Pluses and Minuses of Jack on NPR

[Radioman]

I was introduced to Jack Benny, Great Gildersleeve, and other OTR shows on an NPR station when I was around 13. I had never heard OTR before, and became instantly enamored with the Jack Benny Show the first time I heard it. I had no idea they were actors standing around a microphone. I THOUGHT I was hearing a well-miked stage play, if that gives you any idea of how well those shows were made.

Years later I started buying OTR tapes and found it strange that I heard commercials. NPR cuts those out. After talking about JB with a bookstore manager friend of mine, he told me that all the shows had sponsors including Lucky Strike. "You're kidding! Cigarettes sponsored the show?" See, I had no idea.

Although I am grateful NPR introduced me to OTR, I figured out later just how much they cut out:

All commercials. It was never the Lucky Strike Program, every episode I heard was "The Jack Benny Program!"

All performances by the Sportsmen. Since they sang a commercial, they were cut. The Sportsmen made an appearance with "MMMMM!" but I never heard their songs. I had no real idea why they were on the show.

All performances by Dennis Day. Sure he was a regular character, but all I knew of him was that he was just a goofy guy in the cast. I had NO IDEA he sang any songs. All references to his songs were also cut.

All show-ending punchlines. Typically after the final commercial we hear a final gag or some other statement by Jack. Every ending was the same on NPR "The Jack Benny Program was written by . . . ."

Does anyone object to this much editing to the JB show on NPR? It was awesome that they carried JB, Great Gildersleeve, Fibber McGee, X Minus One, and even Hitchhikers. But is it really that bad to include "It's the Lucky Strike Program starring Jack Benny!"? JB was a product of its time, and sponsors were part of the show. Why cut them out?

Now that I think about it, I only heard a small fraction of the actual number of JB episodes available. Usually they were from the late 1940s/early 50s. I don't believe I ever heard earlier ones.

allen

[Roman]

I remember the same thing. The NY classical station used to rerun Jack's radio program on Sunday nights in the late 1980s. They also cut out the songs and the commercials. Part of this I suppose was so that they could air their own commercials (they were that rare breed, a commercial classical radio station) and they also had to deal with the ban on TV and radio cigarette ads. But that, of course, meant that we were deprived of Dennis's beautiful songs and the very clever way that Jack inserted the commercial plugs into his program.

All I can say is thank God that Jack saved all the old tapes and thank God that there are now technologies like MP3 that allow us to listen to Jack's shows exactly as they were intended to be heard, cigarette ads and all.

[River Phoenix]

I'd say that public radio running old shows is a good thing; it's the reason why many people who didn't live through the golden age of radio have good opinions of Jack. The parts they cut are interesting, but they kept the best parts of the show, and took shows from the better era of Jack's run, which would also have higher audio quaility. It seems that they tightened the show up into a more modern sort of situation comedy. Jack's show was a newtime radio program rather than one of nostalgic value, then to be honest I could do without all the songs and LSMFT.

[Alan]

My gateway causes for otr fandom were mostly related to a job that involved some driving time....however, having previously (very occasionally) heard an "old time radio show" on regular AM stations was part of the background exposure i had that made me more amenable to considering otr as an option and making an effort to dig a little deeper.

To some extent, i believe that listening to otr can be an aquired taste....many people just can't/won't really get past their initial reluctance to the medium itself......

I think that exposure on NPR (or AM or satellite....) is a net positive.

BTW-i also find the LSMFT ads (and to some extent Day's sngs) annoying. [/code]

[Radioman]

I agree with everyone's points, and I too don't care for most of Dennis Day's songs. I agree also that OTR can be an acquired taste, not everyone likes it.

However, perhaps I'm a purist. Day's music and LSMFT or no, I would rather hear the entire show. I liken it to watching your favorite TV show in syndication. MASH and Star Trek are good examples, so is the Simpsons, although almost any show will do. Individual lines and whole scenes have been cut for syndication. Then when you buy the DVD, you see the whole show and say "Oh, now it makes sense." You're finally seeing all the things that have been cut out over the years. Many times the cut scenes add to the plot. Oftentimes they don't.

Do the Lucky Strike commercials make a better show? Not neccessarily, but they werea part of the show and I would rather hear the entire show, not just a twenty-minute edit of it.

Again, I appreciate having heard them on NPR. But hearing them all again on mp3 has opened a new world for them.

allen

[shimp scrampi]

Were these "cut" episodes specifically prepared and packaged by some company for public radio broadcast? Or did local stations do it themselves?

I've heard some recordings edited in this way, with all the commercials and songs removed - I believe they're cut down even more than the AFRS broadcasts. So who did it? Was there some Benny package prepared in the '80s for stations to purchase?

I'm not aware of the actual "NPR", that is, "National Public Radio" being involved in packaging and syndicating old programs. When people commonly refer to "NPR" they're often referring to their local public radio station, which is probably an NPR affiliate, that is, they purchase a little or a lot of programming from the NPR service - but also produce original things and/or purchase programs from other public radio services, like PRI, Chicago Public Radio, etc. (i.e., you often hear "I heard Garrison Keillor on NPR", though the Keillor show is actually produced by American Public Media).

But I think NPR itself is entirely focused on producing original programming.

[Maxwell]

I can see why they'd edit out the commercials, since they are a) for cigarettes, and b) on public radio (as if the underwriter announcements aren't commercials). As for Dennis, here's another possibility: They didn't want to pay for song clearance from ASCAP or BMI.

[LLeff]

I've heard some recordings edited in this way, with all the commercials and songs removed - I believe they're cut down even more than the AFRS broadcasts. So who did it? Was there some Benny package prepared in the '80s for stations to purchase?

Yepper. The company was Charles Michelson, and they cut the commercials and the songs for both commerical endorsement and song rights purposes. Somewhere in my files, I still have a copy of their tickler flyer for both the Benny and Burns and Allen radio series.

[shimp scrampi]

Aha, that explains why they seem to have been aired on commerical and non-commercial stations alike. A quick google search of Michelson reveals that they were actual, licensed, legit, etc. as well.

He was also involved in the "Adventures in Cassettes" series, I used to get those catalogs/buy from them and some of the heavily cut versions ended up on those cassette releases.

Both the Jack Benny and Burns and Allen tapes credit the Benny estate and George Burns (still alive at the time) and the estate of Gracie Allen.

[Radioman]

Charles Michelson, and they cut the commercials and the songs for both commerical endorsement and song rights purposes.

As Laura and others have pointed out, the segments were cut due to commercial endorsement and ASCAP fees. That makes sense and was something I hadn't considered.

When I referred to "NPR," this was a blanket term for NPR affiliates like WVXU in Cincinnati (which btw has been sold and no longer features JB or any other OTR--a shame). I did not know if NPR distributed the OTR shows to its affiliates, or if the affiliates bought them from someplace and cut them up, or if a company somewhere provided the service. Now I know.

Thanks to the mp3 collections, I can hear the episodes as they originally aired: with commericals, Day's music, everthing; the way I prefer it.

allen