Jack Benny - "Good Night Joanie"?
Mark Monroy
In Joan Benny's book SUNDAY NIGHTS AT SEVEN, she mentions that for
years her father would end his broadcast by wishing her good night. I've
listened to at least 100 episodes from the show's entire run, and I can't
attest to ever hearing Jack say "good night, Joanie." The only thing I can
figure is that all of the episodes currently in circulation are of East Coast
broadcasts, and he only said it for the West Coast broadcast. If this is
the case, it begs another question; was only one broadcast per week archived?
Thanks for the info.
Mark Monroy
m...@ucla.edu
JackBenny
>years her father would end his broadcast by wishing her good night. I've
>listened to at least 100 episodes from the show's entire run, and I can't
>attest to ever hearing Jack say "good night, Joanie." >>
pulled out a random episode, and ran it to the end. I listened to it, and
heard an unmistakable "good night, Joanie." I was floored! I couldn't believe
that I had never heard it before.
As the case may be, I just happened to have pulled out one of the few shows
that did have that greeting at the end of it. (Coincidence? You be the
judge.) He did say this on more than one episode, but I think that Joan
exaggerated more than a bit that he did it "for years."
>was only one broadcast per week archived?
Not necessarily. It does seem that many of the shows in circulation have the
"KFI, Los Angeles" announcement at the end (except some ones from the 30s that
have a New York ID). I know of at least a few cases where there are both west
and east coast versions of the show in circulation.
One of these may be the last show in 1955. I had heard it years ago, and there
was some actress playing Mary (Joan? Don't know, don't think so). Then when I
was listening to some random tape library selections, I heard the show
again...with Mary's lines recorded and played on cue.
--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
www.JackBenny.org
Mark Monroy
>One of these may be the last show in 1955. I had heard it years ago, and there
>was some actress playing Mary (Joan? Don't know, don't think so). Then when I
>was listening to some random tape library selections, I heard the show
>again...with Mary's lines recorded and played on cue.
Thanks for the reply.
I'm probably not telling you anything you don't know, but in the same book,
Joan Benny explains that in the later years of the radio broadcast, Mary
developed intense stage fright. She would record her lines at home on
Saturday, and Joan would fill in for her in front of the audience on Sunday.
Before airtime, Mary's lines would be spliced into the show. This leads me
to believe that the first version you heard was never actually broadcast.
I also believe that both coasts got the same version, as the
show was prerecorded by then (or "transcribed" as they called it).
Wow, I just checked my copy of the last show, and someone else is indeed
playing Mary. Now I wanna hear the other version!
Mark Monroy
m...@ucla.edu
Jim Bennie
Monroy) wrote:
> Wow, I just checked my copy of the last show, and someone else is indeed
> playing Mary. Now I wanna hear the other version!
I thought it was Mary .. but one who gave a cold and lifeless read
in front of a microphone in an empty room, as opposed to playing
off the crowd and the cast.
Jim
Elizabeth McLeod
> >was only one broadcast per week archived?
> Not necessarily. It does seem that many of the shows in circulation have the
> "KFI, Los Angeles" announcement at the end (except some ones from the 30s that
> have a New York ID). I know of at least a few cases where there are both west
> and east coast versions of the show in circulation.
It wasn't at all rare for multiple copies of a single program to be recorded.
Most of the Benny shows in circulation come from Jack's own discs, now housed
at UCLA. From the beginning of his radio career he had hired contract
recording studios to make airchecks of his broadcasts -- using an unidentified
New York-based studio (possibly Speak-o-phone or E. H. Strong) while he was
living in the East, and using Electro-Vox in Hollywood from 1936 forward.
But these weren't the only recordings made. Beginning in 1935, NBC's
Electrical Transcription Division (later the Radio Recording Service) recorded
programs off the line for internal use. At first, these recordings were all
made in New York, but in 1936 a branch of the Division was opened in San
Francisco to record selected West Coast programs. Finally in 1939, an NBC
recording facility was established in Hollywood. At present, the NBC New York
recording archive is held by the Library of Congress, but most of the NBC
Hollywood material appears to have been dispersed over the years.
A third source for recordings is the advertising agency. I've seen Young and
Rubicam discs for Benny broadcasts from the General Foods era, and Foote, Cone
and Belding (the agency that handled the Lucky Strike series) had a
longstanding relationship with Radio Recorders in Hollywood for the making of
reference recordings. So for any given Benny show, it's probable that at least
*three* distinct recordings were made. Most of these recordings, however,
would have been made of the "local" broadcast unless a special request had
been made to record the rebroadcast.