It was just a cold, fans of Jack Benny were told, but it was much worse than that.
Jack came down with pneumonia that was so serious, he was bedridden for a month while others handled his radio show.
He spent the rest of the first half of 1943 touring in parts of the U.S. and Canada. We posted about his stops in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto HERE.
We’ve gone through the pages of Variety to see what Jack was up to. Besides the usual military tours, there were more suggestions he was unhappy with his sponsor (he changed in 1944), he looked at adding Fred Allen’s players into his cast (he did) and had to get new writers partly due to the war and partly due to Ed Beloin wanting to move up in his career. Phil Harris and his band ended their time with the Merchant Marine and returned to the programme. George Washington Slept Here and The Meanest Man in the World were in theatres, and Jack signed for another film that he would milk for a lot of comedy.
Non-Variety stories have been indicated.
January 2, 1943
Jack Benny, famed on radio and screen; Mary Livingston, who is Mrs. Benny in private life, and their troupe of 25 will arrive in the Maine Central station, Bangor, at 11.45 o'clock this forenoon. Rochester, also widely known, is already here.
Sunday night [3], as previously told in detail, they will appear in Bangor Opera House for the benefit of those at Dow Field, going on the air over a nationwide hook-up from Station WLBZ.
They will be met at the station by Col. Francis B. Valentine of Dow Field, the Dow Field Band, a guard of honor and three tanks. Also, by at least four sleighs, in which several distinguished memben of the party will ride. Just where these sleighs were obtained was not disclosed last evening. Maybe it's a military secret.
The parade will now up Exchange street, across State street bridge and through Main street to the station of WLBZ where it will halt for an unusual ceremony. Six original Americans will be present, Princess
Watawasco, Chief Bruce Poolaw, Charlie Muskrat, Bobby Little Beaver and "two young Indian maidens," all from the Penobscot reservation at Old Town. Poolaw will then officially invest Benny with honorary membership in the Maine Guides' Association, concretely expressed through the medium of a Maine guide's regulation shirt. This unusual ceremony will be on the street, where all interested may witness it.
The company will then go to the Bangor House, where most of its members are to stay. Its schedule for the remainder the day, and until Sunday night, hasn't been announced. But it's no secret that several long and thoughtful hours will be spent in rehearsal. (Bangor Daily News)
January 6, 1943
Jack Benny huddled with Jack Warner in New York last week on tentative plans for the one film he has yet to do for Warners. Understood WB wants to make his next vehicle a hoked-up version of Mark Twain's 'Connecticut Yankee.'
Benny also has one picture to go for 20th-Fox but is reportedly not anxious to work for that studio. Peeve allegedly stems from fact that 20th-Fox cut his 'Meanest Man' pic from 120 to 55 minutes. Understood that Ernst Lubitsch was called in to do the cutting, and the star feels that his picture now is just a glorified short.
January 7, 1943
PHOENIX, Ariz., Jan. 7.—(AP)—Samuel Sachs, 72, uncle of Jack Benny, radio comedian, die din a hospital here tonight of a heart ailment after an illness of three days.
He had been a resident of Phoenix for 20 years and before retiring was the owner of a small chain of grocery stores.
January 13, 1943
The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis last week sent out release that Jack Benny would appear at its benefit show at Carnegie Hall, N. Y., on Jan. 17, and play 'Love In Bloom' on his fiddle with Oscar Levant doing the accompaniment. None of the wire services and only one of the N. Y. dailies carried the yarn.
The sponsoring organization discovered that the editors figured the release was a phony since Benny was billed along with Josef and Rosina Lhevinne, John Charles Thomas, Ezio Pinza, Jan Peerce, Gladys Swarthout and Jarmila Novotna, all topline concert and opera names and, so far as the editors were concerned, strictly out of Benny's class. However, it's the McCoy.
January 15, 1943
Indiana paid tribute to Carol Lombard by leading the nation in a vigorous 15-day war bond drive that closed Friday (15) with a total of nearly $3,500.000 reported. The program was broadcast to a 14-station network as well as to Chicago and Cincinnati outlets, with Jack Benny speaking by transcription from New York.
January 16, 1943
Jack Benny has finally come through with a good picture, a slapstick comedy to be sure, but very funny and particularly suited for times such as these. It is titled. "George Washington Slept Here" and it opened at Hamrick's Music Box theater Thursday. Ann Sheridan plays the faminine [sic] lead while the supporting cast includes Charles Coburn, Percy Kilbride, Hattie McDaniel, William Tracy, Joyce Reynolds, Lee Patrick. Charles Dingle and a number of others. This picture is remarkable for several reasons . . . first, because Jack Benny delivers a performance that has all the earmarks of the handiwork of a movie star and in the second place because this man Kilbride steals the show from the moment he appears on the screen until the final fade-out. This reporter does not recall ever having seen Kilbride in a picture before but certainly hopes it won't be too long before he has the privilege of seeing him again . . . he’s a scream!
If you don't can how much silly nonsense is dished out to you . . . or if you feel like letting your hair down for a good laugh at the "Keystone Cops" type of slap-stick, see "George Washington Slept Here" . . . and you'll get your wish. (Tacoma News-Tribune)
January 17, 1943
Joe Besser, currently in 'Sons O' Fun' at the Winter Garden, N. Y., guested on the Jack Benny program Sunday (17) night and gave the stanza a great laugh score. It was Besser's initial radio appearance, but obviously won't be his last. His childlike, high-pitched expressions have a disarming quality that registered solidly over the air. With suitable material, as for instance his participation in Benny’s “Information Please” takeoff, Besser’s possibilities for radio are broad. Only possible objection was his too-broad swish delivery at his opening. Besser shared the quiz spot with Oscar Levant, but the reaction from the latter's comebacks were but mild compared with Besser's contribution. He was the guy the listener was waiting to hear again.
January 19, 1943
With the induction of Bob Welch by the Army yesterday (Tuesday) [19], Walter Bunker, Coast production head of NBC, comes east to become Young & Rubicam agency director of the Jack Benny program for General Foods (Grape Nuts), Glenhall Taylor, manager of the Y. & R. office on the Coast, is accompanying him east to assist on the show for Bunker's first few weeks. Al Scalpone will handle the office and direct the Tommy Riggs program during Taylor's absence.
Ned Tollinger, a member of the NBC director staff on the Coast since 1929, succeeds Bunker as production head there. He has recently been production man on the Bob Hope and Rudy Vallee shows.
January 20, 1943
Jack Benny is proving his serious intent to bring to servicemen the best possible entertainment Comedian has been playing army camps and naval bases in the east each Monday and Tuesday, saving the balance of the week for the preparation of his radio show. He is traveling his usual radio show (Mary Livingstone; Dennis Day, Sam Hearn, Don Wilson, Rochester, Abe Lyman's orch, Rose Blane) to nearby training stations and for an added feature he has Danny Kaye, star of “Let’s Face It,” whose show idles Mondays.
McFarland Twins orchestra, which was used on the Jack Benny broadcast several weeks ago under the baton of Abe Lyman, hat been signed to do two broadcasts with the comedian in its own name. Dates are the coming Sunday (24) and the following week, and there's a possibility of a 13-week contract thereafter. In addition to doing the air shows with Benny, the band will accompany him on a group of Army camp appearances. Lyman used the outfit one broadcast out of Worcester, Mass., before his own new band was ready.
January 24, 1943
Jack Benny's broadcast Sunday night (24) from Ft. Meade, Md., was below average for him. Possibly because of the size of the auditorium, the troupe was forcing, with consequent loss of intimacy and timing. . .Alfred Hitchcock was a click as guest the same night on the Fred Allen show, particularly socking a satirical melodrama with a tag insult of Benny.
January 26, 1943
Washington—Hotel Statler will open its doors for the Birthday Ball celebration with Xavier Cugat's band of 30 in the Embassy room. This will be a dinner dance with patrons buying Birthday Ball ducat plus the charge of the eats. It will be a controlled party, with only 500 tickets being sold.
Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy, and Harpo Marx were added Saturday to the list of visiting celebrities. ...
The Mayflower's $10 banquet will have Al Jolson as emcee, with the star also down for a Gershwin medley and 'Sonny Boy,' by special request.
January 27, 1943
Jack Benny deal to produce independently for United Artists release, which had been tentatively set via Arthur S. Lyons, has again been indefinitely postponed.
Understood that, for one thing, clearer picture of the corporate and individual tax situation, currently still obscure, is being awaited. For another, Benny's prior picture commitments and radio may keep the star loaded so far ahead that the independent production idea is likely to be shoved into the background tor the time being.
February 2, 1943
Ottawa.-(CP)—Radio Comedian Jack Benny and four other members of the cast of his weekly radio show are coming to Canada to entertain members of the Canadian. Armed Forces in at least four Eastern centres. Defence Headquarters announced today. Benny, with his wife, Mary Livingston, Comedian Eddie (Rochester) Anderson, Singer Dennis Day and Announcer Don Wilson will be in Montreal February 10. Ottawa February 11, Toronto February 12-14 inclusive. Camp Borden, Ont., February 15, and back in Toronto February 16.
“He and members of his cast are expected to make other non-commercial radio performances for enlisted men and women while in Canada,” the Army said.
Officials said it is expected Benny will perform before at least 25,000 troops during the trip, expenses of which are to be paid personally by the comedian.
While in Toronto Benny will be guest artist on the Sunday Evening "Army Show" program broadcast over the National Network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
"All shows will be exclusively for the sailors, soldiers and airmen, Wrens, C.W.A.C.'s and Women's Division of the R.C.A.F.", said the Army. "At Montreal and Ottawa the troops will be allowed to bring their wives and girl friends."
February 3, 1943Jack Benny seemingly is aiming for musical variety for his radio programs. During his current stay in N. Y., he is spending more time auditioning orchestra. Last week he listened to Bobby Sherwood and Teddy Powell, without committing himself on either.
So far he has used the McFarland Twins three times (once under Abe Lyman, Lyman’s new band several times, and is said to have arranged with Ben Bernie to do a show with him during his (Benny’s) trip back to the Coast some time next month.
Your eyes will have to be sharp, but if you look at the right place at the right time you'll see Jack Benny in Warner Bros. "Casablanca" now showing at the Playhouse theater.
Benny who is not supposed to appear in the picture, went stage hopping at the Warner Bros. studio and found himself on the set of "Casablanca" while the cameras were shooting. Due to wartime shortage of film the scene was not retaken and Benny definitely appears in the picture.
The Playhouse theater where the film is showing for the last two days (today and Thursday) after discovering the, extra star in the already star studded film decided to hold the novel contest today and tomorrow only. Any person attending the show who can identify Jack Benny and the scene in which he appears will be given a free pass to the theater. The pass will be good for the next big attraction at the Playhouse. "Rhythm Parade" which opens next Friday. (St. Petersburg Times)
February 7, 1943
George Jessel is in high this week with three guest shots which, combined with 'Showtime,' will probably give him his all-time salary high for any single week in his 30 years of show business. His first Sunday (7) with Jack Benny wasn't as good as in the past, notably the one with Fred Allen three or four weeks back. Benny, incidentally, has been below par; maybe it's those arduous camp shows. ... Incidentally, Abe layman's band did a svelte musical job on the Benny broadcast.
February 14, 1943
Toronto—Jack Benny spent his 50th birthday Sunday (14) entertaining the armed services throughout the afternoon and evening, including a hectic trip to Camp Borden some 50 miles away by motor. Trip also included participation in the 'Army Show' here. Benny's broadcast, and further appearances at Canadian Services camps throughout Monday and Tuesday (15-16).
With him were Mary Livingston, Dennis Day, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson, Sam (Schlepperman) Hearn and Don Wilson.
February 16, 1943
Reflective of the effect that gasoline rationing and the pleasure driving ban in the east has had on radio is the disclosure by the Co-operative Analysis of Broadcasting yesterday (Tuesday) [16] that top network programs, both night-time and day-time, were garnering record-breaking audience ratings. The latest CAB report lists 12 night-time shows with a rating of over 30, whereas a year ago only seven programs fell within that classification. ...
The night-time shows with a rating of over 30 on this latest CAB report are Bob Hope, Fibber McGee and Molly, Red Skelton, Lux Theatre, Edgar Bergen, Jack Benny, Rudy Vallee, Aldrich Family, Maxwell House Coffee Time, Walter Winchell, Kay Kyser, 'Mr. District Attorney.'
February 20, 1943
Jack Benny will be guest of honor at the Variety Club banquet at the Drake hotel Feb. 20. Warren Brown, imports editor of the Chicago Sun, will be toastmaster, and Jim Conzelman, Chicago Cardinals football coach, principal speaker.
February 21, 1943
IN A SWIFT EXCHANGE involving distances and repartee, Jack Benny and Joel Kupperman, the superlative Quiz Kid, will dash in and out of each other's program Sunday. . . . Six-year-old Joel will be guest star on the Jack Benny show, which originates in the Eighth Street Theater in Chicago at 6 p.m. (WBRC, 6 p.m.) . . . After several rounds of banter, Joel will take to his short legs, hurrying off to the Quiz Kids program which will be aired at 6:30 p.m. front the Blue Network studios several miles away and over WGN. . . . When his show is concluded, Benny will leap into a cab and spurt for Quiz Kids, where he is scheduled to be honorary judge. . . . Joe Kelly, quiz master of the youthful experts, will inform Benny of what has occurred prior to his arrival. (Turner Jordan, Birmingham News)
February 24, 1943
Jack Benny and his troupe here for a couple of weeks. Will do broadcasts and put on shows at the U. S. Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, and Army bases at Fort Sheridan, Ill., and Camp Custer. Battle Creek. Benny's first few days in town were spent in bed nursing a bad cold contracted in Toronto.
Novel stunt staged in the early morning hours of Wednesday (24) in Gimbel's. N. Y., basement under sponsorship of the American Women's Voluntary Services, Inc., netted a total or $2,750,000 in war bonds, representing one of the most successful show biz benefits ever staged on behalf of the war bonds savings program.
Danny Kaye and Ray Bolger, stars of 'Let's Face If Imperial. N. Y., and 'By Jupiter,' Shubert N. Y., respectively, were the principal performers and also appeared in roles of auctioneers. Vieing with Kaye and Bolger's performances in commanding principal interest was the $1,000,000 bond purchase fir for Jack Benny's 'Love In Bloom' fiddle, by Julius Klorfine, retired cigar manufacturer. ...
Admission to basement was $1,000 bond, plus $3 for 'supper' consisting of popcorn, peanuts, hamburgers, hot dogs and coffee. More than 1,000 persons turned out for the event.
About six years ago, a gravel-throated man named Eddie Anderson walked into Jack Benny's life, and the pair have been inseparable since. Eddie Anderson is Rochester, of course, and he is around to plague his colleague as usual in Benny's new Twentieth Century-Fox comedy, "The Meanest Man in the World," the film based on the play by George M. Cohan. Benny and Rochester are in Chicago this week from which point they'll entertain soldiers and sailors.
As Jack Benny has gone professionally, so has gone Rochester. On the radio, and in the movies, Rochester's fortunes have swelled with Benny's. Originally, Rochester was a Benny "stooge," another radio voice in the large gallery of characters on the Benny show. But his brash and irrevent [sic] valet to Benny's timid and uncertain master caught the popular fancy, and talent did for the rest. Today, Jack Benny and Rochester are what, in the old day of vaudeville would have been called a team.
The relationship between Rochester and Benny is both classic (deriving from Carlyle) and democratic, in the American sense. Although Benny is no hero to his valet, neither is he a villain. And if Rochester, the gentleman's gentleman, isn't much of a help, neither is he a very serious hindrance. So, in effect, the arrangement is a nice cosy one, in which the distinction between master and servant is practically non-existent. Rochester calls Benny "Boss," and that's just about as far as the thing goes.
The professional relationship between Benny and Rochester is a landmark in the history of the entertainment world, and a tribute to Benny's astuteness. Contrary to the general custom, Benny goes all out in building up his "stooges"—or is "entourage" a better word? Unlike most comedians, Benny does not hog the jokes. To the contrary, he goes to the other extreme, and throws most of the gags to his company. More often than not, Benny is the butt of a gag. In the picture, "The Meanest Man in the World," Rochester and Benny are in business as usual. Benny is boss, and Rochester is his gentleman's gentleman. And, if Rochester steals a scene here and there, it's all the same to Jack. He steals a few from Rochester!
Sidney Lanfield directed "The Meanest Man in the World," and the cast includes Patricia Lane, Helene Fortescue Reynolds, Edmund Gwenn and Anne Revere. (Chicago Defender)
March 3, 1943
Chicago—Following his March 7 broadcast from St. Joe, Mo., Jack Benny will absent himself from the program for two weeks for an Arizona vacation . . . Gobs at Great Lakes pulled a fast one on him last week while he was there putting on a show for the boys . . . During his performance he asked the audience if they had seen his latest picture ‘George Washington Slept Here’. . . . Several gobs walked on stage holding a Navy hammock on which was attached a sign reading ‘Jack Benny Slept Here’. . . .They were aware Benny was stationed at Great Lakes during the last war.
March 7, 1943
Burns and Allen clicked solidly as stand-ins for Jack Benny when the latter was unable to do his show Sunday night (7) on WEAF-NBC for General Foods. Dennis Day, Eddie ('Rochester') Anderson and Don Wilson were artfully blended in the Burns and Allen brand of foolishness on the show, with Don Wilson and Bill Goodwin also used to comic advantage on the announcer assignment. The effect was curious, though agreeable, retaining the characteristics of both the Benny and Burns and Allen programs simultaneously. Benny had planned to do the broadcast from St. Joseph, Mo., then going to Phoenix, Ariz., for a two-week rest. But he became ill in Chicago and had to cancel the plan. Orson Welles and the Phil Harris orchestra, now in the Coast Guard, will sub for Benny next Sunday (14) and the following week (21) from Hollywood, with Welles slated to guest with Benny the third week, on March 28.
March 16, 1943
Chicago—Jack Benny recovering from pneumonia is expected to train for Phoenix, Ariz., next Sunday (21) for a two to three week rest before continuing in Hollywood. It now appears that Benny will not return to the air on March 28, as originally planned, but may on April 4. Mary Livingstone is leaving here tomorrow (18) for Hollywood and will appear on the March 21 broadcast from there with Orson Welles.
March 23, 1943
Montreal—Whether Jack Benny will be off CBC in Montreal Sunday nights next Fall is now being decided in this city, where Dr. J. S. Thomson, CBC g.m., recently met representatives of the Central Broadcasting Committee, of the Religious Advisory Council of the CBC, to make arrangements for returning the Sunday evening services to the air.
According to Colonel Rexford, former secretary of the Central Broadcasting Committee, the group of nine churches in Montreal will go on the air some time between now and the end of June, which looks like being coincidental with the lapsing of the Benny program for the summer season. But Colonel Rexford is also convinced that this arrangement will continue all year round, which would put Benny off the air in the fall in Montreal unless he went over Canadian Marconi station CFCF.
Omer Renaud, regional director of the CBC in Montreal, is cooperating with the committee in working out details of the arrangements, which are stated to cover a larger group of churches than the original nine.
March 24, 1943
A letter of commendation and, consolation to Jack Benny, radio and film comedian, now recuperating in Chicago from illness due to overwork was sent to him the other day by Mayor Spellacy, in connection with the opening here today at Loew's Poli Theater of Benny's latest cinema endeavour, "The Meanest Man in the World." The letter in full follows: Mr. Jack Benny,
Embassy Hotel,
Pinegrove and Dervesey Street,
Chicago, Illinois.
My dear Mr. Benny:
I am happy indeed to welcome to Hartford your new movie, "The Meanest Man to the World." By your unselfish and unstinting efforts to entertaining millions of American and Canadian boys in the armed forces—many of whom were from Hartford—the picture deservedly merits the title of "The Kindest Man in the World." You have the heartfelt thanks of every real American for your magnificent contribution to the morale of our boys at the fighting fronts.
Your unselfish efforts in upholding the morale of the boys of our armed forces in large measure contributed to the very serious illness from which you are now fortunately recovering.
Sincerely yours
THOMAS J. SPELLACY
Mayor.
March 27, 1943
“I DID it for the children," explained Julius Klorfein, the man who pledged the purchase of $1,000,000 in war bonds at Gimbel Brothers department store (New York City) rally to gain possession of Jack Benny's old fiddle.
"I listen to Jack Benny every week," he said. "How can I help it? If I don't turn on the program, the children rush over. Sure, he's my favorite. I didn't buy the violin to play it I never learned to play the fiddle."
Klorfein told an NBC representative to assure Benny that the violin is in good hands.
"I can't use it myself but the children will play it," he said.
Klorfein and his wife live at 411 West End Avenue In New York. They have three children, Arthur Klorfein, Jerome Klorfein, and a daughter, Mrs. Maxwell Rapoport. Arthur is a boatswain's mate first glass in the Coast Guard. "Benny played for the bobs at the Sheepshead Bay Coast Guard station not long ago," Klorfein recalled.
While he explained Jack Benny’s show and news broadcasts are his favourite radio listening, he revealed he is no ordinary radio fan but a sponsor as well. The cigar firm of which he is president once sponsored Graham McNamee on the air and has used spot announcements. "Jack Benny has a wonderful program," he said. "When we used to go riding in our automobile we would tune in wherever we were. If I forgot, the children reminded me."
Klorfein explained his main interest these days is war bonds. After winning the fiddle at the auction, he was tempted to turn it right back and have it sold all over again. Just to raise some more money. ''But the children—they made me keep it," he added.
(Jack Benny show, KFBK, Sundays at 4 P.M.) (Sacramento Bee, Mar. 27)
March 29, 1943
New Haven—Efforts of five New Haven lawyers to have Jack Benny's The Meanest Man in the World' barred from local screens proved futile yesterday (29), when Superior Court Judge Patrick B. O'Sullivan denied their motion for an injunction. Lawyers contended that the film 'debased, defamed and disgraced the legal profession.'
The court ruled the five complainants had no standing 'to obtain the relief they sought,' although commending their zeal in attempting to guard their profession from 'unwarranted slurs.'
This picture,' said the court, 'purports to be a farce centering on the career of a country lawyer, who eventually goes to New York to practice law. Defamatory words used broadly in respect of a general class of persons such as doctors or lawyers gives to a member of that class no right of action where there is nothing that points, directly or by innuendo, to that individual.'
March 31, 1943
The Hooper Report's ratings for the week ending March 31 disclose that the Jack Benny-Grape Nuts show (NBC) has dropped from fourth to 12th place since the comic was forced by illness to temporarily retire and turn the Sunday evening stanza over to pinchhitters. The latest Hooper popularity rotation is as follows:
1. Bob Hope.
2. Fibber McGee-Molly.
3. Edgar Bergen.
4. Aldrich Family.
5. Walter Winchell.
6. Lux Radio Theatre.
7. Frank Morgan-Fanny Brice.
8. Mr. District Attorney.
9. Rudy Vallee-Joan Davis.
10. Screen Guild Players.
11. Abbott and Costello subs.
12. Jack Benny subs.
13. Fred Allen.
14. Take It or Leave It.
15. Kay Kyser.
April 7, 1943
Hollywood—Jack Benny in from the desert to unhorse Orson Welles from his Grape-nuts show April 11.
April 13, 1943
Sydney, Australia—Representatives of the U. S. Army Special Service Department here are arranging, via Colonel Stillman, with national and major commercial stations to air top Yankee programs for the beneflt of American troops. Setup covers about 80 shows, including Jack Benny, Fred Allen, et al. Most of them have been coming in by shortwave, but the new arrangement calls for replaying the programs over local wavelengths.
April 13, 1943
Jack Benny calls it a season May 30 and will be back Oct. 3. He'll pass most of his layoff playing camps with the missus (Mary Livingstone).
April 28, 1943
General Foods appears to be pretty much up in the air on what disposition it will make of its network program this summer. Rationing situation will play an important part in any decision making.
The indications are that neither the Jack Benny (NBC) nor the Kate Smith (CBS) variety period will be taken over by pinchhitters. Benny will be off for 17 weeks and Miss Smith, 13 weeks. 'The Aldrich Family' (NBC) will take a six to eight-week vacation, but it hasn't been decided whether to make it a full 13-week layoff for the Maxwell House Coffee show, which precedes 'Aldrich' on the same network Thursday nights.
May 5, 1943
General Foods will spot 'Those We Love' in NBC's Sunday 7-7:30 p.m. niche when Jack Benny goes on his 17-weck vacation at the end of this month. CBS will be the loser by the move. The serial is now on the latter network Sunday matinees (2-2:30).
‘Love’ will remain with NBC after the 17 weeks if the web can produce an acceptable permanent slot.
May 9, 1943
Woebegone and doughbegone, two sadly beaten men will face each other when Jack Benny welcomes Eddie “Rochester” Anderson back on the Benny show tonight at 6 after the results of the Kentucky Derby have flattened the limp purses of both. Into this business of betting first on a last horse Dennis Day will find time to insert a song well suited for his tenor voice, “Mother of Mine,” which lends itself rightly to Mother’s Day.
Experts at reminding Jack of his troubles, Mary Livingstone and Don Wilson, will do just that, while Phil Harris and his orchestra furnish music for the half-hour, mainly “Blue Lou.” (Tralfaz note: Louis Armstrong was the guest on this show). (San Antonio Express-News)
May 11, 1943
Hollywood—Jack Benny will do 'Midnight,' a comedy–fantasy, for Warners.
Screenplay, by Sam Hellman, is based on the story by Aubrey Wisberg and Jacques Thery.
Picture rolls in two months.
May 12, 1943
Jack Benny finishing out the season in nearby camps. Then a summer of writer-worry as Bill Morrow and Ed Beloin check in at Fort MacArthur induction center May 29.
May 18, 1943
Hollywood—A Jack Benny 'concert' and 'Information Please' stanza will be combined for a special war bond rally in Hollywood Bowl July 4. The performance will be repeated in San Francisco the following week.
Don Golenpaul is here to handle the arrangements for both events.
Hollywood—Bill Morrow and Ed Beloin, Jack Benny gag writers since 1936, report for Army induction at the end of this month.
The Benny program goes off the air May 30 for the summer, and Morrow and Beloin go into the service the 29th.
May 19, 1943
Hollywood—Bill Lawrence snared Jack Benny and Hedy Lamarr for his Screen Guild Players broadcast of ‘Love Is News’ June 14.
May 23, 1943
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Benny will play Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone in a forthcoming March of Time news reel. The picture will illustrate the way in which radio and motion picture stars have pooled their efforts for the entertainment of the armed forces of the United States. (Quad City Times)
May 25, 1943
Hollywood—Mark Hellinger, who will produce the Will Rogers biographical film for Warners, has been put on the Jack Benny picture, 'The Horn Blows at Midnight.' The Rogers opus has been sidetracked as the search for an actor to portray the cowboy sage continues.
May 30, 1943
Jack Benny's windup show Sunday (30) on NBC was a typical Benny offering replete with fast-flying gags, sweet and sour; several shrewd digs at Fred Allen; a poem by Mary Livingstone, and pun-ridden commercials delivered by an overly protesting Don Wilson. As an added feature, Deanna Durbin sang 'Say a Prayer for the Boys Over There' impressively. A serious note was also sounded by Benny on the subject of Memorial Day and its significance, but the stanza ended in an atmosphere of hi-jinks.
June 2, 1943
Five of the top-rating variety shows, starting with Bob Hope, will substitute for Jack Carson on the Camel 'Caravan' the next five weeks, until the series goes off for the summer. The switch, taking Carson to the new Campbell soup program premiering June 2 on CBS, is one result of a booking tangle involving Music Corp. of America.
Hope, with his entire show, takes over the 'Caravan' for the June 4 broadcast, which he will do from New York. For the subsequent four ‘Caravan' broadcasts, MCA has agreed to furnish Jack Benny, ‘Fibber McGee and Molly,’ Edgar Bergen and the Burns and Allen shows, with the Bing Crosby stanza substituted if any of the above-named are unavailable.
June 4, 1943
Reynolds Tobacco is still not set on all five fill-in shows for the concluding weeks of Camel ‘Caravan’ series Friday nights on CBS. Bob Hope has the assignment this Friday (4) and Jack Benny is set for next week, June 11. Bing Crosby is likely for the June 18 date, but the deal is not signed. The June 25 date is still open, with Burns and Allen or 'Fibber McGee and Molly’ mentioned. Fred Allen will probably conclude the series July 2.
June 8, 1943
Jack Benny, who lost Bill Morrow to the Army, may also be shy his other scripter, Ed Beloin, when he returns to the air this fall.
Beloin, recently rejected by Army medicos, is being offered to the film studios by his agent, who declares the writer is foregoing radio for picture work.
June 9, 1943
Hollywood—Jack Benny, Groucho Marx and Burns and Allen, among others, will drop in on Eddie Cantor’s program tonight (Wednesday) to felicitate him on his 29th wedding anniversary.
June 16, 1943
ADVANCED AMERICAN BASE, SOMEWHERE IN NEW GUINEA, June 17 (Delayed) (AP)—Jack Benny and the Andrews Sisters entertained the most experienced attack squadron in the United States Air Force more or less by proxy last night [16]. The officers of an A-20 squadron which by the end of May had taken part in 1,035 sorties during 232 attack missions—claimed as an American record—were entertaining their enlisted men. On the bill were the names of Hollywood entertainers.
Jack Benny, identified by his quavering violin solo, "Love in Bloom," turned out to be Lt. Edmond D. Montagano, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, most bemedaled pilot in this often-decorated squadron.
Montagano, who has the Distinguished Flying Cross, Silver Star, Purple Heart and Air Medal, was a violinist, cellist and singer with Sammy Kaye's orchestra before he became a flier. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University.
The Andrews Sisters were three lieutenants—Montagano was one of them.
Other officers taking part included Lts. Jarret (Billy) Roan, Shreveport, La., and Robert N. Dow, Jacksonville, Fla. Dow was a telegraph editor of a Jacksonville newspaper.
June 21, 1943
Tom Harrington, v.p. and radio director of the Young & Rubicam agency, declared Monday (21) that Jack Benny on his arrival in New York that noon had denied the report that he would ask General Foods to release him from his contract, which has until next June to go. Benny, according to Harrington, stated that his (Benny's) only concern was getting writer replacements for Bill Morrow, who has gone into the Army, and Ed Beloin, who is considering leaving radio for pictures.
Harrington said that Benny had told him that he was looking over a number of writer candidates and that he didn't think the door was closed as far as retaining Beloin's services were concerned.
The report had it that Benny wanted to give up his Sunday grind on NBC and instead do an occasional guest shot. Also that he anticipated further losses in his program organization due to the war and that he would prefer not to have the worry of rebuilding.
June 29, 1943
Jack Benny was reported yesterday (Tuesday) [29] as considering the absorption of Fred Allen's troupe of performers, since Allen has no intention of resuming his network connection this fall. The performers that Benny, it was said, has in mind include Charlie Cantor, John Brown and Minerva Pious, Benny is currently in New York. Alan Reed, who recently left the Allen troupe for a picture contract, would also be available for Benny.
Also in New York and looking around for talent is Eddie Cantor. Cantor's major quest is a girl singer, who would replace Dinah Shore. The latter's contract with Cantor has expired and she is not expected to return with him again.
