Bob and Ray on a Winter Day

I was an engineering major so didn’t get into McCosh 50 very often, but I do have vivid recollection of a special event on a cold, damp midweek evening in February of 1962. Bob and Ray (for those too young to have enjoyed them, droll radio and TV humorists of the time) were scheduled to be there for a special event. The room was packed. The audience was starved for a laugh. Bob and Ray were late, really late, but nobody left.

Finally they arrived and as they took the stage to set up their mics and a little video screen, the place erupted with wild cheering and applause for what seemed an eternity. Bob and Ray just sat there on the stage not moving. Finally, as the cheering started to subside, Bob said simply, “Hello, Ray,” and the place erupted again. After another eternity, as the noise started to subside Ray said simply, “Hello, Bob,” and yet another eruption.

Eventually, they got down to business, which was trying out a number of new humorous radio and TV bits to be used in ads for Tip Top bread. The applause and cheers never matched the opening uproars, but hundreds of undergrads went back to their dorms filled with joy from this little break in their gray, dreary winter.