Jack Benny Program 40 12 22 Christmas Shopping
Join Jack and the gang in New York at the Ritz Theater, where Jack finds himself in a humorous argument with Rochester, who hasn't been around since their arrival. As they embark on their Christmas shopping adventure, they encounter Kenny Baker, who reveals he prefers working for Fred Allen over Jack.
This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.
Chapters
| Christmas Shopping | 29:30 |
Reviews
Nuts For Christmas
Dodsworth the Cat
This Christmas broadcast is before the days when every year, Jack Benny harassed a clerk played by Mel Blanc, but it's still a well-written show. The shopping portion only takes up a small part of the second half. As the show is done in New York, Minerva Pious and John Brown are in the cast (they were in Fred Allen's supporting cast), with writer Ed Beloin as a floorwalker. Rochester and Kenny Baker get applause a few lines into their dialogue instead of right away. Baker's presence shows there were no hard feelings when he left the Benny show before the end of the 1938-39 season to work exclusively on the Texaco Star Theatre. This was the repeat show for the West Coast. That's given away when Eddie Anderson muffs a line and Jack refers to the second show. Dennis Day is still at the stage where he shouts his lines. He calmed down after returning from military service. Jack tosses in a Babe Marks (Mary's sister) reference for no reason. There's a hitchhike ad for Sanka Coffee. I don't know who the announcer is.