Talk:The Jack Benny Program

Return to CBS
"The show returned to CBS on January 2, 1949, as part of CBS president William S. Paley's notorious "raid" of NBC talent in 1948-49."


 * Notorious? It's not even in Paley's entry.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.255.199.12 (talk) 21:12, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

It probably should be. The CBS talent raid is well known to all old time radio fans. Jack Benny felt that NBC was taking him for granted. Paley found out about it, and met with him. Jack was impressed with his attitude so much that he not only signed a contract with CBS, but he convinced several other NBC stars to sign up with CBS. I don't remember all the shows off the top of my head, but I know Burns & Allen was one of the shows. CastingCrowns (talk) 02:24, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

Christmas Programs
I know the Benny Christmas shows were popular in their time: radio stations throughout the country ran transcriptions of them for many years during the holiday seasons. Mel Blanc played a store clerk driven to the brink by Benny's shopping demands the Christmas before but coincidentally now starting at a branch of the same franchise that Benny is about to visit. 138.162.128.55 (talk) 11:45, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Artie Auerbach entry in the Cast section
"Mr. Kitzel [who originally appeared on Al Pearce's radio show in the late 1930s, where his famous catch phrase was, "Hmmmm... eh, could be!", and several years later as a regular on The Abbott & Costello Show, who originally started out as a Yiddish hot dog vendor . . ."

Yiddish is a language, not a nationality, ethnicity, or religion. It can't be used as an identifier for the character. What belongs here instead? Yiddish-accented, Yiddish-speaking, Jewish, or a longer descriptive phrase? Cognita (talk) 02:53, 29 November 2019 (UTC)

Split this article?
Does anyone else think this article should possibly be split into two articles? The radio show and the television show were pretty different. I want to start cleaning up this article by adding inline citations and removing information that can't be sourced, but my familiarity is with the radio show, and the two are entirely too muddled here. I'm also surprised that the show is rated as "low importance" for WikiProject Radio. I understand that the WikiProject is more than just old-time radio, but The Jack Benny Program is perhaps the most popular comedy of the radio era. (I'm not trying to start a fight with any radio buffs who disagree with that perhaps controversial statement. I'll ping fellow editor User:Teblick who may have heard the show before. --DiamondRemley39 (talk) 01:28, 8 April 2020 (UTC)


 * Yes,, I have heard a number of episodes of the radio program. I think a split would be good. A separate article could be developed into much more than the three paragraphs in the "Radio" section of this article. Eddie Blick (talk) 01:38, 8 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the quick response, . I figured you'd know it. Do you know whether it is necessary to ask approval for such a change somewhere, or is it ok to just do it? I've never done something like this before. --DiamondRemley39 (talk) 01:47, 8 April 2020 (UTC)


 * I have not been involved with splitting an article, but I think notification has to be proposed so that editors can comment if they wish to do so. I have seen a template that notifies about a proposed merger of two articles, so I assume something similar would apply to splitting an article. I suggest that you ask at Help desk. Somebody there should be able to say what steps should be followed. Eddie Blick (talk) 02:13, 8 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Standard procedure for entertainment programs spanning the evolution of radio to television has been to treat the TV episodes as a continuation of the radio shows. I would Oppose for that reason alone.   GenQuest  "Talk to Me" 00:50, 13 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Is that policy or just practice? Any policy or precedence to cite? Next question: Are you familiar with the shows? I know little of the television show and thus I struggle to edit this unwieldy mess of an article. DiamondRemley39 (talk) 01:08, 13 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure if it's policy, but most TV–Radio separated articles likely will be eventually merged together unless they are part of a huge franchise (e.g.: I Love Lucy). I did actually catch some of them when I was very young, as my parents would watch many of the shows as they were transitioning to TV. I was not, however,  necessarily interested in them very much at my age.  I'd suggest you look for guidance at other shows of the time making a similar transition: The Lone Ranger, The Jack Benny Program, The Life of Riley, or Fibber McGee and Molly, just to name a few.  GenQuest  "Talk to Me" 03:03, 13 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Ok. I would call The Jack Benny Program a pretty big franchise with some thirty years on the air and probably the most popular show on the air for many of those years, but that's a matter of opinion. I Love Lucy never aired as a radio show to my knowledge; its predecessor, My Favorite Husband, was different enough that I don't think anyone would see a reason to merge them. Can't look for guidance at this very article. Radio versions of Escape, Suspense, The Red Skelton Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, Dragnet, and Inner Sanctum have their own articles, at least for now. But fair enough. Practice is practice and I can find a way to improve the radio portions of the article. Thank you for your input; I'll stop waiting and proceed. DiamondRemley39 (talk) 17:56, 13 May 2020 (UTC)
 * , you can probably go ahead at this point and attempt a split. Judging by the response (or lack of) here, you may be successful with a BOLD split.  Closing.  Good luck.  GenQuest  "scribble" 15:54, 4 December 2020 (UTC)

"Your money or your life"
This was a famous line in many Benny radio programs. I do not see it mentioned in the article.

Norm — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:8A:4001:670:0:0:0:BE1A (talk) 01:26, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

"Ye-e-e-e-s?" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ye-e-e-e-s%3F&redirect=no Ye-e-e-e-s?] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Utopes (talk / cont) 02:07, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

"Train leaving on track five for Anaheim, Azusa and Cu-camonga!" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Train_leaving_on_track_five_for_Anaheim,_Azusa_and_Cu-camonga!&redirect=no Train leaving on track five for Anaheim, Azusa and Cu-camonga!] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Utopes (talk / cont) 17:02, 2 December 2023 (UTC)