The Jack Benny Program: Guest Starring Dorothy Shay and Bob Crosby
Originally broadcast on CBS on Sunday, November 4, 1951 at 7:30 PM ET.
Plot: There really is none here, it’s basically the traditional Jack Benny show with music acts hosted around some skits.
Analysis: Where do I start on this one? It’s so difficult to really analyze a show like this because, much like with the contestants on You Bet Your Life and later guest stars on The Tonight Show, it is going to be different with every episode and humor is, after all, subjective.
As for Benny, well, what can be said beyond that he was probably one of the most influential comedians of the 20th century. Born in 1894 in Chicago, he started studying and playing the violin when he was six years old. By 1911, he was in vaudeville theaters with varying success and partners over the years until the entry of the United States in World War I. Benny would serve in the U.S. Navy and continue to play to entertain until, as the story goes, he had a bad performance and was forced to ad-lib his way out of it, which led him to add comedy to the act.
After the war up until 1932, Benny would continue to play vaudeville until he was given a shot at hosting a variety show on the radio. Shifting networks and sponsors, Benny would be on the air almost continuously from 1932 until 1955, pulling down some of radio’s highest ratings throughout this period. In 1950, he was given a television contract for five specials. By this year, 1951, he had been extended to an episode every six weeks for the 1951-1952 season. Strange as the structure may seem, this was the only way Benny could appear on television and still do his weekly radio broadcasts.
A few words on our guest stars, if I may, and I will adopt this policy for all featured guest stars on these variety and talk shows going forward: Dorothy Shay, born in Florida in 1921, was trained as a classical singer, but sang with her natural Southern accent songs based on rural settings when they proved to be more popular. We’ll be seeing more of her as television rolls along, so, as they say, stay tuned for that. As for Bob Crosby, yes, this is Bing Crosby’s brother, whom you may have heard of. Bob was born after Bing in 1913 and had a voice at least as good as Bing. Bob Crosby would perform with various groups as a front man from the 1930s forward and, like Bing, would pick up his own radio show between 1943 and 1950. He would continue to do guest shots like what we saw here in early television until landing his own television show in 1953. I am not sure if we will be seeing more of him or not, so I will play it save and leave it at that.
The Bottom Line: Like I said, humor is subjective in scenarios like this. Some may find it hysterical, some may wonder what the big deal is. Regardless, it is one of radio’s biggest names on television and that, by itself, is significant in showing the movement of radio to television.
The episode of the Jack Benny Program can be found on The Best of Jack Benny from Mill Creek Entertainment (http://www.amazon.com/Best-Jack-Benny/dp....97357409&sr=1-1). This is a very inexpensive collection with a lot of classic Benny that I will be referring back to as we go along. Unfortunately, we have yet to have an “official” release of Jack Benny television material, so groups like Mill Creek and Timeless Media are all we have, although more does exist, but is being held back for a variety of reasons. One may hope that someday we will see more.
Next time, more Lucy.
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