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He's stepping out and living large - and hoping someone else will grab the check! That's Jack Benny, living the high life with a galaxy of guest stars in this hilarious collection of 20 digitally restored and remastered episodes.
It's midcentury madness as Jack Benny slides smoothly into the 1950s with great guests, hilarious running gags, and even a song or two! This classic collection features 20 episodes from Jack's final years on radio, accompanied by his constant cohorts Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Bob Crosby, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Dennis Day, the Sportsmen Quartet, and Don Wilson.
It was the decade of a World War and a Cold War. It was the decade of the Zoot Suit and FDR. But most of all, it was the decade of Jack Benny! Radio's favorite comedian truly came into his own during the 1940s.
Jack Benny - he's your friend, my friend, and everyone's friend besides! He's always got his tried and true gang to pal around with, too, but that's not all! Throughout the 1940s and '50s, buddies from Burns & Allen to Bogie & Bacall came to play on his program. There were hilarious guest appearances by kings of comedy (Groucho Marx, Danny Kaye, and Red Skelton) and queens of the screen (Rita Hayworth, Barbara Stanwyck, and Dorothy Lamour).
A woebegone old car, a harried department store clerk, a monosyllabic man in a sombrero, and a train announcer whose line ran somewhere between Orange County and the Twilight Zone are all memorable characters from The Jack Benny Program, and all the products of a single talented throat: Mel Blanc. "The Man of a Thousand Voices" was Carmichael the Polar Bear, who lived improbably in Jack's cellar.
Born in Chicago, February 14, 1894, Benjamin Kubelsky would later become known as Jack Benny. As a boy, he was encouraged by his Jewish immigrant parents from Poland to become a concert violinist. He learned to play quite well and hit the vaudeville stage, where he played popular songs and honed a suave-but-fragile personality, telling self-deprecating jokes. Benny guested on the "Ed Sullivan" radio show March 19, 1932 and was an instant success.
He's stepping out and living large - and hoping someone else will grab the check! That's Jack Benny, living the high life with a galaxy of guest stars in this hilarious collection of 20 digitally restored and remastered episodes.
It's midcentury madness as Jack Benny slides smoothly into the 1950s with great guests, hilarious running gags, and even a song or two! This classic collection features 20 episodes from Jack's final years on radio, accompanied by his constant cohorts Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Bob Crosby, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Dennis Day, the Sportsmen Quartet, and Don Wilson.
It was the decade of a World War and a Cold War. It was the decade of the Zoot Suit and FDR. But most of all, it was the decade of Jack Benny! Radio's favorite comedian truly came into his own during the 1940s.
Jack Benny - he's your friend, my friend, and everyone's friend besides! He's always got his tried and true gang to pal around with, too, but that's not all! Throughout the 1940s and '50s, buddies from Burns & Allen to Bogie & Bacall came to play on his program. There were hilarious guest appearances by kings of comedy (Groucho Marx, Danny Kaye, and Red Skelton) and queens of the screen (Rita Hayworth, Barbara Stanwyck, and Dorothy Lamour).
A woebegone old car, a harried department store clerk, a monosyllabic man in a sombrero, and a train announcer whose line ran somewhere between Orange County and the Twilight Zone are all memorable characters from The Jack Benny Program, and all the products of a single talented throat: Mel Blanc. "The Man of a Thousand Voices" was Carmichael the Polar Bear, who lived improbably in Jack's cellar.
Born in Chicago, February 14, 1894, Benjamin Kubelsky would later become known as Jack Benny. As a boy, he was encouraged by his Jewish immigrant parents from Poland to become a concert violinist. He learned to play quite well and hit the vaudeville stage, where he played popular songs and honed a suave-but-fragile personality, telling self-deprecating jokes. Benny guested on the "Ed Sullivan" radio show March 19, 1932 and was an instant success.
Among radio comedy's most enduring features were its running gags - and few gags ran longer, or more hilariously, than the legendary feud between two of its great masters: Jack Benny and Fred Allen. For nearly 20 years the mere mention of Benny on an Allen program was guaranteed to produce an escalating laugh - just as bringing Allen up with Benny had listener in stitches at the mere anticipation of a response. This collection brings together the classic episodes that started it all, to the showdown that was supposed to end it once and for all.
Logically illogical - that's Gracie Allen! And you can imagine what that means for her long-suffering husband, George Burns! Here are 16 laugh-packed adventures with the people who live in the Burns house, costarring announcer Bill Goodwin, musical director Meredith Willson, and Mel Blanc (as the Happy Postman)! Listen along as Gracie encourages George to get more romantic and discourages his singing.
Lights! Microphone! Action! Hilarious Hollywood spoofs were a beloved feature on many classic Jack Benny radio shows. Regular cast members and guest stars alike were recruited to send up cinema classics like Casablanca, High Noon, and Sunset Boulevard. Celebrities could count on large laughs - and, looking good next to Jack's lovably vainglorious and miserly self - while poking fun at their most famous films.
Who's laughing now? It's you! Why? Because you're settling back with a rib-tickling collection of great radio comedy! All of your favorites are here: Jack and Fred, Phil and Alice, Fibber and Molly, Edgar and Charlie, George and Gracie, Lum and Abner, Snooks and Daddy, and many more! Crack a smile as the kings and queens of comedy crack wise. Here are 24 digitally restored and remastered episodes of radio revelry from shows that have kept Americans in stitches for more than 50 years.
When you're the country's favorite radio comedian, you tend to have a lot of friends. And those friends can't wait to have you stop by for a visit, crack a joke or two, play a fiddle solo, or even step out of character for a rare dramatic turn. Such was the case with Jack Benny. Consistently near the top of the rating charts with his own program, Jack was a popular guest artist on dozens of different series.
As a comic instrumentalist, sawing away week after week at his violin, Jack Benny stood as radio's reigning off-key virtuoso, producing more laughs per measure than any other comic before or since. This seven hour set of 14 digitally remastered radio episodes finds Benny and his badly squeaking bow mangling the classics and infuriating the long-suffering Professor Andre LeBlanc (Mel Blanc). He also discovers his "talent" as a songwriter - a skill every bit as highly developed as his ability with the violin.
Our Miss Brooks was a hit on radio from the outset; within eight months of its launch as a regular series, the show landed several honors, including four for Eve Arden, who won polls in four individual publications of the time. Arden had actually been the third choice to play the title role. Harry Ackerman, at the time CBS's West Coast director of programming, wanted Shirley Booth for the part.
Jim & Marian Jordan star as Fibber and Molly McGee, holding down the home front in these war-year episodes. Fighting the battle of Wistful Vista involves volunteering for the Red Cross, dealing with shortages, contributing to scrap metal and war bond drives, and sending letters by V-Mail...plus keeping an eye out for spies and an ear out for patriotic songs performed by The King's Men.
Whose Body? first introduced Lord Peter to the world and begins with a corpse in the bath of a London flat. Clouds of Witness finds Wimsey investigating murder close to home, and in Unnatural Death he investigates the suspicious demise of an elderly woman. First broadcast on BBC radio in the 1970s and presented here in their entirety, these full-cast adaptations are admired by fans of the genre worldwide.
Who knows how to make you laugh? The Nose Knows! Here's the one, the only...Jimmy Durante! And he brings you his distinctive blend of raucous slapstick and aggressive wordplay, overlaid with just a touch of lovable sentimentality. Here are 16 half-hour broadcasts of boisterous fun, featuring Arthur Treacher, Victor Moore, Candy Candido, and Peggy Lee. And you'll hear a whole barrel of famous guest stars, including Lucille Ball, President Harry Truman, Dorothy Lamour, Van Johnson, and more!
They've been called the most successful husband and wife comedy team in history, and you'll find no dissension in these ranks. George Burns and Gracie Allen had a chemistry and wit about them that had no parallel. In this sampling of programs from the 1940s, George and Gracie face new livelihoods (and livestock) and mad undertakings (and misunderstandings). They budget and blunder alongside Bill Goodwin, Meredith Willson, Mel Blanc, and special guest Jack Benny.
Six of the funniest hour-long episodes by comedy master Fred Allen, from his live radio show. This wonderful blast from the past presents each episode exactly as it aired on the radio - including the commercials! Fred Allen was an American comedian whose absurdist, pointed radio show, made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the so-called classic era of American radio.
Any comedian can be funny in the studio, but domestic comedy is usually considered the province of actors who happen to do comedy. Jack Benny straddled the two roles for most of his career - the suave, witty master of ceremonies standing on stage in front of a curtain one moment; the put-upon householder tormented by a bumptious servant, eccentric friends, and troublesome neighbors the next. Jack, for all his high-flown show-biz pretensions, became everyone's favorite put-upon suburbanite.
Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Dennis Day, and Don Wilson all make regular visits to Jack's place, along with favorites like Mel Blanc, Frank Nelson, Artie Auerbach, and the Sportsmen Quartet - plus, some very special guest stars like Frank Sinatra, Boris Karloff, and Claudette Colbert!
The 16 digitally restored and remastered broadcasts include: Jack Opens Swimming Pool for the Season, 04-18-43; Jack Offers Frank Sinatra Dennis' Job, 10-08-44; Jack Tries to Break His Contract with the Sportsmen, 11-03-46; I Was Condemned, 01-19-47; Jack Fixes a Phonograph and Buys a Baseball Team, 04-13-47; Jack and The Gang Listen to the World Series, 10-10-48; Jack Tries to Reach His Advertising Agency, 11-21-48; How Jack and The Gang Spent Thanksgiving, 11-28-48; Don Still Won't Sign His Contract 01-30-49; Don Signs a New Contract 02-06-49; Jack Takes Inventory of His Pantry and Has a Memory Loss, 10-02-49; Jack's Memory Is Lost and Found, 10-09-49; Recovering From a Cold, 10-16-49; Trimming the Tree, 12-25-49; Jack Gets the House Painted, 04-16-50; Beverly Wilshire Health Club, 01-30-55.