A happy birthday to two Roach players, The Taxi Boys !                                                      The Montréal-born Ben Blue (1901-1975) came out of the the nightclub world where he made the rounds as a dancer, dance teacher, and even a stage manager. By the 1920s, he had landed a slot in the band Jack White and His Montrealers as a wiseguy drummer. Ben went solo during the Great Depression, establishing himself as a Vaudeville nitwit with oddball reactions to the world around him.  In fact, his act at the time was so odd that modern viewers often find it off-putting. Nevertheless, Hal Roach saw talent in Blue, and hired him for The Taxi Boys - an experimental 'all stars' series. Ben's wild energy, strange catchphrases ("Well, I'm a tippetywitchet!"), and general scene-hogging suggest an insecure comic who was trying to figure out how to translate his talents into a memorable movie character.