Things I've Learned from Listening to the Jack Benny Program

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Things I've Learned from Listening to the Jack Benny Program

Postby JohnM » Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:30 am

First an intro as I am new to the forum: I am really happy to find this forum, which has already answered many questions I had just by delving into the archives a bit.

I was a kid when Jack Benny died and knew him as an old revered comedian but had no knowledge of any of his shows. I knew his famous mannerisms, from seeing him on Johnny Carson, but that was about it. I didn’t think one way or the other about him for another 32 years, but now I’ve become a huge fan, which came about in a pretty random way. I was looking for something other than music to listen to on my MP3 player, and started listening regularly to a Chicago Cubs podcast. That led me to search for other baseball audio downloads, and I came across some OTR shorts called the Legend of Babe Ruth or something like that. Those recordings made me look for more OTR recordings, and that’s when I found an (apparently illegal?) archive of Jack Benny radio shows on the net.

I thought listening to the early shows would give me a chance to commune with the world of my grandparents and my parents’ childhoods. That hooked me, but the unique quality of the show has kept me listening to hundreds of episodes, all in chronological order.

I’m now up to 1955, and looking forward to having to start again, but this time trying to fill in all the missing episodes from other, legal sources.

Random things I’ve learned from listening to the Jack Benny (radio) Program:

-Learned about Fred Allen – never heard of him before this
-Learned a lot about US rail and air travel in the early-mid 20th century
-Never knew “Air Wicks” were around in the 40s
-If a bowl of wax fruit was already considered old fashioned and tacky in 1954, how come they could still be found in garage sales and doctor’s offices in the 1970s?
-Never knew Sheldon Leonard and Mel Blanc had such awesome pasts
-Interesting that Brooklyn accents were used to denote working class characters, even though the show was set in Beverly Hills
-Heard where Johnny Carson got his inspiration (I knew about this, but it’s great to actually hear it)

Anyway, thanks for all the answers this site and forum have already provided. If like me you weren't around yet when the program was aired, feel free to add anything you might have learned from listening to the recordings!
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Postby ZEjackbennykid » Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:23 pm

That should be made into a shirt for IJBFC members. Its like the shirts that say "Things I learned from Family Guy" and a bunch of things you learn. It would be so cool.
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Postby Brad from Georgia » Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:23 pm

I learned six very important things from Don Wilson:

Cherry, strawberry, raspberry, orange, lemon, and lime.

Oh, and also that even a professional announcer can have trouble saying Grapes-nuts fl--I mean Grape-nuts flakes!
Image Oh, for heaven's sake!
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Postby Maxwell » Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:45 pm

Brad from Georgia wrote:I learned six very important things from Don Wilson:

Cherry, strawberry, raspberry, orange, lemon, and lime.

Oh, and also that even a professional announcer can have trouble saying Grapes-nuts fl--I mean Grape-nuts flakes!


And occasionally chewwy, stwawbewwy, waspbewwy, owange, wemon, and wime.
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Re: Things I've Learned from Listening to the Jack Benny Pro

Postby Yhtapmys » Fri Jan 05, 2007 9:57 am

JohnM wrote:

Random things I’ve learned from listening to the Jack Benny (radio) Program:
-If a bowl of wax fruit was already considered old fashioned and tacky in 1954, how come they could still be found in garage sales and doctor’s offices in the 1970s?


Because there were tacky people in the 70s.

I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, but I can't remember whether I saw any of the Benny shows on TV. Despite that, I certainly knew who he was, and knew who Mary, Don and Rochester were. However, until I listened to the radio shows within the last number of years, I had no idea there was a Phil Harris. I can only presume it's because he had no TV presense.

To be honest, I learned a pile of stuff about North American culture and Hollywood of the decades before I was born by watching cartoons. Apparently, that's a dangerous thing for kids today and the cartoons must be edited to protect their minds :roll:

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Postby DerekVOF » Sun Jan 07, 2007 10:35 am

I have to agree with Yhtapmys. All of my exposure (unbenownst to me) came from the classic cartoons. I mean I remember seeing "The Mouse That Jack Built," but it has a whole different meaning after listening to the old radio programs. Same with a lot of the old references. There have been many times I've started humming along with some classic music or something, and my wife asks where I know it from, and I mumble something about "Bugs Bunny" :-)

I have to say, listening to Jack has really been a fun history lesson. All these things I wondered about when I hear them mentioned (2 Thanksgivings, V-mail, etc.) that I then go out and research on Wikipedia or Google. Very interesting. Someone should consider a U.S. history class in college that uses old radio show to put the lessons in context. Would sure have made those classes more interesting...
"Ship off the starboard bow!" "What kind is she?" "She's a Spanish Galleon!" "A galleon?" "Good! That's a quart for each of us!"
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Postby JohnM » Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:27 am

DerekVOF wrote:I have to say, listening to Jack has really been a fun history lesson. All these things I wondered about when I hear them mentioned (2 Thanksgivings, V-mail, etc.) that I then go out and research on Wikipedia or Google. Very interesting. Someone should consider a U.S. history class in college that uses old radio show to put the lessons in context. Would sure have made those classes more interesting...


Sign me up for that class! Reminds me of my American Studies major, where I took classes in TV, Westerns, Rock and Roll, Country Music, and Black Music, where these cultural genres were studied in the context of American history and literature. (I doubled majored in English, so it wasn't all slacking--then again, maybe it was...) American Studies is "inter-disciplinary" and actually only the TV and Rock and Roll classes came from that department - country music was from the literature dept, black music was from the music department, and Westerns from the History department -- studying the history of the Old West via the Hollywood Western.

To bring this random babble back on topic, my old "TV in America" prof. is cited on the Museum of Broadcast Communications' Jack Benny page, for an article on JB. The full citation is: Marc, David. "Lending Character to American Comedy." Television Quarterly (New York), Winter 1992.

Would anyone have access to this article?
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Postby ZEjackbennykid » Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:31 pm

I learned never to accept a polar bear as a gift.
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Postby TheSportsmenQuartet » Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:22 pm

I learned that Lucky Strikes are round and firm and fully packed...so free and easy on the draw!

Also that Luckies taste better than any other cigarette!
Wait a minute, fellas....wait a minute......fellas.....wait a minute....fellas....fellas.......WAIT A MINUTE!!!
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Postby Yhtapmys » Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:21 pm

TheSportsmenQuartet wrote:I learned that Lucky Strikes are round and firm and fully packed...so free and easy on the draw!


{clack, clack, clack, clackety clack} That's right. Yes, sir. You bet.

TheSportsmenQuartet wrote: Also that Luckies taste better than any other cigarette!


That fine, that light, that naturally-mild tobacco?

Someone's going to have to explain to me how they got those packs of Luckies in a toaster.

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Postby TheSportsmenQuartet » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:45 am

Lucky Strikes Mean Fine Tobacco!

Ah, where's Speedy Riggs when you need him? :)
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Postby Yhtapmys » Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:12 am

TheSportsmenQuartet wrote:Lucky Strikes Mean Fine Tobacco!

Ah, where's Speedy Riggs when you need him? :)


You know, one of the things you can learn from Jack Benny is how bashing people over and over with slogans makes them remember them.

When Jack appeared on The Lucy Show, there was a Jell-O joke. What's remarkable is I got the joke instantly. (Maybe even more remarkable is I remember this after more than 30 years).

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Postby ZEjackbennykid » Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:41 am

I also learned that Jello comes in 6 delicious flavors and that Grape Nuts are crisp and Crunchy
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Postby Yhtapmys » Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:07 am

ZEjackbennykid wrote:I also learned that Jello comes in 6 delicious flavors and that Grape Nuts are crisp and Crunchy


Grape Nuts suck. Have you ever eaten them? I have. I can't even picture Don Wilson liking them.

Something you'll "learn" from Jack's show - any radio show, for that matter - and the movies is that "everyone" was in favour of the war.

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Postby Roman » Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:32 am

I didn't learn it from Jack's show but the fact is that 99% of the country did support our war effort, even including Charles Lindbergh who, before Pearl Harbor, was one of the most ardent opponents of our getting involved.

What I did learn from Jack's show was just how far we've come as a country in our race relations, even with all the hurdles we still need to overcome. The era we live in today, where Barack Obama has a serious chance of being our next president, Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell are our two most recent Secretaries of State, and Robert L. Johnson is one of our country's most important business leaders, is light years from the era that existed when Eddie Anderson joined Jack's show. The fact that Jack and his writers were responsible in a small but important way in breaking down the shameful barriers that existed adds to the lustre of this groundbreaking show.
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