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Today I'm rolling the clocks back to a early, vintage Jack Benny episode. It is a milestone program in that it is the first show of the season, the first show for his long running sponsor, Jello, even the first time he opens the show with the catch phrase, "Jello everybody." The audio quality isn't the best, but I give a borderline between fair and poor. Still, it is decent to listen to between the skips, scratches, and clipped out musical numbers. Because it is a bit short, I took some time to give a longer intro, and tossed in an extra song.

The comedy style is a little rougher than Jack Benny shows after 1936, and later. Jack is still on his first writer. I can't think of his name at the moment so rather than making a mistake, I'll not even try to write it. I'm sure it will come to me as soon as I hit the "Post this Podcast" button.

Mary comes across as a dizzy girlfriend. Wisecracking, but not as sassy as her character would later become. Jack seems a little more in control, more of a joker, and almost no sign of his later trademark stinginess and toupee jokes on himself.

It would be about 2 more years and Jack would have a major falling out with his writer, and at the beginning of his 1936 season he would pick up the writing tallents of Phil Murro and Eddie Beloine. Also Phil Harris would join the cast in 1936. The singing tenor is still Frank Black, and Kenny Baker would later join in mid season in 1935 and stay until the end of the 1938 season.

The main theme of today's show is to salute the new sponser, and so Jack sets up his small town grocery. There are plenty of gags about food in general, some directed right at Jello. Hey, gotta work those commercials in there too. Not to mention some goofy customers. The show went over so well that Jack reprised and continued the episode the following week. I'll try to play that one as well soon.

Bonus Tracks: Alice Faye, with Rudy Valley's band. Here's the Key to My Heart. 1934.
Judy Garland, with Rudy Valley's band. Comes Love. Late 1930's.

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