Jack spent October 1947 to June 1948 on the radio but, during that time, he had some side gigs he fit in at the same time.
In January, he took the show to Denver where he was doing a March of Dimes benefit. In February and March, the programme was broadcast from Palm Springs. But he saved his big trip to June. Jack played some big-paying theatre dates in Detroit, Cleveland and New York in between radio shows.
We’ll talk about the Detroit stage and radio shows in a moment. First, part of a story about Jack on the editorial page from the June 12, 1948 edition of the Free Press. It would appear Benny spent more time promoting someone else than his own show. As for the matter of taxes, Jack's handlers and CBS would take care of that by year's end.
Good Morning
By Malcolm W. Bingay
NO JEALOUSIES
Here's the Old Architect of the Pellucid Pillar, playing the role of the man about town.
To my surprise I found Jack Benny, now playing at the Fox (advt.), a delightfully modest chap; a fellow with that matured modesty of one who knows he's good and does not have to keep telling you about it. That's the real test; the man who brags is always the one who is never surf of himself.
"How come," I asked, “that you are on tour?"
"To keep the feel of the theater," said the veteran trouper, "and to keep myself before the public. I assure you that it is not for money. I have reached a point on income where practically all I earn goes to the Government. But I have sense enough to know that the old scale dwindles and you can't make even what the Government lets you have left unless you maintain your place in the eyes of the public.
"For that reason money in this case being no object I have been playing around with the idea of putting on a full evening show at top price for a tour. Wouldn't make any money, but see all the people I would meet, the publicity I would get and the fun I would have."
His voice is subdued, his innate humor quiet, keen and friendly. His whole character is all that they crack him up to be: a nice guy who knows the show business.
HE WAS especially interested in the new show at the Cass (advt.) in which Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse are proving that "Life With Father" was too rich a mine to be given up after just one vein of gold. Their new show, “Life With Mother,” is a better play than "Life With Father." The second edition of the Clarence Day saga has a coherent, continuing plot that works up to a heart touching climax at the end or the third act.
But what I started out to say was that Jack Benny was far happier talking about Crouse and Lindsay and Dorothy Stickney than he was about himself.
"THEY ARE the finest people of the theater," he said. "They have collaborated on some of the biggest stage hits of our times and yet there is never the slightest sign of jealousy. If you listen to Lindsay he will make you believe that Crouse deserves all the credit and if you listen to Crouse you are assured that Lindsay is the flaming genius who makes their shows click."
Incidentally, perhaps there will come a time when some other playwright will write a play on Crouse and Lindsay and the lovely little Dorothy Stickney who is the wife of Lindsay, off stage as well as on.
Jack Benny is a great booster of everybody in the show business but he was not exaggerating the tender happiness and deep friendships of the Clarence Day Society—or whatever it is you wish to call it. Why, Benny even likes and admires Fred Allen and all those other radio comics with whom he is supposed to be feuding all the time.
The previous day, the paper published this short review of the stage show.
Jack Benny’s Show Makes the Folks Feel at Home
Jack Benny's stage show at the Fox Theater was better than old home week for the crowds that saw its opening Thursday. The Walking Man was in stride with all the gags out of the air. Fred Allen, for instance, looks like "a short butcher peeking over two pounds of liver," the man said.
"Doesn't it make you seasick to look at his hair?" he said about Phil Harris.
BUT AFTER Phil sang "Porker Club" [sic] and "That's What I Like About the South" and led Herschel Lieb's orchestra in his free-wheeling, knee-action style, Phil took care of Jack.
Jackson stood like a stonewall while Phil and lovely Marilyn Maxwell showed him up as a great lover, after Marilyn had sung "Hooray for Love." Miss M., in strapless black velvet, hoorays in a camp-meeting blues voice.
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson came over from the barber shop to perform a very funny "Sabre Dance" burlesque.
LEADING off the specialties, the Sportsmen Quartet sang "Wyoming" and the dialect “Adobe Hacienda."
Jack tried a couple of times to play "Love In Bloom" on his violin. But he and the band were sinking into the put before he finally got at it.
Screen feature during the week of Benny’s engagement is “Big City” with seven stars headed by Margaret O’Brien.
The most interesting reportage of the Free Press may have been on June 15th, when a columnist gave an in depth description of how the Benny people got the audience primed for the radio show.
THE TOWN CRIER
Half-Hour Warmup Has Benny Excited
BY MARK BELTAIRE
At 6:30 p. m. the doors of the Art Institute auditorium opened. By 6:33 some 400 people had squeezed past the harried ticket takers for the Jack Benny program. At 6:34 they were all breathlessly seated with the exception of a few lost souls herded to the rear by a man from the fire marshal's office.
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NEXT FEW minutes passed quietly. Chief interest was in several characters whose main occupation seemed to be looking from their wrist watches to the clock on the NBC booth and back again ... a fascinating hobby. A few musicians filed on the stage. A man beeped a horn (not off the Maxwell), rang a bell, slammed a prop door. They worked fine.
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AT 6:45 Phil Harris bounced on the stage, announced: "The old man's done three shows today. They're back there now glueing him together." He introduced the three regular members of the band, including Frankie Remley, the left-handed guitar player who is a regular on Harris' own show. Remainder of outfit was from Detroit.
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6:49 BENNY strolls on stage with a pipe in his hand, calls: "Welcome to the Lucky Strike program." Laughter. 6:51: Don Wilson. 6:52: Mary Livingstone. Jack takes one look and moans: "That dress must have cost a fortune." 6:52: Dennis Day appears to terrific applause, followed by Rochester, who gets an even bigger hand.
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6:53: Benny cracks: "We have more people on this show than usually listen to us," introduces Mr. Kitzel and the Sportsmen. 6:54: Jack puts on his glasses, paces back and forth. Mary gives a voice level for the control room. 6:55: Jack asks: "How much time? Five minutes? Give me my violin," launches into "Love in Bloom." Harris throws a fistful of pennies in front of him, Jack falters, stops and dives for loot. "I can't wait," he explains.
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6:56: REMLEY joins him in a few hot licks at "My Honey's Loving Eyes," livening audience. 6:57: Benny whips out handkerchief, mops forehead, says piteously: "I have to give myself a couple of minutes to get nervous." 6:59: Riffles through script for first time, tells audience despairingly: “It's lousy.”
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6:59 1/2: Tension rolls in waves from the stage toward the audience. Musical director waits with arms high overhead. Don Wilson stands by one mike, Benny fidgets at another. Some members of cast sit on edges of collapsible chairs in front of the band.
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7:00: MUSIC AND commercial boom through from New York "IT'S THE TOBACCO THAT COUNTS!" Benny barks from the side of his mouth: "What the hell else?" . . . and the show is under way.
The paper decided to profile someone on the Benny show—another newspaperman. We’ll have that next week.
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