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Jack Benny Old Time Radio Program CD 1
Who was born in 1894, and died in 1974 at the age of 39?
None other than the great Jack Benny.
The Jack Benny Show is the king of Old Time Radio. This half-hour variety show first aired in 1932 and lasted until 1955, in reruns until 1958. The show featured the best long running gags possibly in all of show business, that just got funnier each time Benny told them. Other than Benny’s age always being 39, another running gag was how awful Jack played the violin. Or how cheap he was, or how vain, etc. etc.
Benny actually did get his show business start with his lowly violin. He traveled as part of vaudeville shows, doing small towns, etc. But he told no jokes, just played music. He enlisted during World War I (perhaps the much feared Violent Violinists Corps?) He did a gig with the violin to entertain at a function, and completely bombed. So he put the violin away and started telling jokes. This lasted until 1974. And that was the start of the violin bit on his show. After WWI Benny returned to Vaudeville, and he hit his groove: comedy with a bit of violin thrown in. He rose up to better and better venues.
Jack saw radio as being the next big thing, and left his fairly lucrative vaudeville act when NBC and Canada Dry offered him a show in 1932. The show moved to CBS, back to NBC, and found its time slot at 7:00pm Sunday nights in 1934 and there it lasted for over 20 years.
The basic format of the show was pretty simple. Jack Benny would be the host, tell some jokes, introduce some musical acts, have a comedy sketch, more music, and a "dramatic" reading involving a few cast members. He would introduce different characters to either help deliver his punch lines, or as actors in the dramatic plays. The dramatic reading would either be a real dramatic piece horribly butchered for comedy, or just a comedy sketch. The Jack Benny show featured a great range of side characters all playing off of Jack and each other. Benny’s wife, Sadie Marks, played the role of Mary Livingstone on the show. The black comic, Eddie Anderson played the character Rochester. Originally Rochester was supposed to be a one shot appearance, but he worked so well, and the audiences just loved him, he became a regular. Many others came in and out during the show’s long run.
A lot of the success of the show can be attributed to how Jack ran the show. He would search around for the right people, going through different band leaders and musicians, or actors until he found someone who fit the mood he was trying to create, then he would let them develop and own their time. He would often play the straight man to let others get the big laughs, or become a peripheral character to share the spotlight. He would let others have a great running gag or tagline. He gave his writers and cast good salaries, and often did charity performances. And he was vain, yet somehow in a self-deprecating manner. He seemed to know that it was all a joke, but that the audience was in on the joke.
The show gets better the more you listen to it. Jack Benny was the master of comedic timing and the running gag. Each time he pokes fun at how cheap he is it just gets funnier, you know its coming, and you wait for it, wait for it, wait… and then each time, Benny delivers.
"Train now loading on track three, all aboard for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cuc ………..amonga"
All of our Old Time Radio Programs are in MP3 format. You can play them on your computer, you can transfer them to MP3 players (like the IPod), but, by and large, you cannot play them on stereos, walkmen, or car radios.
The sound quality of Old Time Radio Programs can vary greatly. Some episodes are excellent, others you have to turn up the volume a little and ignore the static. All of the episodes can be listened to and enjoyed. You can listen to our free samples to get a feel for how the programs sound.
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Jack Benny CD 1 episode list
109 episodes:
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Benny 32-05-02 First Professional Appearance.mp3
Benny 32-05-12-CanadaDryProgram_FirstShow.mp3
Benny 33-01-01 Outstanding Achievements of 1932 Review.mp3
Benny 33-01-22 Bertha the Sewing Machine Girl.mp3
Benny 33-03-31 She Done Him Right.mp3
Benny 33-04-14 Kiddies Night.mp3
Benny 33-04-21 Guest - Edward G Robinson.mp3
Benny 33-05-05 010 Russian Sketch.mp3
Benny 33-06-02 Sherlock Holmes and King Kong Part 2.mp3
Benny 33-06-09 Who Killed Mr X.mp3
Benny 33-06-23 Mary's Birthday.mp3
Benny 33-12-10 Uncle Tom's Cabin.mp3
Benny 34-02-11 Miniature Women.mp3
Benny 34-02-18 114 Don't Live Right.mp3
Benny 34-02-25 My Life as a Floorwalker.mp3
Benny 34-03-04 Dual in the Graveyard.mp3
Benny 34-03-11 117 Haunted House.mp3
Benny 34-03-18 An Arizona Western.mp3
Benny 34-04-01 The Eternal Triangle.mp3
Benny 34-04-06 Frank Parker's Music Store.mp3
Benny 34-04-13 002 Bridge Game.mp3
Benny 34-04-27 004 New Hampshire Through a Keyhole -Or- Lord.mp3
Benny 34-05-04 005 The Hills of Kentucky.mp3
Benny 34-05-11 006 Home Cooking at Don's.mp3
Benny 34-05-18 127 Jack Is Taking A Taxi To The Show.mp3
Benny 34-07-20 Who Killed Mr Stooge Part 5.mp3
Benny 34-08-03 To New York on the 20Th Century Limited.mp3
Benny 34-08-24 021 The House of Rawchild.mp3
Benny 34-08-31 The House of Benny.mp3
Benny 34-09-14 024 The School Days Part Two.mp3
Benny 34-09-21 School Days Part Three.mp3
Benny 34-09-28 More House of Rawchild.mp3
Benny 34-10-14 001 The Jack Benny Grocery Store.mp3
Benny 34-10-28 003 The Bennys of Wimpole Street.mp3
Benny 34-11-04 004 Through Romantic Hawaii.mp3
Benny 34-11-11 Charlie Chan in Radio City.mp3
Benny 34-11-18 Mrs Wiggs of the Onion Patch.mp3
Benny 34-12-02 008 Rose of the Rio Grande.mp3
Benny 34-12-16 010 Russia Through a Keyhole.mp3
Benny 35-01-06 013 The Count of Monte Jell-O.mp3
Benny 35-01-06 159 The Count Of Monte Jell-O.mp3
Benny 35-11-03 Kenny Baker's Debut.mp3
Benny 35-11-17 008 Blue Room Murder.mp3
Benny 36-01-19 203 Jack And Johnny Are In Jail.mp3
Benny 36-02-09 206 Benny Of The North West Mounted.mp3
Benny 36-02-16 207 Drug Store.mp3
Benny 36-02-23 208 Eternal Triangle.mp3
Benny 36-03-08 Income Tax Advice - Visiting the Zoo.mp3
Benny 36-03-15 Washington Benny-Go-Round (Edited).mp3
Benny 36-03-29 Cinderallen.mp3
Benny 36-04-05 Clown Hall Tonight.mp3
Benny 36-04-12 215 Ah Wilderness.mp3
Benny 36-04-19 216 I Got A Heavy Date.mp3
Benny 36-04-26 Professor Benny Teaches About the Boston Tea .mp3
Benny 36-05-03 218 Code Of The Hills.mp3
Benny 36-05-10 Jack Test Drives a Car.mp3
Benny 36-05-17 Everybody's Not So Hot (Inc, Edited).mp3
Benny 36-05-24 Leaving NY for California (Incomplete).mp3
Benny 36-06-07 Bennymount Films with Robin & Rainger (Incomp.mp3
Benny 36-06-14 Opening of Bennymount Studios.mp3
Benny 36-06-21 225 Vacation Plans.mp3
Benny 36-10-04 Phil Harris Introduced.mp3
Benny 36-10-11 Anthony Adverse.mp3
Benny 36-10-18 Anthony Adverse Part Two.mp3
Benny 36-10-25 Previews Romeo and Juliet.mp3
Benny 36-11-01 Doc Benny's Minstrels - Romeo and Juliet.mp3
Benny 36-11-08 006 Girls Dormitory.mp3
Benny 36-11-15 007 Buck Benny Rides Again 1.mp3
Benny 36-11-22 233 Buck Benny Rides Again Two.mp3
Benny 36-11-29 234 Buck Benny Rides Again.mp3
Benny 36-12-06 235 Money Ain't Everything.mp3
Benny 36-12-13 Buck Shot.mp3
Benny 36-12-20 Old Fashioned Christmas Party.mp3
Benny 36-12-27 Buck Benny Rides Again and Again.mp3
Benny 37-01-03 More Buck Benny.mp3
Benny 37-01-10 Buck Benny Rides Again 10.mp3
Benny 37-01-17 Buck Benny in Ensenada, Mexico.mp3
Benny 37-01-24 Jack Practices 'the Bee'.mp3
Benny 37-01-31 Next Sunday - Jack Will Play `The Bee'.mp3
Benny 37-02-07 The Stolen Violen.mp3
Benny 37-02-14 Jack's Birthday.mp3
Benny 37-02-21 Buck Benny Rides Again 12.mp3
Benny 37-02-28 Jack's Violin is Returned.mp3
Benny 37-03-07 Fight of the Century.mp3
Benny 37-03-14 From the Hotel Pierre.mp3
Benny 37-03-21 025 From New York.mp3
Benny 37-03-21 250 From New York.mp3
Benny 37-03-28 026 The Train Porter.mp3
Benny 37-04-04 027 Back from New York.mp3
Benny 37-04-11 028 Guests - Burns and Allen.mp3
Benny 37-04-18 029 Lady Milicent's Husband.mp3
Benny 37-04-25 030 In the Spring Tra-La.mp3
Benny 37-05-02 031 Buck Benny Party.mp3
Benny 37-06-13 Mary's Movie.mp3
Benny 37-06-20 Jack's Movie.mp3
Benny 37-10-31 005 The Devine Farm.mp3
Benny 37-12-12 275 Christmas Shopping.mp3
Benny 37-12-19 012 Little Red Riding Hood.mp3
Benny 38-01-02 Leaving for San Francisco Next Week.mp3
Benny 38-01-09 In San Francisco.mp3
Benny 38-01-16 Driving Back from San Francisco.mp3
Benny 38-01-23 Scoop Benny, Ace Reporter.mp3
Benny 38-01-30 Hurricain.mp3
Benny 38-02-06 Jack is Late.mp3
Benny 38-02-13 284 Robert Taylor Plays The Cello.mp3
Benny 38-02-20 285 Submarine D-1 Part Two.mp3
Benny 38-03-06 Don Wilson's 15Th Anniversary in Radio.mp3
Benny 38-03-13 Death in the Night Club.mp3
Benny 38-03-20 Preparing for New York.mp3
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