Phil Harris travel time CBS to NBC

[1426]

I was listening to a CBS Jack Benny Program from 1949. Phil Harris was on the show almost 19 minutes into the show. How could he do this and be at NBC by the end of the half hour for his own show? How far apart were the studios?

[TheSportsmenQuartet]

According to the late Bill Days of the Sportsmen, and who made the trip many times, the studios were several blocks apart. He said the Sportsmen wouldn't bother driving the distance because it actually would have taken longer than their "dash" from CBS to NBC.

[1426]

I wonder if they ever taped Phil's dialog for later in the show as they did Mary's in later years?

[LLeff]

I wonder if they ever taped Phil's dialog for later in the show as they did Mary's in later years?

Not that I've ever heard of.

[bboswell]

Were either of these shows completely transcribed at the time? (I had also wondered this because of Jack's television show going on immediately after his radio show. Adding in repeat broadcasts, this would make for a crazy Sunday evening!)

[Maxwell]

Were either of these shows completely transcribed at the time? (I had also wondered this because of Jack's television show going on immediately after his radio show. Adding in repeat broadcasts, this would make for a crazy Sunday evening!)

Maybe it's somewhere on the site, but if it is I forget where, so I'll ask LL for help.

I don't remember it myself, but I think I've read that Jack broke into TV with just one show per month. (Or am I confusing this with Burns and Allen?) My earliest recollection were that the show was on every other week (alternating at first with "Private Secretary," starring Ann Sothern and later with "Bachelor Father").

So my question is: Is there a database that shows the dates of Jack's radio and TV shows during the time he was doing both? I know Jack relied on more than occasional reruns to fill out his radio schedule the last few years. How do those rerun dates compare to the TV dates?

Another thing I'm not sure of (and again I think I've read something somewhere about at least part of this on this site) is when Jack went exclusively to film, and if he was mixing live and filmed shows, did the filmed ones correspond to dates his radio shows aired? Even in those black & white days, you really could tell the difference between live and film.

[shimp scrampi]

I'm pretty sure they transcribed the radio shows to be aired the same night as the live TV shows a week or two in advance. Definitely true for the first live TV show.

[1426]

Today I was listening to an early 1950 show with Fred Allen as a guest. There was a gag about Phil's running to NBC. Rochester and Fred where in the parking lot when running footsteps were heard going by. Rochester said that it was Phil running to NBC.

[LLeff]

So my question is: Is there a database that shows the dates of Jack's radio and TV shows during the time he was doing both? I know Jack relied on more than occasional reruns to fill out his radio schedule the last few years. How do those rerun dates compare to the TV dates?

Well, that's 39 Forever First Edition. Jack was on intially every eight weeks (as he put it (approximately), "You won't find it listed in your television magazine, it will be on your calendar under Full Moon."). Then it became every four weeks in 1952-53, every three in 1953-54, then every other week from 1954-60 and finally weekly 1960-65. The initial shows were all shot in New York because they didn't yet have a cross-country coaxial cable for the television signal.

[bboswell]

I finally pulled my Dunning Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio off the shelf, and found this about Phil's show:
"... But the biggest change came in 1949 when Benny moved to CBS. This created a time problem as the networks were two blocks apart and the shows were back-to-back. This meant Harris had to be in the first half only of Benny's show: he would leave CBS by 4:15, Pacific time, cut through the parking lots between the studios and knock on the NBC back door at 4:17. Then he would step onto his own stage, warm up his own audience, and Phil Harris/Alice Faye was ready for the air."