Why was Jack mad at Don in late 1940?

[scottp]

On a Burns and Allen (Spam/Hormel) show from late 1940, there are jokes about someone being mad at someone else, and in a poor-sound-quality moment there was a reference to "... like Jack Benny is mad at Don Wilson..."
Usually in the semi-intelligible passages, I can figure it out from the context, but not in this case.

[Gerry O.]

On a Burns and Allen (Spam/Hormel) show from late 1940, there are jokes about someone being mad at someone else, and in a poor-sound-quality moment there was a reference to "... like Jack Benny is mad at Don Wilson..."
Usually in the semi-intelligible passages, I can figure it out from the context, but not in this case.

Like Fred Allen, George & Gracie usually referenced things that were happening on the Benny PROGRAM, rather than real-life occurances in Jack's life. 1940 was when Jack's show first did the story of Don inviting the cast over to his house for dinner, Jack warning him to call his wife and let her know that they were coming, Don (and everyone else) not listening to Jack and then Don getting cold feet at the last minute, forcing everyone to wait outside and arrive one by one....with Jack being the last one waiting outside, getting caught in a sudden rainstorm and getting held up by a robber...and eventually catching a bad cold. Afterwards Jack was furious with Don: "If I told him once, I told him a thousand times....Don, call up your wife....Call up the little woman and let her know we're coming....But would he listen to me? NO! He had to be a smart-aleck!".

This storyline (which was re-done by Jack and the gang on radio and later TV during the 1950's) is probably what Burns and Allen were referring to.

[scottp]

Yep, on 12/2/40 Burns and Allen's sponsor drops by, and the announcer does a clumsy plug for the product, and George says "that's why Jack Benny is sore at Don Wilson" but Gracie says that's wrong-- it's really because "If I told him once I told him five times, call your wife, don't barge in on her..." etc.