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The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, is a radio and television comedy series. The show ran for over three decades, from 1932 to 1955 on radio, and from 1950 to 1965 on television. It won numerous awards, including the 1959 Emmy for Best Comedy Show, and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century American comedy.Throughout his career, Jack Benny played the same character: A pompous, vain, and stingy man who played the violin badly but was convinced of his own talent. Although technically the star of his show, Benny was constantly the butt of jokes from his cast members, including Mary Livingstone (Sayde Marks Benny, his real-life wife); Phil Harris, his band leader; Kenny Baker or Dennis Day, his tenors; Don Wilson, his portly announcer; and Rochester Van Jones (Eddie Anderson), his African-American valet. As radio historian John Dunning explains, “Unlike Bob Hope, Jack Benny didn’t tell jokes. On his show, Jack was the joke. Everything revolved around him and his comic foibles, with Benny serving as ‘straight man.’ The other characters on the show were the comedians, making wisecracks, remarks, and asides about Benny’s stinginess, his vanity, or his lousy violin-playing.” Format On both television and radio, The Jack Benny Program used a loose show-within-a-show format, wherein the main characters were playing versions of themselves. The show often broke the fourth wall, with the characters interacting with the audience and commenting on the program and its advertisements.In his first years on radio (c. 1932–1935), Jack Benny followed the format of many other radio comedians, standing at the microphone, telling jokes and stories, and introducing band numbers. As the characters of Jack and his cast became more defined, the show took on a "variety show" format, blending sketch comedy and musical interludes. The show usually opened with announcer Don Wilson doing a commercial for the sponsor (e.g. Jell-O or Grape Nuts Flakes), accompanied by a musical number from the orchestra. Wilson would then introduce Jack Benny as the "Master of Ceremonies," and banter with him. Gradually, the rest of the cast members – including Mary Livingstone, bandleader Phil Harris, and tenor Kenny Baker or Dennis Day – would "walk on" to join the conversation. The banter between Benny and the regulars generally covered the news of the day, Jack's latest exchange in his ongoing feud with Fred Allen, or one of the running jokes on the program, such as Jack's stinginess, his age, or his vanity, Phil's habitual drunkenness, egotism, or illiteracy, Don's obesity, Dennis' stupidity, or Mary's letters from her mother.As the show progressed, Jack might be interrupted by a phone call from his valet, Rochester (Eddie Anderson), reporting some problem at Benny's home (e.g. with Jack's pet polar bear, Carmichael, or with his crazy wartime boarder, Mr. Billingsley). Occasionally, Andy Devine or the Jewish character, Schlepperman (Sam Hearn), would make an appearance. At some point, Jack would tell the tenor it was time for their singing number ("Sing, Kenny!" or "Dennis, let's have your song."). Don Wilson would insert another commercial for the sponsor, and the band would do a "Big Band" number (ostensibly led by Phil Harris, although conductor Mahlon Merrick actually led the band). The second half of the show would be devoted to a comedy sketch. Jack might leave the studio and go home to handle some problem (e.g. getting Carmichael to take his medicine). Or there would be a miniplay (e.g. "Buck Benny Rides Again," or a murder mystery starring Jack as Police Captain O'Benny), or a satire of a current movie (e.g. "Snow White and the Seven Gangsters"). In some episodes, Jack closed the show with brief instructions to his band leader ("Play, Phil."), and the band would play a final musical number, as Don Wilson did a final commercial. Over the years, The Jack Benny Program evolved into the modern domestic situation comedy form, crafting particular situations and scenarios from the fictionalized life of Jack Benny, the radio star. For example, an entire show might be devoted to Jack taking a violin lesson, instructed by his harried violin teacher, Professor LeBlanc (played by Mel Blanc). Common situations included hosting parties, nights on the town, income-tax time, contract negotiations, "backstage" interactions between Jack and his cast during show rehearsals at the radio studio, traveling in the Maxwell, or traveling by train or plane to and from Jack's many personal appearances throughout the country (hence the "Train leaving on track five" running gag). The sitcom shows usually opened at Jack's house in Beverly Hills, with Jack handling some common domestic task (e.g. Spring cleaning or organizing the pantry), with help from Rochester. As the show progressed, Jack would receive visits or phone calls from Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris or Bob Crosby (who replaced Harris as the radio show's "band leader" in 1952), and Dennis Day. Following an exchange with Day, Benny would order him to "rehearse" a song ("Let's hear the song that you're going to sing on my show tomorrow night."), and Dennis would sing a number. Don Wilson would bring the Sportsmen Quartet over to Jack's house, to sing a new commercial for the sponsor, Lucky Strike Cigarettes, to Benny's consternation.Later in the show, Jack might step out to handle some common errand, such as going to the dentist, or visiting a store to buy a new suit, where the dentist or store clerk would inevitably turn out to be Frank Nelson. While on these errands, he might encounter Mr. Kitzel (Artie Auerbach), the race track tout (Sheldon Leonard) or John L.C. Sivoney (Frank Fontaine). In other shows, Jack might fall asleep while reading a book in his study (e.g. "I Stand Condemned" or "The Search for the Elephant's Graveyard"), and dream that he was the star of the story he was reading. In the 1950s, as The Jack Benny Program gravitated to television, the "domestic sitcom" became the show's standard format, often with Benny introducing the episode onstage. Scripts and storylines from radio show episodes were re-used and adapted for TV episodes, with the writers using visual gags and settings (e.g. Jack's underground vault) that had previously been described on air and left to the radio listeners' imaginations. Radio Jack Benny first appeared on radio as a guest of Ed Sullivan in March 1932. He was then given his own show later that year, with Canada Dry Ginger Ale as a sponsor – The Canada Dry Ginger Ale Program, beginning May 2, 1932, on the NBC Blue Network and continuing there for six months until October 26, moving the show to CBS on October 30. With Ted Weems leading the band, Benny stayed on CBS until January 26, 1933.Arriving at NBC on March 3, Benny did The Chevrolet Program until April 1, 1934, with Frank Black leading the band. He continued with The General Tire Revue for the rest of that season, and in the fall of 1934, for.... Discover the Jack Jokes popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Jack Jokes books.