www.jackbenny.org

by **TheSportsmenQuartet** » Sat May 23, 2009 2:24 pm

In the LIFE Magazine Photo archive there is a GREAT photo of Jack, Mahlon, The Sportsmen and Charley Bagby. I think it lists the Sportsmen as Jack's writers. They are all around a piano. I don't believe #2 is Mahlon because in the above photo he has a mustache. I don't know what the time period of all those photos were.

I bought the photo and added it to my collection

by **shimp scrampi** » Sat May 23, 2009 3:51 pm

Thanks for the tip TSQ - here's the photo you refer to:

Great photo! I cropped Mahlon and edited him into that previous comparison one page back. I agree, perhaps he isn't our mystery man ... so still a few unidentified souls here!

by **TheSportsmenQuartet** » Sat May 23, 2009 6:09 pm

Here's a guess...might #17 be Sara Berner?

by **TheSportsmenQuartet** » Sat May 23, 2009 7:45 pm

Do you think #2 could be Elliott Lewis?

by **shimp scrampi** » Sun May 24, 2009 2:13 am

I've got no doubt #17 is Sara Berner, she's been ID'd on the list since the first post. Elliott Lewis is an interesting suggestion. Doesn't look a lot like him to me, but he was on the show occasionally around this time (and, I'm the guy who was arguing for Mahlon Merrick). Anyone else think it might be Elliott Lewis?

I wonder if the comparatively stern looking #15 might be a American Tobacco or network exec? And so far no guesses on #21 - I'd almost thought Larry Stevens but Dennis is right there with them.

by **TheSportsmenQuartet** » Sun May 24, 2009 6:59 am

My mistake on Sara Berner as #17. I was looking at the wrong number :oops:

by **JohnM** » Mon May 25, 2009 2:02 am

Would it help at all to try to figure out when exactly the picture was taken? The photo archive only says 1947, but I looked around a bit and found out that there was "a fairly long article that traced the history" of the Jack Benny program in the Feb. 3rd, 1947 issue of LIFE.

I was struck by the heavy coats worn by the ladies in the picture, seeing as this was taken at NBC in L.A., right? So maybe the photo was taken in January 1947 for this article. Could the photo include any guest stars?

Bogart and Bacall, Burns and Allen, and Boris Karloff were all in episodes during the month, but I don't see any of them. The Dec. 22nd episode featured Larry Stevens, Kenny Baker and Schlepperman. Mr. Kitzel was in the Jan 5th episode and the Sportsmen were definitely in Jan 12, although they were in all the episodes around then, weren't they?

Just a thought...

by **JohnM** » Mon May 25, 2009 2:31 am

Any chance at all that the lady on the end is Bea Benadaret? I know it doesn't look like her, but the 1947 cast photo on this sitelooks like it might have been taken the same day (the clothes seem to match), and it includes a telephone operator with the same hair style and color identified as Benadaret -- although the face may not be an exact match. Was another acress portraying the other telephone operator at that time and maybe that caption is wrong?

by **shimp scrampi** » Mon May 25, 2009 4:00 am

Good thinking on narrowing down the date JohnM. I'd only thought it could be narrowed to sometime between Dennis getting back from the Navy and the switch to CBS, plus the 1947 given date (though, the info in the LIFE tags is pretty shaky, I wouldn't put a lot of faith in it).

But, I'd bet you're right that the photo(s) were taken for that LIFE article. So the date is likely late '46 or early 1947. I took the two least-frequent regular cast members appearing in the photo - Auerbach and Berner, and looked in 39 FOREVER to see what dates they'd both appeared on the same program in that time frame:

10/27/46, 12/15/46, 1/26/47 and 2/2/47 (using the LIFE mag publication date as the stop point).

Adding in Bea to the picture, the only date SHE appears with both Berner and Auerbach is the 10/27/46 date.

BUT - the historical weather records (yes, I am TOTALLY sick) indicate that 12/15/46 was a particularly chilly day in LA - well, for LA, with a high temp of 50 F, regarding your coats observation.

So, that puts the photo being likely taken around either the 10/27/46 or 12/15/46 program.

I'm leaning toward 12/15/46. It would make sense with a feature article publication schedule in LIFE, about 6 weeks ahead of publication or so. And, do you want to know something interesting, that is also the date of Jeanette Eymann's first role on the program, referencing Laura's observation above.

I really don't buy that as a bad picture of Bea. It's clearly her in the other cast shot where they are wearing the costumes, but I've seen hundreds of photos and shows with Bea in them and never any as unrecognizable as that. I'd much more accept it as a funky shot of Jeanette.

Now, Bea IS in that other photo and I agree it is very plausible they were taken on the same day. I wonder if she just wasn't working another NBC program and they were able to snag her for a few minutes for one photo but not the other.

by **shimp scrampi** » Mon May 25, 2009 4:34 am

Oooh, I think #21 is Peter Leeds. He appeared on the 12/15/46 show. I think that may confirm him and the photo date, if I'm right.

Esther (Babe) Marks (Livingstone) Blum - whatever her name is - Mary's sister - appeared on the show that date too. Another unlikely candidate for the mystery woman on the end?

by **JohnM** » Mon May 25, 2009 5:11 am

shimp scrampi wrote:the historical weather records (yes, I am TOTALLY sick)

Hey, I thought about going there.... :-)

I realized after I posted that Bea would have been 41 years old in 1947 and that lady looks quite a bit younger than that, but really, she just doesn't look like Bea.

I agree that there was probably at least a few weeks lead time for a photo shoot.

Dec 15 sounds plausible....

by **JohnM** » Mon May 25, 2009 5:33 am

And, do you want to know something interesting, that is also the date of Jeanette Eymann's first role on the program, referencing Laura's observation above.

Well, it struck me that the woman at the end is "working", whereas the others are taking a break, because her arms are full of stuff that she didn't even put down for the picture. She also seems seems to be a bit off, away from the others, a little bit apart. Both of these things support her being the script secretary, and possibly, being the "new kid" on the cast.

Finally, looking at page 12 of the Where's Jack thread, I can totally see this being the same person ten years earlier.

by **shimp scrampi** » Mon May 25, 2009 5:40 am

One funny bit of trivia on the other photo of the cast in costume - is that Bea was about 5-6 months pregnant with her daughter Maggie at this time. You can see she's got her hand in the front pocket maybe puffing out that top a bit to disguise it.

It's a crazy story, but Bea was hit by a car and then delivered Maggie, the natural way, not a C-section, with a fractured pelvis in March of 1947. One tough woman!

by **TheSportsmenQuartet** » Mon May 25, 2009 11:59 am

I don't think #21 is Peter Leeds. Here is a photo of Mr. Leeds. Actually #21 looks like a young Hank Azaria :lol:

by **shimp scrampi** » Mon May 25, 2009 1:24 pm

I dunno, Leeds is the best option I've had so far. That picture you posted is almost 15 years later, remember. I had a hard time finding pics of Peter Leeds from the forties, but here are a couple of side-by-side shots from the fifties. I could be persuaded. That plus the fact he was appearing on the Benny show right around the time this photo was taken ... subtract 10 years and it's a big possibility for me. I do see the Azaria resemblance though!

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