This Day in Jack Benny

John Henderson talks with filmmaker, movie podcaster and Jack Benny fan Zach Eastman about the Jack Benny Movies from Transatlantic Merry Go Round (1934) to George Washington Slept Here (1942).

October 20, 1940 - Jack Benny was the guest star on "The Gulf Screen Guild Theater" radio show with Claudette Colbert and Basil Rathbone.

John Henderson talks with Chuck Schaden, from SpeakingOfRadio.com and who interviewed Jack Benny for "Those Were The Days", an Old Time Radio nostalgia broadcast started in 1970.

June 19, 1940 - Jack Benny is a guest on Town Hall Tonight, Fred Allen's radio show. Everyone at this time knew that Fred Allen and Jack Benny hated each other (as a gag on the radio). In this episode Jack and Fred pretend not to recognize each other as they make cutting jabs.

Dan Einstein talks about the Jack Benny Collections at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Plus Jeanette Berard from the Thousand Oaks Library American Radio Archive talk about their collection of Jack Benny Scripts.

January 19, 1940 - Bob Hope, Baby Snooks, Fibber McGee and Molly and Jack Benny team up for this variety program to promote Radio Guide Magazine's new explanation into movies.

Larry Gassman from The Society To Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy talks about the good old days of old time radio nostalgia, plus meet-ups, conventions and OTR celebrities!

January 30, 1940 - Jack Benny appears with Eddie Cantor on The March of Dimes special Committee for the Celebration of the President's Birthday. The program was in support of the fight against polio. Plus an interview with Jack's writers, producers and the guy who plays "The Knocking Man".

John Henderson interviews Elva Green about the book she wrote about her father Eddie Green. The book is called "Eddie Green: The Rise of an Early 1900s Black American Entertainment Pioneer". We also talk about Rochester and her family's personal connection.

November 21, 1940 - Jack Benny is the guest on The Maxwell House Coffee Time featuring Baby Snooks and Daddy.

My interview with Caleb Daven a very young Jack Benny fan.

Part 2 of my interview with Steve Darnall of Nostalgia Digest magazine. We talk all about the Jack Benny supporting characters. Plus vintage clips!

Part one of an interview with Steve Darnall of Nostalgia Digest a magazine about old things vintage, from old radio to classic Hollywood and more.

December 17, 1940 - Jack Benny and Fred Allen Star in the movie Love Thy Neighbour. This is a radio preview of the movie.

Jack Benny was guest star on Orson Welles' dramatic program The Campbell's Playhouse for the play "June Moon".

John Henderson talks with Ben Dooley of Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear about his live adaptations of old time radio shows.

The Jack Benny show was on hiatus during the summer, so podcast host John Henderson it interviewing some great guests. It's the summer Jackstravaganza preview. This year look forward to Ben Dooley, Steve Darnall, Caleb Daven, Elva Green, Larry Gassman and Dan Einstein. Plus learn about Forever 39 The Jack Benny Story

Paramount is on the air with Jack Benny in "Artists and Models" and Mary Livingstone in "This Way Please". Listen to these extended movie previews.

June 25, 1939 - From Jack Benny's home town of Waukegan for the opening of his movie "Man About Town". They mention Palm Beach suits, racoon coats, Marcelled hair, Tarzan, The Glow Worm song and The Aldrich Family.

June 20, 1937 - This is the very first episode with Rochester! In the episode they mention Albert Einstein, WC Fields, and the Maxwell House Showboat.

June 20, 1948 - From Cleveland with guests Bob Hope, Marilyn Maxwell and pitcher Bob Feller. It is an uproarious episode with a great crowd.

June 13, 1937 - Andy Devine is in this early Jack Benny episode talking about his upcoming movie with Bing Crosby. They also mention Fred MacMurray, Gary Cooper and Marlene Detrick. But the star is Mary Livingstone and her first (and possible last) movie "This Way Please".

June 13, 1948 - The Jack Benny Show is #1! The Hooper Ratings listed the top rated radio shows based on millions of telephone interviews through the year. This episode is from Detroit and they mention a number of cars including the 1948 Cadillac, the vehicle to start the tail fin craze. Don Wilson's weight is also discussed in this episode.

June 11, 1939 - Jack first does a parody of gossip columnist Jimmy Fidler. He mentions a number of old Hollywood stars including youngsters like Mickey Rooney and Bobby Breen. Plus The Cisco Kid, Dr.Kildair, Charlie Chan and most of all Sherlock Holmes. Also this day, from "Seein' Stars" in the Sunday comics June 11, 1939

June 6, 1948 - A fun train station episode. Mel Blanc does Porky pig and his famous woody woodpecker laugh. And we explain what "Which Twin Has The Toni?" means.

June 4, 1939 - Jack Benny is compared to dramatic actors Paul Muni and Spenser Tracy. But it's really just a rib. Jack Benny is Sherlock Holmes in the preview to "The Hound of the Baskervilles".

May 31, 1942 - After 8 years with JELL-O the Jack Benny Show is changing sponsors (it's still the parent company General Foods). They are doing a clips show or "A Cavalcade of Last 8 Years with JELL-O". Clips include: How Jack met Rochester, Buck Benny Rides Again, Andy Devine, Jack saves Fred Allen's life, Lost Horizon, Dennis Day's first appearance, Mary's mother, Carmichael the Polar Bear and the gas man, Mr. Billingsley, Don's wife, and the New Year's Eve fantasy.

May 28, 1939 - Not only to they spoof the movie "The Story of Alexander Graham Bell", they also talk about Jack Benny's movie "Man About Town". Plus the FBI director J. Edger Hoover.

May 21, 1944 - Jack Benny and the gang discuss split personality, and later Jack realizes he has a split personality. They reference the death of Flattop from the Dick Tracy comic strip. Plus Phil Harris and his wife Alice Faye just had a baby. Jack turns on the radio and hears a commercial for "Sympathy Cough Syrup" (very funny spoof).

May 21, 1939 - In this episode of the Jack Benny program, Phil Harris inflicts the worst torture imaginable on Jack...baby talk! Plus we learn about Eleanor Roosevelt's radio show and the NY World's Fair. Plus the second half of "Gunga Din".

May 14, 1944 - Jack at the gang are at Camp Adair, Corvallis, Oregon performing for the infantry. Don starts off the episode by listing other programs you can hear through the week: Monday - Cavalcade of America Tuesday - Bob Hope Wednesday - Eddie Cantor Thursday - Bing Crosby Friday Amos 'n Andy Saturday - Truth or Consequences Sunday - Jack Benny

May 14, 1939 - It's mother's day and Jack Benny and the gang spoof a movie in the theatres about a water bearer in British occupied India called "Gunga Din" part 1.

May 9, 1948 - Ronald Coleman's Oscar is finally returned...or was it ever gone? They reference the Pilgrims (listen for a funny clip of Abbot and Costello from 1948). Bare midriff's are in fashion. The first villain pro-wrestler on television, Gorgeous George. And they mention Little Orphan Annie.

May 7, 1939 - Jack Benny makes a Kentucky Derby Bet. Then they do a skit as horses. Phil Harris is also teased for talking in baby talk when he sang the hit novelty song "Three Little Fishes".

May 2, 1948 - Guest Star Frank Sinata. That skinny kid won an Oscar for "The House I Live In" in 1945 and was currently in the movie "Miracle of the Bells". Not to mention the fact that he had his own radio show "Your Hit Parade". This week the negotiate a price for him to sing on The Jack Benny Show.

April 30, 1939 - It's Jack Benny's 7th Anniversary in Radio. At the time there where also two World's Fairs going on. One in New York, the other in San Francisco. Listen also for quick references to drive-in movies and "Lloyds of London" and Esquire Magazine.

April 26, 1942 - Jack Benny and the gang are at the new NBC building in San Francisco. Listen closely and you will hear them mention 7-Up, Red Skelton's catchphrase "I Dood It", and "Havanna Nights". They also do a western skit called Jack Hawkin's Revenge.

April 23, 1939 - On the set of Jack's movie "Man About Town" we meet Guests Binnie Barns and Mark Sandrich with a cameo by Claudette Colbert...all performed in the radio studio by the regular cast with bit players doing the celebrity voices. Meanwhile, Rochester tries to collect on the bet he made with Jack Benny after the Joe Lewis boxing match. And they subtly take a jab at Chamberlain and his Munich Agreement with Hitler.

April 19, 1942 - Don's play about JELL-O stars Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone and Dennis Day. Plus Jack steals a joke from his corny sound man and much more!

April 16, 1939 - Phil Shoots the movie "Man About Town" behind Jack's back. Bob Hope makes a quick reference to The Jack Benny Show on his program. This is one day before a big boxing match with the champ Joe Louis. Phil Harris and Dorothy Lamour.

April 18, 1954 (Re-run April 10, 1955) - A great Easter episode of the Jack Benny Program. Listen for a clip of Bob Crosby on his show "Club 15", the south pole explorer Admiral Byrd, the Statler Hotel, penny scales, and the Judy Garland / Fred Astaire film "Easter Parade".

April 9, 1939 - Jack Benny recruits his cast to play nurses in a parody of the movie Four Girls in White. They also mention Gunga Din, The Story of Louis Pasteur and The Dead End Kids.

April 4, 1948 - The Ink Spots are filling in for the Sportsmen. Jack Benny was robbed of the Oscar statue that he borrowed from Ronald Coleman in that famous "Your money or your life" episode. So Jack wants to borrow Bing Crosby's Oscar. This Day in Jack Benny with John Henderson. This is an episode of The Lucky Strike Program staring Jack Benny. Old Time Radio (OTR). The Jack Benny program, starring Jack Benny with Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Rochester, Dennis Day, and yours truly Don Wilson "Your Money or your life!" ... "I'm thinking it over!"

April 2, 1939 - Rochester sold Carmichael the polar bear to a pawn shop. Kenny Baker tries some April Fool's Day gags even though it's a day late. They also talk about the news that Clark Gable and Carol Lombard got married.

March 28, 1948 - This is the most well-known episodes of the Jack Benny Program because it includes his most famous joke. And it is a very funny episode where Jack goes to visit his next door neighbor, the classy Ronald Coleman. Jack convinces Ronny to borrow his Oscar! This Day in Jack Benny with John Henderson. This is an episode of The Lucky Strike Program staring Jack Benny. Old Time Radio (OTR). The Jack Benny program, starring Jack Benny with Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Rochester, Dennis Day, and yours truly Don Wilson "Your Money or your life!" ... "I'm thinking it over!"

March 26, 1939 - Fred Allen claims Jack Benny is an imposter named Maxwell Stroud. Newspaperman Ed Sullivan comes to check the story out.

March 21, 1948 - In this episode of the Jack Benny Program there is a subtle reference to the McCarthy era Red Scare. But most of the episode is spent talking about the 20th Academy Awards in which Ronald Coleman won the Best Actor Oscar for "A Double Life".

March 19, 1939 - Jack Benny has the measles and is at home sick in bed. Phil takes over. It's very funny. In the preface we talk about the early days of radio.

March 15, 1936 - One of the better early episodes of Jack Benny. Broadcasting from Washington DC they talk politics and banter. Then Jack goes to a banquet at the French Embassy. Plus the comic strip "Bringing up Father", and my favorite 1936 cartoon where the gong show host is Jack Bunny "I Love to Singa".

March 12, 1939 - Don Wilson celebrates his anniversary. Jack Benny got polar bear for his birthday and it is sick.