A few questions about the show

[krledu]

I have a few questions about the Jack Benny Show and I thought I would just stuff them into one post.

1) I've been listening to the JB program in order. Around late 1941-early 1942, I notice that Don stopped doing most of the early Jello commercials and another announcer starting doing them. Even some of the ending commercials were done by someone else while Don still did the commercial in the middle? Why was that? And were those commercial written by the writers of the JB program or the sponsor?

2) There were lots of minor characters that appeared on the program such as Mr. Billingsly, Dennis's mother, and the bald-headed guy, who plays the guy who knocks on the door all the time. Did they have a contract or were they just called when needed? They sometimes appear everyweek, then not appear for a long time.

3) On the 1942 Camp Haan show there is a character who plays on Jack's fake quiz program. He plays a telegram delivery boy on the show before that one also. I believe it is Dennis Day doing a very clever dialict but I'm not sure. Does anyone know who plays this character? (I will have to buy 39 Forever soon so I can find these things out for myself )

[Yhtapmys]

I have a few questions about the Jack Benny Show and I thought I would just stuff them into one post.

1) I've been listening to the JB program in order. Around late 1941-early 1942, I notice that Don stopped doing most of the early Jello commercials and another announcer starting doing them. Even some of the ending commercials were done by someone else while Don still did the commercial in the middle? Why was that? And were those commercial written by the writers of the JB program or the sponsor?

It sounds like agency had the network insert these because there's no music underneath. I've heard the same announcer do tail spots for other Standard Brands products after the show is over and give an NBC ID.

When the Lucky Strike campaign began, the opening spots were done in NYC (the presence of Kenny Delmar gives that away).

It could have been contractual. Don was around long enough he may have had clot to say "In my nex contract, I want to do one less commercial." Consider the Burns and Allen Show where Bill Goodwin started as a commercial announcer and ended up as a sidekick with Toby Reid doing the spots.

2) There were lots of minor characters that appeared on the program such as Mr. Billingsly, Dennis's mother, and the bald-headed guy, who plays the guy who knocks on the door all the time. Did they have a contract or were they just called when needed? They sometimes appear everyweek, then not appear for a long time.

The bald guy, Harry Baldwin, was employed by Jack. The others were AFRS members and were likely booked through their agents.

3) On the 1942 Camp Haan show there is a character who plays on Jack's fake quiz program. He plays a telegram delivery boy on the show before that one also. I believe it is Dennis Day doing a very clever dialict but I'm not sure. Does anyone know who plays this character? (I will have to buy 39 Forever soon so I can find these things out for myself )

Sounds like Percy Kilbride to me.

Yhtampys
"Drive Your Blues Away!"

[LLeff]

1) I've been listening to the JB program in order. Around late 1941-early 1942, I notice that Don stopped doing most of the early Jello commercials and another announcer starting doing them. Even some of the ending commercials were done by someone else while Don still did the commercial in the middle? Why was that? And were those commercial written by the writers of the JB program or the sponsor?

The writers wrote the show, not the straight (i.e., non-humorous) commercials (except, of course, the middle one which was never straight). I'd have to go back and listen to the specific shows in question, but it's possible that they might have had customized commercials for different parts of the country. So rather than Don broadcasting to the all of the Eastern or Western parts of the country, they may have had key stations in certain areas broadcast more specifically.

In fact.......I'm pretty sure this is right but I haven't thought of it in a while......I think I remember seeing separate script pages for some East and West Coast broadcast commercials. One might hear a recipe for lime Jell-O with artichoke hearts and castor oil, while the other heard about the benefits of Jello Ice Cream Powder. (Yes, joking about the recipe ingredients...) There are also a couple rare shows in the mid to late 30s that have a special breakaway at the end for New York/New Jersey only, as they were test marketing Jello Freezing Mix there (again relying on memory). Can only imagine how that tutti-frutti was.

2) There were lots of minor characters that appeared on the program such as Mr. Billingsly, Dennis's mother, and the bald-headed guy, who plays the guy who knocks on the door all the time. Did they have a contract or were they just called when needed? They sometimes appear everyweek, then not appear for a long time.

As pointed out above, some of these people were already in the regular crew. Billingsley was writer Ed Beloin. His writing partner, Bill Morrow, also did plenty of turns at the mike (and both of them together sometimes, as in the dueling soda jerks). The bald-headed guy and the door guy (as I call him) were both Harry Baldwin, who was Jack's secretary. Dennis' mother, on the other hand, was actress Verna Felton who appeared on several programs. I don't know that there was a firm contract with most of the bit players (other than, say, Mel Blanc or Frank Nelson in later years), as they were often hired for the show and paid for a single appearance (or technically two, for East/West Coast performances). There are even notes in Harry Baldwin's hand on some of Jack's scripts noting that Blanche Stewart might have gotten $15 or $30 for a show in the early 30s. Dix Davis, who played Belly Laugh Barton, recalled that Jack always paid above SAG rate.

3) On the 1942 Camp Haan show there is a character who plays on Jack's fake quiz program. He plays a telegram delivery boy on the show before that one also. I believe it is Dennis Day doing a very clever dialict but I'm not sure. Does anyone know who plays this character? (I will have to buy 39 Forever soon so I can find these things out for myself )

Haven't looked this one up, but it looks like it's already been answered.

[LLeff]

And one other thing on Frank Nelson. Frank told a story about Jack wanting him to deliver a single line on a show (I'm pretty sure it was Frank and not Mel Blanc, although that's possible), and was willing to pay Frank's regular rate for it. There was some comment about how much he had made per word. So this would infer that even Frank may not have had a contract, but was just notified whenever the script called for his appearance.

Some day I'll sort through the files and find out more specifically who had a contract and who didn't.

[Yhtapmys]

And one other thing on Frank Nelson. Frank told a story about Jack wanting him to deliver a single line on a show (I'm pretty sure it was Frank and not Mel Blanc, although that's possible), and was willing to pay Frank's regular rate for it. There was some comment about how much he had made per word. So this would infer that even Frank may not have had a contract, but was just notified whenever the script called for his appearance.

Seems to me Frank told an Irving Fein story about how Irving didn't want to pay Frank so they got someone else to do the line. But Jack was the audition and wondered why Frank wasn't doing it, then got upset when he heard the answer, and got Frank to come in.

Yhtapmys