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December 27, 1950 – One of the often forgotten recurring characters on the Jack Benny Program is Mr. Kitzel. His funny voice is an over-the-top jewish dialect. Artie Auerbach was playing Mr. Kitzel on other radio programs like Al Pearce and Abbot & Costello before bringing it to the Jack Benny show. But it was the Jack Benny show that made it most popular. In this BONUS episode you’ll hear clips of Mr. Kitzel from other programs, his signature tune “Pickle in the Middle and the Mustard on Top” and the one and only episode his own show “Here Comes Mr. Kitzel”.

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January 6, 1946 – At the Rose Bowl game Jack Benny made a bet with Phil Harris, but will he pay it? This is the end of the “I Can’t Stand Jack Benny Because…” contest and the first episode with the hot dog man who we later come to know as Mr. Kitzel. Plus references to “Mutany on the Bounty”, Abbott and Costello, Stokowski, Tarzan, Rinse-O and Coca-Cola.

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October 27, 1940 – Mary is out sick, but Jack and the cast carry on with a football skit. They mention a number of historical facts, the self proclaimed wizard of credit Smiling Frankie Gordon, Mickey Mouse, Pinocchio’s Blue Fairy and the Tom Collins cocktail.

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October 13, 1940 – Phil Harris tries to collect on a World Series bet. Jack Benny, Don Wilson and Mary Livingstone read reviews of their first show of the season including Ed Sullivan’s review. And Rochester was elected honorary Mayor of Central Avenue. Plus references to conscription day, Helen Hayes, Oscar Levant, Gone With The Wind, Boomtown, The Grapes of Wrath, and Gulliver’s Travels.

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1940 World Series

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson

This is a record for State Farm Insurance agents when the company started sponsoring the Jack Benny TV Show in 1960. “Jack Benny Music to Write Apps By”. Side A is Jack Benny and the gang, Side B is State Farm on how they came up with the State Farm theme.

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October 6, 1940 – Jack tells a childhood story. Mary Kelley returns as The Blue Fairy (a spoof on Disney’s Pinocchio). Plus they mention William Shakespeare’s a “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and the tap-dancing Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.

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September 27, 1936 – The JELL-O Summer Show starring Don Wilson with the wacky comedy team of Tim and Irene Ryan. You might know Irene Ryan as granny from the Beverly Hillbillies. This is the rare surviving episode of that show. Enjoy!

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