The Soap Operas, Volume 5 [Disc 2]

Bob and Ray were an American comedy duo whose career spanned five decades, composed of comedians Bob Elliott (1923–2016) and Ray Goulding (1922–1990). The duo's format was typically to satirize the medium in which they were performing, such as conducting radio or television interviews, with off-the-wall dialogue presented in a generally deadpan style as though it were a serious broadcast.

Radio
Elliott and Goulding began as radio announcers (Elliott a disc jockey and Goulding a newscaster) in Boston with their own separate programs on station WHDH, and each would visit with the other while on the air. Their informal banter was so appealing that WHDH would call on them, as a team, to fill in when Red Sox baseball broadcasts were rained out. Elliott and Goulding (not yet known as Bob and Ray) would improvise comedy routines all afternoon, and joke around with studio musicians.
Elliott and Goulding's brand of humor caught on, and WHDH gave them their own weekday show in 1946. Matinee with Bob and Ray was originally a 15-minute show, soon expanding to half an hour.

Matinee with Bob and Ray
Matinee with Bob and Ray was broadcast Monday through Saturday on WHDH. The weekday half-hours were broadcast live; the Saturday shows were usually 25 minutes long and were sometimes recorded in advance. Staff musicians Ken Wilson (organ) and Bill Green (piano) opened each show with a sprightly rendition of "Collegiate".

Monitor publicity shot of Bob and Ray with Miss Monitor (Tedi Thurman). All three made extended stays at the NBC studios in order to do hourly live appearances throughout the weekend on Monitor, which could explain why they were grouped for this promotional photo.

Characters
Elliott and Goulding lent their voices to a variety of recurring characters and countless one-shots, creating a multilayered world that parodied the real-life world of radio broadcasting. Elliott and Goulding played "Bob" and "Ray," the hosts of an ostensibly serious radio program. Their "staff" (all voiced by Elliott and Goulding) was a comic menagerie of reporters, book reviewers, actors, and all other manner of radio personalities, all of whom interacted with "Bob" and "Ray," as well as with each other. Almost all of these characters had picturesque names, as in one sketch where Bob introduced Ray as one Maitland Q. Montmorency. The guest replied, "My name is John W. Norvis. I have terrible handwriting."
Recurring characters played by Bob Elliott included:
• Wally Ballou, an inept news reporter, man-on-the-street interviewer.
• Snappy sportscaster Biff Burns ("So until next time, this is Biff Burns saying until next time, this is Biff Burns saying goodnight.")
• Johnny Braddock, another sportscaster, but with an obnoxious streak.
• Tex Blaisdell, a drawling cowboy singer who also did rope tricks on the radio (not to be confused with the real-life comic book artist and editor).
• Arthur Sturdley, an Arthur Godfrey take-off.
• Harry Backstayge, handsome stage actor and "idol to a million other women" (in the team's parody of radio's Backstage Wife).
• Pop Beloved, elderly stagehand in the Backstayge stories.
• Kent Lyle Birdley, a wheezing, stammering old-time radio announcer.
• Fred Falvy, "do-it-yourself" handyman.
• One of the McBeeBee twins, either Claude or Clyde, were nonidentical twins who spoke in unison, led by Goulding with Elliott a syllable or two behind him, and always interviewed by Elliott.
• Cyril Gore, a Boris Karloff sound-alike, he often appeared as a butler or doorman; his catchphrase was "Follow me down this cor-ree-dor."
• Peter Gorey, a character similar to Gore, but with a Peter Lorre-type voice.
Any script calling for a child's voice usually went to Elliott.
Ray Goulding's roster of characters included:
• Mary Backstayge, wife of Harry Backstayge.
• Webley Webster, mumble-mouthed book reviewer and organ player, whose reviews of historical novels and cookbooks were usually dramatized as seafaring melodramas.
• Calvin Hoogavin (using the same Webley voice), a character in the Mary Backstayge stories.
• Steve Bosco, sportscaster (who signed off with "This is Steve Bosco rounding third, and being thrown out at home", parodying Joe Nuxhall's signature sign-off of "the old lefthander rounding third and heading for home").
• Jack Headstrong, the All-American American (satirizing the long-running Jack Armstrong radio series of juvenile adventures).
• Artie Schermerhorn, another inept reporter. Sometimes partnered with Wally Ballou, often competing with him, especially when employed by the Finley Quality Network.
• Farm editor Dean Archer Armstead (his low, slurring delivery was unintelligible and punctuated by the sound of his spittle hitting a cuspidor); his theme music was a scratchy piano-lesson record of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm".
• The other McBeeBee twin, either Clyde or Claude. As mentioned above, Goulding would speak first, usually trying to trip up and break up Elliott.