[Music]
Hello friends and welcome to this day in
Jack Benny we're talking once again with
Catherine H Fuller Seeley for the
audiobook of Jack Benny and the Golden
Age of American radio comedy uh Kathy
Jack had a few different sponsors what
were your favorite sponsors favorite
commercials or favorite era of the Jack
Benny Program it's hard to pick just one
though um it
we don't have the shows as recordings
but reading the scripts I mean he's got
cannibalism he's got torture he's got
risque prohibition jokes and apparently
the sponsor Canada Dry was appalled at
them but the advertising agency found
that mail was pouring in fan mail of
people just loving this satirical humor
and willing to poke fun at the sponsor
in their products so that one's a
special favorite but who can I'm not
love the Sportsman who managed to turn
the most obnoxious sponsor in all of
radio into ridiculous hilarious funny
tuneful bits of nonsense absolutely
here's the chapter
wow
[Music]
chapter 6 the commercial imperative
Jack Benny advertising and radio
sponsors
Jack's success is a Salesman in moving
Goods first for General foods and then
American Tobacco was absolutely
incredible recalled legendary
broadcasting executive Sylvester Pat
Weaver in 1963. Weaver knew what he was
talking about having worked with Jack
Benny in radio over 20 years through an
advertising agency a sponsor and a
network then he collected accolades from
industry observers critics and the
public throughout his radio career for
his ability to merge entertainment and
consumer product advertising as soon as
he started in radio then he learned that
commercial broadcasting had a wider
variety of Masters to please than he had
experienced in Vaudeville or in film
each group he worked with in radio
promoted different agendas Harry Network
vice presidents attempting to keep
sponsor satisfied try to shape Benny's
program Persnickety sponsors interested
in promoting their product and pleasing
their own cultural tastes tried to
dictate what Benny did on air
advertising agencies sought to bend
Benny's radio show to their own
marketing interests to navigate this
Minefield Benny became what the
television industry today would term a
showrunner not only a performer but also
an involved Hands-On co-creator and
manager of his own entertainment product
getting the support and resources he
desired and creating comedy in these
circumstances was not easy after all
then he ran through four sponsors in his
first two and a half years on the air
consumer Advocate groups and radio
critics bemoan the commercial
imperatives of radio in the 1930s and
1940s despairing at the professional
aesthetic and ethical compromises that
program creators had to make for the
sake of selling things
as no one was more successful than Benny
at working within the context of
advertising he could easily be dismissed
as a sellout given the industrial
factors in the Contemporary
entertainment World pushing advertisers
back into production of media content
however there are lessons to be learned
in analyzing how Benny negotiated over
nearly 25 years in radio the complex
relationships by involving himself in
the creation of commercial advertising
messages then he could enhance his radio
program in several ways he could have
more control over the content of the 27
minutes of his show that fell between
the bookends of opening and closing
commercials this helped Benny shape the
flow and continuity of his program
especially as Benny and writer Harry
Conn began developing characters and
story lines as opposed to presenting a
collection of one-line jokes the comedy
benefited from lack of the jarring
interruptions of adverbiage so common on
other shows then he turned his radio
announcer from the pompous dower person
who droned dull messages into a joke
making member of the radio family
Denny's scripter Milt Joseph spurg
recalled Jack's kidding of the
commercials became a high plateau of
humor on his programs and the public
looked for it as eagerly as the rest of
the show
crafting the middle commercial
themselves also allowed Benny and his
writers to do some ideological work on
the sly whether it was the mischievously
subversive Canada Dry and Lucky Strike
ads or the more generally ironic
attitude toward consumer culture woven
into the ads for Chevrolet General Tire
and Jello Benny's humorous commercials
helped further break down the barriers
between the production orientation of
traditional American culture toward one
that was more focused on consumption
even if Benny's character was unwilling
to spend a dime the commercials in his
programs acknowledged that his radio
audience has lived in a world of
products that fulfilled needs and
provided Pleasures the brands that Jack
and his cast members mentioned so often
on the air became familiar characters
and listeners imaginations
while previous accounts of Benny's
career have generally depicted Benny's
business dealings as congenial in fact
Benny had to struggle repeatedly against
sponsors advertising agencies and
networks contrary wishes irrational
demands and attempts to control his
program they tried to alter scripts and
program themes choose their own writers
and performers and constrained Benny's
efforts to pursue other entertainment
Endeavors the dearth of surviving
archival sources probably obscures many
other disagreements that must have
occurred between Benny and his bosses
this chapter charts Benny's Innovative
advertising practices and examines how
Benny Perry the interfering efforts of
his bosses it focuses on three case
studies the Wild Frontier of humorous
Canada Dry advertising in 1932 the
Synergy of selling Jello using humorous
Soft Cell tactics from 1934 to 1943 and
Benny's Creative Solutions to the
challenge of working for the creator of
the most obnoxious irritant-inducing
Hard Sell advertising in all of radio
American tobacco's George Washington
Hill
the uncertain role of humor in
advertising
humor in advertising is greatly admired
by creative advertising people widely
noticed and talked about by the public
and seldom used pronounced advertising
executive Draper Daniels a model for the
TV series mad men's Don Draper in a 1959
guide for advertising copywriters
frustrated humorists in the advertising
business frequently attempt to explain
this seemingly contradictory set of
circumstances by claiming that it
seemingly provides that most advertising
people on both the agency and client
side of the fence are stuffed shirts
when humor is used in advertising it is
too frequently dragged in a manner that
diverts attention from the product that
is the advertisement sole excuse for
being the problem is to keep the sound
of the customer's laughter from drowning
out the persuasive words of the sales
talk many people look upon the
expenditure of money particularly in
large amounts as something other than an
occasion for laughter
Draper Daniel's distrustful view of the
use of humor and commercials had been
widely shared by advertising Executives
across the first half of the 20th
century advertising historian Cynthia
Myers Roland marshand and Stephen Fox
have analyzed how the
professionalization of the advertising
business LED earlier industry leaders
Albert Lasker and Claude Hopkins in the
1910s to develop scientific advertising
and an approach to ad copy called The
Hard Sell Hard Sell advertising was
serious it provided as many factual
reasons why an advertised product
fulfilled a consumer's needs as it would
take to wear down the customers
objections and leave them no choice but
to buy Hard Sell advertising in print
was direct wordy and obnoxiously
insistent in the early 1930s agency's
translation of Hard Sell advertising
copied directly into scripts read out by
radio announcers made those commercial
announcements on the air sound even
harsher to listeners ears despite
advertising leaders insistence that they
knew the best way to sell the goods
other innovators considered the
potential of humor and lightheartedness
in print and radio ads during the
Depression advertising agencies like
Young and rubicum ynr Jack Benny's
agency in the jello years focused not on
selling a product to a rational but
uninformed customer but instead building
long-term emotional relationships
between products and customers and
creating brand identity and brand
loyalty in examples like the flip and
tone of postum ads the comic strip
characters it developed to sell Sanka
coffee and The Lovable Borden product
symbol Elsie the cow Soft Cell
proponents crafted ad campaigns that
tapped into psychological Ties That
bound consumers to products and
presented products as helpful friends
that solve their problems increased
their self-confidence brought them
Untold pleasures and guaranteed their
success in life humor was an emotion
that could reduce audience resistance to
the commercial messages even for Soft
Cell Advocates however comedy's ability
to help sell the goods was rarely
approached
humor in advertising is a dangerous
weapon Daniels warned it is difficult to
sell to your boss difficult to sell to a
client and with reason nothing Falls
quite so flat as an attempt to be funny
that fails the rewards of successful use
of comedy and ads were tantalizing
enough however Daniels reluctantly
concluded that talented and fearless
copywriters could give it a try Daniels
praised the 10-year Legacy of
advertising accomplishments of Jack
Benny and announcer Don Wilson for ynr's
Jello program with their integrated
personality commercials and deceptively
casual good humored Hard Sell Daniels
felt that underneath the surface of Soft
Cell comedy ads their direct sales
pitches worked as pointedly as reason
why ad copy of old Daniels acknowledged
the persuasive skills of talented
announcers like Don Wilson and the
tremendous contrast with which his
Breezy uninhibited approach stood out
against the polished bombastic
advertising ease messed by the average
radio announcer
Pat Weaver who had been one of those
innovators at ynr in the 1930s argued
that different products require
different sales approaches some sponsors
products benefited tremendously from the
development of relationships between an
Entertainer or mascot and the product
what Weaver called program Association
values if the sponsor controlled the
Entertainer's entire program as was the
general rule in radio and early TV and a
specific program star was associated
with the sponsor's product it could
Foster audience affection for the
performer when the advertised product
was also one that could be linked in
audiences Minds to pleasure then it
could be matched to a like-minded
light-hearted comedy show and happy
audience associations would result Jack
Benny and Jello could become cemented
together in consumers minds and
listeners would purchase Jello to
applaud Benny when the plan succeeded
Weaver called it an explosive kind of
selling on the other hand the 1959
copywriter's guide that quoted Daniels
reminded its readers that not every
sponsor or Advertiser approved of the
Soft Cell approach of intertwining ads
and Entertainment George Washington Hill
practiced the exact opposite approach
with Lucky Strikes relying on the shock
value of a commercial that contrasted
violently with the entertainment
advertisers like Hill worried that a
comedy commercial would too easily be
forgotten Jack Benny's genius would be
to merge soft and hard sell techniques
completely in his comedy hammering home
brands names in a hilarious absurd and
sometimes shocking manner which worked
effectively for sponsors as disparate as
manufacturers of soda pop automobiles
tires desserts and cigarettes
the effervescent radio comedian's
audacious commercials
the advertisements that ginger ale
bottler Canada Dry placed in newspapers
magazines and on the radio in the late
1920s and early 1930s created by the NWA
or and Sons agency emphasized dignity
social class and good taste Canada
drives ad managers had modified the Hard
Sell by developing softer cell themes
that stressed the atmosphere of
refinement surrounding the product
calling it The Champagne of Ginger ales
and describing the beverages popularity
among the country club set Canada Dry
radio advertising was presented by a
stately announcer with a cultured
well-modulated voice nevertheless soft
drinks were a pleasurable frivolous
treat not a life necessity or something
available only to the rich the product
was inexpensive and commercials educated
consumers to order it at soda fountains
and to purchase take-home bottles from
their Grocers not exactly the daily
habits of the Rockefellers in April 1932
Canada Dry which had been sponsoring
radio programs for several years was
dissatisfied with its action drama set
in the snowy Canadian Northwest
Territories broadcast on NBC they'd
gotten a few too many complaints from
listeners about the show's violence and
objections from potential customers
always put sponsors in a panic so NBC
Executives Bertha Brainerd and John
Royal searched for a replacement to
present the sponsor and its advertising
agency Canada Dry dithered between
sticking with dramatic narratives that
made listeners think of Canada or
switching to a light Pleasant Musical
and personality act like the show is
currently on the air featuring band
leaders Ben Bernie and Fred Waring
Canada Dry warily agreed to try a
program pairing band leader George Olson
and his orchestra with Jack Benny in his
contract at agency NWA erinson
stipulated that Benny would handle the
commercial credits admit program himself
Jack Benny took it as a challenge to use
the commercials to explore the satirical
side of living in an urban World
increasingly filled with sales pitches
on the first program May 2nd 1932 then
he launched into humorous commercials
with a Vengeance describing his meager
girlfriend in Newark Jack claimed she
comes from a very fine family although
her father very often partakes of the
Forbidden beverage it's all right for me
to mention that as they have no radio in
fact her father drank everything in the
United States and then went up north to
drink Canada Dry whistles gee I'm glad I
thought of that joke you know the one
about Canada Dry I'm really supposed to
mention it occasionally after all I owe
it to my sponsors and they might be
listening in seriously though do you
realize folks that if you want a drink
of Canada Dry we'll just say a glass you
don't have to buy it by the bottle you
can walk into any drugstore or soda
fountain that has that big sign Canada
Dry made to order ask for a glass and
get it I know you don't always have it
in your home in bottles but isn't it
nice to know that you don't have to wait
until you get home to drink it gee I
thought I did that pretty well for a new
salesman I suppose nobody will drink it
now
Benny violated what most advertising
Executives considered a cardinal rule as
Draper Daniels would mandate humor may
be directed at the salesman of the
product the user or non-user of the
product or at the foibles of human
nature and Society it must never be
directed at the product irony satire and
subtlety are likely to miss with a mass
audience
then he proceeded to push the envelope
edges of vaudeville-like slapstick
verbal humor with his Canada Dry
commercial messages over the next few
weeks of the broadcast
on the May 23rd episode with Harry Conn
on board Benny's Target was the patent
medicine commercials that littered the
radio landscape with their ridiculous
claims of cures there gruesome details
of indigestion acne and constipation and
the suffering of victims that could only
be relieved by purchasing the miracle
product
Jack let me say this ladies and
gentlemen I do not claim that Canada Dry
will cure falling arches dandruff or
baggy knees but I will say this I know
it is a refreshing drink because last
night believe it or not I tried a glass
of it at the fountain and it wasn't bad
it was not bad in fact it was good I
liked it gee I thought it was swell
ladies and gentlemen it was excellent
are you paying attention sponsors hmm
the sponsor was appalled as these ads
shattered the atmosphere of dignity and
refinements surrounding the product that
they were paying their agency so much
money to maintain years later Benny
recalled the turmoil the first few weeks
that we did it in a satirical way on the
Canada Dry show the sponsor didn't like
it and want us to stop it we did a lot
of satires on the commercials like
Nickelback on the bottle the sponsor
wanted us to go back to the straight
commercials but the agency liked it and
the agency said they haven't had time to
prove whether this is a good way to do
it so they allowed us another two or
three weeks and in the next two or three
weeks the mail kept coming in so much to
the sponsor that they liked this kind of
advertising that they finally led us
alone and let us do it
Benny's Canada Dry commercials cynically
ribbed the product with far sharper
barbs than other radio shows were doing
the Albert Lasker eventual Draper
Daniels School of advertising would have
been shocked to see such levity as the
depression's economic woes were growing
ever worse they fully captured the
spirit however of the over-the-top
parody advertisements then appearing in
the satirical Humor Magazine Ballyhoo
edited by former judge magazine
cartoonist Norman Anthony which had
debuted in Manhattan in August 1931 and
had quickly grown in circulation to sell
nearly 2 million copies per issue
historians Margaret McFadden and Roland
marshand have analyzed how the
Magazine's comic strategies sharply
critiqued capitalism's failed promises
and the Ridiculousness of prohibition
burlesque's the humbug of advertising
practices and provided a devastatingly
pointed and bitter humor that mocked big
business and the social class inequities
that favored the wealthy Ballyhoo was
read gleefully by a public battered by
economic devastation Nation Ballyhoo
printed a fake ad for a souped-up
international radio console that offered
to provide all the crap in the world at
your fingertips now you can hear foreign
announcers gargle hot potatoes it will
do everything in the world but give you
good programs and God knows no set will
do that
the Magazine's success spawned a book a
board game and an Off-Broadway review
Ballyhoo of 1932 featuring a young Bob
Hope which was playing that summer when
Khan and Benny devised their own
satirical ads Benny and Khan's
commercials deprecated the product the
sponsor and the practice of visiting
soda fountains then he claimed that
Canada Dry was conducting scientific
taste tests blindfolding Factory workers
or tying them up or approaching
desperate parched tourists who had been
stranded in the desert forcing these
poor souls to sample the beverage and
reporting that they claimed their sip of
Canada Dry was not objectionable they
created a product spokesman a talking
glass of ginger ale with a high-pitched
cartoon voice Benny Associated Canada
Dry with Mary telling a risque story
about a Peeping Tom in a trained
sleeping compartment and jokes about
homosexual zoo animals lazy Soda Jerks
drunks and stories of torture and
cannibalism if Benny and Khan were
pushing the boundaries of acceptable
humor at least they were gaining
critical and popular Acclaim from their
small but growing listening audience
then he became associated with the
advertising catchphrases they coined
Jack became known as Nickelback on the
bottle Benny the Canada Dry program was
joined by several other radio programs
experimenting with integrating humor
into their commercials such as the
Texaco pabston Chase and Sanborn shows
varieties Ben bodak commented with the
Improvement of entertainment and
production levels has come a change of
policy in the handling of the plug
devious ways are being introduced for
feeding it to the listener insinuatingly
the Edwin Ben Bernie and Jack Benny
sessions show that the product's plug
can be kitted and at the same time put
over effectively other programs that
attempted a comedic advertising vein
were excoriated by industry critics
varieties reviewer criticized the gem
razor program with Bert Lahr for its
bludgeon type of merchandising the
show's performers were guilty of doing
an awful lot of nudging of ribs to
remind listeners that gem is twice as
thick much sharper smoother cheaper and
smarter it deprives the program of its
charm and tends to leave behind a
hostile impression
in his fourth month of broadcasting for
Canada Dry Benny lost the role of Chief
commercial Kidder no more squeaky voiced
talking bottles or write-in contests or
crazy commercial monologues perhaps the
sponsor and agency had finally had their
fill the integrated commercial bits now
focused on the program's announcer an
obnoxious bore played by the erudite
George Hicks who read the opening and
closing ads in a dignified manner who
burst unexpectedly into skits and
interrupted conversations with shouted
Out Hard Sell plugs for product
despite positive critical reaction to
the advertising and entertainment Canada
Dry remained dissatisfied with Benny's
handling of the program as we saw in
chapter one and canceled its sponsorship
on January 24 1933 then he next learned
that there were pitfalls in being too
closely associated with a particular
product he found that few sponsors would
consider him concerned that he had
become so closely associated with Canada
Dry Ginger Ale that radio audiences
would reject his commercials for other
products old gold cigarettes passed on
working with him Benny only acknowledged
his frustration in humiliation 20 years
later on his radio show through a joking
comment made by Mary Livingston that she
pulled Jack out of his car trying to
kill himself with carbon monoxide
poisoning when his first sponsor fired
him
in late February 1933 after several
other radio entertainers changed
sponsors without the sky falling NBC
finally convinced the Chevrolet
automobile company to pick up Benny's
option Chevrolet was dealing with
daunting challenges of its own the
winter of 1933 was the Nader point of
the depression with lame duck President
Hoover powerless to stem the tide of
bank failures unemployment and despair
flooding over the broken U.S economy who
could even think of purchasing a new car
Chevrolet was teetering on the edge of
bankruptcy radio is the one bright spot
in American advertising so program
sponsors counted on it to provide
Miracles like Amos and Andy continue to
do for pepsident toothpaste sales
Chevrolet had been sponsoring a radio
musical program starring Al Jolson but
the temperamental singer suddenly quit
his contract Benny agreed to pick up the
final six programs of the season with
Frank Black leading an NBC house
Orchestra
the new Chevrolet program debuted on one
of the least auspicious dates possible
March 3rd 1933 the night before Franklin
D Roosevelt's inauguration maybe the
Benny gang's cut-ups helped momentarily
assuage the fear that FDR would focus on
in his next day's speech even
Chevrolet's opening commercial
acknowledged that economic worries were
Paramount on listeners Minds ladies and
gentlemen if you have some money to
invest and are wondering where to put it
here's a suggestion take that money of
yours and use it to buy a new Chevrolet
six there's no safer sound or investment
than the purchase of an automobile
Howard claney became the program's sixth
announcer like George Hicks before him
clany interrupted the character's
dialogue with self-important
announcements about new Chevrolet cars
the comic advertisements were now
significantly less biting in tone than
what Canada Dry had allowed in October
1933 after an anxious three months off
the air when Gian withdrew from
advertising Benny's program was shifted
yet again this time to Sunday evenings
at 10 pm
Benny was able to carry over band leader
Frank black but he had to take on yet
another new announcer aloys have rilla a
new tenor Frank Parker both however soon
became accomplished comic performers
under Benny's tutelage
the Chevrolet show gained steadily
increasing audiences higher ratings and
critical approval all seemed to be going
well for the program variety praising it
for the well-conceived kidding manner of
the sales delivery striking a new high
in humorous exploitation and likewise a
new Evolution of that style of plugging
announcer Eloise havrilla brings in a
comedy ad plug that commands good
humored respect for its General
Ingenuity along with that many series of
travesties on current plays or pictures
permits for a world of latitude and a
sock of plugs for Chevrolet
suddenly Benny's sponsor again threw a
monkey wrench into his operations Marvin
Coyle was elevated to the position of
Chevrolet's general manager in October
1933. Coyle preferreds classical music
to the current popular band tunes and
comedy featured on Benny's program Coyle
instructed the eule Campbell Ad Agency
to reduce Benny's humorous patter to
only five minutes and have the musicians
fill the half hour with romantic
Melodies Furious Benny told the sponsor
that he flatly refused to either
truncate the comedy or change the music
as he felt that light comedy needed
light music he threatened to quit the
program immediately if Coyle's changes
were made while this ultimatum
temporarily worked for Benny Coyle
canceled the program on April 1 1934 and
instead picked up a musical program
featuring Victor Young's Orchestra
Chevrolet car dealers in Nebraska and
elsewhere expressed their frustration
with the show's cancellation as they had
considered Benny's program a helpful
marketing tool Benny's programs rate
high in this section and seems to have
been a good warming point for the
salesman to start off their song and
dance with when a customer comes in
April finds the heavy selling just
getting underway and with the good
listener program out it's unfortunate
Chevrolet's top executive dictating the
content of its sponsored radio shows
entered Ad Agency lore as one of the
most bone-headed moves of all time a
1951 article in sponsor instructed
corporate Executives to heed Chevrolet's
mistake
the sponsor must be on guard against his
own private prejudices classic is the
incident of the Chevrolet Tycoon who
passed by Jack Benny just at the start
of Benny's first Nationwide wave of
popularity because he the Tycoon
personally preferred classical music to
jokes big man though he was this sponsor
was wrist slapped by the General Motors
High command for allowing purely
personal preferences to determine
corporate decision
the very public firing mortified Benny
in subsequent years even when he could
joke about being released by Canada Dry
then he never spoke publicly about the
Chevrolet episode maintaining that his
show moved directly from Canada Dry to
his next sponsor General Tire
Benny Gaines greater program control
in April 1934 as NBC Executives beat the
bushes to locate a new sponsor for
Benny's very expensive program at
mid-season and not to lose him again to
CBS Bertha Brainerd alerted president
Niles Trammell to Benny's growing List
of Demands
having now done battle twice with
sponsors who wanted to alter his show
then he would have no more of it his
program steady rise in the ratings gave
him significant bargaining power despite
the two cancellations to secure greater
creative control Benny first sought to
be able to make more of the casting and
hiring decisions than he wished to
provide more of a complete package
program to present to a potential
sponsor then he could count on Mary
Livingston Services of course and he had
paid writer Harry Conn out of his own
earnings since 1932. now he sought to
employ his own announcer it was an
indication of how important keeping that
comedic element of commercials
integrated into the program was to Benny
that he chose to hire the announcer
rather than a singer or a band leader
they would still be under contract to
the sponsor at agency or Network
second Benny wanted more control over
where he broadcast from and what he did
in between weekly episodes in 1934 Benny
increasingly began traveling back and
forth to Hollywood to make movies and
MGM pressured him to make a Full Slate
of films NBC and boast East coast-based
sponsors were very unhappy however with
the idea of Benny broadcasting from
California they tried to prevent it or
put major restrictions on where Benny
could broadcast the radio show Benny
sought to be able to take his cast West
even though it might mean having to pick
up a different orchestra band leader and
singer in Los Angeles as bands based on
either Coast sought to play steady
engagements during the week to
supplement their radio incomes making
personal appearance tours at Major
theaters across the United States was a
significant boost to Benny's own income
between radio broadcasts and Benny
sought more ability to take the radio
cast on the road to maximize their
public exposure and income opportunities
Bertha Brainerd reported to Niles
Trammell that Benny insists Claus B
income contract permitting him to make
pictures in Hollywood at any time he can
he to pay wire charges also clause in
contract definitely stating program
formula and his style must be accepted
as is and at no time will he permit
direction from agency or client on style
of program
she also worn Trammell again wish to
emphasize Benny on General Tire follows
Ed Wynn and we believe it would be bad
programming and are not in accord with
idea
Benny was frustrated about his lack of
input into decisions about where his
program fell in the Network's evening
schedule in the same way that Vaudeville
bills had been organized not to place
the comics one right after another then
he did not want his quiet humor to
follow a raucous comedy program NBC
offered little help in this regard as
radio program scheduling in the 1930s
was far more organized around sponsors
owning of specific scheduled times as
opposed to the network building a strong
lineup of programs that would help each
other build audiences Brainerd finally
located a possible sponsor General Tire
had been sponsoring a dramatic show
called lives at stake but some listeners
thought it too violent however the
company had relatively few advertising
funds available the tire industry had
been devastated by the depression and
close to 80 percent of workers in the
chief rubber production Center of Akron
Ohio were then unemployed General Tire
was only able to afford a six-month
sponsorship to get Benny back on the air
and season the radio program's broadcast
time shifted again to Friday evenings at
10 30 pm and the show had to pick up yet
another new orchestra leader Don bester
but was able to retain popular tenor
Frank Parker
Benny hired Don Wilson to be the eighth
announcer on the program in two years
instead of just having Wilson shout
advertising slogans Benny and Khan
slowly returned the comic integrated
commercials back to more of the silly
things they had done with Canada Dry
Wilson soon blossomed as a fine comic
stooge and became a full member of the
cast in skit's parodying romantic
melodramas Don's character climbed
ladders to help Mary's character elope
Jack began joking about Dawn's girth
Jack and Dawn played a hilarious sketch
in which Don invited Jack out to the
Wilson home for the weekend to meet his
parents with disastrous results fans
responded enthusiastically Mariah Davis
of El Paso Texas won a 10 prize from fan
magazine Radio Mirror for a letter on
how that necessary evil of commercials
might be converted into a program asset
advertising can be both funny and
effective if made part of the program
itself consider the riotous way Jack
Benny sandwiches in references to
General Tire we don't resent such
advertising because it is presented
humorously
come October 1934 it was time to switch
to the alternate sponsor which would
mean upheavals and broadcast time and
agency management General Tire tried to
make the best of the awkward changeover
Don Wilson read a telegram on air sent
by Bill O'Neil President of General Tire
to Jack
except for your interference on these
programs Don Wilson could have told our
audience much more about our new
Corkscrew Tire you insist the show is
the thing and on that score I want to
compliment you and the cast on 26 weeks
of fine entertainment until we resume
these programs next march you will be
broadcasting for General Foods the only
connection between General foods and
General Tires is that we eat their
products and they wear ours you have to
eat to live but you have to live to be
able to eat so the more people we put on
General Tires the more customers we keep
for General Foods
the 7 P.M Sunday slot in which general
Foods Jello division scheduled the Benny
show was a no man's land for radio
entertainers and sponsors alike while
Eddie Cantor had been able to pull in
massive audiences with an 8 PM Sunday
program others especially anything
earlier fared poorly making Sunday
overall the lowest rated night of the
week early Sunday evening presented
Benny with audience taste challenges
Conservative Christian families attended
church services on Sunday evenings and
might not be available or would decline
to listen many families were eating
Sunday dinner would they be too
preoccupied to listen other families
traveled to visit relatives or took
Sunday drives out into the countryside
and while a growing number of
automobiles now featured radios with
passengers tune in Benny's radio program
while on the road for two years Benny's
program had been broadcast late in the
evening usually after 10 pm and critics
thought his humor was sophisticated and
adult focused if rarely blue now he was
going on the air three hours earlier
would Benny's humor be considered
appropriate for all members of the
family audience furthermore a program at
this early edge of the Prime Time
evening schedule had no lead in shows
preceding it to build a ready-made
audience broadcasting a comedy program
on early Sunday evening was a gamble
only a desperate sponsor might make
Jello a product in Dire Straits
a 40 year old gelatin dessert product
Jello was a lead weight in the general
Foods brand portfolio sales had fallen
by two-thirds since the company had been
incorporated into the general Foods
conglomerate of packaged food lines in
1924. jello's problems were threefold
first was the product itself it didn't
taste as good as the competition and
took a long time to prepare packaged
gelatin was one of the most processed
food products imaginable fabricated from
ground up cow and pig hides and Hooves
with artificial colors and flavors added
to the sugar that filled 60 of the Box
in 1933 General Foods chemists improved
the fruit oils used in creating Jello
expanded the flavor range to six flavors
and reduced by half the time it took
Housewives to fix it a second problem
was jello's outmoded marketing Focus for
the previous 40 years most of jello's
advertising had been addressed to
Children magazine advertisements
featured the pretty blonde Jello girl
cartoon zoo animals and illustrations of
children preparing the product to
demonstrate how easy it was to make and
how fun it was to eat competing products
however were appealing to sophisticated
Young makers a third problem was even
more deadly Fortune Magazine reported
that General Foods operating principle
was to take an unnecessary but
established product dress it up with all
the art of the industrial designer spend
plenty of money in advertising it sell
it with every variety of high pressure
that the art of sales promotion manager
can devise and try to collect a long
profit however as in the case of jello
these actions attracted competitive
swarms of smaller concerns which are
willing to work at a shorter profit and
which more than once have cut ground out
from under General Foods products
increased competition in the gelatin
field was destroying jello's market
share Royal gelatin produced by rival
packaged food manufacturer standard
Brands was considered better tasting the
a p grocery store chain started
marketing its own private label gelatin
Sparkle and both these products as well
as other small label competitors sold
for significantly less than jello jello
cost 10 to 12 cents per package in 1929.
while competing Brands sold for only six
cents especially as the depression's
hard times diminished consumers incomes
they purchased less expensive foodstuffs
perhaps only a marketing Miracle could
rescue this dying product
Executives from ynr pitched to General
Foods vice president Ralph Starr Butler
a plan to save Jello by cutting prices
boosting sales and redirecting the
market Focus the Ad Agency had brought
massive marketing success to other
General Foods Brands such as post
cereals postum and Maxwell House Coffee
Y and R as Cynthia Myers discusses in
her history of radio advertising was
especially devoted to the Soft Cell
approach and its work with posthum and
other General Foods brands in print and
on radio demonstrated that advertising
could be tremendously successful in
creating consumer awareness and
emotional loyalty to both the sponsors
programs and products now ynr advocated
changing jello's advertising strategy to
focus on Homemakers reduce the product
price and spend much more on radio and
print promotions despite the depression
packaged Foods represented a growing
segment of the American Consumer Market
food expenses represented a massive 37
percent of American Family budgets
during the 1930s convenient inexpensive
packaged Foods were poised to take a
more prominent place in busy families
Market baskets
Y and R advised jello's product managers
to drop their current radio advertising
sponsorship of a Wizard of Oz themed
Children's Program and instead Join one
of the most popular Trends in radio
programming the comedy variety program
most of the top comedians however such
as Will Rogers and Eddie Cantor were
already locked into long-term contracts
ynr suggested Jack Benny for the role
but General Foods had concerns that
Benny's was one of the most expensive
programs on network radio Angelo's
annual sponsorship costs would triple
ynr executive Lou Brockway later
recalled we were very Frank with our
client in presenting Benny we said he
was not our first or second or third
choice but he was available and he had a
good if not outstanding record
jello's management cautiously agreed to
pick up the program but warned that
product sales must rapidly increase in
order for the show to remain on the air
under orders to produce impressive
results in advertising as well as
sparkling comedy the first Sunday night
Jello broadcast October 14 1934
enthusiastically integrated commercial
messages into the entertainment A Chorus
introduced the new musical signature
cheerfully singing out the letters
j-e-l-l-o a bit that orchestra leader
Frank Black had composed on the Fly
after the opening commercial a news boy
shouting Jello headlines Jack opened the
program with a new Twist on his regular
greeting turning hello again into Jello
again everybody Jack joked with Don
Wilson about the many ways they could be
incorporating the sponsor's product into
the show's dialogue Don claimed he had
purchased neckties in six colors to
represent the six delicious flavors
while Jack quipped that Don had already
gotten a strawberry flavor stain on an
orange tie Jack cautioned Don not to be
too obvious when he worked mentions of
jello into the show for example not to
say loss and jello Mary soon entered
spouting jokes about blown out tire
tubes and the cast laughed that she was
a week too late in the second show Don
broke into the middle of the dialogue in
Benny's parody of the film The barretts
of whimple Street when Mary as Elizabeth
cried out that she felt she was lost in
the desert Wilson leptin to announce
speaking of desert you will find that
Jello is the grandest desert your family
has ever tasted and you can get it in
six delicious flavors strawberry
raspberry Cherry orange lemon and lime
the studio audience laughed heartily at
the pun
the revamped many program was an
immediate rating success but sales of
jello did not budge Mary recalled
General Foods anxiety that Improvement
was not occurring quickly enough for the
company to be able to justify the
expense of sponsoring the pricey program
on the verge of canceling the program
General Foods Executives mandated that
the entire cast take pay cuts Mary and
Jack told the sponsors that they would
rather carry the burden themselves and
the two of them worked without salary
for weeks to keep the rest of the cast
on a living wage finally after three
months Jello boxes started flying off
Grocer's shelves Don Wilson in the
closing commercial in December 1934 went
to Great Lengths to praise the radio
audience for purchasing Jello in such
large quantities relieved Executives
from General foods and Y and R hosted a
cast party at Benny's New York apartment
and the sponsor made a show of
presenting Jack and Mary with a check
representing all of their back pay Mary
recalled her Chagrin at being over her
chiding a maid who had appeared with a
huge platter of jello sent by the
sponsor to put that crap wherever
a radio critic in 1951 attested to the
powerful Synergy that Don Wilson's vocal
talents and friendly personality brought
to Benny's commercials there's much in a
voice it can be strong vibrant confident
warm persuasive infectious the voice of
Don Wilson currently heard on the Jack
Benny show has these qualities it has
been termed America's Finest selling
voice
Wilson had first entered into radio in
the 1920s in California as a singer and
announcer where his color commentary at
Rose Bowl football games and other
sporting events brought him attention
and an invitation to move to New York in
1932. Jack Benny hired Wilson for the
General Tire program in Spring 1934
after hearing him read just a few lines
recalling he had a warm voice he could
read a commercial with laughter in his
throat and he proved a great foil to
play against
descriptions of Wilson emphasized his
beaming good naturalness and his
infectious laugh he was the jocular
rotund radio announcer who joked and
wins to Jack Benny's wisecracks about
his extreme girth in reality Wilson
stood over six feet tall and weighed 240
pounds Wilson soon began placing high in
annual polls of best announcers and
earning awards from the radio guide New
York World Telegram and Motion Picture
daily
Wilson advised aspiring radio
advertising copywriters that the warmth
and acceptability of the announcer who
is Sincere and whose voice is recognized
by The Listener is that of a friend in
the house will then make all the
difference in the world to the quality
of the message itself
Wilson's personality imbued vocal
performance matched with expressive
emotional language provided by ynr
copywriters such as this March 1936
example turned to you in this straight
opening and closing commercials for the
jello program into cinestatic sensory
experiences for listeners to taste see
and smell
one of the strongest influences in our
lives I think is color black and white
is fine for an etching but we all need
bright colors to keep our spirits up
when it comes to colors that is where
Jello shines it's the liveliest gayest
dessert you can find sunshiny orange
shimmering green the deep rich tones of
rose and Crimson six different colors
from which to choose everyone lovely
clear and glowing and when it comes to
taste ah that is where Jello shines
again for its packed cram full of
delicious real fruit flavor flavor is
truly luscious as the fresh ripe fruit
itself
radio writer Charles Wolff claimed that
the personalized salesmanship that the
best announcers brought to their
performance played the most important
role in making radio a potent sales tool
radio's employment of the human voice
adds living Vitality immediacy warmth
sincerity individuality and
persuasiveness which give radio a unique
distinction among advertising media and
which are largely responsible for its
selling power
in this April 16 1939 closing commercial
for the jello program Wilson explained
the Synergy between announcer evocative
ad copy and the audience's receptive
mood that created such a marketing
juggernaut
a friend of mine paid me a real
compliment the other day she said you
know Don when you describe those Jello
desserts over the radio you just make me
hungry for them well naturally I was
pleased and tonight I have another new
jello dessert I know will make a hit
with everybody a combination of
raspberry Jello and cottage cheese and
I'm telling you hi it's swell and easy
to make too dissolve one package of
raspberry Jello in one pint of hot water
and turn into a ring mold and chill
until firm then unmold it and fill the
center with cottage cheese serve it with
toasted crackers and there is a Triumph
of desserts clear shimmering raspberry
jello with its extra rich flavor and
creamy cottage cheese smooth and
tempting so try it ask your grocer
tomorrow for raspberry jello
as the purported commented tested a key
aspect of the jello ads Effectiveness
was Don Wilson's ability through a
combination of his vocal performance and
the commercial texts to make
multi-faceted appeals to the listener's
senses and emotions and make as many
positive associations with the product
as possible
most of Don Wilson's integrated mentions
of jello do not read humorously in
scripted form the Rye comedy came from
his tone of voice quick quips and
butting into dialogue with the
catchphrases Big Red Letters on the box
genuine Jello and six delicious flavors
the name Jello was sprinkled liberally
throughout the scripts from characters
on a ship called the jelloa or a
family's children being named orange
lemon and lime to skit titles such as
The Count of Monte Jello and Romeo and
jelloette
a reviewer claimed to have heard the
product name mentioned 30 times in a
single show when Radio Mirror published
several Jack Benny Program scripts in
1937 to give listeners a way to recreate
the pleasure of listening to the show
during the late summer months the cast
was off the air even the scripts
included integrated commercials Jack
boasted about being a musician and
having played the violin in concert
Halls long before I knew anything about
strawberry Cherry orange lemon and lime
Dawn interjected you left out raspberry
and Mary retorted I'll bet the audience
didn't
Jack Benny and Jello merge identities
by 1935 Jack Benny had become the
embodiment of jello indelibly
associating the product with his light
zany character gang driven comedy
cartoon images of Benny and Mary
Livingston were found in brightly
colored Jello ads placed in all the
major women's and family magazines in
1937 General Foods published Jack and
Mary's Jello book featuring The Stars
photos of their faces superimposed on
Stick Figure bodies telling ridiculous
Jello related puns and offering
elaborate recipes the booklet was
available for a few cents plus some
proofs of purchases mailed to General
Foods the company received 67 million
Jello box tops in response confused
Housewives were said to ask for red or
green Benny at the grocery store a New
York City luncheonette's Bill Affair
listed strawberry jello as Jack Benny in
the red and hotel banquet menus offered
dessert Alabama a 1939 fine poll of
consumers found that 92.5 percent of
Jack Benny's radio audience
automatically identified him with his
sponsor's product
Benny's connection to Jello was also
cemented by his film studios in an
elaborate two-page cartoon caricature ad
MGM placed in Variety in November 1935
to promote a night at the Opera a
cartoon in which Benny took a prominent
Place among a dozen Comics gathered in
theater seats to praise the Marx
Brothers comeback film then equipped a
night at the Opera is a great
entertainment with its six delicious
flavors strawberry raspberry Cherry
Groucho Chico and Harpo when Benny and
His Radio cast appeared on stage at the
Paramount Theater in New York in 1939
promoting their new Paramount film man
about town varieties reviewer marveled
when Benny mentioned his sponsor Jello
it evoked a burst of Applause probably
some sort of record a dessert being
applauded in a Broadway deluxer
the downside of this close
identification of Benny with Jello for
the sponsor was if Benny garnered
negative publicity that is what happened
in 1939 when Benny and George Burns were
indicted in federal courts on jewelry
smuggling in tax evasion charges
newspaper headlines across the country
blaird sorted details of the case
Benny was terrified that his program
would be canceled and his career would
be ruined his sponsor was nervous about
the public backlash NBC Executives
forbade Network Comics to joke about the
case on the air the advertising trade
press declared it risky to have too much
dependence on individual celebrities to
sell their products fortunately for
Benny and burns the judge slapped them
with a sizable fine rather than jail
time and with help from ynr they were
able to overcome the incident
Jack Benny's success in the 1930s
mingling entertainment and product
marketing took place in a climate of
growing public outrage against radio's
Domination by commercial advertising
between Dr Brinkley's goat gland
Shilling and the never-ending stream of
loud obnoxious ads for products to
combat bodily malfunctions consumer
groups critics and the public were
increasingly raising objections an April
1936 billboard review of a new lever
Brothers comedy program featuring Ken
Murray claimed that the unfunny ads
intruded vulgarly and aggressively into
the body of the program and held up the
jello program as an unmatched model
it was Jack Benny Who We Believe started
the Vogue of referring via gag material
to his sponsor's product but there is
only one Jack Benny and everybody who
knows the degree of Benny's witton
personality register compared with any
other comedian on the air will admit
that only Benny can talk about Jello and
its flavors without working up a feeling
of revulsion in the listening audience
despite or perhaps because of the
widespread criticism accolades for the
jello commercials accumulated in 1938
Benny's commercials won an award from
the 10 million members of the Women's
National radio committee for a first
place for good taste in advertising in
February 1940 the trade Journal
advertising and selling presented ynr
with a medal award for the appetizing
tenor of its Jello commercials
attracting and holding attention
explains ynr building conviction and
stimulating sales have been all done in
an appetizing manner by deftly blending
salesmanship with entertainment keeping
it always a part of the program this
Series has demonstrated to listeners and
broadcasters alike but effective selling
by air can mean Don Wilson's joviale
reiterated sales points like six
delicious flavors and look for the big
red letters on the box have become
National catchphrases further evidence
of this continuity skill is found every
Sunday night when commercials woven into
the body of the show draw delighted
spontaneous Applause from the studio
audience when consumers can be subjected
to advertising and like it the
advertiser can be sure the job is being
well done
ad agencies played essential behind the
scenes functions in the 1930s and 1940s
in the creation of top radio programs
developing Concepts casting scripting
and packaging assessing ynr's role in
the success of the jello program agency
vice president everhard Mead recalled
ynr didn't build the Benny show Benny
built it but in building it he had
agency guidance counsel and help with
production at every turn as in other
historical cases an agency played The
crucial role enough enthusiastic skilled
people had Faith at the right time to go
to bat for Jack in the now forgotten
days when it was touch and go whether
the great man would get his first Jello
renewal
Mead claimed that ynr's most important
service to radio sponsors included the
act of going out on a limb and saying to
a client because we think so because
research backs us up because we have a
damn good hunch by this show it costs a
million bucks
ynr was staffed with young creative
minds who believed in the promise of
radio promotion for inexpensive packaged
food drug and toiletry products then he
worked with talented people at this
agency with whom he would work
frequently during the rest of his career
including Pat Weaver Tom Harrington Ted
Lewis Don Stauffer and Bob Ballin ynr's
radio Department was hugely successful
in the 1930s in handling their radio
programs sensing when to leave them
alone and when to tweak them ynr
staffers knew how to work with
performers too Weaver especially
endeared himself to Fred Allen and Jack
Benny running interference for Fred
Allen to spare the prickly star
unnecessary interactions with
broadcasting bureaucracy Weaver recalled
that Alan hated agencies clients and
networks indiscriminately according to
Alan Weaver's efforts at least made life
bearable
despite their vital importance to
Benny's work records documenting
advertising agency interactions are
largely missing both from Benny's
archives and their own Benny and his
writers created an omnipotent sponsor
character for the radio program who
could reduce employee jack to a
quivering Heap with a phone call or
telegram the Benny program's workplace
situation comedy Narrative of the 1930s
and 1940s however did not include
characters from advertising agencies
agencies remained invisible in Benny's
narrative World until the early 1950s
when American Tobacco switched its
account to Baton Barton durston and
Osborne bbdo
Denny and his writers then occasionally
Incorporated jokes into the program
about the name bbdo sounding like boxes
falling down some stairs and Jack
briefly dated a flirtatious secretary
who worked for Lil old Mr Osborne
with so little documentary evidence of
Jack Benny's relationships with his ad
agencies I will relate only one story
from December 1936. when ynr Executives
brainstormed a publicity idea Jack Benny
and Fred Allen had been acquaintances if
not close friends for years in
Vaudeville and radio in fact Benny
mentioned Fred Allen on his early radio
programs more often than any other comic
it was nothing more than an offhand jest
on December 30th 1936 however when in
the talent show portion of the town hall
tonight program Fred Allen complimented
the violin performance of young Stuart
Kanan by saying Benny would be envious
of the boy's prowess by chance in the
earlier scripted half of the episode
Alan and his partner Portland Hoffa had
mentioned Benny ditzy Portland claimed
that Jack's latest film release was
Benny's from Heaven having confused it
with Bing Crosby's movie Pennies from
Heaven Fred took the opportunity to
disparage both Jack and his hometown of
Waukegan perhaps Benny was on Allen's
mind as a Target that evening there is
little firm evidence of what happened
next only years afterward industry
insiders admitted that it was a Y and R
executive who suggested to Alan at Benny
that they cook up a fake dispute not
coincidentally ynr handled both programs
the agency publicly denied any
responsibility so that Benny and Alan
could maintain that the feud sprang up
organically it would make much better
publicity fodder that way Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette radio columnist S.I
steinhauser was one of the few
journalists to spill the beans on the
manufactured Hatfield and McCoy gimmick
all of this shooting is the smart idea
of one Don Stauffer a former Scottsdale
PA boy who directs programs for one of
radio's biggest advertising agencies
apparently fast-thinking Don Stauffer
suggested to Benny and Alan in
mid-December that they turned the
incident into a continuing media event
Fred Allen's program scripts from these
broadcasts contained a separate section
added to the show with up to the minute
Benny insults that played off barbs that
Benny had thrown just three nights
before
Allen's portion of the feud was launched
on his January 13 1937 program then he
retorted the next week with injured
reactions and returned threats Allen's
program followed Benny's Sunday program
on Wednesday nights and for nine weeks
the entire nation eagerly anticipated
the exchange of insults before its de
Newman on March 14 1937 the Benny Allen
Feud garnered hundreds of stories in the
press and fan magazines a publicity and
ratings Bonanza for their shows ynr
Executives patted themselves on the back
for a superb stunt
steinhauser noted that the Feud's
conclusion how it had benefited the
performers as well as the Ad Agency
sponsor and network Fred Allen is dumb
like a fox since he started his Feud
with Jack Benny his program has moved up
5.1 percent in Coast to Coast popularity
according to the latest accepted survey
Jack has moved up only one tenth of one
percent according to the same survey
which proves that Fred has the upper
hand in the argument if surveys mean
anything but Jack is still number one
comedian according to the survey and has
been for years our personal choice in a
feud is Fred Allen because he is faster
on the trigger writes his own quips
ad-libs many of them a thing Jack Benny
simply can't do and can move his jibes
at Jack in and out of the full hour
program without spoiling the show Jack
on the other hand plans an attack on
Fred shoots the works and then returns
to his program routine
The Comedians got the last laughs
however the idea of the feud provided
Priceless material for the two
performers for years to come long after
they had acquired new sponsors and ad
agencies the public loved playing along
that Benny and Alan were bitter enemies
and delighted in their inspired verbal
sparring over the years when the two met
to insult each other to Vie for sponsors
to recall who had the superior
Vaudeville act or to satirize the
other's radio narrative formulas
leaving Jello and getting lucky
despite the award-winning commercials
enormous product sales and synergistic
Fame that the relationship brought both
Jello and Jack Benny throughout the
1930s fissures in the Benny General
Foods collaboration nevertheless grew
Benny tussled with Y and R over the
control of cast member contracts the
agency had insisted on managing Kenny
Baker the young tenor Benny had
developed into a rising star ynr did
little to hold Baker however and he left
the program and Benny in the Lurch in
Spring 1939. Benny was however able to
put Baker's replacement Dennis day under
personal contract then he refused to
renew his own Jello contract in Spring
1940 unless he was given absolute
control over the cast Orchestra sound
effects writers and producer in the
future and thus negotiated the strongest
management held by any performer in the
radio industry
by late 1940 General Foods found that
they were reaching the upper limits of
its Jello sales the corporation had
already added two extensions to the
product line Jello puddings and Jello
ice cream mix to ride on the coattails
of Benny generated sales success the
company spent 790 thousand dollars for
39 weeks of the Benny Program a cost
that represented a little more than two
cents for each dollar of jello sales at
6 cents retail per package Jello sales
accounted for 25 percent of all General
Foods income but the corporate
accountants could not advise continuing
this enormous marketing expense
General Foods needed they're expensive
but successful salesmen to remain in
their fold and advertise other products
but Benny bulked he didn't want to lose
such a rich and colorful source of humor
and the sponsors plan to switch him to
the grape nuts account was unappealing
then he flirted with old gold cigarettes
and Campbell's soups General Foods Y and
R and NBC Executives scrambled to
placate the comedian Campbell's was
nearly successful in stealing the comic
and Industry gossip said that only
heroic efforts by ynr's Tom Harrington
and NBC's Bertha Brainerd kept Benny and
general Foods Together ynr made
tremendous hoopla over a celebration of
Benny's 10th anniversary of broadcasting
with Awards dinners and commemorative
sections published in the trade papers
NBC came up with the last ditch idea of
gifting Benny with the Sunday 7pm dime
slot which would be forever his no
matter what sponsor he was with an
entitlement that had never previously
been granted to a performer
these compliments and arrays close the
deal in April 1941 and Benny remained
with Jello
just 12 months later however sudden
wartime sugar rationing in Spring 1942
curtail Jello production and the gelatin
division could no longer afford Benny
General Foods announced that it was
switching Benny's program to Grape nuts
and swapping in the significantly less
expensive to produce Kate Smith program
cereal supplies were not limited General
Foods optimistically reminded Benny
unfortunately no matter how Benny's
writers tried grape nuts and grape nuts
flakes were just not as ripe for silly
commercials as Jello had been with a few
exceptions like the twink family skits
in 1942 discussed in the Mary Livingston
chapter
by early 1944 Benny had grown weary of
General Foods despite the outward
happiness of their relationship Benny
was frustrated that his ratings were
steadily declining and the sponsor was
not supporting his program with
sufficient investment in advertising and
public relations to help him regain
ground then he put his show up for bid
he had complete control over NBC's
Sunday 7 to 7 30 p.m time slot which he
had done much to build into what was now
the preeminent broadcasting segment in
all of network radio
General Foods thought differently they
had financed the jello broadcasts and
thought the time slot should remain
theirs and fought hard to keep Benny
there were five different companies that
went after whatever deal we wanted Benny
later recalled the two of them we were
trying to decide on were Campbell's Soup
and American Tobacco and I finally
picked Lucky Strike because of a man in
the agency Don Stauffer that I happen to
know who represented Lucky Strikes at
that time
despite the Dreadful reputation that
American Tobacco had earned for its
outrageous ads Stauffer convinced Benny
that he could run interference with one
of the most fearsome sponsors of them
all
in February 1944 variety headlines
proclaimed that the American Tobacco
Company had snared Benny for Pall Mall
cigarettes his new sponsor not only
upped Benny's salary package by 10
percent but also promised Benny a
three-year contract and a 250 thousand
dollar slash fund budget for public
relations expenses variety said that
George Washington Hill was so desirous
of obtaining Benny that he is willing to
offer all kinds of concessions
Benny the master of Soft Cell
advertising was taking on a huge new
challenge in working with Hill creator
of the most irritating and obnoxious ads
on radio model for the rapacious
impossible sponsor Evan lewallen Evans
in Frederick Wakeman's 1946 tell-all
novel The hucksters Hill was an
advertising Evil Genius and lived for
selling Lucky Strikes and his other
cigarette brands by any means Hill had
been an early adopter of radio
advertising sponsoring the Lucky Strike
Dance Band beginning in September 1928.
underwriting programs of popular hits
and dance music for three decades Hill
was Infamous for forcing NBC president
aylsworth to dance to the broadcast
Tunes with Bertha Brainerd while Hill
looked on to make sure the tunes
appropriately fit his standards of dance
music
Lucky Strikes radio advertisements were
notorious for obnoxious slogans shouting
commercials and vulgar brashness earlier
print ads had touted reach for a lucky
instead of a suite and it's toasted
shouting announcers in 1940s radio ads
proclaimed Lucky Strike green has gone
to war such huxtring didn't seem to
correlate with Benny's smooth style of
advertising humor at all January 1944
several months before Benny negotiated
with Hill had seen and heard the debut
of Lucky's LS mft Lucky Strike means
fine tobacco campaign the slogan letters
endlessly repeated with lines of
triphammer copy combined with tobacco
Auctioneer Speedy Riggs cacophonous
chance drove radio listeners crazy in
1943 radio producer Dan Golan Paul who's
Urbane quiz show come panel discussion
program information please was rather
incongruously sponsored by Lucky Strike
actually sued American Tobacco to try to
stop the outrageous advertising campaign
Hill demanded be run during the program
Lucky's announcer had been barking the
best tunes of all moved to Carnegie Hall
as many as nine times during the half
hour variety reported that Hill
adamantly held to his philosophy that it
doesn't matter how much you irritate the
listener so long as he remembers the
slogan and the name of the product
Golan Paul was unsuccessful in court but
Hill did agree to let information please
out of its contract and find another
sponsor
American Tobacco gambled when they
assumed the huge expense of sponsoring
Jack Benny's radio program in Fall 1944.
they were switching from purchasing spot
advertising across many stations times
and programs to longer-term sponsorship
of a major program and concentrating
about 3.9 million dollars or 80 percent
of their 5 million dollar radio
advertising budget into one program at
the same time there was a cigarette
shortage which reduced company income we
haven't anything to sell so why spend
millions in advertising he'll complained
the shortage of Paul Mall cigarettes
drove Hill to suddenly switch Benny's
sponsorship over to Lucky Strikes in
August 1944 before the new fall Radio
schedule started
frankly American Tobacco needed Jack
Benny's radio program for its
advertising strategies a top-rated and
very respected show light and humorous
and Benny's reputation for making
advertising more congenial would help
soften complaints in the 1940s about
Lucky's advertising excesses
cigarette manufacturers trying to expand
their sales and fight off the growing
bad public relations of mounting
evidence of links between Cancer and
smoking paid for advanced research
studies that analyzed Smoker's
psychological motivations and
satisfactions historian Richard paulay
reports that one study concluded that
advertising makes cigarettes respectable
and is thus reassuring how could someone
as wholesome as Benny be connected to
something so unhealthy variety reports
suggested that Benny's popularity with
young people was a draw for American
Tobacco but they warned that use of
Benny might set off criticism of having
a Pied Piper advertise cigarettes to
children
reviewing Benny's first broadcast for
Lucky Strike in October 1944 variety
speculated on how Benny his writers and
his cast might apply the jello
advertising magic to this differing
sales situation wondering just how Don
Wilson who built up those Jello and
grape nuts commercials into an integral
part of the Benny comedy package will
tie in with the Lucky Strike format in
view of the standard auctioneering plugs
Wilson's role was indeed usurped by long
opening and closing commercials in which
basil rysdale hammered home repeated
sales points and Speedy rigs chanted
Wilson now introduced Jack and made
various quips about the brand the plot
of Benny's opening Lucky Strike episode
of Benny vying with Fred Allen to
impress a terrifying new sponsor
creating a fictional GW Hill character
was one of the strongest episodes that
Benny's writers had created in several
years Benny has again firmly entrenched
himself variety marveled it's a safe bet
his followers aren't going to Desert him
and if the first show did something else
it unquestionably identified him with
his new boss
critics who hated Hill's advertising
tactics speculated on Benny's ability to
stamp or compromise the flow of
irritating ads and what manner of
compromises the cacophony would make to
the program's comedy a reviewer in
women's day noted
such joke says with men who know
comedians best it's Benny two to one
have helped take the curse off the
auctioneers lsmft chartering Telegraph
keys and the rest of the Lucky Strike
nonsense I'm afraid however that it was
a question of give and take between Mr
Benny and the sponsor certainly to open
the show with a couple of minutes of
commercial junk before Benny comes on is
exceptionally bad programming and I'll
bet Benny's toupee is several Shades
wider for it Jack probably gave way on
this point though to gain the end that
he could later on in the show poke fun
at the sacred advertising cows
just two weeks later however Benny and
His Radio crew brought down Hill's wrath
upon themselves the entertainment
portion of the program ran overtime and
they missed broadcasting the closing
commercial variety's radio columnist
Jack Hellman gossiped that J.W Hill was
said to have hit the ceiling in an
agency account exec lost his job over it
whether Don Stauffer Radiohead of Ruth
rap and Ryan made that quickie out here
from New York to impress on Benny the
importance of lsmft as conjectural we're
not insinuating that Mr Hill scared
Benny with his ceiling hitting but what
we do know is that the next week the
program was short so there was plenty of
time for the final lsmft and a bumper
crop of theme music
Stauffer returned to Hill's office in
New York with Benny's deepest apologies
Hill wrote to Benny Mr Stauffer said you
wanted me to know what you were going to
do to wit sell Lucky Strike cigarettes I
am even salesman enough myself to know
that it's the year's record that counts
not the individual black day from which
we courageously attack our problem the
day after but I don't have to wait this
time for the year's record three shows
are enough to convince me that you are
going to sell the goods
the Sportsman quartets manic musical
commercials
and thus it went for two years the next
chapter details the general malaise that
affected Benny's show during the latter
half of the war as he lost writers and
cast members to the draft and the
scripts became dull the obnoxious Lucky
Strike ads did not help during the first
two years of the Benny Show's Lucky
Strike sponsorship Don Wilson no longer
provided the opening and closing
commercials his role was reduced to
introducing Jack and then making some
light-hearted references to Lucky
Strikes and its ad slogans during the
program for the start of the Fall 1946
season however in A Renewed Spirit of
program Innovation Benny planned an
experiment to bring a novel softer cell
approach to the middle advertisements g
w Hill died of a sudden heart attack in
September 1946 but to his credit he must
have approved Benny's invention or Benny
his writer as a musical arranger worked
with a lightning speed after the funeral
the September 29 1946 program had Don
Wilson introduced jack to a group of
four male singers the Sportsman quartet
who hummed but never spoke a word of
dialogue their job would be to sing
adaptations of popular songs that
incorporated Lucky Strike advertising
slogans into the lyrics like so many
characters in the Benny world the
Sportsman proceeded to drive Jack nuts
by quickly spiraling out of control
spinning their Tunes faster and faster
dissolving into a cacophony of lsmft and
Indian War whoops that caused Jack to
scream to get them to stop
although Benny later reminisced that he
intended the group to only be on the
program a few times the huge positive
critical and popular reaction to the
Sportsman moved Benny and his writers to
build a group into regular characters
the Sportsman quartet and their antic
hilarious middle commercials were the
hit of a new Prime Time Radio season
that otherwise was mired in stagnation
and sameness now Don Wilson managed the
Sportsman quartet then he's manager
Irving fine praised Don's contributions
to the comic by play
Dawn was a great foil for Jack he was
the hearty announcer who tried to get
the commercial on the air and Jack would
try to thwart him sometimes Don would
have the Sportsman quartet sneak in the
commercial Don would tell Jack the
Sportsman were going to do a song then
they would sing A Chorus of a song Don
would then tell Jack they had one more
chorus and they would sing the
commercial
varieties Jack Hellman called the
humming singing wildly antic Sportsman
the most novel innovation of the new
season it is caught on so well that
radio editors around the country are
playing it up Hellman's snarkly gossiped
that American tobacco's in-house
advertising Department was a little
miffed at the attention Benny's
marketing efforts were getting the ads
also upended NBC bureaucrats as Hellman
noted that the tiki song parodies were
the bane of network Vigilantes who had
difficulty ascertaining where the
entertainment ended and the advertising
began
sponsor chortled that the Sportsman not
only softened criticism of Lucky's
obnoxious advertising but helped the
bottom line even the number one exponent
of irritant advertising copy the
American tobacco company has recently
discovered that the amusing non-irritant
middle commercial on the Jack Benny
Program was doing a much better selling
job than the straight rubs the wrong way
approach
the Sportsman's singing commercials
became as subversive and amusingly
outrageous as Benny's earliest Canada
Dry ads when the Sportsman sang the
words of American tobacco's advertising
jargon Lucky Strikes endlessly repeated
ad slogans lsmft surround and firm and
fully packed so free and easy on the
draw never a rough puff quality of
product is essential to continuing
success or Lucky Strike means fine
tobacco seem to lose any kind of meaning
and become totally absurd gibberish
all of the silliness and the Sportsman's
manic performances could have worked for
some listeners at least to make the
brand the company and the whole idea of
smoking ridiculous and to cast a cynical
suggestion that all of consumer culture
could be absurd
when Jack was sick at home in bed with a
cold the Sportsman telephone to cheer
him up with a version of Button Up Your
Overcoat
Button Up Your Overcoat when the wind is
free take good care of yourself careful
Mr B eat an apple every day go to bed by
three take good care of yourself passing
NBC be careful in the breeze watch it
please or you'll sneeze you'll get a
cold and ruin your program if you're
feeling really bad call a doctor too
take good care of yourself cause we all
love you
when you're buying cigarettes buy the
brand you like take good care of
yourself smoke a Lucky Strike
when you're driving in a car or you're
on a hike take good care of yourself
smoke a Lucky Strike
if I may have my say please do don't
delay what's new start today
light up a lucky and you'll enjoy it men
who know tobacco best smoke the best you
see round firm fully packed lsmft
the Sportsman performed their version of
Deep In The Heart of Texas at Jack's
house where he was getting a rub down
from his masseur Mr Nelson Frank Nelson
who always played devilishly annoying
characters the hearty hand clapping that
accompanied the song was merged with
Nelson slapping Benny's behind in time
to the music and Jack yelping
the smoke they like is Lucky Strike clap
clap clap clap deep in the Heart of
Texas throughout the state they say
they're great clap clap clap clap Benny
ouch it's Lucky Strike in Texas
they like the pack of fine to back clap
clap clap clap Benny Mr Nelson not so
hard now you'll be smoking luckies in
cattle land the favorite brand clap clap
clap clap Benny you're hurting me is
better tasting luckies
not only did the sportsmen sing
Arrangements of popular standards but
they tackled operatic music bringing in
a famous soprano with the Metropolitan
Opera Dorothy Kirsten to sing the
quartet from rigoletta with the fellows
and Benny joined them on his whining
violin for particularly manic versions
of such Classics as the Anvil chorus
from IL trovatore Mendelssohn spring
song The Poet in peasant Overture and
the saber dance
the Sportsman's song parodies were
written by Benny's music arranger Malin
Merrick and the Lions had to
successfully gain the approval of the
network advertising agency and the
sponsor American Tobacco may have
determined that these humorous assaults
might deflect some of the growing public
concerns over tobacco and health issues
the product was a declining brand in the
1950s as younger smokers preferred the
new filtered tip cigarettes Lucky
Strikes manufacturers still needed to
spend money on Advertising to keep its
older customers loyal to the brand
nevertheless so they continued to
sponsor Jack Benny's television program
through June 1959.
in ways that he never had to consider
when performing as a single act on the
Vaudeville stage or as a hired actor in
a Hollywood Motion Picture Jack Benny
had to create his comedy within a set of
challenging guidelines in commercial
Network radio the sponsorship system
gave extraordinary levels of creative
control to the advertisers Who provided
the funds to finance the program and the
advertising agencies who assumed the
work of program production then he had
to learn to manage and manipulate that
system and two firings demonstrate the
difficulties of asserting the creative
input Benny sought in the face of the
sponsor's demands the commercial
imperative mandated by the sponsors to
make selling Goods Central to the
entertainment shaped Jack Benny's comic
Persona and the structure of the
narrative that he and Harry Conn created
boldly making fun of the sponsor's
product instantly established Benny as a
fresh and different comic one who was
sophisticated enough to slyily send up
the false promises of advertising but
also one who is an ally of an audience
who also knew better than to take
commercials at face value
his sponsors outraged at Benny's cheeky
middle commercials was the performer's
first introduction to the power that
sponsors wielded over the creation of
the comedy program later it was
deliciously ironic that Jack's Fall Guy
frustrated patriarch would be so cheap
and so reluctant to take an active role
in consumer culture and also to be so
knee-knockingly frightened of his
sponsors
Jack Benny could have remained a hired
performer reading the line scripted by
others and following the direction of
the Ad Agency producers it's to his
credit that Benny leapt at the challenge
to gain as much creative control over
his program as he could to become so
centrally involved in the production of
his program this impulse led him not
only to hire his own writer and shape
his own cast but also to assertively
shape the advertising content of his
entertainment program Benny was admired
throughout the broadcast industry for
his extraordinary ability to meld humor
and sales messages
he spawned a host of imitators but none
were able to be as successful especially
in his association with Jello Benny and
his writers created a Synergy of
humorous product and performer
co-identification his experience has
also turned Benny into a hugely
successful creative and exacting show
producer or show runner as we might call
that position in the Contemporary media
Industries if the commercial imperative
was one major factor that shaped Jack
Benny's radio humor and his program
another was an industrial imperative
throughout his career Benny sought to
intertwine aspects of two rival media
Industries radio and film the next
chapter will explore how Benny through
his character his comedy program his
star image and his business dealings
presented himself as working in both
Industries as being an intermediate
figure by talking of California and
movie stars by performing parodies of
popular film Benny brought cultural
references about the movies into the
center of radio comedy by working with
director Mark sandrich at Paramount then
he was able to bring this Spirit of his
highly popular radio character to
Hollywood film flumixing respected
Motion Picture critics and earning the
studio a welcome Fortune at the box
office
[Music]
thank you
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]