Long-time listeners of the CCM will no-doubt fondly remember the last time the incomparable Dorothy Kirsten was sampled here. (If not, it is, of course, archived here). Having recently finished reading Mary Livingstone and Hickey Marks' fawning memoir of Jack Benny, I thought it would be nice to put one more example of musical comedy up on the CCM this month. Benny, naturally, needs no introduction. His skinflint, vain, musically questionable, loquacious, lovable character -- so different from his real-life personality -- is ingrained in the consciousness of generations of fans. This month's clip brings us back to a time when shameless commercialism was the order of the day; Benny's show was the Lucky Strike Show, Burns and Allen's show was the Carnation show, etc., and the stars were expected to work in commercials for the sponsor each week. The clip also reminds us that there was a time when the average person on the street knew who the singers were at the Metropolitan Opera! This doesn't happen so much anymore.

Jack's familiar gang is all here in this clip (except for Rochester, who appeared earlier in the program). Benny fans will of course remember his most famous moment on the radio: Jack had borrowed Ronald Colman's Oscar award to show Rochester. On his way home (the Colman's were his next-door neighbors), Benny is held up at gunpoint. When the assailant informs Benny that his choice is "your money or your life," Jack responds, "I'm thinking it over!" This week's clip involves a follow-up show. In it, Benny (recently returned from vacation in Palm Springs) has to find a way to leave his house without Colman recognizing him. After several ideas are tossed around, Rochester hits upon having Benny dress in his old Charley's Aunt costume, reasoning that if he's dressed as a woman, Colman won't recognize him. Good plan, too, as Jack runs into him on his way to the studio! Alas, after he changes into his regular clothing, he forgets to remove his high-heeled shoes.

After arriving in the studio, he runs into Mel Blanc, who asks if Jack's going to use him on the show that week. Complaining that he "spent too much money in Palm Springs; maybe next time" Benny declines, to which Blanc responds "Okay. So long, Jack. Th-th-th-that's all, Folks." He also runs into Phil Harris, who, having looked at pictures Mary brought back from Palm Springs tells Jack that he looks "like a spider with four legs missing" in a bathing suit. Dennis Day defends him ("For a spider, you look pretty good!") and then sings a version of Nature Boy.

Kirsten's entrance (a surprise for Jack that Don Wilson has arranged) is towards the end of the show. She is forced to sing several parts which lie beyond her range (as is obvious from the get-go as she, the soprano, intones "Bella figlia dell'amore" a clue to opera aficionados that this will be a unique performance; you can hear a Callas performance here), but the effect is all the more perfect because of it; I won't spoil it by explaining what I mean before you hear the clip! I hope you enjoy this blast back to a by-gone era.