For the first time in almost 90 years, we can experience the origins of Jack Benny's radio comedy genius. Jack Benny's Lost Radio Broadcasts, brought up from Benny's subterranean vault [or the UCLA archives, almost as difficult to access!] finally share scripts of his earliest live radio programs--for which no recordings exist. See how the soon-to-be-king of radio comedy moved from his vaudeville stand-up comedy background to invent the workplace situation comedy. In these first shows of 1932, Jack plays a "Broadway Romeo," a genial, self-deprecating comedian, who is not yet the famously cheap "fall guy" he would become over the next two years. Jack claims that it's his bandleader, George Olsen, who's the tightwad. Highlights of Volume One include: - Jack's commercials for Canada Dry Ginger Ale- the funniest, and most controversial, advertising parodies he would ever perform. - Jack's panic as he realizes he has used up every vaudeville routine he'd ever performed on stage, and this is a twice-a-week program. - The initial Introduction of Mary Livingstone, the radio fan from Plainfield, New Jersey. - An introduction by Kathy Fuller-Seeley that sets the stage for why these historic shows are so important to understand Benny's career. These 26 hilarious radio scripts offer Jack Benny at his early creative best. Kathryn Fuller-Seeley is the author of Jack Benny and the Golden Age of Radio Comedy (2017) and books on early motion pictures and nickelodeon audiences. She teaches media history at the University of Texas at Austin.

Jack Benny’s Lost Radio Broadcasts Volume One: May 2 – July 27, 1932

Literature & Fiction

Benny, Jack

Conn, Harry

Dramas & Plays

BearManor Media

This is the hardback version. 
For the first time in almost 90 years, we can experience the origins of Jack Benny’s radio comedy genius. Jack Benny’s Lost Radio Broadcasts, brought up from Benny’s subterranean vault [or the UCLA archives, almost as difficult to access!] finally share scripts of his earliest live radio programs—for which no recordings exist.\nSee how the soon-to-be-king of radio comedy moved from his vaudeville stand-up comedy background to invent the workplace situation comedy.\nIn these first shows of 1932, Jack plays a “Broadway Romeo,” a genial, self-deprecating comedian, who is not yet the famously cheap “fall guy” he would become over the next two years. Jack claims that it’s his bandleader, George Olsen, who’s the tightwad.\nHighlights of Volume One include: 
• Jack’s commercials for Canada Dry Ginger Ale- the funniest, and most controversial, advertising parodies he would ever perform. 
• Jack’s panic as he realizes he has used up every vaudeville routine he’d ever performed on stage, and this is a twice-a-week program. 
• The initial Introduction of Mary Livingstone, the radio fan from Plainfield, New Jersey. 
• An introduction by Kathy Fuller-Seeley that sets the stage for why these historic shows are so important to understand Benny’s career. 
These 26 hilarious radio scripts offer Jack Benny at his early creative best.

Jack Benny's Lost Radio Broadcasts Volume One: May 2 - July 27, 1932 (hardback)

In Volume Two of Jack Benny’s Lost Broadcasts, (25 episodes from August 1 to October 26, 1932), Benny and scriptwriter Harry Conn continue to craft a personality-based radio variety program. They draw on Benny’s vaudeville style and explore new constructions of comedy characters and situations. Benny and Conn develop quirky-yet-likeable identities for the major performers — “Broadway Romeo” Jack, tightwad band leader George Olsen, sultry vocalist Ethel Shutta and flighty young fan Mary Livingstone from Plainfield, New Jersey. The cast bounces jokes, reactions and bad puns off each other. This series features experimentations — several political skits, a serious romance for Jack and Mary, and the program’s first film parody — then ends with a sudden twist.\nHighlights of Volume Two include: 
“Nickel Back on the Bottle” becomes a nationally popular catch phrase 
Mary’s first Labor Day poem 
Jack provides running commentary of a prize fight between “Battling Herbert Hoover” and “Fighting Franklin Roosevelt” 
The cast performs their first parody of a popular movie, in “Grind Hotel” 
These 25 hilarious radio scripts offer Jack Benny at his early creative best. 
Kathryn Fuller-Seeley is the author of Jack Benny and the Golden Age of Radio Comedy (2017) and books on early motion pictures and nickelodeon audiences. She teaches media history of the University of Texas at Austin.

Jack Benny’s Lost Radio Broadcasts Volume Two: August 1 – October 26, 1932

In Volume Two of Jack Benny's Lost Broadcasts, (25 episodes from August 1 to October 26, 1932), Benny and scriptwriter Harry Conn continue to craft a personality-based radio variety program. They draw on Benny's vaudeville style and explore new constructions of comedy characters and situations. Benny and Conn develop quirky-yet-likeable identities for the major performers - "Broadway Romeo" Jack, tightwad band leader George Olsen, sultry vocalist Ethel Shutta and flighty young fan Mary Livingstone from Plainfield, New Jersey. The cast bounces jokes, reactions and bad puns off each other. This series features experimentations - several political skits, a serious romance for Jack and Mary, and the program's first film parody - then ends with a sudden twist.\nHighlights of Volume Two include: 
"Nickel Back on the Bottle" becomes a nationally popular catch phrase 
Mary's first Labor Day poem 
Jack provides running commentary of a prize fight between "Battling Herbert Hoover" and "Fighting Franklin Roosevelt" 
The cast performs their first parody of a popular movie, in "Grind Hotel" 
These 25 hilarious radio scripts offer Jack Benny at his early creative best. 
Kathryn Fuller-Seeley is the author of Jack Benny and the Golden Age of Radio Comedy (2017) and books on early motion pictures and nickelodeon audiences. She teaches media history of the University of Texas at Austin.

Jack Benny's Lost Radio Broadcasts Volume Two (hardback): August 1 - October 26, 1932

Jack Benny's Lost Radio Broadcasts - Volume Three (hardback): October 30, 1932 - January 26, 1933

Humor & Entertainment

Humor