Jack Benny makes a landmark appearance on the series. This is not your typical Suspense episode. It not one that would be considered as one of the top 10 or most exciting, perhaps. It holds a beloved and distinct place in Suspense history, a highly entertaining sidebar for the program. It showed both Benny’s stature and that of Suspense as a successful radio franchise. The production does not take itself too seriously, but it does not squander an opportunity for a notable production, either. This combination is a celebration of the medium, their respective reputations, to the delight of both show’s audiences. It is a marvelously written script by Richard-George Pedicini, prepared especially for Benny at the request of Elliott Lewis, fits his subtle comedic skills and his public persona.
This is Jack Benny’s first of four appearances on the series. A newspaper story, likely developed by CBS publicity to promote the series that was made available a few weeks later, explains how Benny came to the show:
After Dennis Day played a bank teller turned bandit, Jack Benny called up Elliott Lewis, and asked “What's the matter with me?” A few weeks later, Jack was on Suspense himself, a piano tuner who found $25,000 in his kit.
Day’s appearance was in Christmas for Carole. In that same news story, Lewis’ approach to casting guest stars was described:
About fifty per cent of the time he selects the script first and then sets out to find a star who will be right for it. Occasionally, when a star asks to do a show, he'll order a script especially tailored.
Richard-George Pedicini was recruited to create this script especially for Benny. A recording of Pedicini talking about the process and the experience of working with Benny is available. It is on the same page at the Internet Archive as the episode, available for download or streaming. The Pedicini comments were part of a 1996 installment of the Los Angeles radio program Same Time, Same Station hosted by collectors John and Larry Gassman and also included classic radio enthusiast and researcher Keith Scott as a guest. (Pedicini and Scott had become friends in Australia when Pedicini retired there; Scott is a native Australian.)
CBS was promoting the appearance a full month before the broadcast date. In the publicity for the broadcast, the CBS press release had a description and a quote:
Jack Benny, convinced that 39 is still young enough to launch a new career... “I'm afraid if I confine myself to comedy roles much longer, I'll be in danger of being typed.”
Benny plays “Hercules Remington” [just a marvelous name that Pedicini created]. He’s a harassed piano tuner whose troubles begin when he finds a bag containing $25,000. (That’s more than $300,000 in US$2024!). Remington’s story begins on a crowded New York City subway where he accidentally swaps his bag containing his piano-tuning tools for a look-alike one containing bundles of crisp, ten dollar bills. He leaves the train for his destination and when he gets there, he realizes the mistake. His first impulse is to keep the money. The cash is obviously not his, so the desire to surrender the money to the police and do the right thing gets into his conscience. He’s had nothing but tough luck all his life, he figures, and this must be a happy stroke of fate to turn things around. He starts to rationalize why he should keep it. His wife, who would like the better life it might provide, tells him that he must give the money back. His uncle, living with them since the 1939 World’s Fair, suggests he should keep it. It’s clear that the uncle does not have the best of moral scruples, and you suspect the uncle has plans to take some of it for himself one day. Hercules’ dreams of luxury are soon shattered. He gets a telephone call from a man who identifies himself as the holder of the bag. He located Remington from the address tag attached to it. The caller has the piano tools and Hercules has the money, and that means a swap will happen, with subtle “I know where you live” threat about the money. The caller demands that Hercules meet him at a deserted spot that very night to return it, and he will give Hercules his bag of tools. Remington goes to the location, but the man is dead, and Remington’s tuning hammer is alongside the body! Now what?
Joe Kearns does a fine job playing Remington’s shady uncle who keeps insisting that the money, stolen from a post office, be kept. It just so happens he has a perfect hiding place for it. Kearns and Benny had a well-practiced acting relationship since Kearns played “Ed,” the guard of Benny’s underground vault on Benny’s show, as well as many other roles. Lewis made sure to cast the performance with people Benny was comfortable and confident working with. Using RadioGoldindex, Kearns and Bea Benederet (who plays Mrs. Remington) each appeared on the Benny show more than one hundred times, and likely even more.
One of Remington’s special gifts is that he has an ear for music tones, and he can associate any real-life noise with its place on the musical scale. It’s called absolute or perfect pitch. Most people who have the gift are best when the sound is from a musical instrument. But Remington’s gift seems to be extra special as it applies to everyday noises. After hearing a noise, he will blurt out what that tone is.
The end of the broadcast includes the Benny violin theme and a joke about his penny-pinching. The character he was known for never wanted to spend money, not even at a pay phone. The Pedicini interview indicates that it was Elliott Lewis who suggested this amusing ending for the story, which Jack loved.
There are other jokes, such as a policeman complaining about having to work on a Sunday. That was the broadcast day of Benny’s own show.
The drama content of this episode was recorded on Monday, March 19, 1951. Rehearsals started at 1:30pm with the recording beginning at 6:30pm.
Larry Thor of Broadway is My Beat plays a NY police lieutenant in this performance. His name is “Joe” in this episode. Lewis cast Thor as a cop often on Suspense since he was also producer of Broadway is My Beat. It’s somewhat of a running joke.
The original working title “Murder in F Sharp.” G-flat and F-sharp are the same notes, but there may be other reasons for the change. Classic radio researcher and performer Patte Rosebank offered some observations about the title. The first reason could be greater familiarity among non-musicians with the musical term “flat.” She notes that most people who sing off-key tend to sing “flat,” not quite reaching the note. It's rarer for someone to sing “sharp,” slightly above the note. She also wondered if the title could was changed because “sharp” could be a tip-off to the importance of the knife to the solution of the story.
Patte also mentioned that “flat” has another meaning. It can also refer to a piece of theatrical scenery made of a painted board or of painted canvas stretched over a wooden frame. What does the evil uncle pull down from the funhouse as a place to hide the money? A board that is a scenery flat.
Benny’s success and importance in the radio era can’t be overestimated. An overview of his incredible career is at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Benny There are numerous books about him and the series.
The International Jack Benny Fan Club is an outstanding organization that has vast information resources, much of it developed by their own carefully directed initiatives. They have interviews with cast and production staff members, collections of photos, and numerous other sights and sounds that any Benny fan, new or old, would find of great interest. They have on-line conventions for their members and classic radio enthusiasts and researchers. The organization is a tax-exempt IRS 501(c)(3) charitable entity. https://jackbenny.org/wp/
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP510405
THE CAST
JACK BENNY (Hercules Remington), Bea Benaderet (Martha), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Herman), Jack Kruschen (Boiler), Larry Thor (Lieutenant), Paul Frees (Baldy), Clayton Post (Sergeant / Clerk)
COMMERCIAL: Bert Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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Classic radio collector and researcher, and international performer Keith Scott appeared on the podcast Yesteryear Ballyhoo Revue, hosted by Zach Eastman. That interview included a discussion about Benny and Suspense. It is excerpted and is available at the same page as the broadcast recording. The full conversation was held as an event of the The 4th Annual Jack Benny Convention (2024). The excerpt is from an unedited version of that conversation. The official final video recording is at https://youtu.be/FG0PG8ugc60
The full version of the conversation was on the Eastman podcast and can be accessed at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/yesteryear-ballyhoo-revue/id1540142449?i=1000650072978
Eastman’s podcast about movies and entertainment can be found at
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/yesteryear-ballyhoo-revue/id1540142449
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/10s2uLtkb8qTNS202Kkiog?si=j4dnbfy4Tc-o9DPNvxizJw
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