The various poems and statements sent in became the property of Benny so, naturally, newspapers were loath to publish anything but the winning verse announced on the radio. However, we do know a bit about one of the other entrants, thanks to dusty old newspapers.
The Detroit Free Press reported on January 28, 1946:
Detroit Girl Wins $1000 for Radio GagNo, the Free Press didn’t publish what she wrote; it would have needed permission from Benny’s people. We therefore can’t tell you what she penned. However, we can tell you Miss O’Hara was a serial contest entrant and had some experience on the radio.
Miss Joyce O'Hara, of 1014 Dragoon, a semi-invalid poetess whose contributions have appeared occasionally in Malcolm Bingay's "Good Morning" column, Sunday night was named winner of $1,000 in War Bonds in the "Why I Can't Stand Jack Benny" radio contest.
MISS O'HARA'S reasons were adjudged third best among 277,000 entries. Miss Wanda Morley, of 1518 Pennsylvania, was one of 51 winners of $100.
The contest started Dec. 2 on the Jack Benny broadcast over a national network. Judges were Fred Allen, Goodman (Easy) Ace and Peter Lorre.
She was born Joyce Elizabeth Campbell in Michigan on April 14, 1907. At the age of 11, she was run over by a car after running into the street, and the driver couldn’t stop in time. Nonetheless, that didn’t stop her from taking up highland dancing when she attended Northern High School. In 1926, the Free Press published her picture with the caption about she was working hard to win a round-trip to Europe offered by the local Shrine temple.
Campbell graduated in 1927 and left Detroit to begin studies in music at Lake Forest, Illinois. She returned to Detroit because we find her in 1930 appearing on the Disabled American Veterans show with Helen Lewis and her Merrymakers over WMBC. In 1933, she had her own 15 minute show on WEXL. Then tragedy struck again. From the Free Press of June 21st that year:
Miss Campbell, twenty-two-year-old torch singer whose professional name is Joyce O'Hara, suffered head and spine injuries in an automobile accident as she was returning from a Royal Oak broadcasting studio Tuesday afternoon. When the car in which she was riding, driven by Andrew McDonald, 1014 Dragoon Ave., was struck in the rear by the automobile of S. V. Rose, 2967 Boston Blvd., she was hurled against the windshield. Treated by a private physician, she was taken to her home, also at 1014 Dragoon Ave.
She later moved to Los Angeles where she died on February 12, 1979.
As mentioned above some of her other poetry was published in the Free Press and picked up by newspapers across the U.S. Allow me to reprint one from December 21, 1934. We can imagine this might have been the style she used in her entry to the Benny show.
"The Ladies."
Who are their best friends
The fair sex wonder
As cosmetic jars
They daily plunder.
They powder their noses
And tint their nails,
Platinum their hair,
To be elegant frails.
They bathe and diet,
They fuss and fume;
Just one wrinkle
Would prove their doom.
But what do they do
For their very best friends
Who keep on the run
Till the long day ends?
Always so faithful,
Never asking dues,
Wearing short stockings
And too tight shoes.
Who takes them out,
Willing and spry,
And when they are ready
Brings them home on high?
Whence comes their help
When morals slide?
It's their trusty feet
That walk home from a ride.
Never faltering
Through mud, rain or sleet
A woman's best friends
Are her two little feet!
Joyce O'Hara
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