Lost Forever? A Great Jack Benny Interview

[Maxwell]

I wonder if somewhere somebody recorded this. It would be priceless....

When I was in high school in the mid-1960s I used to listen to a program on WMAQ radio (now defunct) hosted by the late Jack Eigen. Eigen had started doing a celebrity interview show from the Copacabana in New York in the late '40s which was plugged frequently by Fred Allen on his show. By the mid-1950s, Eigen was doing a similar show from the Chez Paree in Chicago. By the '60s he was doing one show a week from the Sherman House hotel in Chicago and spent four nights a week in a WMAQ studio in the Merchandise Mart.

At any rate, sometime around 1965-66 or thereabouts, Jack Benny was playing in Chicago and he did an extensive interview with Eigen which Eigen said afterwards was one of the best interviews he had ever done. I don't remember too much of it, as it was nearly 40 years ago. One thing I do remember is that Eigen asked Jack, "What was the biggest laugh you ever got." Benny didn't hesitate in recounting the "You're money or your life" gag. The rest of the interview has become shrouded in my memory with the passage of time.

I do remember that excerpts from the interview were heard not long afterwards on NBC's weekend program "Monitor." Does anybody else hear know of that interview? I know I'd love to hear it again. I remember it as being fascinating.

[Jack Benny]

There is an in depth hour long Jack Benny interview that I have listened to a number of times, but I doubt it is the one you are talking about, but he covers some of the same ground. I'll e-mail it to you if you like in MP3 form.

[Maxwell]

There is an in depth hour long Jack Benny interview that I have listened to a number of times, but I doubt it is the one you are talking about, but he covers some of the same ground. I'll e-mail it to you if you like in MP3 form.

Please do!

[Jack Benny]

Here is part of the interview, I'll post the rest soon.

http://home.comcast.net/~lantz.darrel/Jack_Benny_-_The_Jack_Benny_Interview_001.mp3

http://home.comcast.net/~lantz.darrel/Jack_Benny_-_The_Jack_Benny_Interview_002.mp3

[LLeff]

Here is part of the interview, I'll post the rest soon.

http://home.comcast.net/~lantz.darrel/Jack_Benny_-_The_Jack_Benny_Interview_001.mp3

http://home.comcast.net/~lantz.darrel/Jack_Benny_-_The_Jack_Benny_Interview_002.mp3

Sorry to be a bit lazy, but is this interview already in our audio library? If not, I'll grab a copy.