|
The Jack Benny Program – A Golden Age Comedy Classic
by Guy Belleranti
One of the all-time great comics has to be Jack Benny. Before
television he worked his craft on vaudeville, in film and on the radio.
After a television special in 1949 he brought his radio program to
television in 1950. With it came much of Benny’s supporting cast.
The Jack Benny Program ran on CBS for 15 years, from 1950 to
1965. In the beginning the number of half hour episodes were limited: 4
in the first season, 6 in the second and 8 in the third. By the
mid-1950’s the episode numbers increased to 16, and by the 1960’s they
were in the upper 20’s.
The program was filled with skits, comedy and music. Jack played a
fictional version of himself, a popular radio and television
personality. He was a master of underplayed humor.
The fictional Jack was a stingy and vain man, a man who kept all
his money locked in a vault in his basement. He was always claiming to
be 39, and seemed to carry his violin everywhere. When he played the
violin he did so quite badly for great comic effect. In real life,
however, Benny was actually a fine violinist.
Benny was a master of comic timing. His long pregnant pauses and his
pained looks at the audience (many of the programs were filmed live)
were hilarious.
The program’s supporting cast included:
-Eddie Anderson as Benny’s butler/valet Rochester Van Jones
-Dennis Day as himself, singer and mimic
-Don Wilson as the program’s announcer
-Mary Livingstone, Benny’s real life wife
-Mel Blanc as Jack’s long-time suffering violin teacher Professor Pierre
LeBlanc. Blanc, the voice of many cartoon characters including Bugs
Bunny, Porky Pig and Barney Rubble (the Flintstones), also did assorted
voices on the program.
Others who appeared regularly or semi-regularly included Frank
Nelson, Dale White, Artie Auerbach and the members of The Sportsmen
Quartet singing group.
A large number of big names of the time also appeared as guests
on the program. A sampling of the names include Jimmy Stewart, Milton
Berle, Fred Allen, Gary Cooper, Walt Disney,
Nat King Cole, Bobby Darin,
Dick Clark, George Burns, Bob Hope, Gracie Allen, Barbara Stanwyck,
Johnny Carson,
Red Skelton,
Phil Silvers, Raymond Burr and Vincent
Price. The final program, in 1965, featured The Smothers Brothers.
Today, some of the episodes of The Jack Benny Program can be seen on DVD.
So if you have never seen it, or want to see it again, go for it.
(also see: The
Golden Age of Television Variety )
|
|
