Product Details

• Actors: Jack Benny, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Don Wilson, Dennis Day, Mary Livingstone
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: March 1, 1992
• Run Time: 30 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300181235
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #331,016 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Episodes: "The Christmas Show" And "The Railroad Station", November 9, 2004

By 

David Von Pein (Mooresville, Indiana; USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jack Benny Show [VHS] (VHS Tape)

You'll see these two episodes of "The Jack Benny Program" on this video (which both reach the "very funny" level on my comedy meter).........

1.) "The Christmas Show" (original air date: December 18, 1960) is one of the best Benny episodes of the whole series. Jack goes Christmas shopping in a department store and drives a store clerk (played by Mel Blanc) out of his mind by constantly wanting to change a gift he bought. Jack cannot seem to decide between a $40.00 wallet as a gift for his announcer Don Wilson or a $1.98 wallet. (Guess which wallet wins the battle.) LOL!

This entire Christmas Show script is the same identical one that Benny performed several other times, on both his television series and radio show. In fact, the packaging for this video has made an error with regard to the date of this "Christmas Show" version. The box shows a "1958" copyright date, which is incorrect. Benny did very similar Christmas shows in both 1957 and 1958, but the show on this tape is the 1960 program.

You'll be able to spy character actor Richard Deacon as a store employee in this Jack Benny Christmas show. He's given a very funny one-liner too. Also on hand are Benny sidekicks Dennis Day, Rochester, and Frank Nelson. Dennis sings "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" for the show's one musical number.


2.) "The Railroad Station" is the second entry on this video. First aired on March 23, 1958 (Episode #91; Season #8). .... Jack is going to take a train trip to New York City. Part of the show is filmed at Union Station in Los Angeles. Like the other episode on this tape, there are no major guest stars in this episode; just the regular cast members.

The video prints used for these two episodes look very nice and clear. The tape runs in Standard (SP) mode.

All six of these MCA/Universal Home Video "Jack Benny" tapes feature a short "trailer" ad at the beginning of each video, which advertises the series of Benny tapes and shows some clips from the episodes contained on the videos.

Additional hunks of data concerning this VHS videotape ......................

Video -- 1.33:1 ratio.
Audio -- Mono (Hi-Fi).
Color or Black-and-White? -- B&W.
Running Time -- Approximately 51 minutes total.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good gift, December 23, 2009

By 

Sandra "Mom of the Travelers" (Allen Park, MI USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jack Benny Show [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This made a perfect gift for someone who remembers the old time variety show. Arrived early and nicely packaged.

5.0 out of 5 stars a great showcase of Jack and his gang, January 2, 2004

By 

Jerry McDaniel - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jack Benny Show [VHS] (VHS Tape)

in the first episode seen on this video, Jack and Rochester are Christmas shopping. his legendary supporting cast from radio make an appearance in the department store: Mel Blanc stars as a sales clerk who gets driven insane by Jack's gift giving to Don Wilson: Jack can't seem to make up his mind on what kind of greeting to give Don along with the billfold...several times he insists that the clerk get the package. each time, Mel has to un-wrap it, take out the card, and Jack write something new...only moments later to do it all over again when Jack changes his mind! this goes on throughout the show. Frank Nelson is seen as the floor walker. Charlie Cantor, the radio actor known for his dopey voices, appears as a sales clerk too. Richard Deacon, known as Mel Cooley on the Dick Van Dyke Show, appears as a sales clerk who "in a rush of wild enthusiasm i sold my pants" he sarcastically tells Dennis Day after he asks Deacon if he's a sales clerk. that line was a running gag on the radio show whenever there was a scene inside a store. Benny Rubin used to say a line like that all the time. Meanwhile, Jack visits Mel for another time. This time he wants to change the greeting again...Mel insists that he's already sent it to the delivery room. Jack demands that he goes and gets it. After a scene with Rochester at another part of the store, the camera shifts back to Jack where he's still waiting on Mel. Mel enters sobbing and crying...his suit all torn up because he chased the delivery truck a few blocks! Mel's sobbing and exaggerated pain cracks Jack up. Later, Rochester informs Jack that he wants to give him a nice gift. Jack realizes the true spirit of Christmas and he says: "don't be silly, it isn't the price of the gift. it's the spirit in which it's given...whether it be $40.00 or $1.98". Jack gets that look of puzzlement and he walks over to Mel again, who's still crying. Mel cries: "don't tell me you want to change the card again?". Jack says: "no, instead of sending the $40.00 wallet i want the one for $1.98". Mel screams, pulls out a gun and walks in the backroom. a gun shot is heard...Jack shows some sympathy for the suicide before thinking about the change due to him. He says out loud: "$40.00 from $1.98. let's see, i got some change coming to me" and he helps himself to the register!on the second episode, Jack and the gang are on a train trip to New York. Artie Auerbach appears as "Mr. Kitzel" and Benny Rubin appears as the "I dunno" train depot clerk. Mel Blanc appears in the early scene as a plumber. Later, his voice is heard as the train depot announcer. Frank Nelson is also on hand as another depot clerk. Herb Vigran appears in the opening scene as the milkman. The plot of the show is Jack thinking a woman wants to elope with him after a woman dials the wrong number. You'll be surprised who the woman really wants to elope with. These two episodes are classic, 5-star material.