BW - EP151—001: Jack Benny's Famous Slump—Benny's 1930s Early Radio Career and Ratings Peak

Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting

In March of 1932 Jack Benny was headlining on Broadway as part of Earl Carroll’s Vanities when friend Ed Sullivan invited him to appear on Ed’s radio show. At the time Benny had no great interest in radio, but he went on Sullivan’s quarter-hour show March 19th, 1932, as a favor. His first line was “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jack Benny talking. There will be a slight pause while you say, ‘Who cares?” Canada Dry Ginger Ale’s advertising agency heard Benny and offered him a show. Benny debuted on NBC’s Blue Network on May 2nd, 1932. This initial series aired Mondays and Wednesdays. Benny’s wife of five years, Sadye Marks, who’d performed with him on Vaudeville, joined the cast on August 3rd as Mary Livingstone. In storyline she was a young Benny fan from Plainfield, New Jersey. Eventually she read humorous poetry and letters from her mother, and much later she would become a main deflator of Benny’s ego. On October 30th, 1932 the show moved to CBS. During this time Benny began ribbing his sponsor in a gentle, good-natured way. Canada Dry got upset, and despite a rating in radio’s top twenty, they canceled the show after January 26th, 1933. Chevrolet, which had recently lost Al Jolson, was waiting in the wings. On Friday, March 17th, 1933 at 10PM from New York, Benny debuted with The Chevrolet Program over NBC’s Red Network. The June 23rd, 1933 episode was the last of the season as well as Mary Livingstone’s twenty-eighth birthday. Howard Claney was announcer with Frank Black as orchestra leader and James Melton as the tenor. When the show returned in the fall it was on Sundays at 10PM from New York. Benny’s program slowly began to morph from variety into more developed comedic skits. He also started to show the character traits that would come to define his persona. Unfortunately, Chevrolet didn’t like the series and fired him after the April 1st, 1934 episode. But, the General Tire Company immediately scooped him up. Benny debuted on their program the following Friday, April 6th, 1934 at 10PM. There, he first worked with announcer Don Wilson. Wilson would remain with Benny until 1965. Often the butt of weight-based jokes, Wilson’s deep belly laugh that could often be heard above the studio audience and his deep, rich voice became a show trademark. This is audio from that April 6th, 1934 episode. That summer Mary and Jack adopted their daughter Joan. She was two weeks old. Jack later said in his autobiography that as Joan grew older, she came to look like he and Mary. She had Mary’s face with Jack’s blue eyes and his love for music. Benny, Don Wilson, and Mary Livingstone worked together, along with tenor Frank Parker and orchestra leader Don Bestor on The General Tire Show until September 28th, 1934. Then, General Foods came calling. They wanted Benny’s help saving a gelatin product of theirs called Jell-O, which was getting badly beaten by Knox Gelatin in sales. On October 14th, 1934 Benny moved to Sunday nights at 7PM from NBC’s Blue Network. His rating immediately leapt into the top five. On April 7th, 1935 the show was regularly broadcast from New York for the final time. The Jell-O Program would be moving to Hollywood. Benny simultaneously made Broadway Melody of 1936 and It’s In The Air on film. Until the mid-1930s, New York and Chicago were the main broadcasting hubs. Frank Nelson remembered early Hollywood radio. Nelson began working with Benny in June of 1934. Even in 1935, it was still more costly for shows to originate from Southern California. Here’s actress Mary Jane Higby, who grew up in Los Angeles, but moved to New York in 1937, explaining why. On November 3rd, 1935 Kenny Baker joined the show as the new singer. That year, Benny’s show climbed to second overall in the ratings. The following year Benny made The Big Broadcast of 1937 on film, and on October 4th, 1936 Phil Harris debuted as the new band leader. With Phil Harris in place, Benny’s most-famous cast was taking shape.