That isn’t quite the way George Olsen remembered it.
He claimed he suggested Benny be signed to his programme, and was therefore responsible for beginning Benny’s fame and fortune on radio and TV.
Unfortunately—at least for now—there’s nothing I can find from contemporary sources which confirm Olsen’s version of events, or even that Olsen was signed first for the show.
Variety of April 26, 1932 reveals Olsen and Benny had both been inked to start May 2nd on a show for Canada Dry. Benny had, not too many days before, begun a co-MCing job on stage with Lou Holtz; I can find no hint anywhere he was in talks to go on radio. However, Variety of April 12th talks about Olsen negotiating with NBC as his CBS deal was running out. Olsen soon made an appearance on WEAF (the flagship of the NBC Red network) on Louis Sobol’s Lucky Strike show. Benny, of course, was sponsored by Lucky Strikes years later. There was another Benny connection—the announcer was Howard Claney, who later plugged Chevrolets on one iteration of Jack’s show.
One thing is clear if you listen to that very first Canada Dry show—it’s as much Olsen’s show as it is Benny’s. Olsen and his singers seem to take up about half the time with musical numbers, with Jack doing “funny” patter in between. Mercifully, a decision was made to bring Olsen and his wife Ethel Shutta into the chatter and soon that was expanded to include the announcer and actors hired to play characters. The show became more and more comic, relying less and less on music.
This feature piece came from the Hackensack Record, Feb. 8, 1958. As the story indicates, Canada Dry’s agency, N.W. Ayer, moved the show to CBS later in the year. Olsen and Shutta stayed behind at NBC and hooked onto a show with Baron Munchausen (Jack Pearl) before year’s end.
George Olsen Gave Jack Benny A Big Push
Paramus Restaurateur Was Noted Band Leader In Years Gone Past
By KENNETH G. WALLACE
To the present generation of teen-agers and young people, the name of George Olsen may not mean a great deal. But to us a bit, er, more advanced in years, reference to George Olsen and his music brings back fond memories. In the phraseology of the younger set — man, he was the greatest.
Olsen, now a Bergen County resident (he lives in an apartment in River Edge) and mine host at a favorite dining spot, Olsen's on Paramus Road in Paramus, has come into the news recently with an invitation to appear with Jack Benny on a television show next Thursday. On the show, Shower of Stars, Benny is slated to make a memorable step — he's going to celebrate his 40th birthday.
Olsen decided not to make the trip to the West Coast to appear with Benny, only after being strongly tempted to make the long jaunt.
But just seeing Olsen's name in the publicity released by the Columbia Broadcasting System, brought back a lot of memories. It surprised us a bit, too, to learn from the publicity that Olsen had been instrumental in Jack Benny's career, and as a matter of fact had been largely responsible for making Benny a big star.
It seemed like a good excuse to visit Olsen at his intimate place and to mix business and pleasure. So we got George Olsen to sit down with us while we ordered lunch, asked him about this Jack Benny T. V. show business and got him started talking about old times. Talking, that is, in between phone calls every five minutes from prospective dishwashers for whom George had advertised.
Well, then, what was this about giving Benny his start? It was back in 1931, Olsen recalled. He had just finished a 4-week engagement at the Palace Theater on bills which had included such other personalities as Milton Berle, Beatrice Lillie, the Mills Brothers, Fifi D'Orsay, and other big stars, when he was called to do another series of radio shows. It should be recalled here that for nearly 10 years before that, George Olsen and His Music was one of the biggest attractions in show business and that he had created a tremendous following on radio with one of the most popular air shows of all time.
So Olsen ran through a long list of comedians at a booking agency and came across the name of Jack Benny. Now Benny wasn't exactly an unknown; he had been well-known in vaudeville, did night club work, etc., and Olsen figured this was the man he wanted.
So the broadcasts started. Some of you may still recall those introductions of Olsen's when he'd say: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jack Denny." And Benny would interrupt: "No, Mr. Olsen, not Denny; it's Benny, Jack Benny." Or maybe Olsen would say Ben Bernie, and get the sheepish correction again.
And you may recall, too, that it was Olsen who was the penny-pincher then — a role Benny has himself assumed. Anyway, the radio shows went on for 26 weeks, and as well as adding luster to Olsen's already long list of credits, it created a new radio character named Jack Benny.
Olsen got another offer — an increase to move to another network but he refused, saying he'd stay loyal to those who had started him. Benny, however, moved over and so the Jack Benny show was born.
And the career Olsen had started blossomed.
Benny or no Benny, Olsen went on as a big attraction just the same, playing all over the county at all the biggest theaters, hotels, night clubs, and on college occasions, until 1950, when the great George Olsen and His Music aggregation was disorganized and Olsen himself went into temporary retirement.
Olsen was born in Portland, Ore., and says he migrated into show business naturally since his father was a moving man and he helped bring sets and equipment into theaters. Just one look at the theater did it — and he was in it for the rest of his life. He got his big break when the band he had organized in Portland was heard by Fannie Brice and she recommended him to Ziegfeld. Ziegfeld brought him cast and two big hit shows immediately followed, "Kid Boots" in 1923 and the "Follies" in 1924 with Will Rogers and W. C. Fields.
Most people in this section of the country remember Olsen best for his music at the Pennsylvania Hotel and Pennsylvania Roof, where he played for nearly three years straight, after which he left to go into "Good News" in 1927 and "Whoopee" after that.
Ethel Shutta, whom George had married several years before, joined the band as the star vocalist in 1930 (she had been in several shows before, one of them "Louis the 14th" with Leon Errol) and many long-run engagements followed, including two years at the Ambassador in Los Angeles; two years at the College Inn and five years at the Edgewater Beach in Chicago. The marriage to Ethel Shutta ended in divorce and Olsen is now married to a former Englewood girl, Claralee Pilcer.
One of the biggest attractions in show business during his time, Olsen saw the handwriting on the wall as early as the Middle Thirties for the band business. As George puts it, every player wanted a band of his own and soon there were five bands for every date and it began to take the shape of a cannibalistic business. Olsen refused to have any part of it — and his price was met by those who wanted George Olsen and His Music. It got tougher as time went on, particularly as the players grumbled about the long jumps and after 4 more years at the Edgewater Beach, Olsen called it quits in 1950.
He loafed around a bit, joined Hackensack Golf Club and frankly admits he would have gone nuts being idle if it hadn't been for golf. You'd see him, as a matter of fact, in Charlie Mayo's pro shop in the middle of winter, dabbling with his golf clubs to keep busy.
Then he heard of the chance to buy the place on Paramus Road. So George bought it after thinking about it only a few days, and he's in the restaurant business now.
It's not exactly new to him, though. He was in business before — restaurants and night clubs along with his handwork and one of the places in which he had an interest was world-famous — the gigantic International Casino on Broadway, long since folded.
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