How Jack Benny met his cast episodes!

[Jack Benny]

I'm starting to post these on my podcast and they are easy to overlook, so here they are for those interested. They are kind of a hoot, and a unique series within a series. I'll give audio introductions as we go.

Here is one of the later ones with some repeated bits, but new how jack met Dennis and the Sportsmen segments.

Jack Benny Podcast 1950-05-28 How Jack met his cast - End of Season
http://jack_benny.podomatic.com/entry/eg/2010-05-31T19_43_51-07_00

[Jack Benny]

This is the first one I believe and has some guests from Amos and Andy! It has a totally different story than the traditional, Rochester was a train porter story.

Jack Benny Podcast 1945-03-11 How Jack found Rochester
http://jack_benny.podomatic.com/entry/eg/2010-06-14T13_15_20-07_00

[imagrapenutflake]

I love how The Fresh Air Taxi Cab Co. gave Rochester to Jack Benny to avoid being sued!!

[Jack Benny]

I love how The Fresh Air Taxi Cab Co. gave Rochester to Jack Benny to avoid being sued!!

That's my problem with the show, if you think about it there are two white guys, playing black guys, that "give/trade," a black human being "Rochester" to another white guy (Jack Benny.) The whole thing makes me feel a little uncomfortable, I doubt any of it was on purpose, but Jack's writers usually show quite a bit more sensitivity than they did on this episode, IMHO.

Here is a discussion that I have about this script.
http://jack_benny.podomatic.com/entry/2010-12-05T22_46_36-08_00

[epeterd]

What difference would it have made if the actors were black? They still would have given Rochester to Jack, who was white. It just seems like you're being overly sensitive, but we're all different. I don't even think about the race in the episode. I think of it as a way to get rid of Jack because he's rich and can cause problems. Maybe I'm naive.

peter

[scottp]

I never liked the restaurant name "Souplantation" (nor the restaurant itself-- where are they hiding the burgers?) but I can understand why many black people hear an alarm go off with the "plantation" part of the name.
And someone taking possession of another person-- who's black-- is likely to set off the same kind of alarm.
Now, if Phil and Remley (or "Phil and Elliott") were able to give Julius away, that would be different...