The 1960's Jack Benny "beginning credits"

[Jhammes]

Here's some trivia, maybe someone has the answer.

Always vaguely wondered what the 1960's Jack Benny "beginning" represented:

Cartoon portraits of various men, women, children, fill the screen, the famous Bouche portrait of Jack, back to the various cartoon stills, they gradually "black out" as the screen goes to black. Cute, but I still never "got it".

Did the cartoon portraits represent Jack's audience? That is all I can come up with. Seems that any cross section of the viewing public liked Jack.

The 1950's "beginning" was much shorter: only a shot of a violin, or the Bouche portrait, with "The Jack Benny Program" title: Don Wilson announcing the title, of course.

Seems like most early television "openings" were relatively brief: Lucy, Andy Griffith, Walt Disney, My Three Sons, Dragnet, Bonanza, My Favorite Martian, Star Trek, Adam-12...wow, the memories are coming!
Guess the producers were on to something, brief really is memorable!

[TimL2005]

I dont think the 1960's opening represented anything but the mixture of Jack's Audience..how many types of people loved him

[Gerry O.]

I dont think the 1960's opening represented anything but the mixture of Jack's Audience..how many types of people loved him

You know, I never analyzed that "different heads" TV opening before, but that was really an ingenious way to soft-sell the idea that Jack appealed to a very wide audience demographic.

[LLeff]

You know, I never analyzed that "different heads" TV opening before, but that was really an ingenious way to soft-sell the idea that Jack appealed to a very wide audience demographic.

I never gave it a lot of thought either, beyond that borderline-consciousness "Everybody loves Jack Benny." They all do look pretty happy. Maybe the blackouts represent that they're being killed off one by one. Oh no, sorry...that's The Sopranos.

[Alan]

The 1950's "beginning" was much shorter: only a shot of a violin, or the Bouche portrait, with "The Jack Benny Program" title: Don Wilson announcing the title, of course.

Seems like most early television "openings" were relatively brief: Lucy, Andy Griffith, Walt Disney, My Three Sons, Dragnet, Bonanza, My Favorite Martian, Star Trek, Adam-12...wow, the memories are coming!
Guess the producers were on to something, brief really is memorable!

We have now returned to very brief....thinking of the seconds long, opening titles-only of "Lost", "24" etc....Maybe Seinfeld was the first megahit that didn't have a traditional 60s-80s sitcom intro segment? (just those jazzish notes, tho early(?) shows also had those comedy club establishing intro's)

[Jhammes]

Thanks, all...did not mean to be too analytical!
I remember most 60's - 80's sitcoms did begin with film clips, or cartoon drawings, representing the actual characters in the show.
So, the 1960's Jack Benny beginning, with the generic cartoon crowd, sort of threw me (which is easy to do).