Jack Benny Program 36 04 05 Clown Hall Tonight


(4 stars; 1 reviews)

Jack makes fun of Fred Allen with his interpretation of Freds' Town Hall Tonight show, called Clown Hall Tonight.  Jack plays "Fred Benny" in the sketch.

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.

Chapters

Clown Hall Tonight 29:10

Reviews

What? No Alley?


(4 stars)

This is pre-feud Benny and Allen, so you won't hear the kinds of insults tossed around when it got underway at the end of 1936. And this is pre-Allen's Alley, so the Benny send-up involves how Allen sounded in 1936. That meant the march to the Town Hall, Harry Von Zell "lowering the movie screen" for the newsreel, and "The Amateur Contest." They even make fun of the bird that wouldn't speak on the Allen show. Jack never did get down Allen's laugh. Eventually he came up with one that sounded the way Allen would have sounded if he laughed that way. Sam Hearn (as Schlepperman) and Blanche Stewart are part of the cast. The end is faded out by whoever recorded this.