Shout! DVD set has arrived

[shimp scrampi]

Mine came a couple of days early in the mailbox today - what a treat to have for the weekend instead of waiting till next Tuesday!

I got started with disc 1 - what a treat to SEE Jack and the Colmans together! The conversation with Norman Abbott, Dorothy Ohman and Harry Shearer is terrific, substantive and decently lengthy too - I think about 40 minutes. Picture quality, as you might expect, given the rare sources, is up and down but very watchable.

There are lots of great moments in the shows of course, Harry Truman is surprisingly funny (Truman to Jack, who is classically folding his hand over his wrist: "You afraid someone's going to steal that wristwatch?").

More thoughts later after discs 2, 3, and the Omnibus "Horn Blows". Pick it up folks!!!

[Rube]

Hey I got mine today too! Glad I've got the whole rest of the weekend to enjoy it!

[Kevin Segura]

I'm very disappointed to have to report this, but I've received my copy of the new "Jack Benny Program" DVD set direct from Shout! Factory, and while the material is tremendously enjoyable, after vewing the episodes, it is apparent that there is a problem with the set.

Unfortunately, all of the discs (including the "Omnibus" bonus disc) display noticeable motion artifacts... I'm curious to see if anyone else picks up on this.

- Kevin

[EDIT: After a more detailed look at the video, I've discovered the cause of the noticeable motion artifacts in the video portion of the programs. Please see below. - KTS]

- Kevin

[shimp scrampi]

Hmm. I've read of that interlacing issue in reviews of other DVDs but confess it's one of those thing my eyes aren't overly sensitive to. Given the multiple generations/formats these shows have gone through to their present state (read the liner notes related to the Truman episode and marvel that it's visible at all!), I think overall they look OK. But unfortunate if an easy/standard quality check was overlooked.

At any rate, I just finished the OMNIBUS episode today and it's one of the most interesting things in the package. Yes, it's better than the movie, and it's also pretty much a Jack Benny Program from a production standpoint, not just Jack doing a guest shot in someone else's milieu. There are regular supporting actors (Benny Rubin, Hallene Hill, Beverly Washburn, Harry Shearer...) Mahlon Merrick's orchestra, and even that stage curtain looks familiar! There are no credits on the program so I wonder how this worked - did Jack essentially just produce this for OMNIBUS?

[Kevin Segura]

I just had a chance to check the video portion more closely-- it doesn't appear to be the result of a field swap after all, as I had initially suspected...

Now having said that, these are **not** proper archival transfers of the kinescope films. They were done on an old-fashioned telecine machine that blends frames as it does the transfer (rather than rendering each frame separately & distinctly), and then also repeats one frame out of every five. This causes some of the the jerky, stuttery motion artifacts that are particularly noticeable with side-to-side movements.

All in all, the video portion of this set is simply not acceptable in 2013. If this were the 80's, I might expect video of this caliber-- and believe me, I've seen my share of it! To have this be the modern-day representation of these programs (with specific notes in the accompanying booklet crowing about a "restoration" of the material) is pretty inexcusable.

If anyone at Shout! Factory or UCLA actually cares about the presentation of this material, I would welcome them to contact me either through this forum, the Steve Hoffman Music Forums, or the Home Theater Forum. I'll be happy to assist with an actual restoration of these shows.

- Kevin

[shimp scrampi]

Any technical imperfections really did not get in the way of my enjoyment of the set - overall they look better than the usual public domain episodes and probably a lot better than watching the kinescopes in 1958 on a snowy 16 inch Zenith Porthole! I recognize the cinemaphile's demand for the top of the line technology (and that audience has vastly improved what's out there from early home video days) but for me there's nothing super distracting here. Life's too short to be upset that Jack's left hand is "ghosting" in motion in a few shots.

I love the slow, jazzy "Love in Bloom" that plays under the menu. Hard to pick a favorite of the episodes just yet. I'm partial to the Colmans episode and the Easter Parade one just to see the radio bits on screen (and I always love Barbara Nichols' Mildred Meyerhouser).

[Jack Benny]

Just watched the incredible Dick Van Dyke tour-de-force! It's great to see Dick in his prime! Wasn't this the episode that everyone was positive was lost forever? Jack and Dick work so well together! What a true treat to be able to watch this wonderful episode. ""Truth to be told," this episode alone is worth the price of admission for the whole set!

[1426]

Just got my DVD set. What a joy to watch the Christmas show with Gisele. It was a real treat to see Jack going up into the audience to talk to people. It was especially great to see Frank Remley behind him with the orchestra as Jack was talking to people. After hearing Frank Remley's laugh all these years, it was fun to see (and hear) him laugh in the background. He always gets his laugh started before the audience does. Now we get to see it!

[Bigdude]

Just watched the incredible Dick Van Dyke tour-de-force! It's great to see Dick in his prime! Wasn't this the episode that everyone was positive was lost forever? Jack and Dick work so well together! What a true treat to be able to watch this wonderful episode. ""Truth to be told," this episode alone is worth the price of admission for the whole set!

I'm not finding this episode in any episode guides. The booklet and DVD state this episode is from January 29, 1963 "The Murder of Clayton Worthington". Both of the episode guides I have for reference state:
13 x 17
Peter Lorre/Joanie Sommers Show
1963-01-22
13 x 18
Jack Rents His House
1963-02-05
.....meaning there was no episode broadcast on 1963-01-29. Anyone have some info on this?

[LLeff]

[quote="Jack Benny".....meaning there was no episode broadcast on 1963-01-29. Anyone have some info on this?

Is one of your episode guides 39 Forever: Volume 3?

[Bigdude]

[quote="Jack Benny".....meaning there was no episode broadcast on 1963-01-29. Anyone have some info on this?

Is one of your episode guides 39 Forever: Volume 3?

No, just wikipedia and TVRage.com. Can you please tell me what 39 Forever: Volume 3 tell us that my sources don't?

[shimp scrampi]

Here ya go Bigdude - it's the definitive guide:
http://www.jackbenny.org/store/39_forever_second_edition_vol3.htm

Highly recommended!

[Fred Allen]

The Dick Van Dyke episode on the dvd set wasn't 'lost', because most of the episode was shown as the second half of an episode of 'The Comedy Hour Specials' in 1963 (which I've seen). The first half showed excerpts from one of Benny's specials in 1959, featuring Bob Hope, Senior Wences and the Marquis Chimps.

[Sammy Jones]

I just had a chance to check the video portion more closely-- it doesn't appear to be the result of a field swap after all, as I had initially suspected...

Kevin

I noticed the strange motion artifacts, too. They appear to come and go - sometimes affecting only part of an episode, sometimes a whole episode, and sometimes aren't there at all. It's as if only every other frame is being played back.

Still, these are some very funny shows. I'm glad to be able to see them.