The Jack Benny Show 9-21-1958 with Gary Cooper

[@voyaristika5673]

I was 9 yrs old in 1958 and remember his show because my parents watched it. Now I'm 74 and it's such a pleasure to see Jack Benny Show through adult eyes. It makes me feel my mom and dad are close. Thank you!

[@classicalaid1]

I actually met Jack Benny when I was eleven years old. He was doing a charitable, classical violin concert and I asked him for his autograph. He was warm hearted and accomodating.

[@Richie-Rich855]

Great show. Never saw Gary Cooper outside a movie. Died way too young, 60 years old. RIP Gary.

[@carolynkingsley4421]

Love Jack Benny. He's quite irreplaceable. One of the funniest men ever in the business.

[@marthadwyer2856]

Jack Benny, cried my heart out when he passed and Gary Cooper such a wonderful person. RIP GENTLEMAN ❤️✝️

[@leewilson77]

☺️

[@HansDelbruck53]

Which gentleman - Gary or Jack?

[@ronaldstrange8981]

A wonderful man as well as a brilliant comic. With this material available online, he is available forever. England, November, 2023.

[@keirahjohnston6373]

Loved Gary Cooper's movies. But also loved him as a person ❤

[@carolinebrookboysen1945]

Did you know him?!

[@davidbrody307]

You prolly dont give a shit but if you are stoned like me atm then you can watch pretty much all the latest movies and series on InstaFlixxer. I've been streaming with my brother during the lockdown :)

[@daxzavier2996]

@David Brody Yea, I've been using InstaFlixxer for since december myself :)

[@paulpowell4871]

So great to see these, Albeit for the first time. such great stars, Cooper was such a great gentleman and American.

[@susannebass1883]

Absolutely wonderful performances , you are all loved and missed, rip

[@tombasye1016]

The Good Old, Classic Jack Benny Show. And What a Great Show Each Week. Will Be Remembered !

[@-elchoya9832]

one of the most of the nicest of movie stars.

[@zahramokhtar6727]

Jack Benny was the pallbearer at Gary Cooper's funeral. April 27, 2020

[@garylandrum9036]

Wouldn’t be nice to have clean tv shows like this one in today’s tv market😎👀😎

[@davetheknave6482]

There's nothing clean about advertising cigarettes.

[@aprilrobinson7713]

I love this but know wouldn't want to be the same. Times have changed

[@RatnipTX]

@@davetheknave6482you have my vote on that!

[@degsbabe]

@@davetheknave6482 I thought nobody would bring it up.....! And poor old coop died riddled with cancer.....LUCKY STRIKES.

[@marthadwyer2856]

Boy did I love Jack Benny, how I cried when he passed away. RIP GENTLEMEN

[@santillbrezon2161]

I love the actors from the old days, there humble and the movies were better.

[@c.joyceb.8991]

Gary Cooper looked not well, but he still did the show. Gary Cooper was a great actor.

[@avocate2017]

Yes, even though he wasn't diagnosed with cancer until 1960, you can tell that he was already not feeling well here.

[@davewebbtheauthor]

Gary Cooper singing Bird Dog is one of the funniest bits I've seen on the Jack Benny Show. Had me roaring!

[@garydonner7303]

Love watching Gary Cooper movies 👍🙏✝️🇺🇸😔🙏

[@Heavenzvoice]

Miss the days when you didn't know anything about movie stars until they died and even then you showed respect for them. Gary seemed like such a sweetheart.

[@sjr7822]

Same about our Presidents

[@Heavenzvoice]

SJ R the truth!

[@ruxrox]

The greatest either acted themselves using their natural self. Or, they were totally brainless able to have a character infused. These usually are real world idiots. IE. Alec Baldwin.

[@nr1osfan]

It's funny that when the miss a line they keep it in the show. Wish they would do that today. It makes the skit even funnier.....

[@OofusTwillip]

It was live TV, so they *couldn't* take out the mistakes. There was a notorious live broadcast of "The Colgate Comedy Hour", starring Spike Jones & His City Slickers, when a technician died on the stage, and couldn't be moved until the police and coroner had investigated. They had to figure out how to shoot around the sheet-covered body and the emergency responders, so none of it could be seen on the air.

[@srothbardt]

@@OofusTwillip Remember when Pinky Lee died?

[@mikerainham]

He's a great man, Gary Cooper. Set the standard for John Wayne and Clint Eastwood to follow, and they both respected him very much

[@vivienkershaw2200]

I REALLY MISS JACK BENNY X

[@jessiejames7492]

there is a clip somewhere of gary cooper walking on the boardwalk where he lives speaking so nicely with the visiitors...he stops to greet and talk to anyone who recognises him...

[@ajreyes9742]

GENIUS.....AND TIMELESS

[@janmcdonald3896]

Thank u so much. I love JB

[@lisainger6751]

Good clean wholesome fun. A pleasure to watch it.

[@larrysingleton2864]

Man of the West was a GREAT movie. I didn't remember it until I watched the preview. That was a hard movie to watch. "Gritty" is the word.

[@Christines_World1966]

grew up, watching these in re run,,, I love Jack Benny, Thank you for uploading

[@larrysingleton2864]

"Postage, going up to four cents". This show was a year after I was born.

[@MichaelMitchRailfan2009]

Not just this was the last season to be sponsored by Lucky Strike, this was also the final season to be long time at 7:30 PM before moving to 10 PM and before being alternated with The George Gobel Show, Denis The Menace replaced the 7:30 PM time..

[@hankterreros223]

"He's a Bird Dog!" LOL, Great, thanks

[@kathyoneill8113]

I have to agree! Awesome site! I'm a big fan of Cooper too!

[@karenhill3970]

I love Gary Cooper...perfect Man ..I think..oh my gosh😔🦋💕

[@robertplee5565]

Gary Cooper lors d'une émission célèbre aux États-Unis dans les années 50

[@itiswhatitaintanditaintwha1427]

Gary singing The Everly Brother's "Bird Dog"!

[@christopherhelms7290]

Looks like The Sportsmen had a bit of a different lineup for this episode.

[@lisainger6751]

Gary Cooper was so adorable.💔

[@zaygezunt]

Two great men, Jack Benny and Gary Cooper - two great GENTLEmen 💙💜

[@leewilson77]

☺️

[@nickmad887]

love it

[@dominicpiscopo4498]

that was G.Coopers trade mark he always acted the shy innocent child type which made him famous

[@Mama-Ames]

He wasn't acting. God rest his beautiful gentle heart & soul.💕

[@Meehall212]

Gary Cooper appeared on his close friend Jack Benny's show on September 21, 1958 to promote his new film Man of the West.

[@tombasye1016]

Gary Cooper Walking On In, Just Began The Top Best Of The Show. 😃

[@jamesdutton226]

this was good

[@stevengrotte2987]

The old Tv shows are fine BUT I really, really like the old radio shows.

[@stevemcconnico1837]

Saw all his programs growing up. If you haters don't like it, then why are you watching it?

[@fromthesidelines]

3:29- John Foster Dulles was Secretary of State under President Eisenhower at the time; financier Bernard Baruch was one of Ike's closest advisors outside of his cabinet.

[@olive6405]

They should have done the si sy routine with Coop saying "Yup".

[@agumperz]

Now I want to see the sequel :)

[@fromthesidelines]

0:58- Jack said this because Ed Sullivan, who was on after him at 8pm(et), was offering a REALLY "really big shew" that evening; virtually every CBS star of the 1958-'59 season was going to be featured- either live, on tape, or on film- during his program {and this had been heavily promoted by the network the previous week}.

[@sjr7822]

I didn't realize Cooper was so tall

[@63DW89A]

"Bird Dog" is hilarious. Probably the ONE current song Coop could do! Much as I love the Everly Brothers, I think the BEST version of "Bird Dog" is the live versions on Town Hall Party in 1958 by the Collins Kids, the wonderful teen age sister-brother duo of Lorrie(16) and Larry(14).

[@williamstebbins7294]

I saw some episodes of this show on my local PBS station from Chicago that were also from CBS with this cloud version of the CBS eye. Used to mention Toast of The Town though. Some episodes were from Revue / MCA by this time though.

[@whyme760]

Now I can understand how my mom got hooked on cigarettes. It seemed quite normal to smoke back in the day.

[@degsbabe]

Two years later Coop was dead from cancer. Wow those lucky strikes.....

[@JackiePhillipsTheSocialPet]

I had no idea that GC was such a ham. He always does serious roles

[@TheLadymiss22]

He played so many genres, including comedies.

[@fifty9forty3]

I loved Jack Benny but this interaction is almost exactly the same as his show with Clint Walker in 1956. Check that out !

[@JackiePhillipsTheSocialPet]

Holy Smokes! Gary Cooper is almost a foot taller than Jack Benny. Gary is slouching to decrease the distance.

[@OofusTwillip]

And Jack was 5'11".

[@degsbabe]

Unfortunately 'Coop' was cut down two years later by cancer. These guys were legends no doubt. But today those lucky strike ads are chilling.

[@dianaadhikari45]

Coop was 6'4"

[@JackiePhillipsTheSocialPet]

@@degsbabe Yup. And the cigarette industry hasn't paid a dime in compensation for all those deaths from cancer and emphysema. And they still make billions of dollars and people continue to die

[@fromthesidelines]

0:58- "THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW" followed Jack on Sunday nights, at 8pm(et).

[@fromthesidelines]

26:58- Phil Harris was actually a part of Jack's radio show for 16 years (1936-'52). The only reason he left the program was because of budgetary reasons; someone from the cast had to be eliminated in order to trim expenses, as fewer people were listening to radio in 1952, and American Tobacco, as Jack's sponsor, was offering less money to stage the show on radio than television. Besides, Phil could not appear on Jack's TV show because of his exclusive contract with NBC in the early 1950's. So he was the logical choice. But his departure was on the best of terms.

[@Whatdisaypt1and2]

Whatever happened to people like Gary Cooper. The strong silent type.

[@pegcage]

I did not realize they repeated so many scripts with different actors. This same monologue and cowboy script was latter done with Clint Walker. I guess no one noticed when the shows actually were shown on T.V. years ago. But I have been on a binge watching these on youtube, and there are so many like this. Another example: one with Humphrey Bogart was repeated with another actor. Same identical script and monologues.

[@fromthesidelines]

28:19- That's Ruth Gilbert- who appeared on Milton Berle's "TEXACO STAR THEATER"- and his "BUICK-BERLE SHOW"- from 1952 through '55, as the "operator" for the "Ed Sullivan's All-Star Preview" promo....

[@marcelosastre3621]

Se trata sencillamente de un gigante de western, y mejor actor de todos los tiempos, el gran gary cooper que estas en el cielo, y solo para los mejores cinéfilos del mundo, juezdeoeste, 💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🙈

[@jessiejames7492]

look how high they had to make jack bennys cowboy boot heels to make him taller! funny

[@dianaadhikari45]

Jack looks like he's wearing Louboutins, lol

[@jessiejames7492]

@@dianaadhikari45 funny. Actually many male lead stars who were shorter than their lead females wore heels. Look at Desi Arnaz. His heels were quite a few inches!

[@fromthesidelines]

22:38- In reality, Jack didn't smoke Luckies- or *any* cigarettes. He preferred cigars. However, as a courtesy, American Tobacco sent him two cartons of Luckies- and two of Pall Malls- every week, for years. They sent *so many* of them to his house, Joan Benny {his daughter} claimed she didn't have to buy cigarettes until she was in her early 30's.

[@imthefrogman1]

i was just 10 years old when this first aired. A Year before Buddy Holly Died in a plane crash in 1957. what a loss.

[@barrypoupard7009]

Mate. You were old. I was 9 months old! We got our first TV in 1962 according to my 94 year old mum.

[@fromthesidelines]

8:01- Ironically, Gary and Jeff Chandler would pass away within a month of each other, in 1961.

[@fromthesidelines]

This was Jack's final season for Lucky Strike. Their sales were lagging behind other popular non-filter brands {including the one that began with a "C"- no. NOT "Chesterfield", although its sales were slipping as well}. So American Tobacco started aiming Luckies at men- and the "college crowd"- with slogans like "Get the Genuine Article......Get the Honest Taste of A Lucky Strike". And it was becoming more expensive to sponsor the Benny program, even though it was on every other Sunday night at the time. And now, Jack was reaching the "wrong" audience Luckies was trying to attract. So, they decided to end their 15 year association with Jack {beginning on radio in October 1944} in June 1959. He found a new sponsor the following fall [Lever Brothers, for Lux].

[@JackiePhillipsTheSocialPet]

Gary cooper is holding back laughing!

[@sjr7822]

Jack Benny would play with his adopted child, Wife, Mary said he would get down on the floor and play like a kid with her

[@vexer2942]

Cooper's wife, New York socialite Veronica (“Rocky”) Balfe, and their only daughter, Maria, were devout Roman Catholics. Maria was best friends with actress Dolores Hart, who had converted to Catholicism at age 10. The two of them shunned Hollywood glitter and instead enjoyed walking, reading, and discussing theology. In 1963 Hart entered Regina Laudis Benedictine monastery in Bethlehem, Connecticut, where she resides today. Her entrance into the sisterhood ended a romantic relationship with architect Don Robinson; he never married, and he visited Sister Dolores Hart, O.S.B., every Christmas and Easter until his death in 2011.

[@sjr7822]

How touching

[@Heavenzvoice]

vexer talk about true love💕

[@Mr-Rett]

Put on a Ritz,... Cooper Dooper.

[@yosoykarito]

Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper 🎶😍🎶

[@deninevh]

This is nearly the same skit they did with the wonderful Clint Walker. Similar clothes, too. :-)

[@CharlieFoy-vs8xr]

Yes I agree

[@Croonr1]

The Sportsmen are Bill Days, Bob Garsen, Jay Moffett and Gurney Bell

[@mmjhcb]

Today they don't know what real comedy is.

[@fromthesidelines]

By the way, Jack rarely smoked cigarettes [22:32]. He preferred cigars- yet, American Tobacco personally sent Jack two cartons of Luckies and two of Pall Mall for over 15 years. Joan, Jack's daughter, recalled that SO many cartons were stored away, she didn't have to buy cigarettes until she was in her early '30s.

[@AvengerII]

+JubalCalif What's new? They STILL pay actors to use products onscreen even today! The differences are the restrictions in network television. They don't promote tobacco use and I think hard drinking is seen a lot less. I can't speak for cable TV -- restrictions might be less there but it's still against American federal law as far as I know to advertise tobacco or alcoholic products on television. THey've pretty much disappeared from print ads, too. As far as using said-products on cable programs, again, different battlefield from the networks. I think the tendency is to be a bit less PC with cable network (HBO, Showtime, Netflix) programs but even then smoking is nowhere near as prevalent as it was in the 1950s and 1960s. The turn-around in attitudes began when the Surgeon General clearly came out against cigarette smoking in the early 1960s but it was over a decade before they really started coming out full against advertising on TV and magazines.

[@fromthesidelines]

That's right! Philip Morris {Parliament, et. al.} was one of several "rotating" sponsors on "PERRY MASON" from 1959 through just about the the end of the series. And they insisted on "Perry" and other cast members smoking on camera during virtually every episode (as PM insisted the same on "I LOVE LUCY", "RACKET SQUAD", and their other sponsored series during the 1950's and '60s). Initially, Burr was a bit frustrated on PM "placing" their cigarettes into the scripts, but he accepted it as part of the framework of network television, and sponsors "controlling" the programs they sustained at that time. In fact, he was required to appear in print ads for at least one of his regular sponsors in 1959- Libby-Owens-Ford. Here's an example: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/86/de/9e/86de9e189c4f52c6d5efb642343ce389.jpg

[@robertdbakerbaker1832]

Classic Benny, all the way through! One thing clearly evident here, is his trademark deadpan pause. During the western skit, the camera keeps zooming in on expressionless mugging.

[@dennis7511]

This is the exact same sketch that Jack did with Clint Walker.

[@danielstanwyck2812]

Love Jack. And the great kidding he and his guest stars all did with one another. Little did we know the horror of cigarettes. Oh, the tobacco companies knew, but they weren't going to tell.

[@barrypoupard7009]

It was in the early 1950ss that the first medical papers were published describing a causal link between smoking and cancer in the UK and USA. Of course the tobacco companies trashed them. Wouldn't you? But I think you're forgetting how ingrained the habit was in the 20th century amongst adults. How many million life years were lost prematurely? How many good mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, parents died before their time due to active and passive smoking? We'll never know.

[@OofusTwillip]

The topper is to see the programs end with a promo slide for the American Tobacco Company, follwed immediately by a PSA for the Heart Fund.

[@akanecortich8197]

two weeks later I was born.

[@fromthesidelines]

Jack "recycled" the second half of this episode on film- with Clint Walker - in October 1963. His philosophy was....if it was funny the first time, do it again in a few years.

[@knewsome69]

+Barry I. Grauman In the days without reruns ("mostly" live television) it was safe to recycle jokes and gags as the audience was probably pretty fresh. Heaven only knows how many all those old Vaudeville performers recycled their old acts for radio and television.

[@kazfleszar5899]

he should have said yes your right he do look like you.

[@nicfewer8393]

You are 9 years older, too, Jack, of course you were only 30 when you started and remained 39 for the rest of your career!

[@josephandolina]

For me this is funny stuff. Typical Benny funny. Not sure why anyone didn't find this a funny episode. And Cooper sounded like Cooper. Maybe he was a sick man at the time, but I didn't find that inhibiting his appearance on this episode.

[@Heavenzvoice]

Not too familiar with Gary Cooper although I love westerns so I probably saw him but didn't realize who he was. You can tell He was a kind hearted person. From the comments sounds like he was dealing with cancer.... stupid Lucky Strikes. Nothing lucky about them at all... What's funny about the fight scene is who Would let their brother get their butt kicked like this?! Cooper just standing there...

[@allend2749]

how do people know so much about gary cooper? they never met the man.

[@yosoykarito]

His daughter keeps in touch with the people on Instagram and Facebook. Besides, there are still many sources where you can figure out how he was as a person.

[@williamstebbins7294]

I was not born then, and I do not know if any of my older relatives watched this or not.

[@Lampshade51]

Cooper seems a bit uneasy on live TV. Could also be that his health was failing by that time. Gotta love LIVE television. The show was a bit short, so Jack starts embellishing the business of Phil Harris appearing in two weeks to fill time. Suddenly, he gets the "OK" signal and says "we're through? I could have talked for hours! Goodnight!". Berle once came in SEVEN minutes under and winged it until the close. Only a real pro can handle live TV

[@user-nj5ce9dq3e]

ゲーリー・クーパーが、コメディをしている貴重な映像ですね。　ありがとう！

[@dreammerchant4442]

Postage 4 cents ....if jack could see it today 6/7/2019

[@ksteiger]

That musical number was almost 3 minutes long. Guess you could say the sponsor really got their money's worth!!!!!!!!!!

[@Tre404]

+Ken Steiger ... it gave the technical folks time to set up the scenery for the sketch that followed. These things happen for a reason...

[@sjr7822]

Phil Harris and wife Faye had their own show, I can't remember the name, probably the Phil Harris Show?

[@satori03]

wife ALICE Faye?

[@fromthesidelines]

It was 'THE PHIL HARRIS - ALICE FAYE SHOW" (1946-'54) on radio [originally known as "THE FITCH BANDWAGON" during its first two seasons].

[@americanwoman3975]

Alot of this show is the same as he did with Clint Walker. Nevertheless, They are both so funny.

[@billsmith5985]

My dad saw Coop come out of a movie theater in the early 50's, and look about to see if anyone recognized him. Quite insecure, he thought.

[@fromthesidelines]

He was a *tall man!* How could you NOT notice him? 😃

[@DavidRice111]

Jack did this same 'twin brother' skit with Clint Walker. Funny twice tho.

[@carolynargabright8132]

That didn't sound like Don Wilson, his usual announcer.

[@fromthesidelines]

It wasn't. It was Del Sharbutt, one of the "Lucky Strike" commercial announcers at the time.

[@DailyMotionBetter]

9:18

[@JackiePhillipsTheSocialPet]

Is that nine years as a tv show or does that include his radio show?

[@fromthesidelines]

He was noting the seasons he appeared on TV. In the fall of 1958, he started his ninth- and final- season for Luckies. He appeared regularly on radio for 23 years (1932-'55), not counting the two seasons of repeats presented as "THE BEST OF BENNY" (1956-'58).

[@ThePearsch]

(1:30) Crisis... Postage at 4 cents. lol

[@karlakor]

Gary Cooper appears to be very ill at ease on live television, but I guess that is to be expected of a film actor.

[@sjr7822]

karlakor I thought Cooper's voice was weak, looked at his bio on Wikipedia, he probably was dying of cancer 1961. All the old stars were smokers, most died of cancer, at least the ones I looked up.

[@knewsome69]

+karlakor In real life he was a very shy fellow and it was something he learned to work around (and warm up to) in his appearances. This being a live show probably cranked up that nervousness - and that "the President was watching"!

[@avocate2017]

@@knewsome69 Yes, you can tell from his body language on TV appearances that he was shy and awkward. On top of that, the only surviving clips of TV appearances that we have of him are those from the late 1950s, when he was probably already ill. He wasn't diagnosed with cancer until 1960, but it's likely that the cancer had been progressing for years before he was actually diagnosed.

[@Dreamskater100]

19.55 !!

[@stanochocki8984]

WOW..Gary Cooper, the man 'walked tall' even out of the saddle--Imagine...Gary Cooper and Clint Walker--Now there would be a Hot, Hunky team to have done a "Brokeback Mountain" movie!!

[@quarteracrefarm8858]

Personally, I think the Clint Walker version of this skit was better. Still a classic, though.

[@SUPER_WOLFMOON]

Honest taste? Explain how a taste can be honest, cigarettes have a taste?

[@JWAngel79]

Jack mentions that his next guest star would be Phill Harris. Do you happen to have that show?

[@coopsgirl07]

No I don't have that one. I wish I did though.

[@sjr7822]

JWAngel79 The Jack Benny Program: Season 9, Episode 2 Phil Harris Show (5 Oct. 1958) I can't believe that old booze hound lived to be 91~ Loved him! synopsis "Plot. Phil Harris leads the band in 'That's what I like about the South.' Jack hates the song and tries to make sense of the lyrics." via ovguide

[@Sarah_Gravydog316]

+JWAngel79 This is one of the shows not being released by CBS; but there are clips from a different special with Jack & Phil, & they did the same routine on both shows.

[@OofusTwillip]

@@sjr7822 Phil Harris played a wild-partying, womanizing, illiterate drunk on the show, but in real life, he was a very quiet, responsible gentleman. Just as Jack Benny, in real life, was the exact opposite of the vainglorous cheapskate he played. And he was such a skilled violinist that he performed at Carnegie Hall.

[@sjr7822]

@@OofusTwillip When Dad drank, usually on the Friday night, he would put on an old Phil Harris record, and sing along, 'that's what I like about the South'