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JACK BENNY PROGRAM, THE / aka THE GRAPE NUTS FLAKES PROGRAM - Spoof of Information Please

Air Date/Released Sunday, January 17, 1943
Station/Studio NBC Red (radio)
Host/Star Jack Benny
Featuring Joe Besser (Solo)

Jack Benny 1930s - 1950s radio show, noteworthy for the characters and characterizations that made his show a Sunday night favorite. Benny’s regular cast of characters included girlfriend Mary Livingstone (Jack’s real-life wife), vocalist Dennis Day, bandleader Phil Harris, announcer Don Wilson, and valet Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson. A trademark of the show was its ensemble chemistry, and writers that wrote as much for the supporting cast’s comic characterizations as they did for the star… e.g., Day’s dumb kid, Harris’ hard-partying bandleader with an orchestra of drunks and ne’er-do-wells, Mary with a wisecrack at the ready to deflate Jack’s vanity, etc.

In New York City, the evening’s broadcast preceded Jack giving a benefit violin concert for Infantile Paralysis at Carnegie Hall, or as guest bandleader Abe Lyman says “Canarsie Hall.” The night’s special guest was Oscar Levant and his dry wit, who was also Benny’s pianist for the benefit. The cast engages in comic banter about the upcoming concert, and Dennis sings “Three Dreams.” Expecting to be an actor in a Benny “drama play,” excitable Joe Besser arrives to find himself recast as one of the contestants in a spoof of the radio quiz show “Information Please.”


Joe Besser’s radio debut. Given several spotlight moments, Besser’s trademark comic bits went over big with the audience and cast. Joe is credited as currently appearing on Broadway in Olsen & Johnson’s SONS O' FUN.

Abe Lyman was one of several guest conductors for the Benny program in late 1942 and early 1943 when Phil Harris was serving in the Merchant Marine.

Cast: Jack Benny (Himself, Clifton Bennyman), Don Wilson (Announcer), Mary Benny (Mary Livingstone), Eddie Anderson (Rochester Van Jones), Dennis Day (Himself), Abe Lyman (Orchestra), Oscar Levant (Himself), Joe Besser (Himself), Bob Welch (Messenger)

Crew: Ed Beloin, Bill Morrow (Writers)
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