Earliest TV episode in circulation?

[Jack Benny]

I was just looking at the TV episodes of the Jack Benny Show that I have, and I noticed that the first episode in the two DVD "Jack Benny Collector's Edition" was "The Hillbilly Show." That episode is the first episode of the second season of the Jack Benny Show from 11/4/51, and the earliest Show that I know of in circulation. Does anyone know of an earlier show than that in circulation, and if so what is the episode and what collection is it on.

Thanks,

JB

[_bill]

Thats the oldest from the tv showsI know of, also. The pilot and none of the 4 first season shows seem to be circulating. That one form the 2nd season, 2 from the 3rd and 8 from the 4th.

As far as that collection goes, the first 4 on disc one are the oldest in sequence but before the liberace show of 54-01-17 #5 there, 53/11/15, 53/12/06 and 53/12/27 are available from Shokus.

It would be interestng to know which shows were live and which were filmed. Anyone have such a list?

The show of 53-09-13, with Marilyn Monroe, I'm pretty sure clips of that exist in some documentary or special, but i don't think the entire show is circulating.

So to sum it up, as far as I know of the first 4 seasons...
pilot - 0 of 1
1st - 0 of 4
2nd - 1 of 6 51/04/11
3rd - 2 of 8 52/11/30, 53/04/19
4th - 8 of 13 53/10/25 - 54/02/07 (6), 54/03/21, 54/05/23

The oldest show in the syndication package is in the 5th season, but this reply has probably rambled too much already

We should compare lists sometime

[Jack Benny]

Nice post! I didn't know that the first syndication episode was from the 5th season! I have heard that so few episodes are in syndication because they only use the filmed episodes. I have also heard that there is no firm cut off when filmed episodes begin because Jack's show would for many years have some filmed episodes and some live episodes.