How Ronnie Ended Up With Jack

[Yhtapmys]

Radio In Review
BY REX L. GRIBBLE
RONALD Colman and his wife are the comedy profession's busiest non-comedians these days. They make another visit to the Jack Benny show tonight, their 15th within the past three years.
It all dates back to one night in 1946 when Colman had an engagement on another comedy program. His jokes went over like a mother-in-law's advice. Colman, ever the conscientious performer, took his failure to heart.
He discussed the matter with friend Benny, who suggested the material might not have been up his alley. Shortly afterwards, Benny concocted an idea on paper and presented it to Colman.
Needless to say, his first appearance with Jack was a riot. He explained later that he took direction from Benny as he would from a top-flight screen director, remarking "Jack Benny is the greatest comedy director in America."
- Nebraska State Journal, Lincoln, Nebraska | Sunday, March 6, 1949

Yhtapmys
"Drive Your Blues Away!"

[shimp scrampi]

Great post, yht. I think Jack's role as de facto director on the radio series is probably his least recognized accomplishment. I like that this article points it out so well, using the one of the great screen actors as state's exhibit number one. Wonderful stuff, as are the other articles you've been putting up. Thanks.

[Yhtapmys]

Great post, yht. I think Jack's role as de facto director on the radio series is probably his least recognized accomplishment. I like that this article points it out so well, using the one of the great screen actors as state's exhibit number one.

You can hear it on the air, too, S.S. He directs himself the best - he never steps on anyone's lines and knows exactly when to come back in. As well, we all know about the special directions on Mary's script. I'm sure it helped make Mary's timing as sharp as it was (when she bothered to show up for the show

Any guesses what comedy show is being talked about where Colman didn't go over? I haven't any idea.

Yhtapmys
"Drive Your Blues Away!"

[shimp scrampi]

Not sure what the show could have been, but it seems the dates are off in the article. The Colmans' first appearance on the Benny Show was Dec. 23, 1945 (folks, get 39 Forever, Vol 2 today!) so whatever he tanked on probably wasn't in the following year.

Sometimes I wish there were an Irdb (Internet Radio Database) to complement the Imdb!

[shimp scrampi]

And, OK, I can't resist... Good health to all from Rex L.!

[Gerry O.]

It's been written that many dramatic actors and actresses used to love to appear on Jack's radio show, because they KNEW that they would be given top-notch material and get a lot of hearty laughs.....and that wasn't always the case when they appeared on other comedy programs.

[Yhtapmys]

Not sure what the show could have been, but it seems the dates are off in the article. The Colmans' first appearance on the Benny Show was Dec. 23, 1945 (folks, get 39 Forever, Vol 2 today!) so whatever he tanked on probably wasn't in the following year.

I thought they were on a bit earlier. Regardless, the end of 1945 is close enough to 1946, so I'm not going to quibble.

Yhtapmys
"Drive Your Blues Away!"

[shimp scrampi]

Quick correction, Ronnie Colman's first Benny show was 12/9/1945, then the Dec. 23rd show was second. That's the fault of my eyeballs, not an error in Laura's book.

I had forgotten RadioGoldIndex, a little like imdb for radio. Colman actually did a lot of radio prior to Benny, but mostly dramatic shows. The most likely candidate for the Colman comedy "bomb show" looks like this:

The Charlie McCarthy Show. April 18, 1943

Although it might have been a variety program, he did several war bonds rally / for the troops type things wherein he might have been part of a comedy skit given the guest casts.