Best of Jack Benny

BEST OF JACK BENNY () Product Description

Jack Benny is appealing as always

I was/am a fan of Jack Benny. But I didn't find these shows as compelling as I anticipated. Humor back then was much more casual than today; it was interesting to see the various guest stars, but the skits lack the boffo laughs I was expecting. It's a pleasant trip down memory lane, but not much more than that...I smiled and chuckled occasionally, but don't expect humor on the scale of "Cheers", "Will & Grace", etc. July 1, 2008

Excellent Selection of the Best Comedy Show of the 1950's

There were funnier shows in the 1950's, "Abbott and Costello," "I Love Lucy" (from 1952-1955), "Milton Berle," "Honeymooners" and "I Married Joan," but these only lasted, or were funny, for two or three years, "The Jack Benny Show" lasted amazingly from 1950 till 1965. From this collection, a good selection from many of these years, it is clear that the Jack Benny show was consistently funny for all those years.

This is the best collection on the market. Even the ones that are no longer very funny (about 1/4 of the episodes) are fascinating to watch for what they tell us about the times.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the show today is the relationship between Eddie Anderson (Rochester) and Jack Benny. There is a genuine affection between the two performers that made for a silent but clear anti-racist message for the time.

One should be warned that there are a lot of Luck Strike commercials included (about 20). They are incredibly effective and even today can have you wanting to run out and buy a pack for the "great taste."

Hopefully, someone will put out a complete year by year collection some day. Until then, this collection is the best we have. May 12, 2008

A great collection of complete Jack Benny Program episodes

This is the most entertainment I have gotten for under ten dollars in a long time - four discs of complete episodes of The Jack Benny Program and various other shows in which Jack appeared, including that of George Burns and Gracie Allen. Just about every star of the 50's and 60's shows up on Jack's show, and the show is presented complete with commercials in most cases. This is most interesting since Lucky Strike cigarettes sponsored Benny's show for much of its tenure. How ironic to see Humphrey Bogart plugging cigarettes during an episode in which he appears just a few years before the same product takes his life.

Especially fun are the guest appearances by Mel Blanc and Bob Hope - Benny just can't resist breaking up during their routines. Then there is an episode entitled "Jam Session" in which a number of stars including Kirk Douglas, Fred MacMurray, Dan Dailey, and Dick Powell join Jack in his living room for an impromptu musical session. The group, in need of refreshment, find a number of vending machines placed throughout the room to dispense cold apples and soft drinks at a price, of course. They've obviously been to Jack's house before.

There is a running gag through the shows about the failure of Jacks's 1940's film "The Horn Blows at Midnight". I don't know if it failed in the 40's, but if you ever get a chance to catch it on TV, give it a try - it really is pretty good.

As for the controversy over Rochester, I'd say his role in TV was groundbreaking. Benny treats Rochester more as a member of the family than a servant, and several times Rochester's ingenuity and wisdom save Benny from himself. More importantly, Rochester's ingenuity saves himself from Benny's cheapskate ways more than once, and when that's not possible at least Rochester gets off a wisecrack at Benny's expense. It's not at all the painful portrayal of racial stereotypes you see in some of the 1940's Charlie Chan films.

Some people have criticized the video quality of this pack. The quality is definitely "unrestored", but I would put it on par with the best quality that you find in some of those public domain 50 movie packs. Sure there are some scratches in the video here and there, but the audio is quite clear. Highly recommended. May 3, 2008

"Oh, Don...Don Wilson..."

Granted, the quality of the prints in this release aren't stellar and in fact, the final frames of a few shows are missing. But they're not all that bad either, and given that we're provided with a whopping 1,260 minutes of entertainment on four disks for <$10, I think some perspective is in order. We're treated to some of the earliest shows--from the short-lived days of the single sponsor--which include Lucky Strike commercials that are actually incorporated into the episodes themselves (earlier than I remember, and I grew up watching this show from infancy). There are also some specials, plus an installment of the Burns & Allen show in which Jack was the guest star. It's a nice mix.
I've already loaned this to one of my professors who also happens to be a fan. In fact, it turns out that several of my buddies in academia are J.B. fans, so this will be passed around a lot. This is REALLY funny stuff and we're lucky that at least some original film stock has survived. I'd love to see an all-out restoration project but until such time, this will more than suffice. I tend to be fussy about quality, but given the age of the source material and the price, I'm very happy that I made this purchase. It might not be everyone's cup of tea (i.e., it's not for liver-lipped, pretentious, Finnish ugly-boy stalker trolls), but if genuine wit without profanity, bathroom humor, and graphic sexuality appeals to you, this is likely to keep you laughing for the better part of 21 hours.
A small caveat: Disk 2 wouldn't track in my PowerBook but was fine in my DVD player, so I didn't bother to try to exchange it. April 21, 2008

Classic, if Scratchy, Television

Jack Benny, America's greatest radio comedian, dipped his toes into the television waters in 1949 for his new bosses at CBS. He must have liked the medium because he stayed until 1965. While never the top television comic, his legendary status as both a performer and a human being helped CBS to gain stature as the top network in TV's early days.
Unlike his friend Lucille Ball, his television shows were only sporadically recorded and not always in the best quality. They tend to be similar to the "Honeymooners' Lost Episodes" kinoscope recordings in video quality. The shows that did have a better look remain under copy write to NBC by way of MCA, ironic for a CBS show, eh? So what we are left with in this collection are unrestored kinoscope to vhs quality recordings whose rights were allowed to lapse because the rights holders figured they were unsaleable. If you get the idea they don't look like a lovingly retouched HD-DVD set of "Heroes", then you are on the right track.
The set has two major redeeming qualities. The first is value. At 5 to 8 bucks depending on where you shop its hard to argue the price on a 4 DVD box set. The second is the show. Jack Benny was a master of comic timing whose much ballyhooed cheapness and vanity were a wink wink, nudge nudge disguise for one of the best loved men in the country. Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, while playing the somewhat demeaning role of valet, was a virtual costar for much of the shows run. His amazing voice, at once gravelly and expressive, and tremendous chemistry with Benny made him the best second banana in early television. Rotund announcer Don Wilson appeared in most every show, while other Benny radio vets like Mary Livingstone, Dennis Day and Mel Blanc made sporadic visits to the show. With a stripped down cast that no longer included Phil Harris and only occasionally Mary and Dennis, Jack began to feature a plethora of guest stars. Because of his friendship with many Hollywood stars, big names from Bob Hope to Jimmy Stewart to Humphrey Bogart were seen on the Jack Benny shows across the years.
While not as strong as his radio shows and despite the video quality, getting sixteen plus hours of Jack Benny is definitely a bargain at this price. See the inspiration for all the great comedians from Cosby to Seinfeld in quite often watchable grainy black and white, its the most fun you will ever have courting eye strain. April 14, 2008

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