Here’s a video gem for you. Once upon a time, TV commercials were integrated into the scripts of radio and comedy shows and the pioneer for this was the man who invented the sitcom on the radio: radio, movie and TV comedian Jack Benny. In this clip from the 50s, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, who plays Benny’s valet in the show, has a day off and when announcer Don Wilson comes, helps him with an idea on what song to use to sell Lucky Strikes.
So watch this throwback of a day when performers would do commercials within the framekwork of a show, do it live — and do it vaudeville style. FOOTNOTE: Although Benny on his shows played a cheapskate millionaire comedian named Jack Benny, he was anything but and at one point Anderson was the country’s highest paid African-American actor who lived in a big house on what is now “Rochester Place” in Los Angeles. Benny gave him the best lines, and in shows (and in the 1940s movie Buck Benny Rides Again) he stole the show.
Read this excellent profile from The Huffington Post and you can read what a remarkable performer he was. Now, watch the video and you can SEE what a great performer he was.
Watch this genius of advertising — and the work of a consummate professional:
OF RELATED INTEREST:
If you’re a Benny fan, comedian studying comedy, or someone interested in seeing someone whose comedy held up and who enjoyed a career of more than 40 years (comedy style very similar to the humor in the Warner Brothers cartoons) there’s a new must-own DVD collection of impeccably restored rare Benny shows (from shows his will donated to UCLA) with excellent bonuses:
OR there’s a low priced set that is excellent and shows some of the episodes starring famous stars of the day such as Marilyn Monroe, and even Walt Disney:
Both are HIGHLY RECOMMENDED – and forget the idea that it’s “nostalgia.” It’s studying and enjoying perfectly written and executed character-based family comedy.
Republished from 2014 and 2015
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.