Follow a Star · 1932–1955
Jack Benny
The man who owned the pause
Benny's whole art was subtraction: he gave the jokes to his cast and kept the silence for himself. The journey runs from his own Sunday programme through the manufactured feud that made him a national event, out to the savings-bond shows and the film adaptations where he turned up as a guest playing himself.
309 recordings across 4 chapters
Chapter 1 · 1932–1955
showing 40 of 225
The Sunday habit
His own programme — Rochester, Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Dennis Day and the vault. Listen to two in a row and you hear the cast getting funnier while Benny does less.
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JB Jack's 1st Paying MC Job
The Jack Benny Program · 1932 · 29 min
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JB Outstanding Achievements of 1932 Review
The Jack Benny Program · 1933 · 16 min
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JB Bertha the Sewing Machine Girl (Pr Snd)
The Jack Benny Program · 1933 · 14 min
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JB Mae West Skit - She Done Him Right
The Jack Benny Program · 1933 · 29 min
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JB Edward G Robinson
The Jack Benny Program · 1933 · 29 min
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JB Who Killed Mr X Pt 2 & Sherlock Holmes
The Jack Benny Program · 1933 · 29 min
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JB Who Killed Mr X Pt 3 & Sherlock Holmes
The Jack Benny Program · 1933 · 29 min
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JB Uncle Tom's Cabin (Pr Snd Improves)
The Jack Benny Program · 1933 · 27 min
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JB Miniature Women
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 20 min
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JB Don't Live Right
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 17 min
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JB My Life As A Floorwalk
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 14 min
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JB Duel in the Graveyard
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 17 min
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JB Haunted House
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 18 min
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JB An Arizona Western
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 19 min
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JB The Eternal Triangle
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 18 min
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JB Frank Parker's Music Store (Pr Snd Improves)
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 25 min
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JB Bridge Game (Pr Snd)
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 18 min
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JB New Hampshire Through a Keyhole
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 3 min
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JB The Hills of Kentucky
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 20 min
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JB (INC) Home Cooking at Don's
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 11 min
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JB A Visit to the Parkers
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 16 min
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JB Who Killed Mr Stooge #5
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 27 min
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JB The Stooge Murder Case 1
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 16 min
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JB The House of Rothchild
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 20 min
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JB House of Benny
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 30 min
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JB School Days (Much Skipping)
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 11 min
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JB School Days
The Jack Benny Program · 1934 · 18 min
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Cinderallen
The Jack Benny Program · 1936 · 29 min
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Clown Hall Tonight
The Jack Benny Program · 1936 · 29 min
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Ah Wilderness
The Jack Benny Program · 1936 · 26 min
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Phil Harris's first show
The Jack Benny Program · 1936 · 29 min
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JB Buck Benny
The Jack Benny Program · 1936 · 27 min
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JB Buck Benny
The Jack Benny Program · 1936 · 30 min
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JB Buck Benny
The Jack Benny Program · 1936 · 26 min
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JB Money Ain't Everything
The Jack Benny Program · 1936 · 29 min
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JB Buck Benny
The Jack Benny Program · 1936 · 28 min
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JB #237 Old-Fashioned Xmas Party
The Jack Benny Program · 1936 · 28 min
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JB Buck Benny
The Jack Benny Program · 1936 · 29 min
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JB Buck Benny
The Jack Benny Program · 1937 · 29 min
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Jack Benny Program 37-01-10 (240) Buck Benny Rides Again Ten
The Jack Benny Program · 1937 · 29 min
Chapter 2 · 1936–1949
The feud with Fred Allen
The insult war that ran across two networks for over a decade. These are the Allen broadcasts whose own titles name Benny — the other half of the argument.
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Jack Benny Interview
The Fred Allen Show · 1940 · 46 min
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Jack Benny Interview
The Fred Allen Show · 1940 · 46 min
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Jack Benny's 10th Anniversary
The Fred Allen Show · 1941 · 58 min
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Jack Bennys' 10th Anniversary
The Fred Allen Show · 1941 · 58 min
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Texaco Star Theater (31) Jack Benny's 10th Anniversary
The Fred Allen Show · 1941 · 58 min
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Texaco Star Theater (15) Guest - Jack Benny
The Fred Allen Show · 1943 · 31 min
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Texaco Star Theater (55) Benny Goodman is breaking up his band
The Fred Allen Show · 1944 · 29 min
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FredAllen-460526 The Fred Allen Show-King for a Day (Guest Jack Benny)
The Fred Allen Show · 1946 · 28 min
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FredAllen-480627 The Fred Allen Show-Cease the Melody (Guest Jack Benny)
The Fred Allen Show · 1948 · 29 min
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FredAllen-490626 The Fred Allen Show-The Final Fred Allen Show (Guests Jack Benny, Henry Morgan)
The Fred Allen Show · 1949 · 28 min
Chapter 3 · 1947–1955
showing 24 of 65
Selling savings bonds
The Treasury's Guest Star had no sponsor and no ratings to protect, so the biggest names worked cheap and loose. Benny appears again and again.
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Lux 1937-02-15 Brewster's Millions - Jack Benny
Guest Star · 1937 · 59 min
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JGBS 1938-07-20 Raleigh Kool - Guest Jack Benny
Guest Star · 1938 · 26 min
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Lux 1938-09-26 Seven Keys To Baldpate w Jack Benny
Guest Star · 1938 · 59 min
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JBGS 1939-10-29 Eddie Cantor's 25th Anniversary Dinner (Benny Excerpt)
Guest Star · 1939 · 9 min
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JBGS 1940-01-20 March Of Dimes Program (Benny Excerpt)
Guest Star · 1940 · 12 min
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CPH 1940-03-24 June Moon - Jack Benny
Guest Star · 1940 · 1h 0m
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FA 1940-06-19 Jack Benny
Guest Star · 1940 · 46 min
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TST 1941-05-07 Amos and Andy - Jack Benny's 10th Anniversary
Guest Star · 1941 · 59 min
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CP 1942-05-07 Jack Benny, Betty Grable
Guest Star · 1942 · 28 min
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CP 1942-07-14 Edward Arnold, Ethel Waters, Jascha Heifitz, Jack Benny
Guest Star · 1942 · 30 min
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CP 1942-11-10 Jack Benny, Alice Faye, Cass Daley
Guest Star · 1942 · 29 min
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EC 1942-11-25 Jack Benny
Guest Star · 1942 · 29 min
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CP 1942-12-24 Christmas Special - Jack Benny
Guest Star · 1942 · 1h 0m
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FA 1943-01-10 Jack Benny - The Substitute Violinist
Guest Star · 1943 · 29 min
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EC 1943-06-09 Burns & Allen, Jack Benny, Groucho
Guest Star · 1943 · 29 min
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BA 1943-11-02 Gracie blackmails Jack Benny
Guest Star · 1943 · 29 min
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CP 1943-12-25 Christmas Special - Jack Benny
Guest Star · 1943 · 1h 30m
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MC #072 1944-01-05 Jack Benny, Judy Garland
Guest Star · 1944 · 30 min
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MC 1944-01-05 #072 Jack Benny - Sorry Wrong Number
Guest Star · 1944 · 28 min
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CP 1944-06-17 Jack Benny, Harpo Marx, Bing Crosby
Guest Star · 1944 · 29 min
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JBGS 1944-08-29 Jack Benny From New Caledonia
Guest Star · 1944 · 16 min
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CP 1944-09-30 All American Jam Session w Jack Benny
Guest Star · 1944 · 29 min
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JBGS 1944-11-20 Jubilee #109 Jack Benny & Rochester
Guest Star · 1944 · 30 min
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JBGS 1944-11-26 Stop or Go - Joe E Brown host, Orson Welles, Jack Benny, Dorothy Lamour
Guest Star · 1944 · 28 min
Chapter 4 · 1939–1952
At the picture house
Lux Radio Theatre and the Screen Guild Theater put film stars in front of a live audience with an hour to fill. Benny's turns are the closest radio came to filming him.
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Jack Benny Program 39-01-15 Jack's Screen Guild Theater Performance
Screen Guild Theater · 1939 · 29 min
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Jack Benny
Screen Guild Theater · 1940 · 29 min
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Why Jack Benny Will Not Appear On The Program (October 20, 1940)
Screen Guild Theater · 1940 · 29 min
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Jack Benny
Screen Guild Theater · 1940 · 30 min
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er (57) Jack Benny
Screen Guild Theater · 1940 · 29 min
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Screen Guild Theater 430614 Love Is News (Jack Benny)
Screen Guild Theater · 1943 · 29 min
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Why Jack Benny Will Not Appear On The Program (March 27, 1944)
Screen Guild Theater · 1944 · 30 min
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Ham For Sale (March 27, 1944) (AKA Why Jack Benny Will Not Appear On The Program)
Screen Guild Theater · 1944 · 28 min
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A Medal for Benny
Lux Radio Theater · 1945 · 57 min
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