the jack benny program starring jack benny with rochester, dennis day, and yours truly now mr. benny, we've covered pretty thoroughly your career in radio and television. now tell me something about your career in pictures. - in pictures? - yes. (audience laughing) well, i'm glad you brought that up. i made a lot of good pictures, you know, i made the-- well, the first one was the hollywood review and then i made broadway melody. - oh, yes. i remember that one. - remember that one? i made buck benny rides again and artists and models. - oh, they were very good. - thank you. then i made, let's see, george washington slept here, charlie's aunt and another very, very good one called - oh, yes, they were very funny. - thank you. - but mr. benny, i noticed you didn't refer to the horn blows at midnight. (audience laughing) was that done on purpose or was that a subconscious desire to sublimate a traumatic experience? (audience laughing) - what was that? - boss, he means-- - i know what he means! ng me at all. now sit down here a minute. - all right. - i want to get something straight

oh, i know what, "jack benny and close friend". (audience laughter) hey, say, that's pretty good. bob will like that. (audience laughter) - okay, jack, we can get started any time. oh, by the way, i want you to meet my producer, dick rodney. - [dick] well, hi, jack, - [jack] hi, hi. - [dick] nice to see you. (applause) - well, what do you say? let's get started, huh? - uh, just a minute, jack, 'til i call my help in. - yeah, you have to have an audience for these recordings. - oh, oh, that's right. - come on, everybody, right in here (claps). (audience laughter) - bob, these people are your help? - on this side of the house. (audience laughter) - on this side? well, why can't they work the other side too? - well, they used to, but it was so much trouble going through customs. (audience laughter) - [group] (laughs) (audience laughter) - gosh, i ... i can't get over it. look it, you have someone to cook, someone to do your laundry, drive your car, clean the house, give you massages, cut your hair. - well, you've got the same thing, (audience laughter) - now, bob, look it, i've got th

- jack benny! - you mean the guy that's been playing at the palladium? - yeah, jack benny! - are you really? (audience laughs) - yes, yes, i'm jack benny! - hey, nice to meet you. don't get up. (audience laughs) nto show business, mr. benny, and we'd sure like to do a number for ya. - but there's no time! you said yourself there's only two minutes left on the bomb! - great! - okay, let's do that special song we've been working on. - yes, that, that, that's a-- - we've only got two minutes! - that's alright, the song takes a minute. (audience laughs) - this is kind of a funny number. if you feel like laughin', go right ahead. (audience laughs) - lookit, boys... - what tempo? ("jimmy cracked corn") ? jimmy cracked corn and i don't care ? jimmy cracked corn and... ? i don't care, i don't care ? - that's not the way it goes. - i don't care. (audience laughs) - how'd you like that one? - fine, fine! - how 'bout an encore? - never mind the encore! we've only got a few seconds left! - he didn't get it, let's do it again. (audience laughs) ? jimmy cracked corn and i don't care - fe

(theme song music) - [voiceover] the jack benny program! (applause) - thank you, thank you very much ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the show. the first thing they say is, "a funny thing "happened to me on the way to the studio." well, it seems that nothing funny ever happens to me on the way to the studio. on the way home, yes. (audience laughs) and then there's nobody to tell it to, except rochester. (audience laughs) so, with 30 million viewers, i'm nothing. but with my butler, i'm a sensation. oh, well. ladies and gentlemen, a few days ago, during a meeting in my office, we got to talking about the days of radio, how different it was from television. you see, in radio, we rely heavily on imagination. with just a few words, we could create a whole... a whole picture. you know, a picture in your mind. for example, i'd like to play for you, a recording of an actual scene that i heard don, would you bring out that phonograph, please? (applause) - there you are, jack. - thank you. now, this is a recording of a radio program i heard just

(all laughing) (vaudeville music) - [voiceover] from hollywood, the jack benny program. with jack's special guests the lettermen. - thank you. thank you very, very much, ladies and gentlemen. and welcome to the show. you know, it is so gratifying to come out to such a wonderful reception. (audience laughs) i remember once we did a show for a group of tourists from tibet. i came out; he put up the sign. they thought it was a fire and ran out of the building. (audience laughs) i remember this happened once when i had an american audience too. but anyway, these things don't bother me, the applause and that. because when you've been in show business-- (audience laughs and claps) you know that you... - oh, hello, mr. benny. - hello, hello. listen, i mean, what are you doing here? what'd you bring these things out here for? - oh, i need the scenery for the song i'm gonna sing. - the song, what song? - well, i'm gonna sing "the last time i saw paris." (audience laughs) - dennis, come here. - yes. - i want to ask you something. i know i shouldn't ask this, i know. what connection

(audience clapping) (orc - [voiceover] from hollywood, the jack benny program. with jack's special guest, milton berle. se) - thank you, thank you, very much, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the show. now, the reason i brought out these two violins is i want to clear up something once and for all. i receive so many letters from people but i think this will explain why i did. now, this is the ordinary, inexpensive violin that i use just on my television shows. and this is the $30,000 stradivarius that i use in my concerts. i'm going to show you why this is worth now first, listen to this cheap one. this is a cheap one. just listen to it. (scratchy tuneless playing) now, here is my stradivarius. (audience laughter) you see? there's no substitute for quality. would someone take these violins off, please? (audience applause) (audience laughter) keep awake. there'll be no sleeping while he's on. - milton! come back here. - what do you want? - look, milton, why would you come out here before you were supposed to? - you're getting so-- "why would you?" you would be

(applause) -[voiceover] appearing on tonight's show - [voiceover] from hollywood, the jack benny program, with jack's guest, jack jones. (upbeat music) - thank you, thank you very, very much, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the show. well, here i am again, standing in front of millions of viewers, completely relaxed, and not a worry in the world. to my years of experience. others will say it's the temperament of a true artist. (audience laughter) personally, i feel that it's nauseating confidence. (audience laughter and applause) now, my psychology and starting with a remark like that, you see, is to get you people to dislike me immediately. a nice, harmless, elderly man, this gives you a guilt complex. (audience laughter) now this complex leads to sympathy. sympathy leads to laughter. laughter leads to applause, and then when the applause is over you go home and i go to the bank. (audience laughter) that's when i laugh. (audience laughter) but, the reason i never worry about my shows is because when i told my father years ago that i was going to go into show business, he gave me so

successors to lenny's .roundbreaking work as steve alluded to, previous generations of comedians, jack benny, bob hope, milton berle, had a style of telling rapidfire jokes, a preset up followed by a punchline, and many bruce is still could not have been more different. he wrote his own material, rooted in personal experiences, targeting the hypocrisy of contemporary society. along with the others of his time, he was more a comic thinker than a comedian. steve mentioned, all those people had some connection to playboy, featured in the magazine, or performing in the playboy clubs or the syndicated television show my father hosted, a show that got no carriage in the south because its format was to feature black performers in front of an integrated audience onset. points of many intersection between the lenny and my father which led up to the logic of the foundation making the grant that facilitated this acquisition. playboy was launched in december 1953, and my father envisioned it as a guidebook for the urban male that would combined lifestyle information with entertainment and thoughtful and

stars. [ laughter ] >> i'll give up before you will. [ laughter ] >> stared at me, longer than jack benny. la didn't he stare 'em out? wasn't he beautiful? >> oh, freddy's doing a thi-- that-- we gotta-- >> outstanding clip. >> we do! i didn't know that. >> what-what'd ya do? >> somebody said we have an actual film clip-- >> they didn't bring film clips over here. >> first time! >> my goodness! >> are you kidding? >> isn't that amazing? [ laughter ] r-roll 'em! r-roll 'em! [ laughter ] >> how do ya-- i've never been able to do that. how do ya do that? >> you know, my daughter's the only one can do it, in my family? it-it-it's a thing. it's a dutch thing. >> i know. they used to do that, in the old-- >> that's a "station house." >> the sketches. >> how do ya-- what's the trick? i've never-- >> hmm? it has to happen, for ya, down there. >> it's a-- [ rolling r ] >> how many people can do it, in the audience? lemme hear it? >> lemme hear that. [ audience rolling r ] [ laughter ] five hundred guys doin' "station house," up there. >> lotta tigers, up there. >> yeah. >> tape people are going cr

>> jack benny? >> people of a certain age know. reach out it me on twitter. temperatures outside this morning, feels like 19 in winchester, 21 in martinsburg, 28 in manassas, 25 at st. mary's city. today's forecast, plenty of sunshine, but a strong northwest will keep the windchills in the 20s and 30s all day long. a lot of people getting ready to get on planes and fly. flight delays today new york city, boston, phoenix and seattle. tomorrow, minneapolis, kansas, seattle and portland. big travel day on wednesday, chicago, st. louis, memphis and houston. and flying on thanksgiving, seattle and portland most likely to be affected. what does our weather look like for the holiday? i'll let you know in ten problem on the beltway. not telling us whether it's the inner p loop or out are loop, but report of a vehicle fire near annapolis road. largo road closed at frontgate drive. because of an apparatus in the roadway. northbound old george up to road at tuckerman lane, have wires down. you can get past it, but we have police on the scene. and westbound 7 before barr

oh, rochester, that is jack benny. >> i said that earlier. >> i must not have heard take. oh, rochester. so for us, oh, is it windy outside. these are the current wind gusts. gusts still 35 to near 40 miles per hour from gaithersburg up towards frederick, hagerstown and cumberland. temperatures will stay in the 40s, low to mid-40s at best for today. travel boston, phoenix, seattle. tomorrow minneapolis, kansas city, seattle and portland, oregon. wednesday chicago, st. louis, memphis and houston may have some weather delays. and thanksgiving day, the pacific northwest where there will be bad weather there. breaking news now in first 4 traffic. >>> in upper marlboro, take a look. 202 is shut down at frontgate drive. you're seeing the vehicle get by, that is just a police brown station road. if you take 202 through that section of upper marlboro, you will want to do something else today. also hearing about wires down 15,000 block of old columbia pike. travel times look okay in maryland. a little slow inbound 66 to the beltway. everything else looking pretty good. remember to

(applause) ("the jack benny program" theme song) dennis. dennis. hello, margaret. hello, mrs. mitchell. is dennis home? well, he must be over at tommy's. they were out here playing a minute ago. all those mouths to feed. how are they? they're all teething. oh. well, bye, mrs. mitchell. goodbye, margaret. [music] there she goes, tommy. yeah, dumb old margaret. she can't help it if she's a girl. can i use your bathroom? sure. come on. hey, mom. i'm home. so i hear. hello, tommy. he's polite, mom. he's just in a hurry. okay. do you know who was just here? sure. it was margaret. but i was hiding in the bushes. mrs. mitchell: why were you doing that? 'cause girls are no fun. 'em because they're a girl. first thing you know, you end up playing house. true, true. no tv for you tonight. [phone ringing] i'll get it. i'm not complaining. i became interested in playing house when you stopped-- dennis: hello. --making mud pies and began making apple pies. guess what we've got out there on the phone, a long-distance call for you. long distance? hello. daddy. grandpa? how are you? where are

this is jack benny i remember the very first time you did that on television. >> i've got to tell you one story about that. he loved the way he looked and he wouldn't take the dress off. [ laughter ] i said, "jack, take that dress off." he says, "no, no, no, i want to go home and show mary how i look." so two days later i got a call from mary. she said, "look, you're jack's best friend. come over here. if he doesn't take the dress off i'm going to divorce him." [ laughter ] so i went over there and i says, "mary, where's jack?" she says, "he's upstairs shaving his legs again." [ laughter ] >> and this one is-- is this queen elizabeth? >> no, that's the princess. >> princess. >> that's the princess, yes. >> command performance in england? >> i did a command performance for her. a story about that, i went upstairs after the performance and i said, "it's nice to meet you." she wasn't there. the lady waiting says, "i'm not the princess. i'm the lady waiting." i said, "oh, it's nice to meet you too." didn't know what to say, and we sat and we talked. finally she got up and i thought it was