Benny Bell was a Jewish singer / comedian who recorded in the 1940s . He performed humorous songs filled with mild double-entendres. His recordings didn’t do all that well and he would have disappeared into obscurity if it wasn’t for a radio personality named Dr. Demento who would play Benny Bell’s “Shaving Cream” on his show. In 1975 “Shaving Cream” managed to break through to the Billboard top 30, giving him one last moment in the sun. He died in 1999 at the age of 93.

The Internet Archive has put together 30 of his singles in the 78 RPM collection. Benny Bell’s music is a step back to a more innocent era when risque lyrics were limited to witty implications in songs like “A Goose For My Girl”and “Everybody Wants My Fanny”. Many of his songs like “Dopey John” and “I’ll Never Get Drunk Again” were probably rescued orphans from the vaudeville days. Of course, “Shaving Cream’ is here. These are all fun novelty songs but it should be noted that on “Down by the Old Mill Stream” Benny Bell actually showed some ability to get down and swing a little!

The track are MP3 s ranging from 80kbps to 128kbps but remember these recordings are from old 78rpm acetate disks and sounds like it.

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