Benny for a buck

[akomic]

I live in Dallas and there is a chain of dollar stores here named The Dollar Tree. They are now selling DVDs with old tv shows and movies. They now have The Jack Benny Show Vol.1 and The Jack Benny Show Vol. 2...both for a dollar each! Both DVDs contain about 2 hours worth of shows. They contain a 1 hour episode and 2 30-minute episodes! Great stuff!

[Jack Benny]

Yes, it's great show and all, but isn't the price a little steep! I mean...whatever happened to the five and dime stores anyway! Just my two cents...Hey, wait a minut...wait a minute..WAIT A MINUTE! I want my two cents back.

Jack

[shimp scrampi]

Of course Jack would comparison shop at a 99 cent store! But - the Dollar Tree near me had only one of the DVD's. For those interested it contains 2 filmed half hour shows, one with JB being awakened by a late-night DJ and later falling asleep while shopping for clothes with Mary, and the second mostly involves the "Getting to Know You" duet on violin with a young female audience member, plus a guest shot with Julie London (and Don Wilson in drag!). The one-hour show is from circa '64/'65 called "The Jack Benny Hour" with Bob Hope, Elke Sommer, the Beach Boys, Walt Disney, and a spoof of Mary Poppins and current TV trends like "The Munsters" and "The Fugitive", and contains the original Eastern Airlines commercials. None of the original cast aside from JB are in the hour show, and it is in black and white (looks like a kinescope) although it was originally a color videotaped show. Quality is generally very watchable; the first half-hour is the best, a little faded - some image jiggle in the second half-hour.

[LLeff]

For those interested it contains 2 filmed half hour shows, one with JB being awakened by a late-night DJ and later falling asleep while shopping for clothes with Mary, and the second mostly involves the "Getting to Know You" duet on violin with a young female audience member, plus a guest shot with Julie London (and Don Wilson in drag!).

Hmm...MCA didn't put those out, did they? Both those shows are owned by them. I've noticed a few no-name releases that are playing fast and loose with the copyright on the Benny TV programs. Funny, as I transferred the show with Julie London to DVD from my Beta collection, not knowing it was commercially available.

[Jack Benny]

For those interested it contains 2 filmed half hour shows, one with JB being awakened by a late-night DJ and later falling asleep while shopping for clothes with Mary, and the second mostly involves the "Getting to Know You" duet on violin with a young female audience member, plus a guest shot with Julie London (and Don Wilson in drag!).

Hmm...MCA didn't put those out, did they? Both those shows are owned by them. I've noticed a few no-name releases that are playing fast and loose with the copyright on the Benny TV programs. Funny, as I transferred the show with Julie London to DVD from my Beta collection, not knowing it was commercially available.

The 4 0'clock in the morning episode is also on the 15 episode double DVD, Diamond Entertainment release. Also, Laura, it makes me wonder if maybe the Julie London show is in the public domain because that particular episode is available on at leasty three DVDs. It seems if they were going to lrelease illegal episodes they would pick a more comercially viable episode.

[LLeff]

The 4 0'clock in the morning episode is also on the 15 episode double DVD, Diamond Entertainment release. Also, Laura, it makes me wonder if maybe the Julie London show is in the public domain because that particular episode is available on at leasty three DVDs. It seems if they were going to lrelease illegal episodes they would pick a more comercially viable episode.

Well, I can confirm that the Julie London episode shows up under MCA in the Catalog of Copyright Entries, but the 4:30 AM DJ (assuming it's Feb-55) does not. I know MCA has been lax about renewing some of its copyrights on the old shows, and some of their Benny material has fallen into public domain for that reason. I'd have to do more research.

I'd be delighted if the show did fall into public domain, because I want to be able to make these available in the video library (and, of course, anyone else could distribute them as well). The more Benny, the better.

[shimp scrampi]

Found another (the only other?) Dollar Tree DVD at another store - labeled "volume 2" it has the same Julie London half-hour, and '65 Jack Benny Hour specials , but the 4:30 a.m. show is replaced with the common "Goldie Fields and Glide" episode with Bing Crosby and George Burns. Bizarre. They also have a couple of Burns and Allen DVDs, for those interested. Like the Benny shows, they have some repeated content.

[shimp scrampi]

There is now a Volume 3 at the Dollar Tree, can't beat the price.

The content on volume 3 includes 3 live shows, generally very good quality, the sound is especially clear. Sorry, I don't have the show air dates, but they are 1) With Humphrey Bogart as guest 2) With Liberace as guest, and 3) with Jayne Mansfield as guest. The Mansfield show is a 1957 New Years program, with a brief bit with Jayne promoting "The Girl Can't Help It", not the later 1960s show issued on VHS by MCA where she does the Marilyn Monroe cruise-ship fantasy skit remake.