Review: Jack Benny Collection - 24 episodes on 5 DVDs!

[Jack Benny]

When I viewed this collection I wept! Wow! If I was to list the top 10 Jack Benny episodes on my wish list, 7 of the 10 are on this set! I have always wanted to see the episode in which Jack dreams he is married to Mary, the Marylin Monroe episode, and The first Bob Hope episode - they are all here. My favorite, and the one I have been trying to find for a long while, is "The New Years Day" episode. Jack does his classic New Years Fantasy, and he does it as a radio show! There are some great Mel Blanc moments in this skit! The scene between Jack and the little boy at the end of the skit is priceless! My favorite scene of any of the Benny show that I have seen. The packaging of this set is excellent, and the price at under a dollar an episode is great! The picture quality isn't the best, but it certainly isn't the worst I've seen either. This is the current collection that I would suggest above all others.

Episodes:
Disc 1:
1. Beverly Hills Police Station - Exclusive to this collection!
2. Bob Hope Show - Classic Rare Episode
3. Christmas Shopping Show - Classic
4. Don's 27th Anniversary with Jack
5. Dorothy Shay - Oldest surviving episode in circulation!
Disc 2:
1. Four O'Clock in the Morning Show
2. Fred Allen Show
3. Goldie, Fields, and Glide
4. Honolulu Trip - Rare Marilyn Monroe Classic
5. How Jack Met Mary
Disc 3:
1. Humphrey Bogart Show - Classic!
2. Irene Dunne Show - Exclusive to this collection!
3. Jack Alone on New Year's Eve
4. Jack Casting for TV Special
5. Jack Dreams He's Married to Mary - Classic exclusive to this collection, featuring Mary Livingstone and Joan Benny!
Disc 4:
1. Jack Gets Robbed
2. Jack Rents His House
3. Jack's Hong Kong Suit
4. Jam Session at Jack's
5. Johnnie Ray Show - Rare show!
Disc 5:
1. Liberace Show
2. Lunch Counter Murder
3. New Year's Day Show - - Classic exclusive to this collection! My favorite!
4. Talent Show, New Years

[Jackson]

This is my first post here.......and I'm glad to be here!!!!

I picked this set up the day after Christmas, and I've enjoyed them immensly!

For me, the most frustrating part of finding Jack's programs on DVD is knowing what episodes are on what discs.

I wish somebody would go ahead and put them out sequentially. I realise Jack's programs didn't run in the same sort of seasons we see now, but still, it would be nice to have them that way.

Just my thoughts.......

[Alan]

Hey JB;Much thanks for the listing of the set's contents.

[shimp scrampi]

For me, the most frustrating part of finding Jack's programs on DVD is knowing what episodes are on what discs.

Thanks for the review Jack Benny, I agree. Posting in the $1 DVD thread I had this same issue, but after much work with my abacus and slide rule, I've come to the conclusion that if you pick up this Madacy set, find the Dollar Tree "Volume 2" DVD that includes the Julie London/Toni Marcus show, and the '65 "Jack Benny Hour", you've got pretty much everything that has been released commercially in the last couple of years. If you're outside the Dollar Tree chain area, you can pick it up cheap on E-bay. You can recognize it because it has a pic of Jack, Mary and Joan on the cover (though it doesn't contain that episode - plus it says '3 half-hour episodes' though it is really 2 half-hours plus the hour special).

Platinum has a 5-episode disc with the film remake of the "Jack Alone on New Years" show, not included on any other release I know, but the quality is horrible.

If you go back a few years to the late '90s, MCA did a series of official VHS volumes, with 2 episodes each, now out of print, of which I have a few. Not the greatest selection of episodes, most were from very late in the show's run, but they're still fun and very nice video quality. With the exception of the Christmas shopping show, none of these have shown up on the public domain releases.

[Jack Benny]

I was just watching the "Johnnie Ray Show," and I noticed that it has a really nice song and dance routine with Rochester and Don Wilson. It's a great bit and they really look like they are having fun. That episode also has a great role reversal, in which Jack has to take care of the cooking while Rochester relaxes, reads a book, and smokes a lucky strike out of one of those long cigarette holders on his day off. I was wondering if there was any controversy about the black man lounging with the white man serving "images" in this episode.

[shimp scrampi]

I was wondering if there was any controversy about the black man lounging with the white man serving "images" in this episode.

Doubt it. The humor is that the roles are reversed, i.e., not what the relationship is "supposed" to be. It's a fairly typical Jack Benny Show situation as well.

The major racist outrage around Rochester came from a radio episode many years earlier where Rochester supposedly hit Jack and knocked him out in a boxing match. That aroused some nasty ire the south (and probably elsewhere, I assume).

[_bill]

[code]
I remember some of these had the wrong dates but I don't have that list
with me right now, but I also have been trying to sort out what's out there.
re:
>Episodes:
>Disc 1:
>1. Beverly Hills Police Station - Exclusive to this collection!
if that's 11/18/56 it's also on #285 Jack Benny VI from shokus Video

>Disc 3
>2. Irene Dunne Show - Exclusive to this collection!
12/6/53? also #285 above

>5. Jack Dreams He's Married to Mary - Classic exclusive to this collection
2/7/54? also on #285

>Disc 5
>3. New Year's Day Show - - Classic exclusive to this collection! My favorite!
1/1/56? Thats on #249 Jack Benny IV SV

as far as sequence goes, here's a stab at it...
51/11/04 jack_1951-11-04_Dorthy Shay
52/11/30 jack_1952-11-30_truman
53/04/19 fred allel eddie cantor
53/10/25 jack_1953-10-25_humphrey bogart
53/12/06 jack_1953-12-06_I Dunne V Price
53/12/27 new years
54/01/17 jack_1954-01-17_liberace
54/02/07 joan benny
54/03/21 jack_1954-03-21_bing burns goldie fields and glide
54/05/23 jack_1954-05-23_bob Hope Road to Nairobi
54/10/17 jack_1954-10-17_jam session
and pretty much from there on out it's the syndication package (the question I have from those
is was how jack found Rochester really in it, and I think there was at least one other in it
not in the previous list) I have most of at least 3 runs from different sources taped (the cbn run, when it was
on comedy central US and comedy and talk tv canada) (a list of that is elsewhere in thus forum - just
dating what Laura listed)

As far as vhs goes, in addition to the mentioned mca (listed here as univ) releases, Nostalgia put out some
and Radio Spirits and Shokus have some I've not seen elsewhere. Not on dvd yet.
Brief notes on some of the vhs...
The Jack Benny Program video/j&M productions 45032 univ 1983 no details
The Jack Benny Program video [Vol 1] 81990 Univ carson/mansfield
Jack Benny Show Vol 1 4226 Nostalgia Bogart/duryea
The Jack Benny Program video [Vol 2] 81993 Univ peter lore surgeon/smothers bros
Jack Benny Show Vol 2 4227 Nostalgia hong kong suit/allen cantor
The Jack Benny Program video [Vol 3] 81994 Univ stewarts tax/berle
Jack Benny Show Vol 3 4228 Nostalgia shay
The Jack Benny Program video [Vol 4] 81991 r Burr trial/burnette tarzan
Jack Benny Show Vol 4 4229 Nostalgia bing burns
The Jack Benny Program video [Vol 5] 81992 Univ kidnappers burns/l ball paul revere
Jack Benny Show Vol 5 4230 Nostalgia 1956-12-30/1961-01-01
Jack Benny Show Vol 6 4231 Nostalgia 1960-12-18/1961-01-15
Jack Benny Show Vol 7 4232 Nostalgia 1954-01-17/54-05-23
Jack Benny Show Vol 8 4233 Nostalgia 1955-02-06/1963-02-05
Jack Benny Show Vol 9 4234 Nostalgia 1st 56 marcus london/monroe
Jack Benny Show "live" Moviecraft amateur show/hope,martin,lewis
Shokus has the Ernie Kovacs in prison among oters, radio spirits has/had the honeymooners
parody.
There is a tape that often shows up on ebay usually saying it's jack doing a bank
of californaia commercial, but there is no unique to that presentation footage on that.
They just used some footage from a tv show.

Back to DVDs, shokus has some shower of stars and stars in the eye where jack appears,
and a George Burns show with jack on it. The honeymooners set must have jacks brief appearence on it as those were complete,
Here's Lucy has a clip from one of the specials, a groucho marx set has a short excerpt
pf the you bet your life parody. (Just his tv appearences, movies and cartoons not included here)


And don't forget, to help identify them and determine what the original commercials were,
scripts in pdf format are available from 51 to 06/59.

Finally, I haven't seen mentioned, the 12/18/60 christmas show, be advised some circualting versions
HAVE Don Wilson's state farm insurance ad on Santa's lap and most fade out at the point and
skip it. It might be an interesting next step to list which are "better" prints, or
more complete, or have bugs or logos etc.
[/code|

[Mike]

I was wondering if there was any controversy about the black man lounging with the white man serving "images" in this episode.[/quote]

Just a quick observation about the "racism" thing. Can you imagine if The Three Stooges had been black? The politically correct people would be screaming RACIST! RACIST!, and they probably would have been banished from TV screens long ago. THANK GOD the Stooges were WHITE instead of BLACK! Mike

[River Phoenix]

I've been through the full set now, and my favorite by far is the Lunch Counter Murder episode, for great acting and screenplay. Second would be the Dorothy Shay show, which features what I consider to be a tour-de-force performance for Jack for sustaining a relaxed, classy humor, throughout the show.

[TheSportsmenQuartet]

Do any of these episodes (besides the Bob Hope show) have any full commercials by the Sportsmen?

Thank you.

[River Phoenix]

I seem to remember that a majority of the episodes have commercials by the Sportsmen.

[Jhammes]

Thank you Madacy! This really is one of the best collections...many of the live kinescopes available! DVDs really make kinescope recordings watchable... not 100% picture quality, but maybe 80% !
Jack and the gang are always professional. Missed cues or flubbed lines occur during the live shows, yet they stay in character, or come up with a funnier line. (Maybe why I give a slight edge to the live 1950's shows over the later 1960's filmed episodes, though you REALLY can't go wrong with either era.) The New Year's Eve show and
the New Year Day sketch "The New Tenant", both have Jack and the gang at their best! A pleasant surprise to have the radio recreation for "Goodbye 1955, hello 1956".
Come to think of it, 1955 was the final year of the radio program. During the television years, the writers would emphasize Jack's past stage or screen roots, skipping any reference to radio. Radio was Jack's favorite medium though, and the one that made him famous. So, maybe, "The New Tenant" sketch was a touching way of saying a final goodbye to
radio!

[Roman]

What the name of the collection? Where can we buy it? What does it cost?

[_bill]

That's what it IS called - "The Jack Benny Collection" (UPC 2826101309) sometimes they add 5 discs (though be carefull, there is another 5 disc set out there which is relatively terrible (the other is koch)) or 24 episodes.
Most likely it's the one on amazon (us) without a picture, but unless you have a coupon or other amazon deal, that's not the best price. You might want to get it from here http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=MAD001309 though Digital Eyes also has it if you're a member there and go for the frequesnt buyer's club and many other places have it also (Best buy, DVD Planet, Barnes and Noble at higher prices). MSRP is 29.95.

[Roman]

Thank you Bill. I appreciate it.