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I grew to particularly appreciate Fred Allen when seeing reruns of dozens and dozens of his appearances on early-to-mid-1950s “What’s My Line” episodes on the Game Show Network. Long ago, I didn’t quite ‘get’ his wry style of humor, which was more akin to that of turn-of-the-century, small-town New England. When I was a high-schooler, collecting cassette tapes of old radio shows, I didn’t find his humor quite as accessible as Benny or many others. But nowadays, I count myself a big Fred Allen fan as well.

However, I’ve always loved the one Hollywood film that he starred in, “It’s in the Bag” (1945). The six-minute bit Allen did with Benny in it is thoroughly hilarious. I’d made a videotape copy of the film back in 1984, and finally upgraded with the recent dvd release. Great, silly comedy film.