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JACK BENNY PROGRAM, THE - Entire Cast Show

Air Date/Released Sunday, October 3, 1954
Station/Studio CBS / J&M Productions
Featuring Joe Besser (Solo)

Jack Benny adapted his long-running 1930s - 1950s radio show to television in 1950, with the characters and characterizations that made his show a Sunday night favorite for decades. As the TV show progressed thru the 1950s, some of the regular cast retired, e.g., Jack's real-life wife Mary 'Livingstone' Benny, and the show focused more on Jack's "on-air variety show" adventures with guest stars. Regardless, Benny's vain and cheap characterization never changed, and radio cast members Mary, Dennis Day, Phil Harris, Bob Crosby, Artie Auerbach, Sheldon Leonard and The Sportsmen Quartet continued to make guest and cameo appearances. Don Wilson, Mel Blanc and Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson were supporting mainstays throughout its run, and Jack's television program remained a quality, comedy classic until it ended in 1965.

After Jack falls asleep onstage during his monologue about attending the premiere of A STAR IS BORN (1954), Don comes out to explain that Jack has been a nervous wreck over this season's first episode, and introduces a flashback look at Jack's "bad" comedic day. Baseball legend Ted Williams appears in a Lucky Strike commercial. Joe Besser guests as 'Joey,' Jack's excitable studio dresser who thinks his boss is cracking up and sends for a doctor.


Cast: Jack Benny (Himself), Eddie Anderson (Rochester Van Jones), Don Wilson (Himself), Bill Days, Gurney Bell, Robert Garsen, Martin Sperzel (The Sportsmen Quartet), Bea Benaderet (Gertrude Gearshift), Sara Berner (Mabel Flapsaddle), Frank Nelson (Doctor), Joe Besser (Joey), Benny Rubin (Orange juice man), Jessyln Fax (Martha), Gloria Gordon (Emily), Pierre Watkin (Wellington Art Gallery man), Madie Norman (Susie), Billy Halop (Delivery man), Andre Baruch (Commercial announcer), Dorothy Collins (Woman in commercial), Ted Williams (Himself), Laura Anders, Mary Benoit, June Earle, Stuart Hall, Tommy Mann

Crew: Ralph Levy (Director), Hilliard Marks (Producer), Sam Perrin, George Balzer, Milt Josefsberg, John Tackaberry (Writers), Mahlon Merrick (Musical Conductor)
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