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The Best Of Jack Benny Mill Creek 3-DVD Set from Wal-Mart

posted 16 years ago by LightsCameraAction1
7 replies | jump to latest

WELL!!!!

Yesterday evening, I purchased the 3-DVD set of The Best of Jack Benny, which was released by Mill Creek at the local Wal-Mart. the set costs $5.00, but you need to scour the big dvd "dump bin" to locate a copy. I guarantee that you will be very pleased with the set, which includes episodes of The Jack Benny Program (with guests such as Marilyn Monroe, Fred Allen, Eddie Cantor, Edgar and Frances Bergen (with Bergen's creations Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd...but NOT in the forms that you might expect....), Vincent Price, Art Linkletter, (the adorable)Peggy King, Audrey Meadows (in a "Honeymooners" take-off, featuring Jack as Ralph Kramden and Dennis Day as Ed Norton...this version must have come from the Armed Forces Radio Service, as it it is severely cut, although the Licky Strike package appears in the closing credits), Ernie Kovacs, Liberace, Humphrey Bogart, and (in one phenomenal episode: Fred MacMurray, Dan Dailey, Tony Martin, Dick Powell and Kirk Douglass), Dorothy Shay ("The Park Avenue Hillbilly"), Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and and assortment of other entertainers. The set also includes the notoriously awful 11/3/65 special entitled The Jack Benny Hour. You'll also see Jack in several guest appearances on other series, such as The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (NOT the filmed one, but a LIVE episode!), two episodes of The General Electric Theater, The Bing Crosby Show (for General Electric), and even gives his support for a most worthy cause on The 1955 Easter Seals Teleparade Of Stars. You'll also see him in You Can Change The World and a theatrical short entitled Show Business At War.

MAJOR APPLAUSE goes to Mill Creek for their fantastic release! Many episodes include the original commercials, and some are syndication prints. One major rarity is the inclusion of an episode of Sunday with Jack Benny, from 1962 (which was a network re-run of an episode of The Jack Benny Program aired while the series was still in production).

Do yourselves a favor and purchase this set. If you are a Benny afficianado, you won't be disappointed.

[–] billdcat_99 16 years ago

Its FOUR DVD's in this set.
Lotta yucks for little bucks !
Jack, himself would grab this one up.

[–] gazzo-2 16 years ago

I just got it! It's got 4 DVDS by the way, as BilldKatt here sez. Good stuff!

[–] Spider360 16 years ago

When I saw this 40 episode collection,I couldn't beleive it was in with the $5 movies.I had to get it.Especially since I'd never seen much of Jack Benny's performances.I'm glad I did.I think anyone who is curious about classic comedy should pick this up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW2J_UZ8lQU

[–] huzdaman 16 years ago

I just picked it up too. I'm pretty stoked, although I have to admit i only recently discovered Jack's comedy by listening to Sirius Radio Classics. It is about the only comedy I can enjoy with my 11-year-old without being emberrased

[–] tomtac 16 years ago

I picked this out of the WalMart big bin a couple of weekends ago. Definitely a keeper . . . Read his bio at Wikipedia to see what a great man he was.

The two things I like best about these DVDs:

(1) is the collection of different .shows.; it is not just the Jack Benny show. I've never seen the Burns&Allen show, and the "GE Theatre" before, and I don't recognize the "Bing Crosby G.E. Show".

(2) is the collection of different .people. It really is a huge list, Ernie Kovacs and Eddie Cantor and Liberace and how many others.

Get this set.

[–] DearJohnny 16 years ago

Got this too, and loved it. At first, I was appalled it was in the bargain bins. But then, it's Jack Benny. Of course it'd be ridiculously cheap. :)

[–] VinnieRattolle 10 years ago

Their prices can't be beat but the problem with Mill Creek is that they prefer quantity over quality. They jam 3-4 hours onto each disc (or per side of a disc in some cases), which makes everything look pisspoor and pixely as hell -- and you can forget about extras. Thier specialty is public domain stuff like this show, but weirdly more and more companies keep licensing Mill Creek films and TV shows for crummy bargain-bin releases.