Jack Benny DVD collection - 41 episodes

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Jack Benny DVD collection - 41 episodes

Postby Shemp » Tue Sep 25, 2007 9:00 am

Public domain distributor Mill Creek Entertainment has a 41-episode "Jack Benny Program" box set available...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... onlinco-20

Does anyone have a list of the 41 episodes? Is there anything that hasn't been on prior public domain collections?
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Postby Shemp » Tue Sep 25, 2007 9:10 am

Just found the answer to my own question.

A recent discussion over at Home Theatre Forum included Mill Creek's press release, with this list of contents (note - list of 40; box art says 41)...

Guest Star: Fred Allen & Eddie Cantor
Honolulu Trip
Guest Star: Humphrey Bogart
Guest Star: Johnny Ray
Guest Stars: Irene Dunne & Vincent Price
Guest Star: Liberace
Jack Dreams He's Married to Mary
Goldie, Fields and Glide
Guest Stars: Bob Hope and Martin & Lewis
Jam Session
How Jack Found Mary
Christmas Shopping
4 O'clock in the Morning
Talent Show
Guest Star: Audrey Meadows
Guest Star: Ernie Kovacs
Jack's Hong Kong Suit
The Lunch Counter Murders
Jack Casting for a Television Special
Don Wilson's 27th Anniversary
Jack Rents His House
$64,000 Spoof featuring Hal March
Guest Stars: Bob Hope & The Beach Boys
The Cactus Kid featuring Giselle MacKenzie
Christmas Show featuring Edgar Bergen
College Coaches
Easter Seals Teleparade of Stars
New Year's Eve 1953
Jack's Maxwell is Stolen
Guest Star: Jimmy Stewart
March of Time
New Year's Eve 1954
Guest Stars: Peggy King & Art Linkletter
Post Thanksgiving Show
Rochester Gets the Bird
The Hillbilly Show
General Electric Theatre - The Face is Familiar
General Electric Theatre - The Honest Man
You Can Change the World
The Bing Crosby G.E. Show featuring Jack Benny & Sheree North
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Postby TimL2005 » Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:01 am

Even if those are all public domain, that looks like a nice collection. The Bob Hope /Beach Boys special is the 1965 special from NBC just after he finished the regular series. I've not seen the Bing Crosby GE show or his out of character GE Theater shows..
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Postby shimp scrampi » Thu Sep 27, 2007 11:42 am

Very interesting, and at a Jack Benny approved price as well. Mill Creek is pretty notorious for poor quality, and they sometimes "watermark" their DVDs with a video bug in the screen corner... but this may easily be worth it just to see some of the more oddball stuff on the set, such as the Easter Seals, the Bing Crosby, the March of Time, etc. Thanks for the heads-up!
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Postby LLeff » Sat Sep 29, 2007 2:24 pm

FWIW, not all of those are public domain (for example, the Beach Boys Benny special is owned by the Benny Estate). And happily, I've got some dubbing going on right now that will put some of the other stuff (e.g., Easter Seals, etc.) in the video library. Stay tuned!
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Mill Creek 40 episode set

Postby CBSTelevisionCity » Sat Mar 22, 2008 9:47 pm

Hi, gang, I just found this for FIVE DOLLARS in the "2 for $10" kiosk near the WalMart electronics department! It is a trove of Benny material, with lots of Lucky Strike and State Farm ads, musical numbers intact, etc. I am disappointed that the Fred Allen-Eddie Cantor episode hangs up, as well as "How Jack Found Mary" and the famous 1960 Christmas show ( containing Mel Blanc's character's suicide ). It is definitely a manufacturing defect, because I bought a SECOND set, and it hangs up in precisely the same places on the same discs. But, hey, for $5, I can't expect much in the way of quality from the DVD company. However, I have gotten MUCH enjoyment from the original entertainment value. My favorite episode, I think, is "4 O'Clock In The Morning"!

Sincerely, William Carroll in Denham Springs, Louisiana
From Television City in Hollywood...
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Postby Mister Kitzel » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:31 am

In the episode where Jack casts a television special about his life story there is a young Harry Shearer. That kid was amazing! He was that "40 year old midget" because his skill as an actor was as good as any of the adults in the show. [/url]
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Postby shimp scrampi » Sun Mar 23, 2008 4:00 pm

In the episode where Jack casts a television special about his life story there is a young Harry Shearer


Giving credit where it's due, that's Barry Gordon being cast as "Jack" in that episode, rather than Harry Shearer. He's no slouch either, he ended up being president of the Screen Actor's Guild for awhile. Jack really did have an eye for casting excellent child performers.
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Postby Mister Kitzel » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:10 am

Harry was the lawyer representing the character played by Barry Gordon. Listen carefully and you will even hear Jack call him Harry at the end of the scene.
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Postby shimp scrampi » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:39 pm

Nope, that's Barry Gordon as the kid lawyer/agent who Jack eventually decides is a better "Jack" than his client. Harry Shearer looked much different, check out "Jack takes the Beavers to the Fair" for a pretty easily obtainable TV episode with Harry Shearer. It does sound like he calls him "Harry" rather than "Barry" though, you're right!

Barry was also known for the goofy Christmas song "I'm Gettin Nuttin' for Christmas".

Check it out here, with a pic of Barry:

http://childrensrecordsandmore.blogspot ... stmas.html
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Postby Roman » Tue Mar 25, 2008 5:30 am

Barry Gordon was also in A Thousand Clowns, a very good movie that, I believe, was nominated for a Best Picture award. As a trivia matter, William Daniels, another future SAG president, was also in the movie. Perhaps that was the connection that first sparked Barry's union interests.
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Postby Mister Kitzel » Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:21 am

Well, put me down as a Barry Gordon fan now! Thank you for correcting me. I remember him as an adult actor on Archie Bunker's place.
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Postby Mister Kitzel » Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:25 am

IMDB has the character name of the lawyer shown as "Harry Johnson." That may be why I assumed he was a young Harry Shearer. That show was from 1961, and Shearer would have been much older.

Harry Shearer has a credit on the Jack Benny Show from 1953.
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Postby Tate » Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:16 pm

I recently found this at Big Lots for $6.00. I hadn't heard of it before and couldn't believe the number of shows in this collection. My favorite episode is Jam Session with all the stars coming over to play musical instruments with Jack.

I was disappointed with the GE Theater episodes because The Face is Familiar was a Suspense radio show and was much better on the radio. But it was great seeing Ronald Reagan and Mr Wizard, Don Herbert.

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Postby Maxwell » Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:40 pm

My son picked up this DVD set and gave it to me for my birthday. I just started going through it today. I have some of the shows on a 25 show DVD set he got me Christmas before last, so I'll be particularly interested in the shows I don't have on that set.
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