Jack Benny Books

10 CDS - Ten hours - 22 episodes, some of which had never been released. Besides performes cited above, also includes a segment from the Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show, Burns and Allen, and It Happened One Night from The Lux Radio Theatre. Also comes with 32 page collectible booklet.

This excellent box set - the result of a joint project by Radio Spirits and the Smithsonian - is an essential purchase for admirers of Jack Benny.Entitled "The Best Of Old Time Radio Starring Jack Benny",it covers the full range of Benny's radio days,including not only four of his own shows (dating from the period 1952-1957) but also two lesser known contributions to "radio's otstanding theatre of thrills",the "Suspense" program (the episodes featured are "A Good and Faithful Servant" and "Murder in G-Flat"),and one play for the Lux Radio Theatre ("Seven Keys to Baldpate"),a radio version of "The Horn Blows at Midnight",and one edition each of "The Fred Allen Show" and "The Burns and Allen Show".The good quality CDs come with an informative booklet written by Anthony Tollin.This is really something to treasure.

I have become a huge fan of Jack Benny through this collection. The collection spans his entire career in radio. His humor is timeless, so I catch all of the jokes. I can not speak highly enough about this CD collection.

I was at a book signing with Lauren Bacall (To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep) and mentioned that I had recently heard her on the Jack Benny Show (not on this CD collection, sorry) She responded that Jack Benny was a genius. I have listened to many other old radio comedy shows and I have to agree with her. Benny set the standard for comedy radio.

I have found the recent TV programing to be rather uninteresting and these CD's have helped fill the void. They nice to play when doing the dishes or other things that require your visual attention. They are of course wonderful on long car trips.

Now on the the actual collection. The case they come in is well made, very portable and holds the CDs well . Sometimes they are a little sticky on coming out of the plastic sleeves. Possible problem if your trying to drive a car. This collection comes with a very nice pamplet that fits inside the case which talks about each program and lists all of the guests. Some radio shows were serial and left you with cliffhangers. Bennys show was typically not like that although they sometimes had running jokes.

Now I understand that you might be rather hesitant to purchase 20 hours of a program you don't know if you like or not. I was that way too. If you are unsure about if you would like Benny's humor there are single CDs that are much less. Also you can purchase a copulation of different Radio Programs. Walter Cronkites 20th century radio has a very nice variety of EVERYTHING. If your just into comedy look into the Legends of Comedy collection. Most of these can be found on Amazon. Or you can go to the makers website at RadioSpirts.com.

A thoroughly engaging and briskly written portrait of the world's greatest comedian by the man who was his producer, business manager, and close friend for 28 years. It's chock full of humorous anecdotes about Jack's many famous friends. It also details the stories behind some of his most famous sketches and how they were written. In short, a must for any Benny fan!

this book, which was issued in 1976, is still a wonderful look at the beloved comedian Jack Benny who entertained generations of comedy fans from radio in the '30s to TV from the '50s through the early '70s...and he's still entertaining us by way of repeats of his TV programs or through countless cassette and CD releases of his radio programs thanks to Old-Time radio dealers. The book was written by Irving Fein, Jack's manager. The thing you'll learn is that Jack was "real". He went through all the things that any one of us face: anger, happiness, insecurity, longing for friendship, etc. after reading parts of the book, i was surprised that Jack, in real life, was prone to bouts of lonliness. he felt awful or useless if someone wasn't around him {according to the author, who sort of resembles Jack himself; Fein's picture is on the back flap}. i also learned that Jack was "married" to show business {in truth, what successful entertainer isn't?}. The book turns sad near the last chapters recalling Jack's pancreatic cancer and how everyone around him assumed Jack's stomach pains were coming from anxiety (Jack was nervous about doing "The Sunshine Boys" movie with Walter Matthau because throughout his TV career he used cue cards or in radio, simply read the script literally but this movie required he had to learn his lines). It wasn't until after the doctor out of the blue wanted to examine Jack's pancreas that his cancer was discovered! a truly sad segment of the book. The book, i think, paints a picture of a comedian who was an optimist to a fault...which means that even though the business around him had changed and the comedy became more and more anti-establishment thanks or no-thanks to the late '60s Vietnam culture revolution, he still carried on and carried himself in his later years like it was the '30s or '40s. such optimism i think keeps an entertainer 'young' in the eyes of fans and peers. If Jack had become an angry "i hate my youthful competition" type in his later years like Milton Berle at times appeared to be; such devotion, respect, and love for Jack wouldn't be as abundant as it's been nearly 30 years AFTER his death {he died in December 1974}. Aside from the book from 1990 that Jack's daughter wrote { "Sunday Nights at Seven" }, this is the best biography of Jack Benny i've seen so far! i also recommend fans of Jack seeking out the book Robert Taylor wrote about Fred Allen in 1989 called "Fred Allen: His Life and Wit". That book and this Jack Benny book from Irving Fein are must-have collections for any classic comedy fan.

great read for entertainment value, but the author goes all over the place and it's hard to keep track of his thoughts... also many of his dates and other factual info were off. full of great ancidotes, but for Jack Benny/radio age term paper reserch (as it was used), it wasn't very helpful. a good read for someone who's read everything elese... a much better, excellent book is 'sunday nights at seven' by jack and joan benny, instead.

Jack Benny, An Intimate Biography, was a well written book. The author, Irving A. Fein, did an excellent job of portraying Benny's life and expressing his unique sense of humor. The biography was enjoyable to read and was very entertaining. I would reccomend this book for anyone who wants to learn about one of the greatest comedians of all time and of his hysterical jokes which he played on his fellow actors.

This is the item that should have gone with the wrong review that a person reported earlier. But, what was supposed to be radio shows turned out to be audio only of his popular movies.

Comedian Jack Benny was a mainstay on radio and TV airwaves for 33 years. His own self-titled "Jack Benny Program" varied very little in substance and style (and main cast) during its entire lifespan on both radio and television. Jack's radio show debuted in 1932 and ran until 1955. He performed both radio and TV versions of his show for five overlapping years (1950-1955). The Benny TV series continued through 1965.

This collection of Audio CDs gathers up Benny radio programs spanning a period of 1938 to 1953. (A detailed listing of shows is provided below.)

Big-name stars of the era were no strangers to "The Jack Benny Program". In this grouping of programs alone you'll hear such stars as Bing Crosby, Barbara Stanwyck, Jimmy Stewart, Orson Welles, Red Skelton, Bob Hope, Tyrone Power, and many others.

Along with the famous guest stars who would pop up each week, the Benny Program featured a first-rate regular cast: Don Wilson, Mary Livingstone (Jack's real-life wife), Dennis Day, Kenny Baker, Larry Stevens, Bob Crosby, Mel Blanc, Frank Nelson, Phil Harris, and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. Many of the regulars in this group stayed with Mr. Benny throughout the entire run of the series, on both radio and TV.

In 2002, "Radio Spirits, Inc." (experts in providing Old-Time Radio material on CD and cassette tape) released this slick set of Compact Discs, featuring 20 radio episodes of "The Jack Benny Program" on ten CDs. Each disc has two full-length, thirty-minute Benny radio shows. Audio quality is very good, with each program having been "digitally restored and remastered". The 10 discs are housed in a compact, book-like package, with double-sided sleeves provided to hold the individual CDs. The sturdy plastic package measures approximately 7.0" (W) x 6.5" (H).

This set also includes an informative 32-page booklet, which provides details on the history of the Benny Program, along with a full page of info and data on each of the twenty radio shows in this CD set. Several rare and high-quality B&W photos are also included throughout the booklet.


Specific episode information follows (including original radio air dates) ......................

DISC 1:
1.) "Robert Taylor Plays The Cello" (Original Air Date: February 13, 1938). Guest: Robert Taylor.
2.) "Harry Von Zell Subs For Don" (March 27, 1938). Guests: Fred Allen, Kate Smith, and Robert L. Ripley.

DISC 2:
1.) "Is Jack Really Jack?" (March 26, 1939). Guest: Ed Sullivan.
2.) "Football Game" (November 9, 1941). Guest: Leo Durocher.

DISC 3:
1.) "From San Diego Marine Base" (March 8, 1942). Guest: Joan Bennett.
2.) "Jack Takes Two Cadets To Barbara Stanwyck's House" (October 11, 1942). Guest: Barbara Stanwyck.

DISC 4:
1.) "Jack Returns After Illness" (April 11, 1943). Guest: Orson Welles.
2.) "From St. Joseph, Missouri" (February 18, 1944). Guest: Jane Wyman.

DISC 5:
1.) "From Mitchell Field" (January 28, 1945). Guest: Ann Sheridan.
2.) "From Palm Springs, California" (February 10, 1946). Guest: Eddie Cantor.

DISC 6:
1.) "I Stand Condemned" (March 24, 1946). Guest: Peter Lorre.
2.) "The Kid From Brooklyn" (April 28, 1946). Guest: Danny Kaye.

DISC 7:
1.) "From New York" (May 18, 1947). Guest: Al Jolson.
2.) "Jack Tries To Reach His Advertising Agency" (November 21, 1948). Guest: Don Ameche.

DISC 8:
1.) "Jack's European Vacation" (December 4, 1949). Guest: Tyrone Power.
2.) "I Was Betrayed" (January 22, 1950). Guest: Red Skelton.

DISC 9:
1.) "A Cup Of Coffee, A Sandwich, And Murder" (November 12, 1950). Guest: Richard Widwark.
2.) "Bend Of The River" (April 27, 1952). Guest: James Stewart.

DISC 10:
1.) "The Road To Bali" (January 11, 1953). Guest: Bob Hope.
2.) "The Life Of Bing Crosby" (February 15, 1953). Guest: Bing Crosby.

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This multi-disc set yields a very satisfying sampling of Benny episodes. Plenty of laughs with Jack Benny and his famous guests are in store for the owner of this stylish CD set of Old-Time Radio programs. Jack's deadpan humor and ever-present penny-pinching gags were (and still are today) guaranteed to evoke a chuckle or two, or three -- or maybe even 39 -- Jack's favorite number. :-)

In short, Jack's programs are just good clean fun. And, IMO, they hold up as well in the 21st century as they did all those many years ago when the shows first crackled over the radio airwaves.

Any discussion or poll regarding who gets crowned as the greatest comedian of all time will always include names like Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Chase, Normand and Arbuckle, just to mention a few. Though I have to concede that it is very much like comparing apples to oranges, to me it is not even a close contest. The man voted the greatest personality in radio history easily wins that battle.

The Jack Benny show was on the air for 25 straight years and every Sunday night people's lives got brighter and funnier thanks to Benny and his gang. Using the silence rather than the sound made on radio Benny got more laughs than anyone. The joke was often on him, or rather his radio persona of a skinflint who fancied himself, among other things, a big movie star, a great violinist, a ladies man, and the world's funniest radio star. In real life he was only the latter.

This fantastic collection offers 10 hours of famous guest stars, always a staple of the program. Many big names like Welles and Stanwyck were on often, and good pals. Others jumped at the chance when asked to appear because they knew they would be the ones getting the laughs, while Jack's character would be the brunt of the laughter. Jack once stated that he knew the next day no one would remember the exact jokes, only that the Benny show had been a riot.

Some great stars appear here, including Stanwyck and Ann Sheridan, Welles and Robert Taylor, Bob and Bing, Joan Bennett and the great Tyrone Power, Skelton and Jimmy Stewart, Peter Lorre and Jane Wyman, and more. It is Benny's cast of regulars, however, which make these shows so very entertaining. Mary Livingston, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Dennis Day, Phil Harris, and Don Wilson all helped to make the Jack Benny Show the absolute best.

Having listened to them all, I believe the shows from the 1940's here edge out the 30's ones in hilarious moments, but none of them are duds, to be sure. A few of the shows are from bases where Benny and the gang were entertaining the troops during the war. Benny would do this extensively and contract pnemonia in 1943, with a young Orson Welles guest hosting an entire month while Jack recovered.

All the stars have chances to shine during their stint. Al Jolson gets to perform April Showers and You Made Me Love You while he and Phil Harris have a running gag about Eddie Cantor and Larry Parks. Tyrone Power and Mary recalling their time in London with Jack is a riot. Jack takes a couple of cadets to see the wonderful Stanwyck. Sheridan and Bennett remind the boys what they're fighting for at military camps.

If I had to pick a favorite episode here, however, it would probably go to the show where the guest star was a complete surprise, even to Jack himself! In a show from 11/21/48 Jack spends nearly the entire show on hold while an operator attempts to contact someone at BBD&O advertising agengy. Of course there's a lot going on around him with the gang while he waits for lots of laughs. Jack had decided to use his writers at the end but Don Ameche substituted for one of them as a joke and when he read the final gag as a Spanish parking attendent, Jack looked over and went into hysterics. He couldn't even manage to sign off he was laughing so hard!

You'll be laughing that hard too and fall in love with Benny and the gang. A fabulous booklet by Anthony Tollin accompanies the set. Listeners must know that the sound quality here is excellent. However, the Smithsonian has mislabeled one of the shows! The show with Jane Wyman is actually the show with Ann Sheridan and the show labeled Sheridan the one with Wyman. Everything is here and wonderful though. A must have for old-time radio fans!

This loving biography is written by Jack Benny's widow, Mary Livingstone Benny, her brother and Macia Borie. Reading this biography takes you back to a much simpler time, when you could listen to the radio without hearing shock jocks and stupid promotions every 10 seconds. It's also a love story, one that is made sweeter by the lasting quality of it compared to the current crop of celebrities that are out now (Nicolas Cage and Lisa Marie Presley splitting after less than 4 months of marriage - who even has the thank you notes finished by then?).
If you enjoyed Jack Benny on radio or tv, get this book and get an intimate portrait of this wonderfully funny man.

He was acclaimed as the funniest man in the world but because he died so long ago his fame has been eclipsed by such as Bob Hope, etc. His films are a mixed bag and many of them have never even been issued on VHS, much less DVD. I'm surprised that his movies have been so neglected, but he did have a famous flop which killed off his studio career with THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT. After that, no studio wanted to touch him. His wounded pride found solace in thinking he was still the #1 radio star and he was soon to start a great new television career. And in "concerts" he and his violin were always popular. Remember his theme song, "Love in Bloom?" Well, if you are under 60 you probably don't.

I liked this biography, but at times it crept close to the tasteless. Maybe back in the day the routine was funny, but in print the account of how Benny and Greg Peck traded laughs and quips over who beat their wife more often is crass. And I didn't like Mary, she comes across in this book (which she helped to write) as egotistical and driven. Her biggest laugh on radio came with a bit where Jack is talking on and on about something and Mary finally turns to him and says, "Oh, shut up!" That brought the house down, she reports. Most disgusting of all is the joke that Armand Deutsch tells about his youth, when as a child he was the intended victim of the pedophiles Leopold and Loeb. In the locker room at the golf club, Jack asks Deutsch what it felt like to know one came so close to being raped and mutilated by two killers. "Well, Jack," he says, "after the way I putted today, I kinda wish they had gotten me!"

I started listening to old radio shows several years ago (I'm not old enough
to have heard them when first broadcast) and have found the Jack Benny Show
to be among the best. The format and cast of charactors were second to none. Some of the humor with Eddie Anerson's Rochester will make you cringe. Not as racist as Amos and Andy but still playing to a stereotype. I can't stand Irish tenors but Dennis Day's song only last 2 minutes. There are a lot of running gags and inside jokes, but the more shows you hear the more they
will make sense. This CD set is better than "SPOOFS" another Radio Spirits
set. Both are worth owning though.

On the first show, there are sound issues - some sort of background tinkling - that should've been cleaned up. It would have been nice to have more shows but I guess one hour is all that'll fit per CD.

I was very happy after reading this that I purchased this book. I have always enjoyed the Jack Benny Show, the radio show even more than the tv version, (even though I was not born until 1961 and the tv show is in my immediate memory---I later in life "discovered" the radio shows on old time radio show programs and cd's) To hear the story of his career through his own memories and then to have them reflected by the point of view of his daughter was indeed a treat and a fascinating view into his life. I highly recommend this book for the serious Benny fan.

I really enjoyed this autobiography of Jack Benny. It is based on an unfinished manuscript that his daughter Joan found when she was going through her mother's house shortly after her death. Since it was incomplete, Joan contributes roughly half of the book's contents and Jack contributes the other half. There are also a few paragraphs written here and there by other people who knew Jack, including George Burns, his lifetime friend.

Jack gives quite a bit of the details of his personal life from his childhood up until the beginning of his radio career. At that point, most of his comments concentrate on his comedy, how he built his radio show, the transition to television, and various anecdotes on how people often mistook the personality they saw on TV or heard on the radio with the real Jack Benny. Jack was always a generous fellow, so there is much information about the other performers on his show and what went into making each performance.

Joan's half of the book fits nicely with Jack's since she gives many personal details of what it was like being Jack Benny's daughter and talks about the goings on in the Benny household in the years that Jack basically omits from his autobiography. The only thing that is a little off-track about the book is that Joan goes into considerable detail about the problems she had with her mother. From the book it appears she never talked to her father about these problems in much detail, so it really doesn't have much to do with Jack's story.

This is a very detailed portrait - not from the standpoint of retracing every step Jack took, but from the standpoint of getting a real feel for the man in his own words. He was truly one the great comedians of the twentieth century and a genuinely nice guy. Highly recommended.

Don't expect some exhaustive book on Benny (like the recent mega-biography of Bing Crosby) and you won't be disappointed. This book consists of light, amusing anecdotes - show biz fluff and recollections. It is great fun for Jack Benny fans and can be consumed in one afternoon. Enjoyable.

Jack Benny wrote an autobiography entitled: "I Always Had Shoes." Though complete, it was never published, and when Jack's daughter Joan found it she decided to take excerpts from it and publish it with her own reflections on growing up in the Benny household.

Jack Benny's text is highlighted in bold type, while Joan's is in regular font. The average reader will no doubt very soon begin skipping Joan's writing and will read only Jack's text. Jack was apparently a surprisingly good writer.

Why not just publish Jack's autobiography? I'd give it five stars in a heartbeat.

Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco, I have heard Joan Benny on various radio programs over the years and she truly was blessed to have Mr. Benny as a father. Unlike many of the Mommy & Daddy dearest books written by the children of celebrities this books tells of an enchanted childhood growing up in Hollywood's golden age, Many of Mr. Benny's insights on his contemporaries like Fred Allen & George Burns as well as his defense that the Rochester character was NOT explotive of African Americans are insightful. Eddie "Rochester" Anderson was one of the highest paid comedians of his generation and owned a large house with servants, numerous automobiles, & large chunks of California real estate. Eddie and Jack were great friends for many years and Eddie was very broken up at Jack's funeral. The numerous radio interviews Joan Benny did on Larry King and several other stations are usually found on Jack Benny radio show collection CDs sold on Ebay & elsewhere and make for a wonderful companion for this book.

I got this tape from my local library because it included an appearance by Al Jolson on it. I listened to the tape and found myself taken by the charm of the old radio from the sweet jokes to the strong personalities right down to the charming plugs for Swan soap and Maxwell House coffee.

Although George Burns and Gracie Allen have a relationship similar to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez's (one I don't find appealing), there is a certain something one cannot ignore or dislike. Adding to this quiet quality are the variety of stars on this set ranging from Mickey Rooney to Rita Hayworth to Eddie Cantor.

There are songs on the broadcasts, skits, and jokes which make for some highly entertaining and unique moments. We do not have anything equivalent to old time radio in modern times, so there is a transition into liking it, but it is easy to adapt to. It really is a shame we don't have it anymore.

If your familiarity with George Burns only goes back as far as "The Sunshine Boys", here's a refresher course. Of the six hour-long cassettes, four of these come from the 1940s-era Burns and Allen show, one of the classic sitcoms of American radio (and early TV). The remaining tapes include guest spots George did (with and without Gracie) with Jack Benny and Bing Crosby. All programs are complete (or as complete as possible). A few of my favorite Burns and Allen shows were passed over in the selection, which is why this set doesn't get the extra star. However, this set is a bushel of fun and a great gift idea for the comedy fan in your life

In his heyday, Dennis Day was the epitome of Irish singers with his tenor singing. The along came the three tenors, albeit from separate countries, they sang Irish mostly. Daniel O"Donnell was good on the PBS special, using only a couple of Irish songs. I was surprised that he had taken the reportroi of old songs by such as Don Gibson (O Lonesome Me), several Ray Price songs, and even a hymn, "It is no secret," which I sang in my first amateur show at school. His fans out in the audience all knew the words to these '40s and '50s American recordings, even though they are from Ireland. Amazing!