Review: 2003 Jack Benny Collectors Edition 2DVDs 15 Episodes

[Jack Benny]

Jello again,

I got Jack Benny's name! Ha Ha! Anyway, no one has reviewed this set of 2 dvds, so I thought I would tell you about them. I do not work for the company that puts this out or anything. These two DVDs have the best looking picture and sound that I have ever seen on these old shows. Many of the episodes come from the 1952-1954 seasons of the Jack Benny Program TV show, with a few shows being from the later years. I would not part with my set for anything. The package is very attractive as well. The picture has no "watermarks." If you are going to by one Benny TV set make it this one. You will not be sorry. Now the Bad news, this set is really hard to find, it is put out by Diamond Entertainment, but they don't even list it on their website. You have to call them to get it for $15 and $5 shipping. No the good news, brand new copies are always for sale on the auction sites for around $10 - just do a search for "Jack Benny DVD 15" because it is the only set available with exactly 15 shows! Below is a list of the episodes including the classic Christmas Episode.

DISC ONE

THE HILLBILLY SHOW

BURGLARS

FRED ALLEN

HUMPHREY BOGART

LIBERACE

GOLDIE, FIELDS AND GLIDE

HOW JACK MET MARY


DISC TWO

NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY

JACK'S HONG KONG SUIT

THE LUNCH COUNTER MURDERERS

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

JACK CASTS FOR HIS TELEVISION SPECIAL

DON WILSON'S 27TH ANNIVERSARY

4 O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING

JACK RENTS HIS HOUSE

[benny-allen fan]

this is the DVD i mentioned in the other section. i didn't give the name or anything because of it's rare status. i got this off eBay, ironically, since i've never seen it anywhere hardly. it has a good front cover and on the back there's a top picture of Jack and Mary and below is Jack and Rochester. the episode i'll always call the stand-out is the Christmas show {it's available on VHS too, "Jack Benny Program, Volume 6"}. Ranking behind that in my opinion is the one with Jack at a lunch counter with Dennis Day imitating Jimmy Cagney and guest Dan Duyera {?/ spelling might be wrong} as gangsters. Benny Rubin guests as a customer who's shown how Gundlefinger's "trusts it's customers" with the cash registar scene. Don plays Chubby Wilson. i also like the Fred Allen episode but it's cut off in mid sentence while Jack's describing how to get to his house because he's asked Fred and cameo appearance guest Eddie Cantor to join him for dinner. the only program out of the 15 i didn't like that much was "The Hillbilly Show". it's sort of personal but i'm from southern Ohio and so i didn't like the jokes about rural life and the visual joke about the little kid being the wife of a man...that was so un-like any typical Jack Benny episode i've ever seen and i was stunned it would be on a Benny show given that Jack is FROM the midwest area of the U.S. and in close geographic relation to where most rural jokes are derived from. it just caught me by surprise...that's all.

[BT]

After a few months of looking around, I found a dealer on Amazon.com (listed under "used and new") who sold this set for just a few dollars--I think it was less than $10 total, including shipping. I was a little nervous that they weren't going to send both discs, but they did, promptly, and it was brand new. A great set and a great value--No reason to hesitate on this one if you have any interest in the Benny show at all.

Anyone know if there are any plans for more Benny DVD releases? Am I correct in undertanding that MGM is sitting on most of the original copies of the shows?

[LLeff]

Anyone know if there are any plans for more Benny DVD releases? Am I correct in undertanding that MGM is sitting on most of the original copies of the shows?

MCA, not MGM, has the copies of the shows. I know I've heard some rumblings about Shokus Video releases, but you'd have to ask them for more information.

[BT]

Thanks for the info, Laura.

Maybe this Diamond set will do well enough that MCA--or someone--will be inspired to produce more DVD sets at a good price. Last I looked (it's been a while) , Shokus was putting the same number of shows on a DVD that they put on a VHS tape, which is very poor value--4 shows for twice the money that the 15 episodes on the Diamond package costs.