Jack Benny on TV, 1939

You’ve likely read that Jack Benny made his radio debut on an Ed Sullivan radio show in 1932. Jack made the claim himself. It’s wrong. He made a number of appearances on radio before that.

And you’ve likely read that Jack Benny made his television debut during the ceremony dedicating KTTV on March 8, 1949.

Guess what?

Broadcasting magazine reported on a much earlier televised appearance of Jack Benny in its edition of September 1, 1939.

RCA was pushing television hard at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, airing daily programming on W2XBS, its experimental station that went commercial in 1941. But amazingly, Benny didn’t appear on small screens there, but in Minnesota.

There wasn’t a TV station there at the time, but there was a radio station (and still is) called KSTP. RCA was barnstorming the country with a mobile unit, or units, and one parked itself in Minneapolis in early August 1939. KSTP worked out an arrangement to televise the American Legion Convention parade to a solitary set in the convention’s headquarters at the Radisson Hotel. Coincidentally, Jack Benny happened to be in town, on a summer break from his radio show. The circumstances of how or why Benny got on camera haven’t come to light—the Minneapolis Star didn’t even report he was in town—but you can read the photo article below from Broadcasting.