October 28, 1950…’The Jack Benny Show’ Debuts On CBS
October 28, 1950…’The Jack Benny Show’ Debuts On CBS
The video here is a kinescope of that first show, with special guest Dinah Shore. Since Television City was still being built, this probably originated at the CBS Studios at 1313 Vine Street or from Studio A at Columbia Square.
On this debut show which includes singer Snooky Lansen selling cigarettes at the start and Mel Blanc’s debut as a guest on the show (9:15), as Mel plays a stage hand. The monologue and the sketch are about how Jack decided to go on television, and how he put his initial show together. Rochester sings “My Blue Heaven” while doing his housework. Mr. Kitzel drops by to wish Jack good luck. Dinah Shore sings “I’m Yours” over the phone to see if Jack approves of it for her guest spot. On the show, Ken Murray drops by to wish Jack good luck, and Dinah and Jack sing a duet: “I Oughta Know More About You”. The Sportsmen Quartet do the Lucky Strike commercial. Jack closes the program playing his signature song “”Love in Bloom” on the violin.
The regular and continuing ‘Jack Benny Show’ was telecast on CBS from October 28, 1950, to September 15, 1964, and on NBC from September 25, 1964, to September 10, 1965 with 343 episodes produced.
The television show was a seamless continuation of Benny’s radio program with many of the same players, the same approach to situation comedy and some of the same scripts.
The show appeared infrequently during its first two years on CBS as Benny moved into television slowly. In his first season (1950–1951), he only performed on four shows, but by the 1951-1952 season, he was ready to do one show approximately every six weeks. In the third season (1952–1953), the show was broadcast every four weeks. During the 1953-1954 season, Benny aired every three weeks. From 1954 to 1960, the program aired every other week, rotating with such shows as ‘Private Secretary’ and ‘Bachelor Father’.
Beginning in the 1960-1961 season, ‘The Jack Benny Show’ began airing every week. During the 1953-54 season, a handful of episodes were filmed at Desilu during the summer and the others were live, which allowed Benny to continue doing his radio show. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
The first few Jack Benny Shows originated from New York City and then, after September 1951 when the cable reached California from New York, from Los Angeles.
My first exposure to Jack Benny was when the old CBN Network (or what is now to the Generation X crowd, ABC Family) was rerunning his show in the late night hours, along with You Bet Your Life. I picked up a good Jack Benny Show DVD set at Wal-Mart a few months ago that I need to sit down and watch.
My most vivid memory of Halloween was when I was about five and we trick-or-treated in Beverly Hills. Back in the 50’s Jack Benny lived next door to Lucy and Desi who lived across the street from Jimmy Stewart. Roxbury Drive was dotted with tiny goblins and cowboys going door to door, we rang the Stewart’s bell. His housekeeper came out with a big bowl of candy. Next door at Lucy’s there was a bowl of hard candy on the porch with a sign that said, “Don’t you dare ring this Bell”.
Next came the Bennys. My mom rang the bell and suddenly there was Jack Benny standing over me. “Trick or Treat” I said. He looked down at me, “What’s your trick?” Since I was dressed as Santa (left over from the previous xmas), I sang a few verses of “Jingle Bells” for him and the rest of the stars at his party. He then reached in his pocket and handed me a silver dollar!
On TV, he was the cheapest man in the world – in real life he gave out money. This was an early lesson in the difference between the image and the reality.
As great as it was, the Jack Benny television show never quite hit its stride like the radio show did. I think Benny sensed that the characters he and his writers had been crafting for two decades were intrinsically radio ones, and the transition to television would be problematic. I think if he’d had had his wish, it would have been to avoid a regular series on television and continue on with the weekly radio show.
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