"Can't Stand Jack Benny" contest

[mackdaddyg]

When was this contest held? I keep thinking it was late in the 1944-45 season, but I wasn't sure.

There's a neat website called www.archive.org that has tons of radio shows for free listening. It appears to be fairly comprehensive, yet I can't find any shows with this contest as the theme.

I know that not all of the shows have survived, but I figured most of 'em from the 1940s onward somehow made it.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Yhtapmys]

When was this contest held?

Starting Dec. 2, 1945
http://www.crispy.com/benny/audio/seaso ... 02_563.mp3

Ending Jan. 27, 1946
http://benny.crispy.com/audio/season_17 ... 27_571.mp3

Yhtapmys
"Drive Your Blues Away!"

[mackdaddyg]

Thank you for the link, Yhtapmys. That's a very thorough site. It took a little digging around, but I was able to hear what shows they have in between the dates you linked.

Great stuff!!! I guess the missing shows from this time don't exist anywhere....?

Thanks again.

[JohnM]

It looks like they are all here:

http://www.archive.org/details/TheJackB ... ionOTRKIBM

There are a couple of different "collections" of radio shows catalogued on this site - one is made up of higher quality sound files and divided into two or three year periods, e.g. ."Jack Benny 1939 and 1940".

This "collection", titled "The Benjamin Kubelsky Show - May 2nd, 1932 - May 22nd, 1955", is lower quality but seems extremely comprehensive.

[mackdaddyg]

JohnM,

Thank you very much for posting this link. I have been listening to the yearly collections at the archive site, but the one you listed got by me completely. You're right...it looks VERY comprehensive!!!

More listening to do. Thanks again!!

[Yhtapmys]

Thank you for the link, Yhtapmys. That's a very thorough site. It took a little digging around, but I was able to hear what shows they have in between the dates you linked.

Hi, Mack. To be honest, I never use that site because it takes forever me for to find what I was to listen to. I use a couple of other sites with plenty of Benny shows.

Some day, I hope some of the earliest shows that are lost are found intact somewhere. In reading the summaries Laura has in her book, they seem like they'd be quite funny.

Yhtampys

[mackdaddyg]

Yhtampys,

You're right. It takes a bit of time to look around that site for a particular show, but I've been picking stuff at random so it's not as bad as it could be. Then again, I had to ask here to find out about the I Can't Stand Jack contest shows, so maybe it's worse than I thought....?

I also hope the early shows pop up someday. I read a long time ago that the infamous Fred Allen episode that started the feud did exist, but it was originally owned by Fred and donated to a library after his death. I guess one can go there and request to hear it, but it doesn't seem very feasible.

Come to think of it, I'm assuming that Jack might have had transcriptions of his show as well. Any idea what became of them?

George

[krledu]

If you looking for a complete archive that is pretty good go to www.vicandsade.net. It has a pretty complete Jack Benny archive along with some Phil Harris Shows and others.

[mackdaddyg]

I've finished listening to the episodes from this contest, and enjoyed them very much.

However, I've been to a few different sites, and every one of 'em apparently uses the same source for the episode broadcast on 1/27/46, when Fred Allen announces the winners. It sounds like the transcription disc has a huge gash in it, and it skips quite a few times during the last few minutes of the program.

Does anybody know if this is the only surviving copy of the show? If so, I wonder where the actual master disc is located. Maybe it would be possible to re-record the show again with more care given to the end.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for supplying the info.

George

[LLeff]

I also hope the early shows pop up someday. I read a long time ago that the infamous Fred Allen episode that started the feud did exist, but it was originally owned by Fred and donated to a library after his death. I guess one can go there and request to hear it, but it doesn't seem very feasible.

Yep, I've heard it. It's at the Boston Public Library. Begged them to allow me to take a copy of it. Someone high up thinks that they're going to make a lot of money on the Fred Allen collection, but the bureaucracy keeps them from doing the requisite copyright searches yet (although I've also just given them the answer on that...they need a lawyer to validate it). So maybe someday.

But don't get me wrong...the gang at the BPL special collections is a wonderful group of people, and probably my favorite place to do Benny research.

[LLeff]

Come to think of it, I'm assuming that Jack might have had transcriptions of his show as well. Any idea what became of them?

They're at UCLA.

[krledu]

Come to think of it, I'm assuming that Jack might have had transcriptions of his show as well. Any idea what became of them?

They're at UCLA.

Can you get copies of those transcriptions or do you have to go to UCLA to look at them?

[Yhtapmys]

Can you get copies of those transcriptions or do you have to go to UCLA to look at them?

I'd prefer to listen to them myself.

What I'm curious about is if it's the complete Benny series. I gather most of the pre Jell-O shows don't exist at all.

Yhtapmys

[mackdaddyg]

Unfortunately, from what little experience I've had with this kind of thing, the most you can hope for is to go to the actual library and listen to the discs.

This kind of thing really bugs me. I understand the concerns with copyright laws and all that jazz, but it really isn't fair that the average person who lives five thousand miles away can't get the opportunity to hear this stuff.

I was tickled pink when I found out that the Fred Allen episode that started the feud still existed. When I realized that it was not in circulation but rather in a library somewhere, I was somewhat disappointed. I'm still glad it exists, but I gather that there's no way I'll ever hear it.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Jack Benny collection at UCLA has a lot of shows that are not floating around in circulation. I wonder if there is any way to make these publicly available......?

[TimL2005]

I bought a disc a couple years ago (DVD-Rom) from a dealer with 296 OTR Christmas Shows on it..The other day I loaded 151 of these shows in my RCA Opal MP3 player to listen to over the Holidays..Just by chance I listened to The episode where Ronald and Benita Colman visit Jack for a Christmas Party (That they are dreading the entire time)..The Date on the episode is 12/23/45..Don Wilson mentions that the last night for postmarks on the "I Can't Stand Jack Benny" contest is 12/24/45. Does that mean they took the entire Month of January to choose a winner?

BTW, I really enjoy the Colmans in this episode..They strike a nice balance of proper British "Now we must do the right thing" and "Do we really have to?" when it came to Jack's Party..The writing was really top notch here as well..