The Jack Benny Program (1962)

In our previous posts on The Jack Benny Program, we've noted how Benny has been credited with influencing modern comedy and helping create the sit-com format. One academic who has written extensively on Benny's earlier days in radio is Kathryn Fuller-Seeley, who describes in her article "How Jack Benny and Harry Conn Stumbled Onto the Formula for Situation Comedy" in a 2017 edition of Humanities, the magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities, that Benny and Conn were forced to come up with something to fill radio air time after Benny was hired to host The Canada Dry Program but felt he had run through his entire vaudeville stand-up repertoire after only two episodes. Benny then hired Conn, an experienced vaudeville joke writer for Mae West and many others, and the two began expanding the non-musical portion of the program to include sketches outside the studio, such as one set in the soda fountain located in the radio building lobby, with the sketch including other cast members as characters in the comedy routine. And thus the formula was born, though, of course, it was expanded, adapted, and otherwise shaped over the next several years that also included changing sponsors, networks, and cast members. Benny recruited his wife, billed as Mary Livingstone, to fill in one evening when the script ran short, and the audience response was so positive that she became a permanent cast member. Announcer Don Wilson joined the radio program in 1934, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson was added as Benny's valet in 1937, and tenor vocalist Dennis Day replaced Kenny Baker in 1939. Orchestra leader Phil Harris was also a regular on the radio program beginning in 1936 but did not make the transition to the TV version of the program as did the other characters. 

Given the show's origins in seemingly always in need of additional material to fill air time, it is not surprising that this deficit also became a regular part of the formula in recycling scripts from previous seasons as the show went on for over 20 years on radio and 15 seasons on television. Initially, the TV program aired only every other week until Season 11 in 1960 when it switched to a weekly formula, but even then it produced only 26-27 episodes per season instead of the then-customary 39. And still these 26-27 episodes often borrowed heavily from previous seasons. For the Season 12 episodes that aired in 1962, "Jack Gets a Passport" (January 21, 1962), "How Jack Met Rochester" (January 28, 1962), "Police Station Show" (February 4, 1962), "Ghost Town Western" (February 11, 1962), and "Modern Prison Sketch" (April 15, 1962) all borrow from previous seasons' episodes. But with the "Police Station Show" episode, recycled from "Jack's Maxwell Is Stolen" (November 18, 1956), the writers reworked a few elements of the show to make it funnier. In the earlier version, Benny comes out and does a standard monologue with several jokes about his cheapness before getting an urgent call from Rochester that his Maxwell automobile has been stolen. In the revised 1962 version the episode begins at rehearsal, not the actual aired version of the show, and Jack is late, so Fred the director has his new stand-in, played by Charles Cantor, begin the show. When Benny eventually shows up, he can't believe the smaller, mealy-mouthed Cantor is supposed to represent him, and when he begins doing his monologue, Cantor returns to give him advice on how to do Benny more accurately. Though the 1962 version does omit a humorous musical number by the Sportsmen Quartet in which they are still in the process of getting dressed while singing their number because they did not anticipate Benny leaving the show abruptly to go down to the Beverly Hills Police Station to report his stolen car, the scene featuring the police dispatchers at the police station is upgraded from having one of them entertaining the patrol car officers by playing Elvis Presley records to having dispatcher Corey be a top-notch Irish tenor who croons "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen." Given that the rest of the police station sketch is almost identical in both versions, Benny was perhaps counting on his audience not remembering an episode that aired 6 years earlier, particularly in an era without youtube or DVDs, but even so, reworking a previous episode and passing it off as new is yet another example of how the program exploded the artificial facade that typical television tries to maintain.

In fact, repetition is one of the key components of the Benny comic formula, along with humiliation. Not only are Benny's character flaws of cheapness, vanity, and horrible violin playing worked into every episode, but the same joke or sight gag is repeated multiple times throughout each episode. In "Ghost Town Western" Benny's character The Cactus Kid has a six gun that shoots crooked, which has him shooting the wrong man earlier in the sketch but ultimately saves him in the end. In "Jack Is a Violin Teacher" (April 8, 1962) Jack's imaginary wife Mabel reads off a list of clients for whom she cleans houses on each day of the week when the mother of one of Jack's pupils tries to hire her. When Mabel later complains that she never gets to go out, Benny recites the same list for her, saying she gets to go see Mrs. Johnson on Monday, etc. After Mabel leaves him and his violin students abandon him as well, Benny shows up at the home of Mrs. Johnson on a Monday dressed in Mabel's cleaning outfit. And in the "Phil Silvers Show" episode (October 9, 1962) the young Silvers shows up at Benny's doorstep looking to break into show business with a note pinned to his jacket from Benny's Aunt Sude asking him to help out the son of her best friend. During the remainder of the episode, whenever Benny gets fed up with Silvers' laziness and is about to throw him out, Silvers produces another handwritten note from Aunt Sude causing him to reconsider on her behalf. 

This formula of repetition and humiliation is the blueprint used many years later by Larry David on Seinfeld and even more so on Curb Your Enthusiasm on which David plays an unflattering version of himself much like Benny's character on The Jack Benny Program. Reviewer Philip Weiss made the connection between David and Benny in his 2002 column in The Observer "Who's Master Now?", noting not only the theme of humiliation but the use of real-world celebrities in dishing out the main character's penance. The repetition component is also a key part of David's humor in an episode such as "Krayzee-Eyez Killa" in which the primary plot revolves around Larry striking up a friendship with the titular rapper who also happens to be his wife's friend Wanda Sykes' fiance, but the subplot revolves around a hideous plaid jacket that Larry needs to retrieve to do some retakes for a movie he is making with Martin Scorsese. After Larry's wife Cheryl donates the jacket to a charity, not realizing it is part of Larry's movie wardrobe, Larry spends the rest of the episode trying to find another copy but being thwarted at every turn. He returns to the clothing store where the original was purchased to find they have one more jacket left but then offends the store clerk by insisting on refolding a sweater the wrong way so that the clerk refuses to sell him the jacket. He then finds that Krazee-Eyez Killa has a copy and even gets him to give it to Larry, but when Killa finds that Larry told Wanda that Killa has been cheating on her and calls off the engagement, Killa goes to Larry's house and demands he give the jacket back upon threat of physical violence. When Larry shows up the next day for the movie retake and confesses that he did not bring the jacket back because Cheryl donated it, the wardrobe supervisor reveals she has a backup copy, meaning that all his efforts to secure a replacement were unnecessary (it should be noted that Benny tangles with a wardrobe supervisor in the 1962 episode "Jack Is a Violin Teacher"). The episode also has Larry beginning the plot by stomping on bubblewrap, which comes back to haunt him later, and repeatedly choking on a pubic hair stuck in his throat at the most inopportune times, a motif that actually spans multiple episodes. Weiss notes that Jerry Seinfeld himself cited The Jack Benny Program as an influence on his sit-com, and it is clear that David has continued to mine Benny's comic formula for his own series. Carol Burnett, who stars in the 1962 episode "Jack Plays Tarzan" (November 13, 1962), obviously borrowed heavily from the Benny formula for her long-running variety series, and Steve Martin cites Benny as an influence in his masterclass.com segment "Steve's Comedic Inspirations." Benny's influence continues to be pervasive throughout comedy and television nearly 50 years after his death, all because very early on he learned the value of being able to laugh at himself.

But he also persuaded many of his celebrity guests to join in on the self-mockery, having Raymond Burr attempt stand-up comedy in "Air Force Sketch" (October 16, 1962), having Rock Hudson play a timid harmonica player and Hugh Downs play an overzealous version of himself in "Rock Hudson Show" (February 18, 1962), an episode in which Benny does a hilarious impersonation of Jack Paar, and having Jack Soo play a hip-talking talent agent before doing an absurd impersonation of Ed Sullivan in "Jack Meets a Japanese Agent" (November 27, 1962). Even Bob Hope comes off much funnier playing himself in another recycled episode "The Bob Hope Show" (December 4, 1962) than he does in his own movies and TV appearances. Benny and his writers had a knack for threading the needle between the truly humorous and the painfully cornball. Few comedians then or now have been able to match him.

As mentioned in the 1960 post for this series, there is a disorganized collection of various episodes from the show's 15 years issued by low-budget outfits like Alpha Video, Passport Video, and Echo Bridge in addition to a 3-disc "Lost Episodes" set released by Shout! Factory. The show is also currently airing on cable channel Antenna TV. From calendar year 1962, there are a total of 19 episodes available on youtube.com, archive.org, or broadcast on Antenna TV.

The Actors

For the biographies for Jack Benny, Eddie Anderson, Don Wilson, Dennis Day, and Frank Nelson, see the 1960 post for The Jack Benny Program. For the biography of Mel Blanc, see the 1960 post for The Flintstones.

Charlie Cantor

Born September 4, 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Cantor broke into radio at age 23 on WHN in New York and went on to have an extremely prolific career as a voice actor. At his peak, he was appearing on up to 40 different shows a week. Though he specialized in comic roles, he also found work playing straight characters and even villains. Appearing on everything from The Shadow and Dick Tracy to The Life of Riley and The Baby Snooks Show, Cantor's most famous roles were as Socrates Mulligan in the Allen's Alley segments of The Fred Allen Show beginning in 1940 and continuing until the series ended in 1949. He played bar patron Clifton Finnegan on Duffy's Tavern beginning in 1941 and appeared in the feature film based on the radio show in his movie debut in 1945. In 1942 he took over the role of Solomon Levy on Abie's Irish Rose but was soon replaced himself by Alan Reed, who would go on to become the voice of Fred Flinstone. Cantor's connection with Jack Benny began when he appeared on three episodes of his radio program as ardent Benny fan Logan Jerkfinkle in 1940. The Continuity Acceptance Department at NBC, however, felt that the word "jerk" was cheap, as reported in the May 8, 1940 edition of Variety, and though the character was scheduled to appear on the show's season finale on June 16, he never actually appeared on the program again. Meanwhile, Cantor continued with his radio work on other programs and made his television debut on a February 25, 1951 episode of The Colgate Comedy Hour. In 1952 he appeared in his second feature film, Stop, You're Killing Me, and in 1954 he made the first of 16 appearances on The Jack Benny Program TV series as a lingerie salesman.

Cantor played a variety of characters on the show, sometimes as himself, as when he played Jack's stand-in when Benny was late for rehearsal on "Police Station Show" (February 4, 1962). Though Cantor's appearances on the program were somewhat sporadic in the 1950s, the bulk of his work came during the show's final years of 1962-65. Meanwhile, he found work on a variety of other TV programs beginning in 1955 on shows such as Where's Raymond?, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Bachelor Father. His only recurring role was playing the character Gimpy on the legal comedy Harrigan and Son, which ran for only a single season of 34 episodes. Cantor appeared as Gimpy in 5 of them. He had guest roles on a number of other shows in the 1960s including The Joey Bishop Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and The Red Skelton Hour. His last credit came in a late 1965 episode of O.K. Crackerby! and passed away just after his 68th birthday on September 11, 1966.

Dale White

Dale Porter White was born January 13, 1932 in Otto, Wyoming. He grew up in Caspar, Wyoming, where he attended and graduated in 1950 from Natrona High School, also serving as Student Body Secretary and President of the Thespian Club. A lifelong devout Mormon, White attended Brigham Young University and Utah State University before moving to California to study at the Pasadena Playhouse. Though his ambition was to become a director, White was recruited by the producers of The Jack Benny Program to play Don Wilson's son Harlow, a role he appeared in 17 times between 1955 and 1964. He would never again act on television.

After the program ended, White taught acting at the Pasadena Playhouse and formed his own film company, White Productions, which mostly produced films for corporations and The Church of Latter Day Saints. In 1976 he wrote and directed his first feature-length film Runnin' Free. He also owned two live theaters, the Claremont Playhouse and the Sierra Madre Playhouse. But in 1990 he and his wife moved to Bountiful, Utah to be closer to family. There he and his son Frank bought a motorcycle shop in Centreville, and the two traveled the country to attend motorcycle races that Frank competed in. He died in Pella, Iowa on February 16, 2006 at the age of 74.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 12, Episode 12, "Jack Does Opera": Roberta Peters (shown on the left, world renowned opera soprano awarded the American National Medal of the Arts, appeared in Tonight We Sing and City Hall, and made a record 65 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show) plays herself. Herb Vigran (Judge Brooker on Gunsmoke) plays a press photographer. John Harmon (hotel clerk Eddie Halstead on The Rifleman) plays his assistant.

Season 12, Episode 16, "Police Station Show": Hayden Rorke (starred in Father's Little Dividend, When Worlds Collide, and Pillow Talk and played Steve on Mr. Adams and Eve, Col. Farnsworth on No Time for Sergeants, Dr. Alfred Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie, and Bishop on Dr. Kildare) plays police Sgt. Van Der Meer. Ross Elliott (Lee Baldwin on General Hospital and Sheriff Mark Abbott on The Virginian) plays Jack's director Fred. Joan Benny (Jack Benny's adopted daughter) plays the police station receptionist. Bob Hoy (Joe Butler on The High Chaparral and Cliff on Our House) plays a policeman. Michael Emmet (Cpl. Davis on Boots and Saddles) plays a member of Jack's orchestra.

Season 12, Episode 17, "Ghost Town Western Sketch": Giselle MacKenzie (shown on the right, popular singer, played Katherine Chancellor on The Young and the Restless) plays herself and saloon girl Tess MacKenzie. Will Wright (Ben Weaver on The Andy Griffith Show and Mr. Merrivale on Dennis the Menace) plays a ghost town cafe owner. Irene Tedrow (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Dennis the Menace) plays his wife. Gerald Mohr (narrator on 19 episodes of The Lone Ranger, Christopher Storm on Foreign Intrigue, voice of Mr. Fantastic and Reed Richards on Fantastic 4) plays notorious gunman Tombstone Harry. James Flavin (Lt. Donovan on Man With a Camera and Robert Howard on The Roaring 20's) plays bartender Joe. Benny Rubin (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Dick Tracy Show) plays a drunk.

Season 12, Episode 18, "Rock Hudson Show": Rock Hudson (starred in Magnificent Obsession, Giant, Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back, and Ice Station Zebra and played Stewart McMillan on McMillan & Wife, Brian Devlin on The Devlin Connection, and Daniel Reece on Dynasty) plays himself. Hugh Downs (shown on the left, announcer on the Jack Paar Tonight Show and long-time news host on Over Easy, 20/20, Live From Lincoln Center, and Today) plays himself. 

Season 12, Episode 19, "Julie London Show": Julie London (shown on the right, popular singer, starred in Nabonga, The Fat Man, and The George Raft Story and played nurse Dixie McCall on Emergency!) plays herself. Toni Marcus (violinist, composer, and teacher, composed the soundtrack for Summerspell, and performed the violin solo heard in the film An Officer and a Gentleman) plays herself as a 12-year-old autograph seeker. 

Season 12, Episode 20, "Alexander Hamilton Story": Jean Willes (shown on the left, appeared in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Ocean's 11, and Gypsy) plays mimeograph secretary Mamie and Elizabeth Hamilton. Ross Elliott (see "Police Station Show" above) returns as Jack's director Fred. Nancy Kulp (Pamela Livingstone on The Bob Cummings Show, Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies, Mrs. Gruber on The Brian Keith Show, and Mrs. Hopkins on Sanford and Son) plays script supervisor Jeannette. Gail Bonney (Goodwife Martin on Space Patrol and Madeline Schweitzer on December Bride) plays Elizabeth Hamilton's mother. Lester Matthews (Sir Dennis Nayland Smith on The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu and Fleming Pendleton on The Beverly Hillbillies) plays the Alexander Hamilton-Aaron Burr duel referee. 

Season 12, Episode 23, "Jack Goes Back Into Pictures": Billy Wilder (shown on the far right, Oscar-winning director who directed Ninotchka, Double Indemnity, Sunset Blvd., Some Like It Hot, and The Apartment) plays himself. John Harmon (see "Jack Does Opera" above) plays a mailman.

Season 12, Episode 24, "Jack Is a Violin Teacher": Elvia Allman (Aunt Vera on I Married Joan, Jane on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Cora Dithers on Blondie, Mrs. Montague on The Bob Cummings Show, Elverna Bradshaw on The Beverly Hillbillies, and Selma Plout on Petticoat Junction) plays violin teacher Jack's wife Mabel. Barbara Pepper (Doris Ziffel on Green Acres and Petticoat Junction) plays wardrobe supervisor Maggie. Mary Treen (appeared in Babbitt, A Night at the Ritz, Love Begins at Twenty, and It's a Wonderful Life and played Emily Dodger on Willy and Hilda on The Joey Bishop Show) plays violin student's mother Mrs. Jameson. Herb Vigran (see "Jack Does Opera" above) plays violin student's father Mr. Tinmin. 

Season 12, Episode 25, "Modern Prison Sketch": Mickey Rooney (shown on the far left, starred in Captains Courageous, Boys Town, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Words and Music, Babyface Nelson, and Breakfast at Tiffany's as well as numerous Andy Hardy movies and played Mickey Mulligan on The Mickey Rooney Show, Mickey Grady on Mickey, Oliver Nugent on One of the Boys, Henry Dailey on The New Adventures of the Black Stallion, and Talbut on Kleo the Misfit Unicorn) plays himself and convict Killer Looney. Iris Adrian (appeared in Too Many Blondes, Career Girl, The Paleface, and G.I. Jane and played Dottie on The Ted Knight Show) plays a lunch counter waitress.  Ross Elliott (see "Police Station Show" above) returns as Jack's director Fred.  Alan Carney (played Mike Strager in a series of RKO comedies in the 1940s, appeared in The Absent-Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and Herbie Rides Again, and played Herbie on The Jean Carroll Show) plays counterfeiter Inky Green. Richard Reeves (Mr. Murphy on Date With the Angels) plays convict Muggsy McGurk. Larry J. Blake (played the unnamed jailer on Yancy Derringer and Tom Parnell on Saints and Sinners) plays new convict Stranger.

Season 13, Episode 3, "Phil Silvers Show": Phil Silvers (shown on the right, starred in You're in the Army Now, Top Banana, Lucky Me, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Boatniks, and The Strongest Man in the World and played Msgt. Ernest G. Bilko on The Phil Silvers Show, Harry Grafton on The New Phil Silvers Show, and Shifty Shafer on The Beverly Hillbillies) plays himself. Joe Flynn (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet) plays Jack's barber. Gail Bonney (see "Alexander Hamilton Story" above) plays Jack's Aunt Sude.

Season 13, Episode 4, "Air Force Sketch": Raymond Burr (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1961 post on Perry Mason) plays himself. Roland Winters (played Charlie Chan in 6 feature films, appeared in Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, Follow the Sun, Cash McCall, and Blue Hawaii, and played J.R. Boone, Sr. in Meet Millie and Leonard J. Costello on My Brother the Angel) plays Air Force Gen. Sneed. Warren Vanders (Chuck Davis on Empire, Ben Crowley on Daniel Boone, and Brant on How the West Was Won) plays an Air Force pilot.

Season 13, Episode 5, "Lawrence Welk Show": Lawrence Welk (shown on the right, world renowned orchestra leader and host of The Lawrence Welk Show) plays himself. Madge Blake (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Real McCoys) plays Pasadena Jack Benny Fan Club President Nara. Jesslyn Fax (appeared in Rear Window, The Music Man, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, and The Love God? and played Angela Devon on Our Miss Brooks and Wilma Fritter on Many Happy Returns) plays her Vice President.

Season 13, Episode 6, "The Story of My Gang Comedy": Darla Hood (played Darla in 49 Our Gang shorts and appeared in Neighborhood House, Born to Sing, and The Bat, and was a regular on The Ken Murray Show) plays herself. Frances Mercer (starred in Crime Ring, Smashing the Rackets, The Mad Miss Manton, and There's Always Tomorrow and played Nurse Ann Talbot on Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal) plays Alfalfa's mother Mrs. Falfa. James Flavin (see "Ghost Town Western Sketch" above) plays a policeman. Benny Rubin (see "Ghost Town Western Sketch" above) plays a barber. 

Season 13, Episode 7, "Jack Plays Tarzan": Carol Burnett (shown on the left, regular cast member on The Garry Moore Show, host of The Carol Burnett Show and Carol and Company, and played Celia Howard on Stanley, Eunice Higgins on Mama's Family, Verla Grubbs on All My Children, and Theresa Stemple on Mad About You) plays herself. Peter Lupus (Willy Armitage on Mission: Impossible) plays Tarzan. Richard Peel (Mr. Withers on Family Affair) plays Jane's father.

Season 13, Episode 9, "Jack Meets a Japanese Agent": Romi Yamada (Japanese popular singer) plays herself. Jack Soo (starred in Flower Drum Song, Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?, and The Green Berets and played Rockwell Sin on Valentine's Day and Det. Sgt. Nick Yemana  on Barney Miller) plays her agent. Mel Blanc (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Flintstones) plays a microphone boom man. The Rocky Fellers (Filipino-born quintet and Scepter Records recording artists who had a hit with "Killer Joe" in 1963) play themselves.

Season 13, Episode 10, "Bob Hope Show": Bob Hope (shown on the right, legendary comedian who starred in Road to Singapore, Road to Zanzibar, My Favorite Blonde, My Favorite Brunette, The Paleface, and Bachelor in Paradise) plays himself. Jesse White (appeared in Harvey, Bedtime for Bonzo, The Bad Seed, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and The Reluctant Astronaut and played Mickey Calhoun on Private Secretary, Jesse Leeds on Make Room for Daddy, and Oscar Pudney on The Ann Sothern Show) plays talent agent Weber. Iris Adrian (see "Modern Prison Sketch" above) plays his secretary. Duke Johnson (juggler who appeared in Swing Fever, Texas Carnival, and Spartacus) plays a juggler. 

Season 13, Episode 11, "Jack Referees a Wrestling Match": Ruth Berle (shown third from left, wife of Milton Berle) plays herself. Anne Douglas (shown fourth from left, wife of Kirk Douglas) plays herself. Eden Hartford (shown second from left, wife of Groucho Marks) plays herself. Evelyn Patrick (shown on the far left, wife of Phil Silvers) plays herself. Maudie Prickett (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Hazel) plays Jack's secretary Miss Gordon. Roy Rowan (announcer on The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, Falcon Crest, and Dallas) plays a photographer. Billy Varga (professional wrestler who won the light heavyweight title in 1941) plays himself. Gene LeBell (professional wrestler and national judo champion) plays himself.

Season 13, Episode 12, "Jack and the Crying Cab Driver": Louis Nye (shown on the right, starred in Sex Kittens Go to College, The Facts of Life, The Stripper, and Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? and played Dr. Delbert Gray on The Ann Sothern Show, Sonny Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies, Harry Karp on Needles and Pins, and Jeff Greene's father on Curb Your Enthusiasm) plays a crying cab driver. Mel Blanc (see "Jack Meets a Japanese Agent" above) plays a Mexican named Sy. Bill Mumy (Will Robinson on Lost in Space, Weaver on Sunshine, and Lennier on Babylon 5) plays a young boy obsessed with weighing himself. Alice Backes (Vickie on Bachelor Father) plays his mother. Hank Brandt (Leonard Waggedorn on Julia, Morgan Hess on Dynasty, and Dr. Aaron Kranzler on Santa Barbara) plays young lover Bill. 

Season 13, Episode 13, "The Story of the New Talent Show": Mel Blanc (see "Jack Meets a Japanese Agent" above) plays animal impressionist Mr. Finque. Bernie Kopell (shown on the left, played Siegfried on Get Smart, Jerry Bauman on That Girl, Louie Palucci on The Doris Day Show, Charlie Miller on Needles and Pins, Alan-a-Dale on When Things Were Rotten, Dr. Adam Bricker on The Love Boat, and voiced Baron von Butcher, Creto, and Wang Fu on Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp) plays marksman Alberto Rinadli. Madge Blake (see "Lawrence Welk Show" above) plays Tillie, President of the Jack Benny Fan Club, Pasadena Chapter. Jesslyn Fax (see "Lawrence Welk Show" above) plays her Vice President Emma.

The Jack Benny Program (1961)

In our post on the 1960 episodes of The Jack Benny Program, we discussed the ground-breaking formula the show created that has been adapted by many later comedians, including Garry Shandling, Jerry Seinfeld, and Larry David. Others have also credited Benny with essentially creating the modern sit-com format and influencing a host of other performers, from Johnny Carson to Kelsey Grammer. But the irony and genius of Benny's achievement is not only that he basically founded modern comedy but that he did it with a single comic trope that he repeated every week for over 30 years. And that trope--of Benny as the vain, self-absorbed miser who brings about his own misfortune--never grows stale, just like his claim that he was 39 years old. Each episode is merely an exercise in finding new ways to introduce the same old jokes into different situations. The audience knows the jokes are coming, and yet, like a dominant offensive line in football, there is no way to stop them from hitting paydirt.

We see the fictional Benny's inflated sense of self-worth on display in the very first 1961 episode, "Jack Casting for TV Special" (January 1, 1961). Jack has been allowed by the network to cast the actors for an upcoming special telling his life story. When it comes to casting the part of his boyhood girlfriend, Mildred Homquist, Jack selects an attractive, curvaceous, and flirtatious young actress to give the impression that he is such a good lover that he could win such a beauty. But this is undercut when he casts the part of his mother and the actress auditioning for the part is the matronly real Mildred Holmquist. After she leaves, Jack remarks, "She hasn't changed a bit." His cheapness is also shown when he tries to hire an experienced child actor to play him as a boy by bribing the boy with a large lollipop, only to learn that the child has an agent, who is also a child and who demands $2,000 for his client, threatening to walk out when Jack, as expected, refuses to pay so much. After seeing that he can't intimidate the young agent, Jack realizes that the uncompromising child agent should play him in the special rather than the child actor. This episode, like several aired in 1961, is actually a reworked version of an episode broadcast 7 years earlier, in this case "The Life of Jack Benny" from November 28, 1954. But because he doesn't rely solely on currently topical humor, Benny's jokes are timeless.

That's not to say that Benny doesn't also take a few jabs at current trends or other TV shows. In "Jack Goes on Trial for Murder" (November 5, 1961), Jack is served a summons after his neighbors file a complaint about his constantly crowing rooster. After unsuccessfully trying to hire a lawyer named Willoughby played by his nemesis Frank Nelson, who claims to have learned the practice of law from watching Perry Mason, Jack falls asleep and dreams he is being defended by Mason, played by Raymond Burr, from a charge of having murdered the rooster. Only the Mason in Jack's dream is completely incompetent and no match for the prosecutor, who, of course, turns out to be the nemesis Willoughby. When Jack asks Mason why he never loses on his own show but is getting butchered now, Mason replies, "Perhaps my writers are better than yours." Even if the viewer has never watched Perry Mason, the joke about the artificiality of television still works. Of course, it does help to have watched Perry Mason when Raymond Burr breaks down during his final summation to admit that he is the one who murdered the rooster.

Nor is Benny the only series regular whose character is depicted in unflattering terms. Announcer Don Wilson is the subject of continuous fat jokes. In "Don's Anniversary" (January 15, 1961) Benny celebrates Wilson's 27 years with his program by dressing him in a crown and robe and having him sit on a throne, only to have the seat of the throne collapse under Wilson's heft. And in "Jack Goes to the Cafeteria" (December 10, 1961) Benny comes out for the final monologue and reveals that all the food shown in the cafeteria sketch was real, listing off the vast amounts they used for each item. He then tells Wilson to be sure that all the leftover food is returned to the studio commissary so that he can get his deposit back, only to have Wilson say, "That food was supposed to go back?" and Benny reply, "I should have known" as Wilson pats his stomach.  It is only recently that people have begun to question whether making fun of weight problems might be cruel. In Benny's day the assumption was that weight was simply a reflection of willpower. Singer Dennis Day's simpleton character is also the butt of many jokes. In "Death Row Sketch" (February 5, 1961) Day plays Benny's son, to whom Benny must repeatedly explain what a cup, saucer, and knife are. In "Jack Is Followed Home" (December 3, 1961) Day stalks Benny to scare him in an act of revenge after Benny lets Bobby Rydell sing two songs on the program but doesn't allow Day to sing any. After the police catch Day and ask Benny if he wants to press charges, Benny declines but then takes Day across his knee and spanks him with a hairbrush, reinforcing the idea that Day is a child-like dimwit. There is never any indication that Day's character is somehow mentally deficient; he just doesn't seem to benefit from Benny's instruction. The only character who does not come off as flawed is Rochester, whom we described in our 1960 post as having been modified after Benny came under fire for racial stereotyping just after World War II. Rochester is depicted as his own man who knows his boundaries. In "Jack at the Supermarket" (January 22, 1961) Rochester outsmarts Benny in a game of gin rummy by cheating, forcing Benny to do all of his chores for the day in a maid's outfit, though Benny is then able to pull the same stunt on Don Wilson, who in turn pulls it on Dennis Day. On his day off, Rochester is not cowed into jumping up to answer the phone when Jack calls from the studio hoping to get a ride home, nor does he jump at Benny's subtle suggestion that he fix him something to eat, forcing Benny to cook his own omelet, though he needs Don Wilson to first crack the egg because he is too weak to do it himself. But Rochester shows his devotion to Jack in "New Year's Eve" (December 31, 1961) when he turns down an opportunity to go out on the town after Benny comes home early due to his girlfriend being unable to get off work. Rather than leaving Benny alone, Rochester decides to stay home with him and toast in the New Year with a bottle of champagne. In real life Benny had performed a similar, even larger friendly gesture during his touring days in refusing to stay in any hotel where Eddie Anderson was not welcome.

The one area where Benny was perhaps behind the times was his selection of musical guest stars. In 1961 we hear performances from The Mills Brothers, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Jane Morgan, Bobby Rydell, and Mamie Van Doren. Rydell may have been a teen idol in 1961, but he performs two Al Jolson songs, and Van Doren may have been a hot property at the time as an actress and pin-up girl, but she is teamed with traditional Irish tenor Dennis Day in a duet of the old standard "You Make Me Feel So Young." Benny makes a nod to the younger demographic in his TV special casting episode by saying that he had recommended that he be played by Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, or Fabian, but that these three entertainers had insisted that he be played by elderly Jewish violinist Jascha Heiftez. Benny knew he was old school and didn't try to go out of his comfort zone to "remain relevant," as did many singers, like Jane Morgan to name but one, who recorded lounge versions of rock 'n' roll hits that sound cheesy today. Despite being a one-joke pony who recycled old scripts, Benny's program still remained in the top 10 for the 1960-61 season, and despite falling out of the top 30 for 1961-62, it rebounded into the top 20 the following season and remained there during its tenure on CBS. As the saying goes, "If it ain't broke..."

As mentioned in the 1960 post for this series, there is a disorganized collection of various episodes from the show's 15 years issued by low-budget outfits like Alpha Video, Passport Video, and Echo Bridge in addition to a 3-disc "Lost Episodes" set released by Shout! Factory. From calendar year 1961, there are a total of 16 episodes available--15 on youtube.com and 1 in the "Lost Episodes" set.

The Actors

For the biographies for Jack Benny, Eddie Anderson, Don Wilson, Dennis Day, and Frank Nelson, see the post for The Jack Benny Program 1960.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 11, Episode 11, "Jack Casting for TV Special": Mel Blanc (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Flintstones) plays telegram delivery man Herman. Maudie Prickett (Cassie Murphy on Date With the Angels and Rosie on Hazel) plays Jack's secretary Miss Gordon. Dennis Holmes (Mike Williams on Laramie) plays child actor Jimmy Evans. Barry Gordon (shown on the left, played Dennis Whitehead on The New Dick Van Dyke Show, Charlie Harrison on Fish, Gary Rabinowitz on Archie Bunker's Place, Roger Hightower on A Family for Joe, and was the voice of Donatello on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) plays Jimmy's lawyer Harry Johnson.

Season 11, Episode 13, "Don's Anniversary": Howard McNear (shown on the right, played Floyd Lawson on The Andy Griffith Show and Jansen the Plumber on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show) plays radio network executive Mr. Willoughby. Nancy Kulp (Pamela Livingstone on The Bob Cummings Show, Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies, Mrs. Gruber on The Brian Keith Show, and Mrs. Hopkins on Sanford and Son) plays an elocution teacher. Roy Rowan (announcer for I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, and Here's Lucy) plays himself. Bill Baldwin (was the announcer on The Bob Cummings Show, the narrator on Bat Masterson, and played a variety of announcers, newsmen, and emcees on a host of programs including Mister Ed, The Beverly Hillbillies, and The Addams Family) plays himself. Leonid Kinskey (appeared in Duck Soup, Les Miserables (1935), Ball of Fire, Casablanca, and The Man With the Golden Arm and played Pierre Quincy on The People's Choice) plays ballet teacher Sergei Finskey.

Season 11, Episode 14, "Jack at the Supermarket": Flip Mark (Flip Rogers on Lassie, Brook Hooten on Guestward Ho!, and Larry Walker on Fair Exchange) plays Tommy, a boy seeking Jack's autograph. Herb Vigran (Judge Brooker on Gunsmoke) plays a butcher. 

Season 11, Episode 16, "Jack Goes to the Gym": Lisa Davis (Hula Hips Jenkins on The George Burns Show) plays the new studio receptionist. Alan Hale, Jr. (shown on the right, played Biff Baker on Biff Baker U.S.A., Casey Jones on Casey Jones, and The Skipper on Gilligan's Island) plays gym owner McGuire. Frank Gerstle (shown on the left, played Dirk Gird on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp and voiced Raseem on The Banana Splits Adventure Hour) plays his assistant Larry Hawkins.  Norman Alden (Johnny Ringo on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Captain Horton on Rango, Grundy on Not for Hire, Tom Williams on My Three Sons, and Coach Leroy Fedders on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) plays a plumber. Richard Reeves (Murphy on Date With the Angels) plays a boxer.

Season 11, Episode 17, "Death Row Sketch": Mamie Van Doren (shown on the left, starred in Untamed Youth, High School Confidential!, The Beat Generation, Girls Town, and College Confidential) plays herself. Gerald Mohr (narrator on 19 episodes of The Lone Ranger, Christopher Storm on Foreign Intrigue, voice of Mr. Fantastic and Reed Richards on Fantastic 4) plays Harry the boarder. Alan Dexter (Frank Ferguson on Days of Our Lives) plays Jack's rehearsal manager. 

Season 11, Episode 19, "Jack Becomes a Surgeon": Mel Blanc (see "Jack Casting TV Special" above) plays Viennese Dr. Struneheimer. Claudie Barrett (starred in Robot Monster) plays a nurse. Tyler McVey (Gen. Maj. Norgath on Men Into Space) plays award presenter Mr. Harrison. 

Season 11, Episode 22, "Jack Goes to Las Vegas": The Mills Brothers (popular singing group) play themselves. Dabbs Greer (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Gunsmoke) plays Las Vegas Hotel head desk clerk. Olan Soule (Aristotle "Tut" Jones on Captain Midnight, Ray Pinker on Dragnet (1952-59), and Fred Springer on Arnie) plays a second desk clerk. Eddie Quillan (starred in The Grapes of Wrath, Mandarin Mystery, Mutiny on the Bounty, and Hi, Good Lookin'! and played Eddie Edson on Julia and Poco Loco on Hell Town) plays the bellboy. Richard Deacon (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Dick Van Dyke Show) plays hotel General Manager Thomas. William Bakewell (starred in The Iron Mask, Playing Around, Guilty Hands, and The Fabulous Dorseys) plays hotel supervisor Hodges. 

Season 11, Episode 25, "Main Street Shelter": Grandon Rhodes (Mr. Vanderlip on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Dr. Stevens on Lassie, Dr. J.P. Martin on Bonanza, and the judge 16 times on Perry Mason) plays shelter donation coordinator Jim. Ralph Moody (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Rifleman) plays shelter desk clerk Mr. Baker. Herb Vigran (see "Jack at the Supermarket" above) plays a drunk former lawyer. Gregory Irvin (Johnny Brady on Dennis the Menace) plays one of the Beverly Hills Beavers. Harry Tyler (Steve Rhodes on Black Saddle) plays a drunk at the shelter.

Season 12, Episode 3, "Jack Goes on Trial for Murder": Raymond Burr (shown on the right, appeared in M, A Place in the Sun, The Blue Gardenia, and Rear Window and played Perry Mason on Perry Mason and in 26 Perry Mason TV movies, Robert T. Ironside on Ironside, and R.B. Kingston on Kingston: Confidential) plays Perry Mason. Grandon Rhodes (see "Main Street Shelter" above) plays a process server.  Frank Wilcox (Henry Van Buren on Waterfront, Beecher Asbury on The Untouchables, Mr. Brewster on The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction, and the judge 8 times on Perry Mason) plays the court-room judge George.  George E. Stone (appeared in The Front Page, Little Caesar, Guys and Dolls, The Man With the Golden Arm, and Some Like It Hot, played The Runt in 10 Boston Blackie movies, and played the court clerk on Perry Mason) plays the court clerk.

Season 12, Episode 5, "Tennessee Ernie Ford Show": Tennessee Ernie Ford (shown on the right, popular singer and host of The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show) plays himself. Joe Besser (replaced Shemp Howard as the third of The Three Stooges and played Stinky Davis on The Abbott and Costello Show, Mr. Jillson on The Joey Bishop Show, and voiced Babu on Jeannie and Scare Bear on Yogi's Space Race) plays a broadcast engineer. Eddie Ryder (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Dr. Kildare) plays another broadcast engineer. Ross Elliott (Sheriff Abbott on The Virginian) plays Jack's director Fred.

Season 12, Episode 6, "Jack Plays Golf": Eric Monti (shown on the left, professional golfer and golf pro who gave lessons to Benny and other celebrities) plays himself. John Gallaudet (Chamberlain on Mayor of the Town, Judge Penner on Perry Mason, and Bob Anderson on My Three Sons) plays golfer George Simpson. Barry Kelley (starred in The Asphalt Jungle, The Manchurian Candidate, and The Love Bug and played Mr. Slocum on Pete and Gladys and Mr. Hergesheimer on Mister Ed) plays golfer Mr. Herbert. Hugh Sanders (starred in That's My Boy, The Pride of St. Louis, The Winning Team, and The Wild One) plays an unnamed golfer. Mel Blanc (see "Jack Casting TV Special" above) voices a talking squirrel. Bill McLean (Dave on The Jim Backus Show) plays Jack's caddie.

Season 12, Episode 7, "Jack Is Followed Home": Bobby Rydell (popular singer who starred in Bye Bye Birdie) plays himself. Robert Brubaker (Deputy Ed Blake on U.S. Marshal and Floyd on Gunsmoke) plays a police sergeant.

Season 12, Episode 8, "Jack Goes to the Cafeteria": Jane Morgan (shown on the right, popular singer) plays herself. Dave Willock (starred in Let's Face It, Pin Up Girl, and The Fabulous Dorseys and played Lt. Binning on Boots and Saddles, Harvey Clayton on Margie, and was the narrator on the animated Wacky Races) plays a bus passenger. Ross Elliott (see "Tennessee Ernie Ford Show´above) returns as Fred the director. Frank Gerstle (see "Jack Goes to the Gym" above) plays a cafeteria server. Shirley Mitchell (Yvonne Sharp on Sixpenny Corner, Kitty Devereaux on Bachelor Father, Janet Colton on Pete and Gladys, and Clara Appleby on The Red Skelton Hour) plays a cafeteria server. Robert Bice (Capt. Jim Johnson on The Untouchables) plays a cafeteria server. Victor Sen Yung (Jimmy Chan in 13 Charlie Chan movies, Cousin Charlie Fong on Bachelor Father, and Hop Sing on Bonanza) plays a cafeteria server serving Mexican food. Vito Scotti (Jose on The Deputy, Capt. Gaspar Fomento on The Flying Nun, Gino on To Rome With Love, and Mr. Velasquez on Barefoot in the Park) plays a cafeteria server serving Chinese food.

Season 12, Episode 9, "Jack Writes a Song": Dimitri Tiomkin (see the 1960 post on Rawhide for a biography) plays himself. Maudie Prickett (see "Jack Casting for TV Special" above) returns as Jack's secretary Miss Gordon. 

Season 12, Episode 10, "Christmas Party": Mel Blanc (see "Jack Casting TV Special" above) plays himself. Mary Lansing (Martha Clark on The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D.) plays herself.

Season 12, Episode 11, "New Year's Eve": Jill Jackson (Hollywood news reporter) plays herself. Charlie Bagby (Jack's pianist) plays himself. Frank Remley (Jack's guitarist) plays himself. Wayne Songer (Jack's clarinetist) plays himself. Sammy Weiss (Jack's drummer) plays himself. Shirley Mitchell (shown on the left, see "Jack Goes to the Cafeteria" above) plays Jack's girlfriend Gloria.