What's new

Jack Benny TV show on DVD? (1 Viewer)

Scott Kriefall

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 9, 1999
Messages
332
Location
SLC, Utah
Real Name
Scott
Are there any episodes of the 1950s Jack Benny TV show available -- or soon to be available -- on DVD?

Aside from a couple episodes on some multi-disc 1950s collections, I've been unable to locate any.
 

Jefferson

Supporting Actor
Joined
Apr 23, 2002
Messages
979
Not that i know of.
It is a shame, because he
is superb.

In the mid nineties they put out an authorized,
NON public domain VHS set of his early sixties
stuff, that i hoped would make it to dvd...
that featured eps with Lucy, Carol Burnett,
Smothers Bros.
 

David Lambert

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2001
Messages
11,377
Delta put out a "Christmas TV Episodes" disc a long time ago that had a Jack Benny Christmas episode on it. That's the only one we know about at TVShowsOnDVD. No word of anything forthcoming either...at least nothing's reached our ears.
 

David Von Pein

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2002
Messages
5,752
Scott .......

Here's a place you might want to try.

Keep in mind, the DVDs from Shokus.com are all in DVD-R format, which some players don't seem to like to play very well.

I have a few of the above Benny DVDs. Great shows! I'd like a lot more. The quality, however, on those DVDs leaves a lot to be desired. Not any better than VHS. But, still, it's nice to have some of Jack's great comedy on DVD. :)

Just FYI........

If you're also a fan of Benny's fabulously-successful (and hilarious) radio show (1932-1955), you might want to take a long, hard gander at THIS SITE. Or THIS ONE. You can buy nearly every Jack Benny Radio Program on MP3. Dirt cheap too. Dozens of other shows as well.
 

David Von Pein

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2002
Messages
5,752
Delta put out a "Christmas TV Episodes" disc a long time ago that had a Jack Benny Christmas episode on it.
If that Christmas program is the one with Mel Blanc playing a flustered clerk, who's driven to suicide when Jack continually asks him to make changes to a gift Jack buys, then I'd advise anyone to pick it up. Very funny episode.

That show is also available from Shokus.com (Volume 4; on VHS or DVD).

"Oh why did the Governor have to give me that pardon!!??" -- Mel Blanc after several run-ins with Jack at counter. :laugh:
 

David Von Pein

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2002
Messages
5,752
THE best/funniest Jack Benny Program I've ever seen has Peter Lorre guest-starring as a murderer searching for a new face. He gets Jack's face via plastic surgery....and hijinks ensue. :)

Unfortunately, I don't believe it's on DVD (yet).

 

Scott Kriefall

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 9, 1999
Messages
332
Location
SLC, Utah
Real Name
Scott
Just found another "old-time TV" DVD, featuring some Jack Bennys.......
That's the one I was referring to in my original post. It seems to only have one Benny episode, so I didn't buy it.

Thanks for all of the links -- I'll be checking them out later. And yes, I love Benny's old radio show. I have several dozen episodes of the radio show on tape, and perhaps a dozen more on CD. Also a large number of MP3s (I *think*, my drive is a mess!), although the quality on many of those is quite poor.
 

David Von Pein

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2002
Messages
5,752
I have several dozen episodes of the radio show on tape, and perhaps a dozen more on CD. Also a large number of MP3s (I *think*, my drive is a mess!), although the quality on many of those is quite poor.
Yes, I know what you mean.
I've found that the poorest ones are the very early shows (1932-1935). This, of course, would seem to make sense.

The MP3 Bennys I have improve in quality once you get past mid-1936 (approximately).

Some of the ongoing, continuing gags are fun to listen to from show to show (like the guy in Jack's basement who's guarding the "bank vault" who hasn't seen daylight in decades! :laugh: ).
 

Rodney

Premium
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2001
Messages
2,404
Jack Benny was very funny, and one of the few radio stars to successfully make the transition to television.

His radio shows are fantastic, and I recommend them heartily! Start with the ones during the Lucky Strike era (1944-1955), especially the ones with Phil Harris as the bandleader. This was the period of some great running gags, like The Vault, "Hey Bud", and Anaheim, Azusa and Cuc...
amonga.

It is sad that Jack Benny movies are not available on DVD. I would love to see the following:
Charley's Aunt, Buck Benny Rides Again, The Horn Blows at Midnight, To Be or Not to Be, It's In the Bag...

Wow, after writing them down, there are more and more I would love to have. Let's get them all out on DVD!
 

Scott Kriefall

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 9, 1999
Messages
332
Location
SLC, Utah
Real Name
Scott
David,

My "low quality" comment was directed more towards poorly compressed MP3s than towards low quality source material. Often, the bitrate is set much too low for the sampling rate, resulting in horrible artifacting and "gurglies". Many of them are probably compressed with sub-par encoders (Xing, anyone?) too.

Here's an idea for someone... release a DVD-R or two filled to capacity with properly compressed Benny radio episodes at 64/44! I'd buy it. Unfortunately, legal issues would probably prevent this.

Back to Benny on TV...

I'm tempted to order at least one of those DVDs from Shokus.com. The cost does seem a tad high for public domain material, but I'm not aware of any other alternatives.
 

Steve Phillips

Screenwriter
Joined
Jan 18, 2002
Messages
1,521
Diamond just released a 2 DVD set of THE JACK BENNY SHOW. There is also a BURNS AND ALLEN set. Tower had them for $6.99.
 

Mark Zimmer

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
4,318
I loved this show (which ran well into the 1960s). Another thing that I'd love to get on DVD are some of the episodes of The Tonight Show where Carson would schedule no guests other than Benny and they'd just flood the program with show business anecdotes. I remember several of these from the late 1960s, early 1970s, with one not too long before Benny died, but they're not among the many programs offered by Carson's website. I wonder if they survive?
 

Kajs

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 22, 2001
Messages
448
Real Name
Kurt
Well, I'd like to resurrect this 4 month old thread with news of a new Jack Benny DVD.

Deep Discount DVD has a new Critics Choice label with Jack Benny Show Vol. 1. It contains these 3 episodes:
  • "JACK BENNY PROGRAM"(1952) Featuring Bing Crosby, George Burns, & Bob Hope. (26 MIN-B&W)
  • "JACK BENNY PROGRAM"(1953) Featuring Julie London & All his special friends. (26 MIN-B&W)
  • "Jack Benny Hour" (11-3-65) Featuring Elke Summer, Walt Disney, & Beach Boys. (55 MIN-B&W)

And it's only $5.99...I ordered it, I'll let you know how it is once I get it. The front says "Digitally Restored" which could mean anything.
 

Rodney

Premium
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2001
Messages
2,404
Kurt:

Definitely let us know how they are. I bet the only digitally restoring they did was put it on a DVD. Still, with the big name stars on that one, it might be worth purchasing.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,815
Messages
5,123,844
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top