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New York circa 1920. "Hare" is all it says here. Who hare? 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.
"What's a guy have to do to get a drink around here?!"
The pistol, incidentally, appears to be identical with one offered in the 1900 Sears & Roebuck mail order catalog for $1.25 (around $34 in 2012 dollars). Probably a suicide special regardless of which way it was pointed.
Jones & Hare are probably best known as the Happiness Boys but that was only because their sponsor at that point was the Happiness Candy Company. They changed names when they changed sponsors. I have an old LP of excerpts from Old Time Radio shows (which was actually how I became interested in OTR) which had a clip of them where they called themselves "The Interwoven Pair"; their sponsor at the time was the Interwoven Sock Company. In 1928 they were the highest paid singers in radio, pulling down $1,250 a week, in addition to personal appearances and tours.
Ernie Hare died in 1939 at age 56 of Bronchopneumonia. His partner Billy Jones continued the act with Hare's daughter Margaret until his death in 1940 at age 51.
Ah, yes. The simpler, nostalgic times many of us long for; when it was easier to face a bullet than an empty glass. And yet, have times really changed?
Billy Jones and Ernie Hare were an early radio comedy team known as "The Happiness Boys." Recordings of some of their on-air routines are available on tape.
Speaking of hare/hair, that is the most extreme and ludicrous combover I've ever seen. The front edge alone is a work of art.
And, if they do, it may just become my Most Favorite Screen Saver of all time, or maybe not. Just let me check my cooler...and my ammo.
Wikipedia uses this photo to illustrate its article about recording, radio and musical stage singer Ernie Hare (1888-1939). It's a prohibition gag.
Wouldn't it be less messy to just go get a refill?
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