The NYC Show of 3/27/38

[Gerry O.]

This episode has always had me wondering....It's one of the most unusual Benny programs I've ever heard.

The main thing that makes it so strange is the lack of most of Jack's regulars. Don, Phil, Mary and Kenny are all absent...the only regular who appears besides Jack is Rochester.

The show features several guest stars (including Fred Allen, Kate Smith and Robert L. Ripley), but even the style of writing is strange...it just doesn't come across as Jack's usual program style or tone of the period.

It's also unusual that Jack did his show from New York City for only one week. Usually his stays in NYC lasted for a few weeks and he would bring most (if not all) of his regular cast with him.

Does anyone know the circumstances behind this broadcast? Could it be that Jack was going to be in NYC for only a short time for some other purpose (perhaps to attend a Friars' Roast) and didn't think that it was financially worth bringng the whole cast out to NYC for only one program?

I enjoy this broadcast of 3/27/38, but the different cast and unusual style of writing makes this more of an "interesting" or "curious" episode rather than a funny one.....

Any info, background or general thoughts on this one?

[Roman]

I had assumed that Jack was in New York to appear on Fred Allen's program. Didn't Allen still broadcast from New York at that time? Knowing how popular the Benny-Allen feud was and how much it probably boosted the ratings of both men's shows, it wouldn't surprise me that Jack would have made a short trip to New York so that he could appear on Allen's show and Allen could appear on his. I doubt that Jack would have traveled all this way just for a Friars' Roast; but to enhance the Benny-Allen feud, that's a different matter.

[Gerry O.]

I had assumed that Jack was in New York to appear on Fred Allen's program. Didn't Allen still broadcast from New York at that time? Knowing how popular the Benny-Allen feud was and how much it probably boosted the ratings of both men's shows, it wouldn't surprise me that Jack would have made a short trip to New York so that he could appear on Allen's show and Allen could appear on his. I doubt that Jack would have traveled all this way just for a Friars' Roast; but to enhance the Benny-Allen feud, that's a different matter.

Yes, making an appearance on Fred Allen's program (which was based in NYC) does make sense, but usually Jack would build such a guest appearance into a "business vacation" in which Jack would broadcast his own program from NYC for several weeks and bring his regular cast with him.....That's why this "one-shot" broadcast from NYC threw me.

Just for the record, Jack was known to make trips to NYC especially to attend (and usually speak at) East Coast-based Friars' Roasts, especially if it was a "special" Roast for a good friend of his.....in fact, there's a Benny radio show from the early 1950's where he's packing to go to NYC, and he says that he's going there specifically for the special Roast that the Friars are throwing for Bob Hope.

[Roman]

Perhaps Jack's visit to NY was connected to the criminal smuggling case that was brought against him and George Burns as a result of some jewelry they had bought in Europe (or had purchased for them) but which hadn't been reported to customs (I don't recall the exact details only that it seemed to many as a case of a prosecutor overreaching to make a name for himself). I'm pretty sure the trial took place in the late 1930s so it's possible that Jack's visit was related to that matter. But again, this is just a guess on my part.

Jack also took a one week New York "vacation" toward the end of the 1947-48 season (Robert Taylor guest hosted). While they gave a silly storyline on the show to explain Jack's absence, I wonder if the real reason had something to do with Jack's contract negotiations with NBC that ultimately led to his move to CBS at the end of the year. I may be mistaken but I thought that, at that time, the network executive offices were in NYC so it would make sense that Jack would have traveled there to participate in some of the key negotiations. This was in the day when most cross-country travel was still by rail which would have made it near impossible for Jack, or anyone else, to go to NY and back in just a week.

Anyway, just a hunch. I could be, and probably am, way off. Perhaps others know the real answer.

[Jhammes]

"Sunday Nights At Seven" gives the Chaperau situation beginning September 1938, with the trial occuring April 1939. So, whatever the reason for the unusual March 1938 broadcast, THAT hadn't happened yet.
(Glad that the public saw through the prosecutor, and gave Jack a vote of confidence.)