This Day In Jack Benny

June 20, 1937 - This is the very first episode with Rochester! In the episode they mention Albert Einstein, WC Fields, and the Maxwell House Showboat.

June 20, 1948 - From Cleveland with guests Bob Hope, Marilyn Maxwell and pitcher Bob Feller. It is an uproarious episode with a great crowd. 

June 13, 1937 - Andy Devine is in this early Jack Benny episode talking about his upcoming movie with Bing Crosby. They also mention Fred MacMurray, Gary Cooper and Marlene Detrick. But the star is Mary Livingstone and her first (and possible last) movie "This Way Please".

June 13, 1948 - The Jack Benny Show is #1! The Hooper Ratings listed the top rated radio shows based on millions of telephone interviews through the year. This episode is from Detroit and they mention a number of cars including the 1948 Cadillac, the vehicle to start the tail fin craze. Don Wilson's weight is also discussed in this episode.

June 11, 1939 - Jack first does a parody of gossip columnist Jimmy Fidler. He mentions a number of old Hollywood stars including youngsters like Mickey Rooney and Bobby Breen. Plus The Cisco Kid, Dr.Kildair, Charlie Chan and most of all Sherlock Holmes. Also this day, from "Seein' Stars" in the Sunday comics June 11, 1939

June 6, 1948 - A fun train station episode. Mel Blanc does Porky pig and his famous woody woodpecker laugh. And we explain what "Which Twin Has The Toni?" means.

June 4, 1939 - Jack Benny is compared to dramatic actors Paul Muni and Spenser Tracy. But it's really just a rib. Jack Benny is Sherlock Holmes in the preview to "The Hound of the Baskervilles".

May 31, 1942 - After 8 years with JELL-O the Jack Benny Show is changing sponsors (it's still the parent company General Foods). They are doing a clips show or "A Cavalcade of Last 8 Years with JELL-O". Clips include: How Jack met Rochester, Buck Benny Rides Again, Andy Devine, Jack saves Fred Allen's life, Lost Horizon, Dennis Day's first appearance, Mary's mother, Carmichael the Polar Bear and the gas man, Mr. Billingsley, Don's wife, and the New Year's Eve fantasy.

May 28, 1939 - Not only to they spoof the movie "The Story of Alexander Graham Bell", they also talk about Jack Benny's movie "Man About Town". Plus the FBI director J. Edger Hoover.

May 21, 1944 - Jack Benny and the gang discuss split personality, and later Jack realizes he has a split personality. They reference the death of Flattop from the Dick Tracy comic strip. Plus Phil Harris and his wife Alice Faye just had a baby. Jack turns on the radio and hears a commercial for "Sympathy Cough Syrup" (very funny spoof).

May 21, 1939 - In this episode of the Jack Benny program, Phil Harris inflicts the worst torture imaginable on Jack...baby talk! Plus we learn about Eleanor Roosevelt's radio show and the NY World's Fair. Plus the second half of "Gunga Din".

May 14, 1944 - Jack at the gang are at Camp Adair, Corvallis, Oregon performing for the infantry.  Don starts off the episode by listing other programs you can hear through the week: Monday - Cavalcade of America Tuesday - Bob Hope Wednesday - Eddie Cantor Thursday - Bing Crosby Friday Amos 'n Andy Saturday - Truth or Consequences Sunday - Jack Benny

May 14, 1939 - It's mother's day and Jack Benny and the gang spoof a movie in the theatres about a water bearer in British occupied India called "Gunga Din" part 1.

May 9, 1948 - Ronald Coleman's Oscar is finally returned...or was it ever gone? They reference the Pilgrims (listen for a funny clip of Abbot and Costello from 1948). Bare midriff's are in fashion. The first villain pro-wrestler on television, Gorgeous George. And they mention Little Orphan Annie. 

May 7, 1939 - Jack Benny makes a Kentucky Derby Bet. Then they do a skit as horses. Phil Harris is also teased for talking in baby talk when he sang the hit novelty song "Three Little Fishes".

May 2, 1948 - Guest Star Frank Sinata. That skinny kid won an Oscar for "The House I Live In" in 1945 and was currently in the movie "Miracle of the Bells". Not to mention the fact that he had his own radio show "Your Hit Parade". This week the negotiate a price for him to sing on The Jack Benny Show.  

April 30, 1939 - It's Jack Benny's 7th Anniversary in Radio. At the time there where also two World's Fairs going on. One in New York, the other in San Francisco. Listen also for quick references to drive-in movies and "Lloyds of London" and Esquire Magazine.

April 26, 1942 - Jack Benny and the gang are at the new NBC building in San Francisco. Listen closely and you will hear them mention 7-Up, Red Skelton's catchphrase "I Dood It", and "Havanna Nights". They also do a western skit called Jack Hawkin's Revenge.

April 23, 1939 - On the set of Jack's movie "Man About Town" we meet Guests Binnie Barns and Mark Sandrich with a cameo by Claudette Colbert...all performed in the radio studio by the regular cast with bit players doing the celebrity voices.  Meanwhile, Rochester tries to collect on the bet he made with Jack Benny after the Joe Lewis boxing match. And they subtly take a jab at Chamberlain and his Munich Agreement with Hitler.

April 19, 1942 - Don's play about JELL-O stars Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone and Dennis Day. Plus Jack steals a joke from his corny sound man and much more!