Jack Benny, Remaining in Hollywood,
Resumes Regular Broadcasts Sunday
Hollywood, Sept. 28.—Jack Benny's decision to remain in Hollywood a little longer isn't due entirely to his love for the California climate. A glance at the accompanying closeup [a picture with this story has Jack embracing Una Merkel] suggests another reason why he prefers to tarry awhile. Jack, in case you haven't heard, is going to make a second picture, and maybe a third, and he's not a bit downcast at the prospect of playing up to the cinema queens.
Because of these movie engagements, the Benny broadcasts will originate in Hollywood. Starting Sept. 29, his program's will be heard every Sunday over an NBC-KFYR network from 5 to 5:30 p. m. (CST) from the NBC studios on the RKO lot.
When the NBC jester went to the west coast last spring, it was with the understanding that he would make one picture, "Broadway Melody of 1936." However, his work before the camera impressed the movie magnates to the extent that he was immediately signed for a second film, recently completed. Now it appears Benny will do a third one.
In the meantime he and Mary Livingstone have settled down in Beverly Hills, where they have leased a large furnished house belonging to Lita Grey Chaplin.
Michael Bartlett, singing actor of screen and stage who will replace Frank Parker, will be kept busy making pictures until the opening of the series.
The only member of the new cast who will have to make a special transcontinental journey to appear on the shows is the new bandmaster, Johnny Green. The young composer-conductor-pianist travels to the west after concluding an engagement at New York's fashionable St. Regis hotel.
[The following story was on the wire the same day]
Fred Allen and Portland Hoffa Will
Resume Town Hall Tonight Program
Hollywood, Calif., Sept. 28.—Alter summering here under the glare of the Kleig lights. Fred Allen, accompanied by his wife and favorite stooge, Portland Hoffa, will turn his face toward Radio City and the microphone again next week when he starts East to resume his old starring role on the new Town Hall Tonight program over an enlarged NBC-KFYR network Wednesday, Oct. 8, at 8 p. m. (CST).
Already the cameras are whirling overtime on the movie lot where Allen is putting the finishing touches on the picture that has occupied his histrionic talents since his radio vacation began on June 26. With the director's last cry of "cut" ringing in his ears, Fred will immediately start work on his second year of broadcasting.
Back before the microphone, Allen will assume charge of the Town Hall Tonight amateurs, and will reintroduce the Mighty Allen Art Players in the light satirical comedy sketches that put Town Hall Tonight in the front rank of air programs last winter. He already has written friends in the East that he plans to revive the famous "Town Hall News" and other of his well-remembered special features.
[there's no indication which wire service these stories came from; I'd guess AP]
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