Jack Benny - Disney connection in Classic Disney Scares Forum

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Jack Benny - Disney connection

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hermanthegerm	Jack Benny - Disney connection	Lead	[-]
May 13 09 3:36 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I am not an expert on Jack Benny, in fact I've only seen The Meanest Man In The World and To Be or Not to Be (1942). I think they are both great. I never saw the TV show. I had gotten a couple of radio programs from the library a few years back, but now I'm going thru a fairly complete collection of Jack Benny radio programs. I don't know if Benny ever worked for Disney, I know he did that cartoon for WB, but it seems to me as if there is a connection I am missing. In one of the episodes they spoof Snow White, but they manage to use actual music from the movie! The gal who plays Dennis Day's mom later did the voice of the Queen Of Hearts in Alice. Phil Harris, of course, is the voice of Baloo in Jungle Book, and he actually sings Bare Necessities in the Benny show. Thurl Ravenscroft of the Haunted Mansion voices is a member of the quartet featured in the Benny show. Edgar Bergen is featured one time (I think,) and he worked for Disney also. It seems strange to me that Mel Blanc, featured extensively on the show never worked for Disney, or did he? Did Benny himself ever work with Disney? "There is a lot of money tied up in this film and people expect to hear a boom when something blows up, so I'll give them a boom." George Lucas as quoted by Harlan Ellison's WATCHING Last Edited By: hermanthegerm May 13 09 3:52 PM. Edited 1 time.
BijouBob8mm		#1	[-]
May 13 09 4:13 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	There's at least one episode of his TV show (one of the hour-long specials) where Jack visits Walt at the Disney studio, trying to wrangle free tickets to Disneyland out of him. Jack & company even spoof MARY POPPINS in it, with Elke Sommer as "Maria Poppenini." (It's on the "Best of Jack Benny" four DVD set Mill Creek puts out, which shows up in the $5 bin at Walmart.) I really like TO BE OR NOT TO BE, but Benny never seemed to be shown at his best in feature films. Also on that bargain collection is a great show where Bob Hope and Jack Benny are big game hunters in Africa. At the close of the show, Benny reveals he had no idea what to expect, as there was so much ad-libbing that no two rehearsals were the same. Also an episode where Bogart appears, spoofing his tough guy image. And a great episode where Jack and Rochester go Christmas shopping, only to have Benny eventually drive sales clerk Mel Blanc nuts. (Blanc must have done a bit of ad-libbing as well; it's all Jack can do to get through the scene without bursting out in laughter. You can see him struggling to keep a straight face during one of their on-going encounters.) Thurl Ravenscroft of the Haunted Mansion voices He also sang for a number of Disney shows (often uncredited). Probably the best-remembered one is the "Pieces of Eight" song from the first Hardy Boys serial done for THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB. Last Edited By: BijouBob8mm May 14 09 10:17 AM. Edited 4 times.
LesDaniels		#2	[-]
May 14 09 12:08 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I think Benny's best work was on radio, and I spent years collecting the shows on tape. Then I discovered that there are 610 half hour shows available for free at this website: otr.net. Bennny did two separate spoofs of SNOW WHITE in 1938 and 1938, among dozens of parodies of classic films; there were also lots of cool guest stars. One especially funny show (1/19/47) features Boris Karloff. The very earliest shows aren't the best, but by the late thirties he was going strong. He did shows on Hunchback, Dr. Jekyll, and Hound of the Baskervilles, and twice did his versionof The Whistler, called The Fiddler. Check it out!
Wich2		#3	[-]
May 14 09 9:55 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	"And a great episode where Jack and Rochester go Christmas shopping, only to have Benny eventually drives sales clerk Mel Blanc nuts." Bob, that TV version was a conflation of a whole series of "Christmas Shopping" episodes that Jack & gang did on the radio in the late '40's. Some jokes recur from year to year (they counted on folks not to listen to recordings!). But there is also a build to them involving Mel the harried salesclerk, Shelly Leonard the racetrack tout, Frank Nelson the officious floor manager, Mr. Kitzel, etc. They're priceless. -Craig
BijouBob8mm		#4	[-]
May 14 09 10:25 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I know Jack & company recycled material. (As did Abbott & Costello, among others.) I think I've run across three versions of the New Year's Eve skit, where Jack gets stood up by his date, wanders aimlessly around town, then stops by the all-nite diner where his gal works as a waitress. (One version is better executed than the others, but I don't recall which year that one was from...it was an earlier one, if not the earliest, from his TV show.) And I don't know how many times the "Si, Sue, Sye" routine got dusted off. For a while, one local radio station was playing the Jack Benny Show of an evening, and I was trying to catch as many of them as I could. One I remember well has Jack telling a group of boys about his adventures in Africa as they sit around a campfire. Benny talks about being attacked by a tiger but one sharp lad cuts him off, pointing out that there are no tigers in Africa. Without missing a beat Jack says, "Well not normally, but this one had just won three glorious weeks...." Last Edited By: BijouBob8mm May 14 09 12:25 PM. Edited 1 times.
hermanthegerm		#5	[-]
Apr 8 12 9:57 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Dennis Day is also featured in Melody Time. "There is a lot of money tied up in this film and people expect to hear a boom when something blows up, so I'll give them a boom." George Lucas as quoted by Harlan Ellison's WATCHING
WalesGuy		#6	[-]
Apr 11 12 1:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	All of his TV specials were recently made available in pristine condition, even one he did in the early 60s with Bob Hope and Elke Sommer now in color!!!
jplibby		#7	[-]
Apr 29 12 9:18 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It seems strange to me that Mel Blanc, featured extensively on the show never worked for Disney, or did he? Mel provided the hiccups for Gideon the Cat in Pinocchio (all of his spoken lines were cut). And many years later, Mel did the voices of Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Tweety, and Sylvester in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
will		#8	[-]
Apr 30 12 7:58 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	They run Benny's show twice a night late on Antenna TV.
BijouBob8mm		#9	[-]
Jul 31 12 5:09 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	If only Telly Savalas could have spoofed his Kojak character on Jack's show. (Can't you just hear him spout, "Who loves ya, Benny?")

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Jack Benny - Disney connection

Jack Benny - Disney connection