Jack Benny page of LISTS

THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM'S YEAR-END HOOPER RATINGS

1934-1935 3rd Place 36.4

1935-1936 3rd Place 26.8

1936-1937 2nd Place 28.6

1937-1938 2nd Place 34.0

1938-1939 2nd Place 31.4

1939-1940 2nd Place 34.1

1940-1941 1st Place 36.2

1941-1942 5th Place 31.0

1942-1943 5th Place 33.9

1943-1944 5th Place 27.9

1944-1945 7th Place 24.2

1945-1946 6th Place 24.1

1946-1947 3rd Place 27.2

1947-1948 4th Place 26.0

1948-1949 3rd Place 26.4

1949-1950 1st Place 25.3

THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM 1940s CHRISTMAS EPISODES

12-17-1939 CHRISTMAS SHOPPING FOR PERFUME AND A NECKTIE

12-24-1939 CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE AT JACK'S HOUSE

12-22-1940 ANNUAL CHRISTMAS SHOPPING EPISODE

12-14-1941 HORSERADISH

12-21-1941 THE CHRISTMAS TREE

12-19-1943 JACK AND MARY GO CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

12-26-1943 CHRISTMAS AT JACK'S HOUSE

12-24-1944 TRIMMING A TREE

12-23-1945 THE ENGLISH BUTLER

12-22-1946 CHRISTMAS PARTY AT BIRMINGHAM GENERAL HOSPITAL

12-21-1947 LAST MOMENT CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

12-19-1948 JACK BUYS A WALLET FOR DON AS A CHRISTMAS GIFT

12-22-1948 EXPERIMENTAL BROADCAST # 1

12-18-1949 MARY BUYS JACK A PENCIL SHARPENER FOR CHRISTMAS

MY TOP TEN JACK BENNY "NON-REGULAR" CHARACTERS

MR. KITZEL (Artie Auerbach)

MR. BILLINGSLEY (Ed Beloin)

SHLEPPERMAN (Sam Hearn)

GERTRUDE GEARSHIFT (Bea Benaderet)

MABEL FLAPSADDLE (Sara Berner)

STEVE BRADLEY (Richard Lane)

PROFESSOR LeBLANC (Mel Blanc)

ED THE VAULT GUARD (Joseph Kearns)

RACETRACK TOUT (Benny Rubin/Sheldon Leonard)

LUCRETIA DAY (Verna Felton)

1940s: ORIGIN STORIES

10/06/1940.....Jack Tells His Childhood Story

03/15/1942......"The Life of Jack Benny" featured

05/28/1942.......The Life Story of Jack Benny

03/11/1945.......How Jack Found Rochester

03/18/1945.......How Jack Found Mary

04/01/1945.......How Jack Found Phil

05/06/1945.......How Jack Found Don

01/15/1950.......How Jack Met Fred Allen

05/28/1950.......How Jack Met the Cast

A DENNIS DAY CHRISTMAS PLAYLIST

12-24-1939 O Little Town of Bethlehem/The First Noel/Away in a Manger

12-22-1940 The First Noel//O Come All Ye Faithful

12-21-1941 The First Noel/Away in a Manger/Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

11-08-1942 White Christmas

12-20-1942 White Christmas

12-05-1943 I'll Be Home for Christmas/White Christmas

12-26-1943 The First Noel/Away in a Manger/O Come All Ye Faithful

12-22-1946 Silent Night Medley (w/ Kenny Baker & Larry Stevens)

12-21-1947 O Little Town of Bethlehem/The First Noel/Adeste Fideles

12-19-1948 Ave Maria

12-25-1949 Ave Maria

12-10-1950 Christmas in Killarney

12-24-1950 Christmas Medley

11-25-1951 Frosty the Snowman

12-16-1951 Christmas in Killarney

12-23-1951 Adeste Fideles/Silent Night/Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

12-07-1952 Christmas in Killarney

12-21-1952 Adeste Fideles/Silent Night/Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

12-20-1953 Adeste Fideles/Silent Night/Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

EPISODES DETAILED IN THE "JACK BENNY, THE RADIO AND TELEVISION WORK" BOOK

In 1991, the Museum of Television and Radio, in conjunction with an exhibition at the Museum, published the excellent book "Jack Benny: The Radio and Television Work". In addition to some very fine essays regarding Jack and his radio and television program, the book also features quite a few capsule reviews of particularly noteworthy/funny Jack Benny radio episodes. If you want to listen to classic Jack Benny radio programs but don't want to download or buy a ton of episodes, you could do worse than try to obtain the episode examples listed in this book.

Following is a list of the Jack Benny radio episodes from the 1940s singled out for review in this book;

The Jell-O Program

03-17-1940 The Hunchback of Notre Dame

10-20-1940 Jack tries to trade in his Maxwell

12-15-1940 From the Ritz Hotel in New York

04-20-1941 Jack is upset about the Quiz Kids

05-11-1941 NBC Tribute to Jack Benny's 10th Anniversary

02-01-1942 The Frightwig Murder Case pt.1

05-10-1942 Jack learns it is his last season for Jell-O

The Grape Nuts Flakes Program

10-04-1942 Jack Rounds up the gang in his Maxwell

02-21-1943 Chicago-a Monument for Jack

03-14-1943 Orson Welles Fills In

04-11-1943 Jack returns after his illness

12-19-1943 Jack and Mary go Christmas Shopping

04-23-1944 Dennis Leaves for the Navy

The Lucky Strike Program

10-01-1944 Jack looks for a Replacement Singer

01-07-1945 Leaving for New York City

02-11-1945 From Glen View AFB, Illinois

04-29-1945 First appearance of Prof. LeBlanc

12-02-1945 The I Can't Stand Jack Benny Contest

01-06-1946 Rose Bowl Game

04-14-1946 Violin Practice Interrupts Ronald Colman

03-16-1947 Jack's replacement for The Sportsmen

02-15-1948 Jack's Birthday Party

02-29-1948 Jack's Girlfriend

03-14-1948 Winner of the Walking Man Contest

03-28-1948 Jack is Robbed of Ronald Colman's Oscar

04-04-1948 Jack Wants to Borrow Bing Crosby's Oscar

02-02-1949

The Jack Benny/Fred Allen "Feud" Shows

03-15-1942 Jell-O Program

12-24-1942 Command Performance

10-29-1944 Lucky Strike Program

03-17-1946 Lucky Strike Program

05-26-1946 The Fred Allen Program

05-25-1947 Lucky Strike Program

06-27-1948 The Fred Allen Program

Jack Benny Guest Appearances

03-24-1940 Campbell Playhouse

03-31-1945 Jubilee

06-09-1946 Quiz Kids

01-30-1947 Pabst Blue Ribbon

03-26-1947 Philco

11-09-1948 Bob Hope Program

12-19-1948 Phil Harris/Alice Faye Program

03-04-1949 Ford Theatre

12-25-1949 Holiday Hotpoint