#the old shows are important to me!

[wgc-productions]

I Love "The Jack Benny Program" And I Will Talk About And Analyze It At Length: Part I (The Characters)

I am going to use this humble platform of mine to gush about my extraordinarily niche interest of The Jack Benny Radio Program which aired on NBC (1932, 1933-1948) and CBS (1932-1933, 1949-1955). Let's go!!

Okay, so let's start with the general premise:

The Jack Benny Program is a show-with-in-a-show about Jack Benny, a real life 1940s American comedian and movie star (though even he would say "star" is pushing it).

The show follows the lives of Jack and the staff of his radio show (think Curb Your Enthusiasm). The characters share the names of their actors (excluding one which we'll talk about), and the characters often reference the lives of their actors and are meant to be exaggerated versions of their actors. Public events dealing with the actors are often referenced and jokes about in-show.

Now let's get to the characters*:

*This is a show that existed for 23 years. It has seen a lot of people come and go. The characters I am showing here are the core cast that stayed the longest, though many of the characters/actors that were in the earlier and later seasons are wonderful in their own right.

Jack Benny: The titular character of the show, Jack is a vain, cheap, neurotic, and charming boss to all of his staff. He has a massive crush on his co-worker, Mary Livingstone (who he was married to in real life). He has deep friendships with all of his staff and is often around them. He is famously bad at the violin, insists that he is 39 even though he is clearly not, and insists that he has blue hair and blonde eyes though (once again, he obviously does not)

Rochester: Jack's long term valet, Rochester is a sly, clever, fun-loving man who prefers to crack jokes over managing his boss' life. His brand of fun includes: drinking, gambling, spending time with his friends, and smoking cigars.

Mary Livingstone: Mary is an actor on the show. She is thoughtful, smart, wise-cracking, and always up to go along with Jack's schemes. She has a massive crush on Jack (who she was married to in real life). She is never afraid to push against Jack's more ridiculous beliefs and ideas. She has a sister,

Dennis Day: The perpetual youngster, Dennis is a kind-hearted, naive, idiotic, silly, young man who lives with his mother whom he loves very much. He is a crooner, which means he sings a song every episode and it is often joked about that singing once a week is his only job. He is often treated like a beloved annoying little brother by the cast and crew. Jack often exploits his good nature by shortchanging his pay or making him work on things outside of his job description. He is a proud red-haired Irish man.

Phil Harris: Phil is a wild child if ever there was one. The orchestra director, Phil stays up late, drinks often, and always advocates for his orchestra members who are ex-convicts with interesting fashion styles. He is a womanizer who is sitll deeply in love with his wife, Alice. He is also illiterate and dropped out of school as a boy. He has a flippant older brother energy with Jack and he is easy going with everyone else.

Don Wilson: Don is the announcer and he always opens the show. Don is self important, quick is be ruffled, loyal to Jack, and a resident straight man. Jokes are often made about his weight. He and Jack often pick at each other, but he is well liked by the other characters.

I'm going to do more of these talking about specific episodes, the form of the show, it's impact on modern comedy, the lives of the actors, and more, but I think this is a good place to stop before it gets too long. In the meantime: here's a video of an episode which I think is a good introduction to the characters, style, and premise.

In this episode Jack and Rochester pick up the cast so they can car pool to work. Hijinks ensue. This episode aired October 4, 1942.

[slymanner]

hurt my heart why dontcha.

[incurablyromanticsblog]

Then Mifuné suddenly smiles. Not laughs. Smiles. The smile is something else. His face lights up, his gaze returns. He looks at you as though he sees you and is amused — by you, by himself, by life.

Happy Birthday Toshiro Mifune!

[April 1, 1920 - December 24, 1997]

[yellourr]

Katniss gave rue the burial that she couldn’t give prim

[bixels]

How will you interpret Tirek? Is he staying a centaur?

Idk.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Happy day one of Chatember, starting it off with strong with the Thunderclan (Jin) leader, Jin Guangshan (Lionstar)

(Name and AU credits to @clintbeefwoods!)

[foxgloveinspace]

People jumping ship cause of the new masks is very ahhhh. Telling. Tbh.

[spilledte]

DGS 2 + PERSONA 4 SPOILERS !!!

Detective Naoto reviewing sillay Country-boy Ryutaro's case before the trial <3

Extras:

June 22nd 2023

[teamfortresstwo]

In my head the first thing that actually comforted Vox at all while he was in hell was the radio playing some familiar song .

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 2 - Space Paranoids

[apollyna]

i love odo!!!!!! also quark is there

bonus: "first time i ever drew quark"

[sweetlullabyebye]

Every day I wake up and remember Liam Dunbar was underdevelopped by the showrunners

[chmyri]

OH MY FUCKING GOD I THOUGHT FOR SURE ICE ADOLESCENCE WAS CANNED, THIS IS LITERALLY CRUMBS BUT I'LL FUCKING TAKE IT, look i watched yuri on ice when it was airing, i was 11 and it fucking changed my life, it's a very important show to me personally I'VE WAITED 7 YEARS AND I'M PREPARED TO WAIT MORE, I DON'T CARE IF EVERYBODY ELSE GAVE UP ON THIS MOVIE RELEASING I DON'T CARE THAT NOT THAT MANY PEOPLE CARE FOR THE FRANCHISE ANYMORE I DON'T FUCKING CARE!! I'M PUTTING MY FULL FAITH INTO THIS MOVIE UNTIL IT RELEASES OR IT'S OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED TO BE DEAD

[chronicowboy]

is it just me or did "you don't have to be anything for anyone" sound a little like please don't be hers

[just-a-queer-crow]

Watching this show for the first with the knowledge that Buck is bi makes so many things so much more impactful than it would have if it I had watched it before

Like I just watched the scene where the old gay couple died and oh my god it makes it so much more impactful GAHHHHH

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

all these polls about various facets of high school & people being able to answer them freak me out because i can't remember a THING about the details of my high school life at this point