CBS Rochester contract on eBay now!

[CBSTelevisionCity]

Hi gang, I just saw this on eBay, and thought it would be of interest to other club members.
It's a May 5, 1953 CBS legal document, a contract for Rochester's appearance on the May 17, 1953 "Jack Benny Show", sponsored by The American Tobacco Company. Rochester is to be paid $1,600! It's signed by Rochester, and by producer Harry Ackerman.

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... la-image-1

- William

[JohnM]

Hi gang, I just saw this on eBay, and thought it would be of interest to other club members.
It's a May 5, 1953 CBS legal document, a contract for Rochester's appearance on the May 17, 1953 "Jack Benny Show", sponsored by The American Tobacco Company. Rochester is to be paid $1,600! It's signed by Rochester, and by producer Harry Ackerman.

You mean of course Eddie Anderson (the actor) not Rochester (the character) signed the contract for his appearance on the show.

Which begs the question: why did a cast member who had been on the show for 15 years have a contract for one appearance? Anyway, a recurring gag with the cast was the renewal of their annual contracts. Could it be that Anderson's annual contract had expired at some point, and in the interim, he was working on a week-to-week basis?

[JohnM]

Um, I just realized this was for television, and not the radio show. And I know the TV show was not on every week and that Rochester didn't necessarily appear on every show. (Or did he? I've seen very few TV show episodes).

[Jack Benny]

Um, I just realized this was for television, and not the radio show. And I know the TV show was not on every week and that Rochester didn't necessarily appear on every show. (Or did he? I've seen very few TV show episodes).

You are right here, until 1960 at best the show had 20 episodes per season. Rochester would probably be in 2/3, so I could see them do individual contracts.