Jack Benny Month!

[Maxwell]

Chuck Schaden may be retired, but "Those Were the Days" lives on hosted by Steve Darnall, and so does the tradition of Jack Benny Month. It starts today February 6, the the theme is "Jack Benny and His Guests. Here's the schedule for the month:

February 6

Jack Benny Program (1/20/52): Guest George Burns agrees to sing Jack's song "When I Say I Beg Your Pardon, Then I'll Come Back to You." Whence?

Jack Benny Program (4/21/33): Guest Edward G. Robinson, and one of the seemingly endless "Why Girls Leave Home" sketches from the Harry Conn years.

Jack Benny Program (3/1740): Guest Orson Welles is hired by Jack to be his drama coach.

Campbell Playhouse (3/24/40): Jack Stars in "June Moon." Jack's banter with Welles in this program always cracks me up.

Jack Benny Program (1/16/49): Guest Ronald Colman dreams he's Jack.

February 13

Jack Benny Program (2/10/46): Jack rent's guest Eddie Cantor's house in Palm Springs.

Jack Benny Program (3/10/54): Guest Giselle MacKenzie sings "Young at Heart."

Philco Radio Time (3/3/48): Jack guests on Bing Crosby's show. Jack and Gladys go out for drinks with Bing.

Jack Benny Program (4/4/48): Bing Crosby reciprocates and guests on Jack's show. Jack has been robbed of Ronald Colman's Oscar and he decides to ask Bing to borrow his.

Jack Benny Program (11/12/50): Guest Richard Widmark and the sketch, "A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich, and Murder."

Jack Benny Program (2/14/37): Jack's violin has been stolen, and guest Ben Bernie (yowsa!) offers Jack the use of his so Jack can play "The Bee."

February 20

Jack Benny Program (5/28/44): Jack goes to Warner Bros. to discuss the making of his life story and finds out that guest Danny Kaye is to play Jack. Kaye sings "Stanislavky."

Jack Benny Program (9/25/49): At the start of the new radio season, Jack searches for his dressing room and meets several CBS stars in the process: Amos 'n' Andy, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, and Red Skelton. The show also features Mel Blanc pestering Jack with his Al Jolson impersonation (Nyaaaah).

Jack Benny Program (5/3/42): Jack is at the Warner Bros. studio rehearsing for "George Washington Slept Here" with guests Ann Sheridan and William Keighley.

Jack Benny Program (4/1/51): Mary's sister Babe appears in Mary's place as Jack is preparing to go to New York to make his TV show.

Suspense (4/5/51): Jack stars in "Murder in G-Flat."

Jack Benny Program (6/20/48): Broadcast from Cleveland with Marilyn Maxwell, Indans pitcher Bob Feller, and Bob Hope (who was then a co-owner of the Indians). Maxwell sings "Hooray for Love."

February 27

Hotpoint Holiday Hour (12/25/49): Jack stars as Sheridan Whiteside in "The Man Who Came to Dinner," with Dorothy McGuire, Gregory Peck, Rosalind Russell, Charles Boyer, and Gene Kelly, narrated by Henry Fonda. The host is John Garfield. (Not to mention the rest of the cast: Bea Benaderet, Willard Waterman, Lois Corbett, and Roland Winters.)

Jack Benny Program (1/8/50): "Murder at Romanoff's" is the sketch with guests "Prince" Michael Romanoff, Frank Sinatra, Rosalind Russell, and Gene Kelly.

Jack Benny Program (5/25/41): Thomas E. Dewey appears to talk about the USO.

Jack Benny Program (5/19/46): Guest Fred Allen invites Jack to appear on his show the following week.

Fred Allen Show (5/26/46): Jack guests on Fred's show and disguises himself to appear on Fred's new show, "King for a Day."

The show is broadcast on WDCB-FM (90.9 MHz in the Chicago area) and http://www.wdcb.org Saturdays from 1:00-5:00 p.m. CST. Beginning the following Tuesday the previous Saturday's program can be heard at http://www.nostalgiadigest.com/those%20were%20the%20days.htm by scrolling down and clicking on the radio dial on that page. It might be easier to just go to http://www.nostalgiadigest.com, click on "Those Were the Days" and then scroll down to the radio dial and click.

[Mandolynn]

Thanks for this info.
Some of these programs, like the one where George is going to sing Jack's song, I have only heard in corrupted versions. And some of the shows where Jack is guest I haven't heard at all.

I heard "Murder in G Flat" on You Tube and really liked it. I am also a big "Broadway is My Beat" fan so hearing Larry Thor as the detective (even though they didn't call him Danny Clover) made it really fun for me.