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Postby LLeff » Fri Jan 20, 2006 1:41 am

Hey folks...I'd like to enlist someone to look something up for me.

I have a puzzle...on the 2/22/53 radio show, Jack says that he's going to be doing his television show and do his version of Jekyll and Hyde. But I've consulted several different sources which indicate that there was no show on 2/22 and that Jekyll and Hyde was done on 3/22/53.

However, Jack was doing monthly TV shows by this time. I'm wondering if the show of 2/22 was pre-empted and delayed until 3/22. What I'd like is for someone to look up in the television listings of the time (newspaper or TV Guide) and see if Jack was supposed to have a show on 2/22 and what was supposed to be on it.

Any takers?
--LL
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Postby TimL2005 » Fri Jan 20, 2006 8:28 am

I'll be glad to give it a try Laura, as I'll be out running errands today and can make a stop at my local library
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Postby LLeff » Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:41 pm

TimL2005 wrote:I'll be glad to give it a try Laura, as I'll be out running errands today and can make a stop at my local library


Cool...thanks much! Even the radio show, which gives the statement that Jekyll and Hyde was to be done on 2/22 clearly states that it was done on 3/22. So I have a very strong suspicion that they were pre-empted. Then again, if it was a last-minute thing, you might not see that in the listings. But let's see what you find. Thanks again!
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Postby TimL2005 » Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:44 pm

Laura:

I was able to look up TV listings of my Hometown Newspaper, The Canton (Ohio) Repository which covered Cleveland Market TV..Jack Benny was said to be telecast over WEWS-TV 5 Cleveland Sunday Night at 7:30 PM with Guest Bob Crosby. The New York Times had Dennis Day as a guest on WCBS 2 along with Crosby in the 2-22-53 broadcast.

Other shows opposite:
WNBK 4 NBC Mr. Peepers
WXEL 9 ABC/DuMont Theater Nine (Probably ABC)

A month later (3-22-53) Jeanne Cagney was said to be Benny's guest Sunday/7:30 on Cleveland's Channel 5
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Postby LLeff » Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:48 pm

TimL2005 wrote:Laura:

I was able to look up TV listings of my Hometown Newspaper, The Canton (Ohio) Repository which covered Cleveland Market TV..Jack Benny was said to be telecast over WEWS-TV 5 Cleveland Sunday Night at 7:30 PM with Guest Bob Crosby. The New York Times had Dennis Day as a guest on WCBS 2 along with Crosby in the 2-22-53 broadcast.


Huh! The mystery deepens! Again this may be a last-minute pre-emption, but.........? I've made a note in my master copy to try and figure this out later. Never a dull moment. Thanks very much for looking it up!
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Postby TimL2005 » Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:48 pm

LLeff wrote:
TimL2005 wrote:I'll be glad to give it a try Laura, as I'll be out running errands today and can make a stop at my local library


Cool...thanks much! Even the radio show, which gives the statement that Jekyll and Hyde was to be done on 2/22 clearly states that it was done on 3/22. So I have a very strong suspicion that they were pre-empted. Then again, if it was a last-minute thing, you might not see that in the listings. But let's see what you find. Thanks again!


Thre wasnt much really to find. The Listings didnt say much at all about plots, sketches, etc.
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Postby Roman » Sat Jan 21, 2006 12:06 pm

I went at it from the other direction to see if there was any major news story that might have occurred on Feb. 22, 1953. I found nothing for that date which would have caused Jack's show to be preempted. Perhaps the other sources are incorrect that show the telecast being moved to March 22. The fact that multiple sources say March 22 may not mean much if they were copying the data from a single incorrect source.
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Postby LLeff » Sat Jan 21, 2006 3:52 pm

Roman wrote:I went at it from the other direction to see if there was any major news story that might have occurred on Feb. 22, 1953. I found nothing for that date which would have caused Jack's show to be preempted. Perhaps the other sources are incorrect that show the telecast being moved to March 22. The fact that multiple sources say March 22 may not mean much if they were copying the data from a single incorrect source.


No, the March 22 date is confirmed by about five different sources, including Jack's radio show where he ponders doing the Jekyll and Hyde sketch while walking through Beverly Hills. Go figure...
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or - perhaps he was ill

Postby _bill » Thu Jan 26, 2006 8:22 pm

I took a different tack and tried to peice together the timeline from the scripts. It looks like at this time all the radio was transcribed, and the tv was live. So lets look at the transcription dates of a few shows...

(What follows is for those interested in script oddities/references not critical to the discussion)
Side note...The scripts are out of order. I'm now thinking the 2/22 show was the beavers show and the "out of order show" feb 22 is where you'd expect feb 8 show to be in the tobacco archive files. Meaning that page 141 is clearly the feb 8 show, so is 142. BUT, i suspect what's copied as page 143 is the feb 22 show. On page 162 mention of the tv show is crossed out.
Pge 165/21 about the tv show is crossed out. It's interesting that in crossing all that out we get another of those we're a little late, goodnight. I only have an afrs version of that show, a network one would be interesting.
Page 166 must go back to the real feb 8th show.
(end script notes)

If you buy that, here's the timeline.....

Feb 1 they transcribe feb 8.
Feb 4th they transcribe feb 15.
feb 15 they transcribe feb 22
Feb 14 they probably transcribe mar 1
Feb 18 they prob transcribe mar 8. (one spot says the 14th but that may be a typo)
The don't transcribe a radio show again until Mar 12, where they mention Jack is recovering from influenza.(probably plot)
On the tv side, show number 5 was broadcast Jan 25. At the end of this show, they plug Ann Southern's private secretary show premering next week and for 3 weeks. The next Benny show #6 appears to be Mar 22, where he says "The show you are going to see tonight is the one that I was supposed to do four weeks ago, but that same morning I was taken ill and my doctor advised me to go to the hospital...was told I had a thing called pancrestitis. This is something you get when you're doing well,..anyway I had a nice rest and doing well with a slight relaspe Mar 15th but I get that every year" (which has to be a tax joke and probably not true as he was working the 12th and 18th on his march 15th and 22nd radio show).
There is also, perhaps a bob hope friars club appearance around that time frame, and there was a radio plotline of going to palm springs for health (and he did that a lot this time of year, likely that is plot only and not true)... but as that was at least in 3 scripts before all this, and as it seems in live shows he tends to be more honest, perhaps there is a large kernel of truth in that certainly on feb 15 they expected the feb 22 tv show to be jeckyl and hyde, he was fine the18th, there was no tv show the 22 of feb, posibly he was taken to the hospital and rested until Mar 12, or whenever the friars club was? So, short notice? If you believe Jack, it was that very morning.
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Postby _bill » Thu Jan 26, 2006 8:34 pm

A month later (3-22-53) Jeanne Cagney was said to be Benny's guest Sunday/7:30 on Cleveland's Channel 5

In a way that confirms it, also (Whatever it is) Jean Cagney (spelled that way) is on the script for the J&H show
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Postby LLeff » Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:31 pm

I need to come back to this topic...but I need to do a little groundwork before I do. Have some comments on Bill's fine (as always) groundwork with the scripts, but I'm swamped with other research at the moment. If I don't add a post to this by the end of the month, remind me.
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