adams, "solid as a rock." So, for that matter, is the standing John of the show with which "Petticoat Heisner Junction" has a sort of working agreement, "Green Acres," with Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor. Miss Benaderet waltzed into the room in which we waited, and, needing little or no prompting, launched into her feelings about the "cross-over" of her show with "Green Acres," in which characters from one show turn up on the other show from time to time.

She liked the idea, of that there was no doubt. We asked her about the late Gracie Allen, with whom she worked for a number of years (as Blanche Morton, the next door neighbor of George Burns and Gracie). "She was probably one of the greatest actresses of our Miss Benaderet exclaimed, and then she was off, reminiscing over the years and experiences she has had in show business. "I remember auditioning for a radio bit as a turkey, over the phone and landing the job, at that," she laughed. "Jack Benny called me and asked me if I could do that bird.

"I told him I thought so, and I tried. right there, over the telephone. Jack listened, liked it, and I got the part." Bea, over the years, created scores of radio roles familiar to just about any listener of radio's golden era; roles such as Gertrude Gearshift, Jack the Brooklyn telephone operator on Benny Benny's radio program; Eve Goodwin on "The Great Glidersleeve," Amber Lipscott on "My Friend Irma," Mrs. Carstairs on "Fibber McGee and Molly," and Gloria the Maid on "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet." Her network radio career had its beginning in 1936 when she appeared as 'regular with Orson Welles on "The Campbell Playhouse." Over the years, she earned a reputation as one of the finest dialecticians in the business. And in her role on "Petticoat Junction" Miss Banaderet does a line job it's just the show that leaves us a bit cool.

It's not bad, it's not good, it's not much of anything just another of those half-hour pieces of Bea Benaderet bland fluff wheih unfortunately eat up so much time on television these days. Like the others "Farmer's Daughter," "Gidget," "Gilligan's Island," "Gomer Pyle," even "Andy Griffith," to name a few "'Petticoat Junction" just keeps moving along at a nothing pace, never getting really too interesting, and never dropping quite to the level of putting one to sleep. Some of those existing this season are being dropped, but rest assured, more of the same will follow next time around. Sponsors like them, because next to the shows the commercials look good. And that's a shame, really.

Good comedy is to be desired, sought after, and nurtured when found. Bad comedy should be destroyed. But what do you do with comedy which is a tasteless mixture of bad and good? For our money, you get rid of that, too. But if all the worthless comedy, and all the inadequate comedy were to disappear from television, there'd be an awful lot of blank spots on your screen, which wouldn't really be very different at that, now would it? The Index TV Sports Calender Sunday Movies Sunday Listings Monday Evening Listings, Movies Tuesday Evening Listings, Movies Wednesday Evening Listings, Movies 11 Thursday Evening Listings, Movies 12 Friday Evening Listings, Movies 14 Saturday Listings 16 Saturday Movies 17 Starscramble 17 Weekday Listings 18 Children's Favorites 20 Sunday Radio Listings 22 TV Mailbag 23 TV Tab Bemorrat and Chronicle Vol. 2, No.

33 Sunday.