foreign
[Music]
s welcome to this day in Jack Benny I'm
John Henderson we're continuing our
audiobook of Jack Benny and the Golden
Age of American radio comedy Kathy you
mentioned in the introduction that
you've listened to all the episodes of
Jack Benny tell me about listening to
the radio program well we're so lucky
with technology
knowledge that um the fans over the
years have been able to gather as many
as what 750 episodes we can listen to
Because back in the day originally you
heard one a week and it was live and
they were never repeated now you've been
a Jack Benny fan for years and obviously
you've heard all these episodes over the
years did you also sit down and start
listening from beginning to end for the
book yes I I um I was doing a lot of
driving back in the day and I did listen
all the way through and it was very
useful to do that rather than just sort
of picking and choosing and that I guess
that's my favorite way is just to pick a
year and stream all the way through it
well it's clear that a lot of research
went into this chapter we're on chapter
eight read by Stephanie Henderson
foreign
[Music]
chapter eight
Benny at war with the radio critics
Jack Benny's radio program Riding High
in the ratings in 1940 suffered a
prolonged slump during World War II
Benny lost his two writers and key cast
members left for military service he
felt obligated to broadcast programs
from Stateside military camps which
seriously cramped the show's style his
sponsor and Ad Agency neglected to
adequately promote the program The
Narrative of the show floundered and the
comedy was often listless
the ratings declined precipitously the
bright spots in his wartime recession
were his summer overseas tours to
perform live Uso shows to military camps
in African European and Pacific
Battlegrounds in 1945 the radio program
started to improve as Benny and a new
team of writers experimented with adding
new characters and comedy routines to
the show although the Innovations took
some time to gel together the Benny show
gradually climbed out of its doldrums
and recaptured its radio Audience by
late 1946 Benny regained his previous
high ratings the re-energized show also
reached new levels of popular Acclaim
the period between 1946 and the early
1950s became known as the program's
Golden Era
Benny's radio wartime fall and post-war
Revival occurred during a time of
aesthetic malaise and network
broadcasting radio is at its height in
terms of revenues listenership and
influence but was simultaneously
drowning in critics disapproval a new
breed of radio critics fresh voices
emanating from Top newspapers and
magazines thrust aside the curtains
cloaking commercial Network radios
operation and exposed all of its
shortcomings mistakes and sins Jack
Benny unexpectedly found himself in the
middle of this Maelstrom of discontent
as one of the most successful and
longest running of the radio Comics
Benny served as a lightning rod for
critics disparaging blasts Benny's time
more narrative formulas were dull his
jokes were corrosively nasty derivative
and repetitive and fossilized performers
like Benny were propped up unnecessarily
by sponsors who would not permit new
talent to Blossom
the newspaper critics were led by Brash
young journalist John Crosby whose radio
and review column debuted in the back
pages of the New York Herald Tribune in
May 1946. Crosby was joined by other
reviewers Gilbert zeldas Jack Gould Ben
gross and Harriet Van Horn who
energetically attacked the stagnation
over commercialization and tastelessness
of current radio offerings they hammered
away at Benny not only as a symbol of
the Strangling control of the sponsors
over program choices but also for the
Legion of imitators who broadcast pale
copies of his show
they called for Innovative program
formats and higher levels of artistic
aspiration the new radio critics carved
out a unique place for themselves in
arts criticism as Amanda Lotz has noted
commenters on the fields of music dance
the theater and even film did not have
to negotiate so constantly between the
imperatives of a medium that was at once
an artistic and Commercial form the new
critics brought a much-needed outsider's
perspective to radio that was not
beholden to networks commercial
interests or the entertainment trade
press and they played invaluable roles
in the production of popular culture of
the post-war era
Benny and his writers ameliorated his
Show's problems with Innovations like
the I can't stand Jack Benny because
contest and the introductions of the
Ronald and Bonita Coleman characters
Professor LeBlanc the Sportsman quartet
and the Subterranean Vault and still the
show was held up by the critics as an
example of everything that was wrong
with radio then he was Defensive hurt by
the charges nevertheless Benny and his
writers occasionally turned to engage
the critics head on on the air in comic
performance in the case of Gilbert
seldes and through published replies to
criticism and tentative negotiations
with John Crosby
the downside of the sponsor-controlled
system as the radio critics sternly
pointed out was that radio audience is
an Innovative performers writers and
producers were terribly shortchanged the
nearsightedness of ratings seeking
sponsors and advertising agencies kept
them over-reliant on the same top
performers and programs for decades
stifling chances for artistic innovation
there was an ironic benefit to this
system however certain performers
producers and writers were allowed time
to develop finely crafted comedy or
dramas over a period of many years the
fragmentation of broadcasting in math
audiences since the 1990s has put
tremendous pressure on television
programmers to maximize ratings and
create immediate viewer support
Executives have become so fearful of
failure that they cancel a struggling
new show after just a few episodes
rather than giving it time to develop an
engaging narrative and find a devoted
audience Jack Benny often expressed
gratitude for having been able to
cultivate characters and situations over
time in the early 1930s to work out
problems in the mid-1940s and
restructured to his radio program for
the needs of television in the 1950s
rather than to have decision makers
frightened by the show's declining
ratings at any of these critical
junctures and his program then he
pointed to Bonita Coleman's joke about
how even the mention of Phil Harris and
his band could spoil her appetite the
comedy contained in the dialogue's
hugely successful punchline was the gag
whose payoff laugh could only have been
so potent with a 12-year build-up
Benny's wartime slump
1940 found Jack Benny a major ratings in
box office Force across radio film and
live performance the success of his
Paramount radio films released in 1939
and 1940 man about town Buck Benny Rides
Again Love Thy Neighbor would bring
Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox
Studios knocking on Benny's door as they
asked him to lend them his box office
magic then he worked constantly
simultaneously making films during the
broadcast year and crafting his weekly
radio show each summer Benny took his
Radio cast on the road for lucrative
personal appearances at Urban movie
palaces disappointed by the increasingly
tepid efforts of his sponsor General
foods and Ad Agency young and rubicum Y
and R to support him with extensive
promotional efforts unlike what Bob Hope
and Edgar Bergen were getting an
enormously frustrated Benny saw his
Rivals surpassing him in the ratings in
1941. Benny's comedy show faced
challenges as soon as the United States
entered World War II the Heartbreak of
War quickly came home to Benny in
January 1942 when his friend and to be
or not to be co-star Carol Lombard was
killed in an airplane crash as she
returned to Hollywood from a war bond
selling trip she had been scheduled to
appear on Benny's radio program to
promote their new film that Sunday
Lombard's death was a psychological and
emotional blow to Benny he canceled his
comedy episode for that week and instead
asked his orchestra to provide a somber
musical program the loss soured him on
creating the type of Highly Effective
on-air marketing campaign for the film
to be or not to be like those that had
boosted Benny's previous mediocre
Paramount films to box office gold
pressure to contribute to patriotic home
front efforts also caused problems soon
after the war started Benny and his cast
began making field trips to broadcast
their regular radio program from
military bases other Comics were taking
their shows to the camps and the
pressure to do likewise must have been
immense then he produced Eight Episodes
of his program at camps between January
and May 1942 but he was so dissatisfied
with the subpar results that he vowed to
stop camp programs cramped the jello
program's narrative style by gearing the
program's jokes toward the boisterous
servicemen audience is in front of them
and away from its home listeners and
Benny's carefully rehearsed control the
writers especially had trouble
incorporating Rochester into the
narratives he was the camp audience's
favorite character but Rochester Jack's
valid at his home in Beverly Hills had
almost never been included in skits
where the cast was at the studio
creating the fictional radio show the
right resorted to clunky routines having
Rochester telephone Benny from a gas
station outside the base Time Magazine
pointedly noted that other Comics like
the uninhibited Bob Hope who adores his
Soldier audience didn't have such
problems doing their patriotic Duty
although willing to do a special cab
show is fretful Jack Benny after several
attempts has concluded that he couldn't
entertain soldiers and the Home Folks
from the same script his advertising
agency agreed but its announcement of
the disassociation raised a few eyebrows
Benny has found that incalculable whoops
and whistles upset his expertly worried
Lines no ad Liber he has to stick to his
painfully prepared script and feels that
a lot of mugging thrown in for a visual
audience is a sin against his radio
listeners
while Bob Hope gained at probation from
troops and the public for his Camp show
performances around the world not as
many people were aware that Jack Benny
also made major commitments to entertain
troops during the war his Gratis
appearances on Command Performance and
other Armed Forces Radio Service
programs were not usually heard
Stateside then he also led a small
Intrepid Uso troop to military outposts
on the front lines in North Africa the
Middle East and Sicily in summer 1943
the South Pacific in 1944 and France and
Germany in 1945. Benny blamed lack's
publicity efforts by General foods and Y
and R for the relative obscurity in
which he labored if new demands on
Benny's time weren't challenging enough
he received knockout punches to his
program from the military draft first
Benny lost the services of Phil Harris
and his band to the Merchant Marine in
December 1942. Benny used stand-in
musicians until Phil returned in March
1943.
then Benny lost his two writers Ed
bulloin and Bill Morrow in May 1943.
Morrow was drafted bulloin decided to
move on to screenwriting variety
reported that Benny's show writing staff
was the hardest hit among the major
radio programs and that the comic was at
the end of his rope Jack Benny is
threatening to quit radio this fall he
is said to have told friends that on his
trip East he will ask General foods for
a release from his contract comedians
said he wouldn't be averse to doing a
few occasional guest shots but that the
regular Sunday grind would be too hard
on him what with his writers of the past
eight years Bill Morrow and Ed beloin
engaged elsewhere
why and our executive Tom Harrington and
producer Pat Weaver rushed out from the
east coast to Benny's vacation home in
Palm Springs to quash the rumors calm
Benny down and help him rebuild his
script writing team in the summer of
1943 Benny hired new writers to start
working on his program in the fall
probably nervous about how overly
dependent he had been on Harry Conn as
his sole scriptwriter in the first half
of the 1930s and then relying on only
two scriptwriters he sought to spread
the risk out further and hire four John
tackaberry milk josephsburg and George
balzer are originally joined by veteran
gag writer Psy Howard but he was
replaced after half a season by Sam
Perrin who like the others remained with
Benny for many years
at Mid War Benny and the cast regularly
traveled across the nation to broadcast
episodes at military camps and hospitals
playing at military bases still didn't
mesh comfortably with the program's
sense of timing and established
situation comedy narratives although his
role in these shows remained ill-crafted
Eddie Anderson was always greeted with
the loudest cheers from the military
crowds Mel Blanc began appearing on
these camp programs in November 1943 in
bit roles as a common Soldier blank also
provided the sound effects of fighter
planes zipping overhead the writers also
played up the fact that a good-looking
woman was on stage in all these male
environments Benny's shows had very
rarely discussed Mary's relationships
with men since she flirted with band
members in 1933 but now in the camp
episode she was being pursued by pilots
officers sailors and soldiers who wanted
to kiss her the war continued to deplete
Benny's staff as his longtime personal
secretary Harry Baldwin was drafted into
the Navy and fall 1943 Baldwin had
performed many vital functions on the
show since 1932 including the role of
the man knocking on the radio Studio's
door once referred to as Mr ball Dome
who inserted nonsensical asides into the
program's proceedings
then Denny lost tenor Dennis day to the
Navy in April 1944. another major blow
to the quality of the show's comic
narrative Benny hired a replacement
singer for the duration
eighteen-year-old War veteran Larry
Stevens unlike The Versatile day who had
blossomed into a talented comedian under
Benny's tutelage young Stevens was
rarely used in skits and there were
rumors that he would be replaced the
Benny show Lost a vital gaiety and
craziness from not having Dennis's
juvenile Antics deathly innocent
readings of lines and amusing
impersonations incorporated into the
program secondary characters in the
Benny Show's narrative World such as
Jack's crazy border Mr Billingsley
1941-1943 or timid insurance salesman
Hermann Peabody 1944 did not
substantially contribute to the humor of
the listless show talented radio
character actress Minerva Pius journeyed
West to the Benny Program in Fall 1943
when Fred Allen's program suddenly
ceased due to his ill health the Benny
writers did not devise a continuing
character for her however and Pious left
the show in early 1944 to rejoin Allen's
program when he recovered she would go
on to play Mrs Nussbaum of Alan's alley
the new writers also did not make
thoughtful use of the comedic talents of
actress Butterfly McQueen who portrayed
Mary's maid in Rochester's niece
butterfly from October 1943 to May 1944.
McQueen's cardboard character was a
naive unintelligent young woman who
mostly talked about her boyfriend in the
military she did not spout sharp witty
retorts like Rochester McQueen quit the
show before the end of the season on the
other hand the Rochester character
developed more Dimensions than any other
persona during the War years Rochester
got more dialogue lines in the scripts
more dignity and less association with
Minstrel show stereotypes the writers
created for Rochester an easy
informality and equality in his
interactions with Benny these gains for
interracial understanding were fragile
however and as discussed in the Eddie
Anderson chapters the unthinking way in
which Benny and his writers could
reintegrate old stereotypes into the
program would bring increasing criticism
from the African-American community
it's not telling Tales out of school to
say that many in radio row felt Jack had
slipped badly in the past couple of
Seasons New York Times Reporter Jack
Gould noted in Fall 1944 by Spring 1945
The Jack Benny show had fallen out of
the top 15 shows in the Hooper ratings
Newsweek noted his program abruptly
skidded the comedy became Dusty and
labored listeners demoted him from his
customary post among radio's top four or
five shows the smart Alex whispered that
he was finished
the Benny show innovates
with rumors of decline swirling in radio
industry circles Benny worked
intensively with his still struggling
Young Riders to improve the show's
quality they began experimenting with
new catch phrases and characters to add
to the familiar situations that Harry
Conn and then Marlon beloin had crafted
over the previous 12 years in March and
April 1944 the writers developed several
new routines that emphasized Jack's
temper fraying as other people annoyed
him jack would try to reinstate order or
at least stop the madness when a group
of characters began yelling or singing
at the top of their voices tossing out
egregious insults the dialogue
descending into gibberish as noisy chaos
filled the air Jack would lose his
temper and Shout now cut that out or
wait a minute wait a minute wait a
minute Jack and the cast also began
deprecating his starring role in the
Warner Brothers film the horn blows at
midnight insults about the movie began
flying in December 1944 when the film
was not even released until April 1945.
The increased involvement of versatile
voice artist Mel Blanc was a tremendous
addition to the show in January 1945 the
writers created an unhinged Railroad
Station train announcer who befuddled
Jack by repeatedly calling out train
leaving on track 5 for Anaheim Azusa and
Cucamonga angelino's in the studio
audience laughed not only at the funny
sounding Town names but also because
they knew that no train could run
between those disparate stops terming
the 37-year-old blank a one-man crowd
Time Magazine informed readers that his
chameleon-like talents voiced 57 other
characters including Bugs Bunny and
Porky Pig in Warner Brothers cartoons
the unhappy mailman on burns and Allen's
radio show and characters for Judy
Canova Bob Hope and Abbott and
Costello's broadcasts
Benny's writers developed numerous Comic
characters for blank the first was
Professor LeBlanc who was introduced as
Benny's long-suffering violin teacher in
April 1945. no other character expressed
such sheer frustration with Benny as
poor benighted Professor LeBlanc and his
lessons with his witty insulting rhymed
instructions entoned over Jack's
scratchy practice stanzas where
Priceless comic additions to the program
Mel Blanc also vocalized the sound of
Jax Maxwell back in the 1930s the Benny
show had used a sound effects person to
create the raucous sounds of the
Maxwell's motor wheezing to life Jack
donated the Maxwell to a patriotic scrap
Drive in October 1942. within a few
months Rochester was again chauffeuring
Jack around in a rattle-trapled car
which went unnamed but by 1947 Benny and
the writers once again called it the
Maxwell
studio audience is especially laughed at
Mel blanc's personification of the
Maxwell because blank contorted his face
so comically in creating noises
representing the car's ancient
tubercular engine the writers further
expanded blank's repertoire with the
introduction of Paulie the parrot as
Benny's household pet in October 1945.
unlike previous resident Carmichael the
polar bear who only growled when he
wasn't causing the gas man to disappear
Paulie the parrot participated in the
show's dialogue Benny and the writers
determined however that Paulie must
create her jokes only by repeating
phrases that she had overheard from
humans
in January 1945 Benny and his writers
inaugurated the idea of incorporating an
underground Money Vault into the
basement of Jack's home guarded by Ed
The Vault keeper who was played in the
deadpan Voice by Joe Kearns
Benny's trips downstairs passed an array
of burglar thwarting obstacles to meet
with Ed who had been down there so long
that he wasn't aware that the
Revolutionary War had ended created a
delightful source of humor on Benny's
radio shows as with the Maxwell the
elaborate series of loud and clangy
deterrents securing the Vault was more
satisfyingly imagined in radio listeners
Minds than it would be when viewed as a
constructed set on a TV Sound Stage
several other new characters joined the
program in Fall 1945 including sassy
telephone operators Gertrude gearshift
and Mabel flap saddle played by veteran
radio actresses B bernaderrett and Sarah
burner they traded Tales of Woe about
the miserable dates Jack took them on
the Benny radio show also increasingly
Incorporated Jack's Nemesis Frank Nelson
onto the radio program
Nelson had played occasional roles on
the show as early as 1934. beginning in
1945 he appeared regularly in a variety
of roles the rude department store floor
Walker Railroad Station ticket seller Dr
waiter or any number of other annoying
people who did their best to thwart and
enrage the hapless Jack when he ventured
into town
Benny himself claimed to have come up
with a serendipitous idea of having
distinguished British film actor Ronald
Coleman and his wife Benita Coleman
appear on the show in December 1945 as
Jax exasperated next door neighbors in
Beverly Hills Benny had referred to them
on the program for several years as
being among the large group of Hollywood
celebrities who disdained him but they
had remained among the celebrities that
Jack had never actually met Benny
thought the colemans would provide a
delightful contrast between their upper
class English reserve and Jack's
obnoxious lack of manners frankly Ronald
Coleman admitted in an interview when I
read that first script I thought it was
pretty corny but when we started
rehearsing it and everyone got laughing
I got into the spirit of the thing
Cleveland Emery wrote that Benny himself
rates their first appearance on December
9 1945 as the best single program he has
ever had and claims that the cocktail
glass breaking scene was a situation so
real that the script girl in the control
room actually had tears in her eyes
the colemans were such a hit on Benny's
program that they returned 14 times over
the next three years despite Ronald
Coleman's reservations that he might be
made to appear ridiculous these radio
guests shots secured for him and Benita
who blossomed into a delightful comedian
with Benny's encouragement which peeved
the jealous Ronnie starring roles in a
delightful situation comedy the halls of
Ivy which was known as one of the most
humorously erudite programs of the 1950s
the I can't stand Jack Benny because
contest
while Benny and his creative team were
banding about ideas in late fall 1945 to
draw attention to the program Benny came
up with the idea of spoofing the
write-in contests that were again so
endemic on the radio instead of giving
reasons why they liked some product in
25 words or less or submitting an ad
slogan or jingle praising a product then
he hit on the idea of listeners sending
in reasons why they disliked his comic
Fall Guy character Benny's sponsors had
not indulged in efforts to get audiences
to write into the program since the
mid-1930s when Jello had offered
listeners autographed pictures of Jack
or recipe booklets if they mailed in a
couple of box tops so the novelty of
this stunt captured attention in the
trade press as did the chutzpah of the
contest's theme it was one of the most
controversial stunts the Benny show ever
attempted varieties Jack Hellman praised
Benny for the idea it takes utsgay to
put himself on the spot like that
Steve Bradley a new character on Jack's
program who has a boorish publicity
agent cooked up the contest in December
1945. listeners would send in statements
of 50 words or less explaining why they
couldn't stand Jack Benny and the
winners would split ten thousand dollars
in war bonds Jack was robbed of that sum
from his vault at gunpoint and Jack
handed the cash over without even
considering the choice of his money or
his life that Jack acquiesced is an
amusing demonstration of how over the
years Benny's writers would have to find
ways to continually increase the
absurdity of Benny's faults and
frailties in order to keep the audience
laughing the New York Times noted that
in some quarters it was questioned
whether it was a smart decision to
invite criticism deliberately even as a
gag then he feared an outpouring of
anti-Semitism the war had recently ended
and prejudice against Jews remained a
volatile issue Civic groups called for
racial and religious tolerance in public
service announcements on the radio the
horrors of the Holocaust were becoming
more widely known and calls for the
creation of a Jewish State filled the
news columns as I discussed earlier in
the chapter on Benny's masculine
identity like some others in the
entertainment business Benny rarely
called attention to his Jewish identity
but all of the on-air celebrations of
Christmas and Easter on his program
would not satisfy the haters as
interviewer Cleveland Amery noted for
Saturday evening post readers since he
is Jewish Benny asked his Cordon of 12
contest secretaries to hold out all
definitely anti-semitic Letters Out of
270 000 received he had only three
varieties Jack Hellman took the contest
rather too literally although he praised
its Atomic Wallop to enhance publicity
for Benny's program he assumed the event
would point out to Benny what actually
ailed his show neatest trick of the week
was Jack Benny's unique contest which
will Mount more lineage and lip service
than all the Orthodox soap giveaways
combined letters received in the contest
and they'll run in the thousands will be
smartly indexed and for such a meager
sum as ten thousand dollars he'll find
out what's wrong with his show among the
Tradesmen the reaction is mixed some say
it's a smart move While others feel that
he's letting himself in for some
unkindly criticism many found fault with
the inclusion of Fred Allen as judge
that put it strictly in the gag class
and may militate against constructive
criticisms which must be one of the main
reasons for the ten thousand dollar
giveaway the stunt generated voluminous
numbers of entries half of the letters
in the cat stand Jack Benny contest are
in verse Hellman noted mail averages
around 30 entries daily and according to
Mr B all contestants have one thing in
common they try to imitate Fred Allen
incidentally Alan gets mentioned in half
the mail Benny became the butt du jour
of other radio Comics jokes including
Milton Burl and Eddie Cantor garnered
quips from public figures baseball's
Hank Greenberg joked that a running gag
on Benny's show had left him stuck on
third base the entire previous year so
he was going to send in an entry and of
course Bon Mo from Fred Allen who was
disqualified from the contest by being
named chief judge
more than three hundred thousand entries
poured in during the month-long event
the winning submission was contributed
by Carol p Craig senior a lawyer from
Pacific Palisades California his name
was announced by Fred Allen at the close
of the January 27 1946 program the next
week Ronald Coleman read the winning
entry a poem on air I can't stand Jack
Benny because
he fills the air with boasts and brags
and obsolete obnoxious gags the way he
plays is violin is music's most
obnoxious sin his cowardice alone indeed
is matched by his obnoxious greed and
all the things that he portrays show up
my own obnoxious ways
for all the excellent publicity the
contest generated for Benny in the
entertainment industry and popular press
it did not necessarily fix his problems
and it generated other controversies
terming it a neat stroke of Showmanship
variety's Jack Hellman commented that no
contest in radio history whipped up as
much dialer interest in trade talk as
the cat stand Jack Benny led a writing
Derby for the 10g and victory bonds it
also contributed many laugh lines to a
few weeks of scripting into all intents
and purposes it looked like a good deal
all around yet the contest did not
immediately boost Jax Hooper and Crosley
listenership ratings which remained
frustratingly low
after receiving those hundreds of
thousands of entries then he did not
publicize them at first his decision
disappointed me as a researcher and fan
because as I initially began exploring
Benny's archives I had hoped to discover
a trove of similarly brilliant humorous
payons to Jack's faults but there were
none in his papers or in Fred Allen's
either I eventually realized that a
corporate initiated publicity stunt was
just a publicity stunt and the other
entries probably contained merely some
combination of inanity and meanness and
did not deserve being saved as Jack
Hellman had commented contests are
tricky things that rarely accomplish any
good aside from a male poll they have an
ungrateful way of biting back and more
often than not leave a trail of bad will
Benny admittedly let himself in for a
nationwide round of criticism when he
and judge Allen decided against reading
the prize-winning hate letters on
yesterday's broadcast they knew full
well the logic of their reasoning and
also the the unpleasant aftermath but
aloud it was an easier escape from
public wrath than to have a few thousand
women mutter mine was better than that
taking it philosophically Benny's side
so they'll be mad at me for a few weeks
another annoyance to the comedian was
that the capital Prize winner was a
Suburban Angelino when he had hoped it
would be someone from Oklahoma or
Vermont
the dialogue during the episode on which
the Winner's identities were to be
announced around too long and Fred Allen
was unable to read out more than a few
of the finalists names and addresses
then he's concerned to get Middle
America involved in his contest at least
would have been mollified if the other
nine Prize winners had been publicized
they hailed from Cleveland Detroit
Phoenix Topeka Greenwich Connecticut
Portland Oregon Fullerton California
Arlington Virginia bergenville New
Jersey Bartlesville Oklahoma and
Jamestown Texas
varieties George Rosen reported that the
reading of Mr Craig's winning entry on
air was itself unusual
the reading last Sunday of the cat Stan
Benny jackpot contribution brought a
division of opinion as to whether it was
the smart thing to do it's reported that
Fred Allen who was the final judge in
the contest did a burn over the decision
to air the letter While others siding
with the camp that contends it will
invite wholesale beefs from other
contestants on the other hand many argue
that the letter itself was in such good
taste and of such Superior caliber that
it will automatically erase any stigma
of cheapness that might be associated
with the Benny contest idea
meanwhile Benny and his writers
continued innovating to further enliven
the show on January 6 1946 Artie
Auerbach was introduced as an initially
unnamed hot dog vendor at the Rose Bowl
football game the Immigrant Jewish
greenhorn Mr kitsel
Dennis day returned from service in the
Navy on the March 17 1946 episode and
immediately returned his zany juvenile
Antics to the program
Benny's ratings started climbing back up
the charts Jack had been vained about
his age from the beginning of his radio
program in 1932 and for years would not
reveal it while Mary and other cast
members delighted in exposing the truth
jokes about Jack claiming a youthful age
increasingly began to crop up in the
show during the War years in 1945 he
announced that he was 37 years old when
his actual age was 51. he claimed to
have turned 38 in 1946. he claimed to be
38 years old until his birthday in
February 1948. at which time he turned
39 and there Jack remained for the rest
of his career Benny also began to
capitalize more intently on the flubbed
lines that performers especially Mary
Livingston inadvertently blurted out
during the broadcasts Mary for instance
mistakenly said chis squeeze sandwich in
a scene set at a diner other Comics had
teased Benny throughout his career about
his inability to ad-lib however Denny's
Lightning Fast critical reactions to his
cast members mistakes showed that he was
a superb extemporaneous Joker when the
situation mattered to him then he always
insisted on the perfect reading of his
scripts with the joke's timings
carefully crafted and these mistakes
exposed how thoroughly invested he was
in trying to maintain complete control
over his program
lucky for Benny his quick shows of
temper were deliciously funny for Studio
audiences to witness and for listeners
to hear his calling cast members out for
missing a queue or mangling a line added
more spontaneity and liveliness to the
radio program they also added moments of
self-reflexive humor in which Benny and
the actors momentarily slipped out of
their regular characters roles to
comment on the script and their
performances behind the scenes the fact
that most of the mistakes were made by
Mary Livingston indicated how serious
her mic fright was becoming the
explosions of laughter from the studio
audience that these unexpected moments
produced caused Benny's Legion of comic
imitators to rush to incorporate flood
lines and jokes about them into their
own radio programs
foreign
1946 Jack was back to riding atop the
radio ratings and he remained there
through the rest of the decade his
rejuvenated radio program however now
collided with a greatly increased
critical discourse about Network Prime
Time radios shortcomings
wanted radio critics
in a 1940 editorial variety's Chief
radio reporter Robert Landry called for
establishment of a professional critical
voice to hold radio responsible for its
shortcomings and encourage better
programming at a time when the Axis
powers propaganda was strongest Landry
suggested that responsible published
criticism would ensure that American
radio remained open to democratic
discussion and input and keep pressure
groups influence at Bay he charged
sponsors ad agencies and networks with
being too afraid of angering pressure
groups and rushing to censor anything
that might offend even one person they
confused cranky complaints with reasoned
criticism and feared both newspapers
imperiously turned up their noses at a
low-class medium Landry said and for 20
years had been reluctant to hire radio
critics and jealous fear of radio's
popularity he disparaged the timidity of
most radio reporters and their Reliance
on popularity surveys which were a
substitute for judgment he hoped that
professional radio critics would Elevate
radio's standards by spotlighting the
shoddy the careless the incompetent and
praising the Opposites it is easy to
dissect the mediocre difficult to
capture the essence of Merit
radio's vital importance to American
culture during World War II as a source
of information propaganda Solace and
entertainment sidelined Landry's
immediate calls for broadcasting critics
in early 1946 however there were still
few serious appraisals of radio
programming being published what
mitigated against the establishment of
regular radio critiques the sheer amount
of programming to cover was daunting
with as many as 65 000 15-minute
segments of programming broadcast every
day for a radio critic to account for
the continued reluctance of newspapers
to deal with radio was a second Factor
even though 33 percent of All American
radio stations were owned by newspapers
broadcast programming's beholden-ness to
their own advertisers caused friction
newspaper Publishers feared that
advertisers might boycott them if they
printed anything too realistic about the
company's sponsored radio shows some
newspapers refused to list radio
schedules and other papers angered that
they did not receive remuneration for an
advertising plug removed sponsors
product names from the schedules so that
the jello program would be listed as the
Jack Benny Program lack of information
about upcoming broadcast was a problem
for radio reviewers who rarely received
scripts to peruse ahead of time to help
them prepare detailed analyzes as the
programs were aired Live and Not
repeated reviews seemed Superfluous to
those who had not heard the broadcast as
Ben gross radio critic of the New York
daily news complained regular criticism
seldom covered a show after its Premiere
and there were not enough new openings
to keep him busy
the same top programs reappeared year
after year and is one variety reviewer
noted wearily what can be said about
Burns and Allen's act that hasn't been
set a hundred times in the last 16 years
here was the daunting challenge for the
establishment of radio criticism there
was an overwhelming amount of potential
programming to cover most of it was
broadcast live and a reviewer could get
little information ahead of time every
program he or she heard vanished Into
The Ether and would not be repeated
variety identified only between 45 and
50 journalists across 900 U.S newspapers
worthy of even being termed radio
reporters creditable radio editors
worked at Cleveland Milwaukee and
Pittsburgh newspapers but the major
newspapers in Los Angeles and San
Francisco banned all radio coverage in
New York the corporate center of radio
and home of the literary theater and
film reviewing establishment Jack Gould
of the New York Times was the only
critic of note and his weekly reports
focused largely on industry issues his
predecessors John Hutchins at the times
and Alton cook at the world telegram had
quit the radio beaten discussed in 1944
and turned to theater and film reviewing
except for a very small handful radio
writers have no influence whatsoever
varieties report concluded they've
wrapped soap operas for years soap opera
goes on they Wham excessive commercials
the middle plug hitchhikes and cow
catchers extra advertising snuck in
between programs no one pays any
attention to them three or four legit
theater critics could close a show
except in very rare instances with
adverse reviews the radio writers can
howl their heads off and if other
factors are present in the show the
hoopers keep clicking right along
indignation over the sins of network
radio is heeding to the boiling point in
February 1946 the Federal Communications
Commission released its blistering
report on the status of radio known as
the Blue Book which contains scathing
findings about broadcasters lack of
responsibility to the public
varieties editors nodded in agreement
Network radio was in serious trouble
slowly but surely over the past few
years over commercialization has won out
good taste development of original radio
technique and cognizance of Public
Service programming have gone by the
boards a factor that would have helped
tremendously in making the public
cognizant of what it had a right to
expect would have been a critical press
one that would have constructively
played the part of a guide even with
regulation radio needs able criticism by
men who respect it as a mature medium
and accepted on a full par with other
Arts
variety was willing to be a voice of
conscience for radio but it was beholden
to the industry's commercial structure
controlled by sponsors its reporters and
colonists could only wrap Knuckles it
was unusually quite gentle and chiding
major stars like Jack Benny variety
pleaded for Real Radio critics once the
critics arrived however the trade
journal's editors may have rude what
they asked for
Gilbert seldiz's critique of insult
humor
Benny's radio program based much of its
humor on cast members insulting the
vainglorious penurious boss and him
dishing it back creating swirling
crescendos of invective in fan magazine
articles such as 1945's gags have grown
up then he reassuringly claimed that no
one was really injured by the cartoonish
insults we try to follow one simple rule
if it hurts it isn't funny however
famous the Benny show was for its insult
humor Benny was sensitive to anyone
seriously criticizing him for it in the
March 1946 issue of Esquire magazine new
york-based theater and film critic
Gilbert seldes opened his column of
wide-ranging media commentary with a
paragraph subtitled the young sadists
next Sunday night will you please listen
to all your favorite comedians and note
the percentage of cruel jokes they may
be self-directed a bit of light
masochism or straight Jabs to someone
else's jaw the Saucy dummy in Bergen's
hands turns out to be relatively mild
compared to the snarling and smearing
that goes on between Comedians and
Stooges and band leaders and announcers
Fred Allen's trademark is the bags under
his eyes then he gets it and takes it
right and left from Rochester and Mary
Livingston maybe a philosopher will
discover some deep meaning in this Mania
for cruelty all I say of it is that it
begins to bore me it's a translation
into popular terms of the smart
wisecrack the insults that pass for wit
in the comedies of Noel coward there's a
speakeasy age staleness over it and I
feel that other sources of humor must
exist beyond the physical deficiencies
and imputed meanness of the comedians
one little paragraph but someone had
dared to pass judgment on Benny for the
cruelty of his on-air humor and his
continued Reliance on it which had
spread to all the copycat radio programs
to become the day regular form of humor
on nearly all radio shows
other radio critics disagreed with
seldy's asserting that insult humor's
centrality to radio comedy was natural
John Crosby would claim that there was
something All-American about masculine
type joking battles between sharp wits a
comedian deflating his own vanity with
self-deprecating humor and subordinates
Barbs lobbed directly at the boss Crosby
traced its history in Vaudeville
routines the local Saloon and Street
Corner jousts the most astonishing
characteristic of American insult is its
amiability noted Crosby Americans enjoy
insulting one another and providing its
among friends even take Delight in being
insulted Jack Gould asserted that insult
humor allowed listeners to share in
Mankind's most ennobling experience to
tell somebody off
Gilbert seldes nevertheless stood firm
in his disapproval Benny's writers read
the article while the production crew
was in Palm Springs and invited seldis
visiting the area to attend the February
24 1946 broadcast seldis recalled being
curious about what Benny would do the
question was how could he turn criticism
of his fundamental style and material
into a good radio program
the first half of the program was all in
the usual vein then he was jealous of
Mary Livingston because she got all the
requests for autographs she accused him
of falling asleep while dancing with her
the announcer was called obese the
orchestra looked like dogs and so on
then Benny put me on the witness stand
announced my ideas and offered to play a
sweet show sort of a ma Perkins with the
band this part of the program therefore
consisted of honeyed compliments
excessive gushing and attempted
interruptions on my part put down
severely by Benny at the end Rochester
phoned him to complain that something
had gone wrong with his radio Don
Wilson's got thin you got Hair Etc and
then he asked me which way I thought the
program was best allowing me to reply I
think it's better when they insult you
what Benny had done was of course the
opposite of what he said he was going to
do he had really played his comedy of
insult right through using a different
technique and making me the Fall Guy
instead of himself
after the sell these incident Benny and
his writers occasionally Incorporated
comic twists on radio critics reviews of
the program into the Benny show
broadcasts fabricating terrible notices
that included deprecating words like
exacerbate that neither Jack nor Phil
were able to understand as mil
joseph'sburg recalled Benny and his
writers reasoned nice is nice but nasty
is funny
John Crosby's radio in review
on May 6 1946 the New York Herald
Tribune one of the nation's Premier
newspapers that had disdainfully ignored
broadcasting for 25 years started a
department of radio criticism to add to
its greatly respected theater book film
dance and Art reviews the new column was
helmed by someone without broadcasting
industry experience 34 year old Ivy
leagueer and War veteran John Crosby
frustrated playwright and sometimes
theater critic who claimed he'd never
previously listened to the radio his
five-day a week column radio in review
was inauspiciously placed not in the
Middle with the other cultural criticism
but buried at the back of the paper
between the stock market quotes and the
want ads from the start Crosby's essays
exhibited a sense of intelligence
withering scorn for shoddy work and a
willingness to take radio seriously
his first column compared to promising
young comic Alan Young to the tradition
of Harold Lloyd's bumbling quirky and
kind American young man of silent film
comedy Crosby baldly announced his
dislike of the program's other comedian
George gessel Who somehow got mixed up
in the festivities and dampened them
considerably
Crosby expressed a fervent hope that
risque jokes about Jane Russell and
gessel would both disappear from Young's
show in the next days Crosby took the
Radio Networks to task for the violence
in children's programming suggesting
that kids would be better off reading
books instead of being exposed to so
much screaming and so many murders at
the end of his second week Crosby
showered effusive Praise on Fred Allen
in breakfast with Freddie and Tallulah
Crosby judged that radio's greatest wit
had created a sharp satire of the
blatantly over commercialized morning
programs like Mr and Mrs at home that
exposed the show's inanities with
explosive violence
Crosby devoted most of the column to
quoting the script of Alan's wickedly
funny skit
thin-skinned hosts Ed and peguin
Fitzgerald immediately took out a
full-page ad in variety protesting their
rude handling by Alan and Crosby even
reprinting Crosby's column and arguing
that their Show's popularity negated any
disparagement Crosby next addressed the
popular situation comedy Fibber McGee
and Molly praising the show's insight
into small town politics and culture its
creator Don Quinn understood that small
towns were not simply not a collection
of Homespun jokes but in fact an
intricate web of old feuds lifelong
friendships local custom and high
complicated family relationships Crosby
admiringly concluded that Jim and Marion
Jordan as the titular characters handle
all this with genuineness and air of
innocence and good nature about them
in his third week Crosby turned to Jack
Benny but instead of the mash notes he
sent to Alan and the Jordans he
lambasted Benny for his tired formulaic
humor
in the 14 years he has been on the air
Mr Benny has joked tirelessly Sunday
after Sunday about his age 37. his
stinginess his thinning hair his
jealousy of other radio comedians his
violin playing and Waukegan gradually
through the years the jokes on these
themes have been foreshortened to the
point where they would be unintelligible
to anyone who had never heard the Benny
Program if there is anyone like that
last Sunday Mr Benny and his announcer
held the following colloquy I'm giving
everyone a bonus check that'll help you
get back to California said Mr Benny get
back to California with this check turn
it over there's a road map on the other
side unless you know Benny pretty well
that gag would mean very little but the
veteran radio comedian has invented and
perfected a sort of radio family joke
Benny's idiosyncrasies excite both
laughter and sympathy the same way
father does when he leaves his umbrella
on the streetcar again it's not funny to
anyone outside the family
during the last year there have been
dark whisperings that Jack Benny was
seriously slipping that his material was
old his scripts poorly written there's
some truth to these charges the Benny
show is no longer put together with the
loving care he once lavished on it some
of his shows were shapeless and
floundering which you could never say
about a Benny Program in the old days
but I keep listening anyway I have been
listening to Jack Benny for so many
years my critical sense is paralyzed he
is like an old friend of whose faults
you are fully aware but are willing to
forgive
to intimate that Benny had retired in
place while Alan was at the top of his
game must have stung Benny's supporters
tried to spin the my critical sense's
paralyzed quip positively but it is
difficult not to take the essay as an
indictment of Benny's lapses in Creative
comedy writing Crosby brought
knowledgeable and demanding criteria to
radio's popular programs he excoriated
weak scripts and identified obnoxious
Personalities in poor performers he
published passages of poor dialogue to
expose its stupidity although he did not
discuss his intellectual underpinnings
Crosby's focus on the intellectual
values of programs aligned him with late
19th century cultural critics like
Matthew Arnold and the reviewers
contemporaries of Frankfurt School
cultural critics and their belief in the
superior value of high culture however
much he would have rather heard
Symphonies and poetry readings on the
radio however Crosby was populist enough
to unabashedly adore Fred Allen Edgar
Bergen who Fran and Ollie and even Amos
and Andy as well as hewing two
traditional techniques of the Arts
critic John Crosby used the tools of a
passionate fan publishing insistent
criticism and fault finding in order to
Spur performers and the medium to do
better Crosby was especially critical of
Jack Benny because he admired him and
thought Benny and his writers were
capable of creating much more incisive
comedy few readers of Crosby's widely
syndicated columns rushed to write in to
disagree with him about Benny or the
reviewer's denunciations of the excesses
and inanities of radio only Crosby's
diatribes against Liberace in 1954
created a sizable public backlash in
newspapers Across the Nation the
broadcasting industry nervously kept
tabs on Crosby's skyrocketing Fame and
influence in general it's agreed that
he's brought a refreshing note into the
journalistic picture that may prove to
Spur to additional radioactivity on the
part of newspapers not only in New York
but elsewhere throughout the country
reported variety
Newsweek magazine dubbed Crosby reporter
with a hammer and claimed that the
critic whose column was already
syndicated in eight other newspapers
expressed what a great portion of the
public had been feeling about certain
radio shows by newsweek's account 60 of
his reviews thus far had been negative
billboard noted the rise in public
interest in radio reviews
critical emphasis less straight
reporting seen as new tack for air
editors interesting angle on the whole
situation is the emergence in New York
of John Crosby's Herald Tribune column
as a Prestige pillar on a plane
comparable to Jack Gould's critical
writings in the New York Times level of
both the times and Tribune critiques is
causing much consternation admiration
and wonderment not only locally but in
areas far removed it's believed and
hoped this is only the beginning
radio comedians topped Crosby's list of
worst offenders in Fall 1946 with Benny
directly in the crosshairs of his
criticism
Jack Benny returned to the air for his
15th year within the first few moments
of his opening program Rochester pulled
a gag about stinginess within the next
10 minutes came in order a joke about
Petrillo one about those pens that ride
underwater and another concerning the
size of Don Wilson's stomach writing a
Benny script must be as precise and
standardized in operation as the chant
of speed Rigs of Goldsboro North
Carolina
tongue planted firmly in cheek Crosby
maintained that he was actually being
polite to Benny and the other 30-year
Veterans of Show Business who dominated
radio's prime time
when they came to radio they were fresh
personalities and highly skilled
entertainers if the bloom has worn off
it's because they have been imprisoned
by their own popularity in the same
routine they have not failed radio radio
has failed them
Crosby swung down hard on the top radio
comedians in a series of articles on
their growing obsolescence Crosby blamed
the structure of network radio a strange
and unyielding mixture of oil and water
or show business and advertising he
argued that success in radio had first
come to be measured by the volume of
studio audience laughter and Applause
not by critical appraisal of the quality
of the program
but while this debatable Innovation
might measure the Entertainer's Talent
the sponsors had to have some better way
to measure the listening audience
previously Show Business had but two
ways to judge success the pounding of
palm on Palm and the jingle of gold in
the box office the listening public
could neither applaud nor buy tickets so
the Crosley rating came into being
now ratings points a suspiciously vague
reduction of popularity to exact numbers
ruled programming choices quality was
nowhere to be found as a factor as the
same ratings getting programs returned
year after year without strong
competition from programs on networks or
other stations opposite their shows in
response Jack Hellman a variety defended
Benny's tried and true formula
most popular format in the comedy line
seems to be the one used for so many
years by Benny it combines the best
features of joke shows variety and a
segment of continuity it's really a
hybrid but it has been paying off for
years so what's wrong with that his is
one of the few comedy entries that
hasn't reached for something different
in trembling fear that the order must
change if the parade isn't to scoot past
them
by the end of 1946 John Crosby's tally
of critical Jabs at the comedians was
long he admitted that he just plain
hated Red Skelton and George gessel for
unfunny routines and that he nurtured an
ever-growing dislike of Milton berle's
radio work for stealing jokes and
formats from other Comics lame puns and
blue double entendras
Crosby announced that he was very weary
of the lackluster performances of Jack
Haley Frank Morgan Jack Carson Henry
Aldridge and Abbott and Costello Who's
finally honed Vaudeville routines he
admired but whose sloppy radio writing
appalled him
Eddie cantor's humor was sometimes
ancient and his songs were two but
Crosby appreciated him shouting out the
old Tunes Burns and Allen's formula was
really worn but a bit of Gracie when
she'd been off the air all summer
pleased him he was fond of the old but
neighborly nonsense of Fibber McGee and
Molly in the great Gildersleeve he
praised Bob Burns for storytelling with
a dark bitter Edge to his endless supply
of family stories and lemon Abner's old
but amusing corniness Crosby admired
Fred Allen Henry Morgan and Bergen's
Charlie McCarthy for their original wit
Ed Gardner of Duffy's Tavern for his use
of language and Amos and Andy for their
nonsensical silliness with language
their use of character comedy and for
remaining masters of timing and
inflection even as Crosby explained
their humor dealt in blackface
stereotyped fantasy that had no
relations to anyone's real lives Jimmy
Durante he liked for his kindness and
word play Crosby had a grudging respect
for Bob Hope's hard work but despaired
over the comics Reliance on double
entender's and formulaic jokes about
current topics like Sinatra nylons the
Lost weekend Petrillo the Czar of the
Musicians Union Jane Russell the housing
shortage and three-way stretch girdles
well in 1946 Crosby particularly
criticized Benny's comedy for being
stuck in a well-worn rut he also heaped
scorn on soap operas giveaway programs
and violent kids adventure shows he
praised the occasional broadcasting of
good music and news documentaries about
the Normandy invasion anniversary and
atomic bomb testing as he later noted
it's extremely difficult to write
enthusiasm with distinction the best
critics or at any rate the best known
critics have been caustic critics and
their most quoted Works have been in my
experience the most excoriating the late
great Percy Hammond tore apart a bad
play with surpassing skill but
approached a good play with the
inarticulate enthusiasm of a small boy
who has been given a nickel
Crosby's column had become so famous
that on December 30th 1946 the New York
Herald Tribune editors moved it up from
the back pages to reside among the
theatrical and music reviews editors
added a small photo of the handsome
author 90 newspapers Across the Nation
now syndicated his daily pronouncements
The Jack Benny mystery or Benny may be a
howl but you can't prove it by The
Script
recounting his appearance on Benny's
radio program Gilbert seldes had noted
the unremarkable nature of Benny's
printed scripts and how much of the
program's humor came from the cast's
performance of the written lines you add
all the cracks together and on paper it
seems that Benny isn't a funny man you
add the show together and you feel that
it is insanely funny
however John Crosby who admired
ereditely written scripts didn't quite
understand that in January 1947 Crosby
Drew on the strategy he'd used his
highest praise for radio comedy scripts
he considered outstanding of printing
portions of them and letting the
writing's Excellence speak for itself he
tried to use this method to praise Benny
but ended up instead pummeling Benny
further for perceived mediocrity the
incident began on December 29 1946 when
Crosby listened to the Benny Sunday
night program and thought it was so
outstanding that he quickly wrote a
letter of praise to Benny and his
writers in California and asked to
obtain a copy of the episode's script
writer Milt josephsburg terming the
whole Affair possibly the strangest
thing that ever happened in the history
of the Benny show and perhaps any show
in the history of broadcasting
remembered that the writing staff was
extremely proud to have gained Crosby's
notice an indication of how much
political and cultural power the
columnist had gained in just eight
months just a few days later they were
abashed to read Crosby's January 6 1947
column The Jack Benny mystery
one of the most mysterious things in the
world at least to me is the strange
quality of Genius that separates a good
comedy script from a bad one a couple of
Sundays ago Jack Benny offered his fans
a program which to my mind was as
hilarious as radio can ever get out of
curiosity I sent to the West Coast for
the script to determine if I could just
what curious Essence Mr Benny had blown
into this script to make it that funny
after reading the Benny script I'm as
much at Sea as ever even allowing for
Benny's great gift for pacing inflection
and timing I still don't see why the
darn thing should have made me laugh
like that in order that you may if you
like share my bewilderment I append
below an abbreviated version of the
Benny script you'll just have to take my
word for it that the broadcast version
was a very very comic
here is the dialogue Crosby quoted
Rochester Old Man River That Old Man
River he must know something but don't
say nothing he just keeps rolling he
keeps on Rolling Along old man Benny dad
old man Benny he won't waste nothing and
don't spend nothing he just keeps
rolling he keeps on Rolling Along you
should have seen him sweat and strain
when he spend a nickel he's wrapped with
pain
Benny off stage Rochester
Rochester tote that barge lived at bail
Benny Rochester Rochester
get a little drunk and you land in jail
Benny Rochester I've been calling you
Rochester Sorry boss I was carried away
with my own voice
Benny oh fine Rochester well I'm
becoming quite a popular singer you know
they call Bing Crosby the groaner Benny
uh-huh Rochester and they call Andy
Russell the swooner Benny I know and
what do they call you
Rochester The Razor's Edge
Benny you sound more like The Yearling
now Rochester my cast should be here
soon for rehearsal this is the holiday
season and I'd like to serve them the
eggnog I told you to make this morning
you did make it didn't you Rochester yes
sir
Benny is it good Rochester wanna smell
my breath Benny no thanks I'm on the
wagon but you know Rochester that's a
strange drink I wonder why anyone would
ever think of mixing eggs and bourbon
Rochester it's psychological boss
Benny psychological Rochester yeah the
eggs make you think you're getting
something very helpful
Benny uh-huh Rochester and the bourbon
makes that fact unimportant Benny well
that's logical by the way Rochester how
much eggnog did you make Rochester about
250 gallons Benny 250 gallons for
goodness sake Rochester I want to drink
it not bathing it Rochester well to each
his own Benny all right all right make
some sandwiches too door opens
Livingston hello Jack Benny hello Mary
come in you're the first one here
Livingston
Jack how come you called rehearsal so
early
Benny well Mary to tell you the truth I
have a date tonight Livingston with whom
Benny Gladys zabisco Livingston Gladys
zabisco ojac surely you can do better
than that Benny look Mary Gladys is very
nice she may not be the most beautiful
girl in the world but she has a nice
figure
Livingston I know but does she have to
walk that way Benny Mary that's not her
fault she's nearsighted and she
anticipates the curb in the middle of
the block by the way Mary would you like
a glass of eggnog Livingston sure Jack
I'd love to wait a minute who made the
eggnog then he Rochester Livingston
Benny why what's the matter Livingston
well Last Christmas I tasted some of
Rochester's eggnog and the next thing I
know I was at the Rose Bowl game Benny
oh you saw the game Livingston saw it
nothing I was playing left tackle for
Alabama
Crosby's column concluded that's just a
sample of the Benny dialogue just how he
manages to rest so many laughs out of
such harmless stuff is his own deep
Secret
Joseph Berg recalled the bewilderment
shock and anger the writers felt to have
some of their best work labeled in
joseph'sburg's words flat turgid
belabored and contrived Crosby had
completely discounted the impact of
superb acting vocal inflection comic
timing live Ensemble performance the
structuring of the gags to build upon
each other and the contribution of the
audience's reactions in the creation of
successful radio humor then he did not
publicly complain about Crosby unlike
skeleton and hope who took to the pages
of variety to hurl and vective at the
critic then he however had Jack Hellman
a variety makes snide comments about
grouchy reviewers
Benny and his writers sought a truce
with John Crosby who visited with them
in Palm Springs while on a junket trip
to the West Coast radio Production
Studios in February 1947. the critic
published several columns detailing his
discussions with Benny's writing staff
he learned more about the weekly
pressures and challenges of creating a
show Crosby explained that they put the
whole program together from bits like a
Ford car and competed with each other to
laugh loudest at their own jokes so that
they remain in the overlong script and
somebody else's humor is cut Crosby
reported on his conversations with
Benny's writers about the challenges
they faced of short deadlines and
restrictions placed on them by networks
and sponsors Crosby dealt with them
sympathetically if not praising their
skills to the level that he did with
Fred Allen
charges and counter charges
in Fall 1947 Fred Allen addressed the
controversy of radio critics continued
charges by completely agreeing with them
in his usual satiric mode Allen used his
first radio show of the season to poke
fun at the failings of the radio
comedians the episode opened thoroughly
disguised as an episode of the crime
drama Mr district attorney even using
that Show's theme music and regular
announcer with its lead actor Jay josten
and his faithful assistant Harrington
Len Doyle investigating what an amused
variety reviewer called the NBC crime
the case against comics with Alan cited
as the chief offender who returned to
the air season after season with the old
formula still intact that says the D.A
is a crime against the people at the
show's wind-up Allen is in Neck Deep
with a first degree rap against him
Allen's program being labeled murder
a few months later Crosby published his
fullest indictment yet of the broken
system of American Network programming
in an Atlantic Monthly essay stalled
resistance to new ideas fear of
experiment Reliance on Ancient formulas
have brought American radio almost to a
standstill announced its provocative
subtitle Crosby charged that while the
highest paid radio comedians brought in
the most listeners during the last 10
years the Criterion of pure popularity
has resulted in a freezing of broadcast
standards a highly developed resistance
to new ideas a distaste amounting almost
to revulsion against any form of
experimentation and a widespread and
depressing imitativeness
Crosby charged that all of the radio
comedians with the exceptions of Fred
Allen and Edgar Bergen rely heavily on a
never-changing formula invented almost
15 years ago by Jack Benny at whom all
the jokes are directed jokes about his
tight-fisted attitudes toward money his
waistline his hairline his violin
playing his age Mr Benny Bella was with
pain at each gag and the audience Roars
the Benny formula just happened to work
Crosby argued and consequently has been
perpetuated and will continue to be
perpetuated years ago comedians knew at
Radio cut records of Benny's broadcasts
and played them over and over again to
find out what made him tick they
imitated his inflections his minor
characters his pacing and even his jokes
today where Benny has Rochester Jack
Carson till recently had Arthur Treacher
Bob Hope Has Jerry Colonna and Ed Archie
Gardner has Eddie green each playing
Sancho Panza to his Masters Don Quixote
Paul laserfeld study the people look at
Radio had inquired sorrowfully if such
unrelenting derisive comedy was a
general function of humor or is it
especially characteristic of the
contemporaneous scene Crosby angrily
responded the answer is no to both
questions despite his frustration at the
limitations and failings of all the
Meeker replications Crosby was willing
to explore what made Benny's formula
that gold standard that every other show
was trying so desperately to ape he
acknowledged that copying Benny was not
as easy as it sounds
Benny a veteran of years of Vaudeville
is a master of timing and inflection
possibly the greatest on the air the
characters who surround him have been
selected and developed very shrewdly to
exploit the Benny personality somehow
Benny has contrived to teach each of
them his own Mastery of timing in
addition Denny has whittled away at the
classic formula of the joke until it is
assumed an entirely new shape a simple
hmm takes the place of the punch line
which the home audience can fill in for
itself James Berry once remarked that
the most dramatic parts of his plays
occurred when nothing at all was
happening on the stage similarly the
funniest parts of the Benny Program
occur when nobody is saying anything the
silence at these points is so pregnant
with meaning that nothing needs to be
said
failing to implicate the sponsors or
advertising agencies who designed their
programs specifically to closely copy
Benny's show and then brought in
Headliners to star in them Crosby blamed
the radio comedians themselves for this
sad State of Affairs he judged that the
Lesser Comics lacked the cultural taste
to demand scripts of a more literate
sophisticated level while all comedians
have writers they are their own judges
of the material the writers give them
and the level of humor in the program is
an almost automatic reflection of the
level of the critical Judgment of the
comedian in the case of Benny Allen and
Bergen it's high in the case of Bob Hope
Red Skelton Eddie Cantor and Abbott and
Costello it's low sometimes painfully so
by November 1948 New York Times radio
critic Jack Gould who had previously
showered Jack Benny with praise in 1946
arguing that Benny's program had so
improved that he should have won the
Peabody Award instead of Bergen now took
up John Crosby's cause and cudgel in a
Sunday Times magazine essay how comic is
Radio comedy Gould charged that programs
were suffering from monotony under
nourishment and repeats Gould took no
prisoners claiming that Allen's alley
was boring and old with the same
familiar characters and when will either
Jack Benny or Charlie McCarthy led a
weak pass without a reference to the
twin who waved her hair at home
Gould claimed that the major problem was
that radio characters remain the same
every week instead of changing with
every production like film or stage
rolls he also charged that the influence
of sponsors agencies and networks placed
undue pressures to censor out the kind
of edgy adult themes prevalent in
nightclub comedy and the limitations of
maintaining High Hooper ratings were
strangling like Crosby gold charged that
these restrictions had reduced radio
comedy to follow a rigid formula and
rely too heavily on topical humor
repetitive running gags and insult humor
Jack Benny responded to Crosby and Gould
in an essay gentlemen of depress
published in Variety in early January
1949. Crosby actually claimed Benny made
good points and republished a portion of
Benny's essay in his own radio and
Review newspaper column titling it down
with the critics while Benny tried to be
comic in defending himself against the
critics charges he did not contemplate
altering anything about the way he
constructed his program he claimed that
the critics were high culture killjoys
and that if the public applauded and
gave him high ratings why should he
change anything then he argued that
longevity in the comedian's time tested
finely honed comic personas were
actually the key markers of Comedy
success in radio in his telling the
entire configuration of prime time
programming would collapse if any old
dog tried to learn a new trick
at the end of the 1940s both Jack Benny
and John Crosby were at the top of their
respective Industries in radio comedy
and radio criticism Benny's biggest
concern fixing the problems with his
program appeared solved the show had
resurged in the ratings and was praised
in many places if not necessarily by the
top critics for its finely tuned scripts
and cast acknowledgment of his influence
and achievements would come in the
bitter struggle the CBS and NBC networks
waged over his services in late 1948 and
his anointment is one of the highest
paid and highest honored radio
performers
Benny could not single-handedly fix the
broken system around him where so many
other programs aped everything his
program did what might have addressed
this problem perhaps the radio industry
listening to the critics perhaps only a
force such as the network assuming much
greater responsibility for improving and
diversifying programming could have made
a greater change in the dullness of
radio programming rather than having the
decisions made by competing ad agencies
and sponsors indeed not only critics
concerns about radio's problems but also
radio's leaders smug satisfaction at
their success would very soon become
moot television broadcasting was
beginning and that forestalled any
concerted effort to make radio better as
Prime Time programming would soon be
just about Abandoned in a move forward
to TV even NBC radio president Niles
Trammell had admitted to Crosby in
January 1948 my future is entirely
wrapped up in sound broadcasting but I'm
the first to admit that when television
comes in sound broadcasting is finished
much of the critical Buzz of reviews and
commentary in radio industry trade press
and newspapers by the end of 1948 was
starting to be all about television even
though there were only 25 000 TV sets in
all of New York versus 60 million radio
sets the new medium's tale was going to
wag the broadcasting industry dog what
was Jack Benning going to do about
television and the widely predicted
death of radio when TV took hold
Nationwide critics wielding a great deal
of influence would also soon shift their
focus to TV they would speculate about
how old hat radio performers and genres
were going to adapt to the new medium or
not the Final Chapter explores how Benny
his writers and his cast attempted to
adapt radio humor to the visual medium
of TV and how critics sponsors ad
agencies and the public would shape the
program through their critical reactions
[Music]
thank you
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]