JACK BENNY & FRED ALLEN HAD THE SURE FIRE FEUD FORMULA FOR LAUGHS.
MR. ALLEN MEETS MR. BENNY
The “feud” ignited between NBC comedians Jack Benny and Fred Allen in 1936 was still going strong in 1940 - so strong that Paramount released its Christmas week comedy, Love Thy Neighbor, based on their verbal battles. It was cause for mention when Benny appeared on Allen’s show on June 19, 1940. Six months later, Allen recalled the film’s premiere on his program the following night, December 18, 1940.
All was was relatively quiet on the feuding front for an extended period beginning in late 1940 because Allen had jumped from NBC to CBS for the next four years and the two networks didn‘t like their two Sunday night stars promoting each other. Then doctors ordered Allen off the air for the 1944-45 season due to his poor health which physicians blamed on the pressure of his weekly half hour for Texaco had climbed to 18th in the season‘s ratings.
But never one to sit still at the typewriter, Allen spent his year off the air to rewrite the 1936 British film comedy, Keep Your Seats, Please, and titled his version, It‘s In The Bag. (1) When Allen’s screenplay was ready for production, it was a foregone conclusion that he would be rejoining NBC again in the fall of 1945 and so NBC stars Don Ameche, Rudy Vallee, William Bendix, Victor Moore, Robert Benchley, Jerry Colonna and Jack Benny.were encouraged to join the cast of It’s In The Bag in cameo roles to give the film more box office appeal.
All was quiet on the radio front until Allen and wife Portland broke their retirement silence and appeared on Benny’s program of February 4, 1945. The feud was back on again - just in time for the film’s release in April.
The plot of It’s In The Bag revolves around Allen as the humble proprietor of a flea circus, Fred F. Trumble Floogle, bequeathed a fortune sewn into the cushion of a chair. It becomes his job to locate the chair from a set that was broken up and scattered to different buyers. The search leads Floogle to visit one of the owners, Jack Benny, as himself in a six minute video clip posted as It's In The Bag, (Note: The clip takes a few minutes to download but it’s worth the wait.)
This was the second and final appearance of Jack Benny and Fred Allen on film. But their “feud” continued for another decade. Sampies are found from the Benny program of May 19. 1946 and Allen's show of May 26, 1946.
(1) Both Keep Your Seats, Please, and It’s In The Bag were adapted from Ilf & Petrov’s 1928 Russian novel, The Twelve Chairs. Mel Brooks wrote and starred in his version of The Twelve Chairs in 1970.)
The “feud” ignited between NBC comedians Jack Benny and Fred Allen in 1936 was still going strong in 1940 - so strong that Paramount released its Christmas week comedy, Love Thy Neighbor, based on their verbal battles. It was cause for mention when Benny appeared on Allen’s show on June 19, 1940. Six months later, Allen recalled the film’s premiere on his program the following night, December 18, 1940.
All was was relatively quiet on the feuding front for an extended period beginning in late 1940 because Allen had jumped from NBC to CBS for the next four years and the two networks didn‘t like their two Sunday night stars promoting each other. Then doctors ordered Allen off the air for the 1944-45 season due to his poor health which physicians blamed on the pressure of his weekly half hour for Texaco had climbed to 18th in the season‘s ratings.
But never one to sit still at the typewriter, Allen spent his year off the air to rewrite the 1936 British film comedy, Keep Your Seats, Please, and titled his version, It‘s In The Bag. (1) When Allen’s screenplay was ready for production, it was a foregone conclusion that he would be rejoining NBC again in the fall of 1945 and so NBC stars Don Ameche, Rudy Vallee, William Bendix, Victor Moore, Robert Benchley, Jerry Colonna and Jack Benny.were encouraged to join the cast of It’s In The Bag in cameo roles to give the film more box office appeal.
All was quiet on the radio front until Allen and wife Portland broke their retirement silence and appeared on Benny’s program of February 4, 1945. The feud was back on again - just in time for the film’s release in April.
The plot of It’s In The Bag revolves around Allen as the humble proprietor of a flea circus, Fred F. Trumble Floogle, bequeathed a fortune sewn into the cushion of a chair. It becomes his job to locate the chair from a set that was broken up and scattered to different buyers. The search leads Floogle to visit one of the owners, Jack Benny, as himself in a six minute video clip posted as It's In The Bag, (Note: The clip takes a few minutes to download but it’s worth the wait.)
This was the second and final appearance of Jack Benny and Fred Allen on film. But their “feud” continued for another decade. Sampies are found from the Benny program of May 19. 1946 and Allen's show of May 26, 1946.
(1) Both Keep Your Seats, Please, and It’s In The Bag were adapted from Ilf & Petrov’s 1928 Russian novel, The Twelve Chairs. Mel Brooks wrote and starred in his version of The Twelve Chairs in 1970.)
| fred_allen__6-19-40.mp3 |
| its_in_the_bag.mov |
| jack_benny__2-04-45.mp3 |
| jack_benny__5-19-46.mp3 |
| fred_allen__5-26-46.mp3 |
| fred_allen__12-18-40.mp3 |