This episode has some of the best of the cast in the entire radio run of the Jack Benny Show.
Jack Benny – as himself
Eddie Anderson – Rochester
Dennis Day – as himself
Don Wilson – as himself
Mel Blanc – as the painter and train announcer
Frank Nelson – as the Information Desk “Yes” man
Sheldon Leonard – as the Race Track Tout
Artie Auerbach – as Mr. Kitzel
Bob Crosby’s Orchestra
The Jack Benny radio show is considered one of the best comedy shows of Old Time Radio (OTR). Some even say it is the best. It aired from 1932-1955. Jack Benny began his TV show in 1950. Even with the transition to TV, he was a die hard proponent of keeping his radio show going as long as possible. Contrary to the running gag that Jack was cheap, he paid his cast members well. He wanted to support them as long as possible. So for five years, he continued working on the TV show and his weekly radio show concurrently.
This particular episode is a gem. It has many running bits that go back decades in the making. All in all, it’s pretty clean, cute comedy. Many people these days may find the comedy and commercials (Lucky Strikes and Tareyton Filter Cigarettes) to be dated and simple. Today’s world moves fast. Maybe simple is just what we need now and again.
Talk about being the cool kid on the block. Holy cow! Where can I get one of these? Can you imagine waking up on Christmas morning and opening this up in 1960? This handheld transistor radio is the sweetest thing. “Sally’s” parents hit the Christmas jackpot when they picked this out. Now Sally can walk around campus playing all the new tunes. She can stroll the halls, causing a ruckus, and drive her teachers mad with latest rock music. When school is over she can be the kid in the back of the bus that’s got everyone covered with the freshest vibes on the airwaves. Little do Mom and Dad know she will play the radio day and night, driving them up the wall with her rock ‘n’ roll. Because, let’s get real – Sally looks like she is part of the in crowd. No Stravinsky or Rachmaninoff for her. Nothing but Elvis, the Everly Brothers, Bobby Rydell, the Drifters and Sam Cooke will be coming out of that magical rectangular box.
If the iPod was the gift to get in 2001, this was the one to get in 1960. While this is by far not the first portable radio Zenith produced (they were making portable radios as far back as 1924), it is a compact version with high aesthetic appeal. The ad states it plays up to 75 hours on just 40 cents worth of batteries. That’s $4.27 in 2024 dollars. It comes in three color options, charcoal, beige or Chinese red two-tones with white. I live a sheltered life. I had not heard of the color “Chinese red”. The Smithsonian National Museum of Art described Chinese red as, “A vivid orangey-red best described as vermilion. Originally made by grinding the mineral cinnabar and later produced synthetically, vermilion can include a range of warm hues, from bright orange-red to a duller bluish-red.”1 Sounds pretty sweat to me!
Here is a picture of all three Zenith shirt pocket size versions from 19602:
(The Chinese red one is on sale on Ebay for only $29.99-Click here if you are interestedin buying one.)
Zenith was a powerhouse of invention. Check this site out if you want to learn more about the history of the company.
This ad states, “Private listening attachment optional at extra cost.” The Radio Attic has a great picture of the gift set with earbuds:
We’ve come a long way with comfort and technology, but still, there is something ultra sweet about this shirt pocket sized radio. I would have been super stoked, like Sally, too, if I found this under the tree in 1960. Check out the other nifty items shown on this ad. An alarm clock that plays music to wake you up by. Yes, please! That table radio looks perfect for mom, dad or the grandparents. And how about that portable record player with 4 speeds?! That means that little record player could play 45s, 33s, 78s and 16s. It sure is tough to find anything that will play 16 rpm records anymore. Surprisingly, there were some big names that put music out on 16 rpm platforms until the 1970s. The Ventures, Trini Lopez and Jim Reeves to name a few. You could get 90 minutes worth of music onto a 16 2/3 rpm record, because it was so slow.
Back to our shirt pocket sized radio above. Sally is going to be the envy of History class, the gang at the Malt Shop and her after school club. She’ll be tops in her crowd. Everyone will want one!
Zenith gifts are out of this world and really are the most!
Stuart, Jan. “Chinese Red – Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art.” Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, 2 Sept. 2016, asia-archive.si.edu/red/. ↩︎
Vintage Advertisement of the Week – October 24, 2024
Advertisement taken from Life Magazine, September 27, 1943
The main theme for 80 percent of all ads featured in Life Magazine during WWII was war related. It dominated all facets of life. One could not escape it – the war. In some ways it is quite commendable. In others, I can see how it might have been a drag. Such a heavy cloud of responsibility loomed over everyone. One false step and you were playing into the hands of the Axis. Advertisements of this period were rife with guilt and fear.
Didn’t buy enough war bonds or stamps? You’re playing right into the hands of the enemy. Images like this loomed large:
Illustrator – John Maxwell, for the Philco Corporation (Life Magazine – April 19, 1943) (Note, I’m not sure what Maxwell was doing with Mussolini. Is that a lollipop he’s eating? Is he trying to paint Mussolini as an infant? For some reason I cannot get Kojak out of my head. Hitler and Hirohito look like they came straight from a nightmare though – legitimately.)
Contemplating using your automobile to get downtown? Better think again and use your own two feet. You won’t be able to replace those tires anytime soon, because rubber is needed for the war, not you. Not to mention wasting gas. Save the car only for emergencies. Ads like this with cars stuck in garages, unable to be used, were common sights:
Life Magazine – September 13, 1943
This week’s ad, leans on the flip side of guilt, morale. Questions like:
Why does a man shave?
Why are there four cigarettes in every army mess kit?
Why does a woman wear lipstick?
Why does the army shine its shoes?
Why bother? Why do all this when there is a war on? Because it bolsters humanity. It connects us with who we are and what we value. So why should the reader of LifeMagazine care if materials used to make women’s undergarments (rubber and nylon) are considered as part of the essential materials list? Because even during war time, people like to feel attractive.
Another good reason, was it was an extremely influential periodical of its day. Maybe the most influential.1 Even though Life Magazine’s readership was overwhelming male, they still tried to reach their female readers. It was one of the most highly read publications of its time. At one point during the war, its circulation topped 13 million copies.2 That’s a lot, considering the entire US population 139,928,165.3
Back to our ad and why it matters. At first glance, we may think, who on earth would buy this scene? A pretty young 16-25 year old female is sitting on her kitchen floor in her underwear trying to fix the frayed wire of a toaster. Who traipses around their house in their underwear doing DIY projects? Wearing shoes, nonetheless? It is a bit strange to me.
That aside, I love the fact that Munsingwear has chosen to highlight the pluck and industriousness of the young female spirit. She can take it as it comes. A frayed wire with no man around to ask for help? No problem! She can fix it herself. She’s got the grit. She’s got the know-how.
Not enough rubber or nylon4 to make the girdle she’s used to wearing, no matter, she’s got gumption, she’s got that can-do attitude. She can get used to these newer knit fabrics and save the rubber and nylon that would have been used on her girdle to put toward the war effort.
This ad does not specify that the undergarments they are selling are made of knitted materials instead of rubber, but we should assume they are spun elastics.5 Tires were rationed not long after the attack on Pearl Harbor, January of 1942 to be specific.6 So they surely were not made with any rubber. Nylon was needed for making parachutes, tire cords, ropes, aircraft fuel tanks, shoe laces, mosquito netting and hammocks.7
My favorite part of this ad is the call Munsingwear puts out to all women. That little paragraph that pleads, “Women are needed for war production and necessary civilian service. Apply to local United States employment service for information.”
Not only can you fix frayed wires, saving your toaster (reduce, reuse or do without)8, but you can also help with the war effort and get paid doing it. And, you can do it in style, by wearing Foundettes. Just like a war can be won starting from a strong foundation, a woman’s successful day can start out by wearing Foundettes!
Oh yes, and that toast? It’ll be ready in a jiffy!
Plotz, David. “The Best Magazine Ever Published Was Life Magazine, in Summer 1945.” Slate Magazine, 27 Dec. 2013, slate.com/human-interest/2013/12/life-magazine-1945-why-it-was-the-greatest-magazine-ever-published.html. ↩︎
“BACKGROUND · World War II in Life Magazine Advertisements · Western CT State University Archives’ Digital Collections.” Archives.library.wcsu.edu, archives.library.wcsu.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/world-war-ii-in-life-magazine-/background. ↩︎
“US Population: From 1900.” Demographia.com, 2019, demographia.com/db-uspop1900.htm. ↩︎
“WWII and the Nylon Riots! | Rosie the Riveter.” Rosietheriveter.net, rosietheriveter.net/wwii-and-the-nylon-riots/. ↩︎
Vintage Advertisement of the Week – October 13, 2024
California Prune Growers Advertisement – Life Magazine, January 5, 1942
Those poor California Prune Growers. What they’ve had to endure over the years. There really is no great way to sell prunes, is there? They tried their best, especially during the war years, but they had a lot of ground to make up.
During the late 1800’s, eager and ambitious California farmers over planted plum trees, designated for the prune industry. Their goal in doing so, was to push out the supply of prunes being imported from Europe. By 1900 they succeeded in doing just that. 85 prune packing plants were up and running in California1. The price of prunes dropped as suppliers in the Eastern United States and overseas mixed poor quality fruits with the California prunes, degrading the product. Prune fanatics throughout the world were not thrilled with the cheapening of their beloved dried fruit.2
Enter the war years, the WWII years, to be specific. Dried fruits were considered to be a processed food. Certain processed foods, such as prunes, were rationed in the United States from March of 1943 to August of 1945.3 This coupled with the ever-changing landscape of wartime trade policies and the sale of prunes plummeted.4 It was the second biggest blow to the industry since the inferior fruit debacle. The California Prune Growers needed a plan.
What angle could they take to sell their product? Prunes have to be one of the least exciting of all fruits, dried or otherwise. My grandparents ate them. The only cake I ever remember eating that my maternal grandmother made was prune cake. Sounds gross, but it actually was pretty good. It tasted like spice cake with white boiled frosting. I think my maternal grandpa actually ate stewed prunes. As a kid of the 80s, it sounded so depression era disgusting, I never tried them.
In fact, prunes got such a bad rap throughout the 20th century, marketers changed their name to dried plums in 2001, to get away from just the type of ad you see above. (18 years later in 2019, they changed it back to prunes.)5 Rebranding didn’t work.6
Back to our wartime ad…
The money is on regularity. Mother keeps you kids regular by serving you prunes, she should practice what she preaches. So should Dad. If you possess digestive regularity, you will naturally have more energy.
Other ways people can have more energy? In Dad’s case, he could not work so many hours at the office. Maybe he’s under a lot of pressure to meet a deadline at the insurance agency or he had to work a double shift at the factory to meet his quota for the war effort. Or, maybe his factory makes him work swing shift hours and his sleep schedule is so screwed up he can barely keep his eyes open during his “normal waking hours”. On weekends, he is expected to fix everything that breaks around the house inside and out. Not to mention mow in the summer and shovel in the winter. There are loads of things that could contribute to Dad feeling weighed down and tired.
As for mother, she is most likely exhausted from dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, tending her victory garden, volunteering with the PTA, bluing and starching clothes, feeding said clothes through the wringer washer, hanging up clothes to dry on the line in the basement during winter, ironing them once they are dry, doing dishes and making beds. I’ll bet her feet hurt from walking to and from downtown, since they only have one car and Dad needs it to get to work. Women had plenty of things to keep them busy during the day. There was no lack of drudgery in one’s life.
Oh wait, this is the 40s. The kids probably did help out. Making their own beds and setting the table. “Jimmy” probably knew how to use the push mower. “Sally” most likely helped with the dishes and dusting. Everyone had their roles. But, the brunt of life’s responsibilities fell squarely on the parents’ shoulders. As usual.
All this talk about prunes got me thinking. Would their campaign actually help one feel more energized and regular? More fiber in one’s diet can’t be a bad thing. Maybe it would be a good idea to try to incorporate more prunes in my own life. Personally, I don’t mind having some prunes now and again. You can make a valiant attempt to trick your mind into thinking you are eating chocolate. For a split second it works, until your brain catches up with reality.
I read their 30-second health quiz and I am sold on trying it out. Beyond regularity, prunes have enormous health benefits. Flourishing Foodie7 highlights these benefits as:
WHAT ARE THE NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS OF PRUNES?
Prunes are a source of copper and manganese which contribute to the protection of cells from oxidative stress.
Prunes are a perfect low-calorie snack. A single serving of 4-5 prunes contains under 100 calories.
Prunes contain natural sugars and have a low glycemic index, meaning that the rise in blood sugar is much slower, keeping you satiated longer.
A serving of prunes contains 3g of fiber. Including fiber-rich foods in your diet helps to improve digestive health and reduce symptoms of poor gastrointestinal health such as bloating, cramping, constipation, and heartburn.
A serving of prunes contains 23 mcg of vitamin K which is important for bone health.
Prunes are a source of vitamin B6 and copper which contribute to the normal function of the immune system.
Sounds like I’ve been missing out on a fantastically, nutritious food choice. What a dope I’ve been!
Starting Sunday, October 20, 2024, I am going to try a seven day prune challenge.
Without a doubt, I will grow sick and tired of snacking on prunes, so, I will try to find fun recipes to try. (Prune cake and prune whip anybody?) Are you willing to try this with me? Maybe you have a recipe that includes prunes that you care to share?
Even though this first recipe is not technically vintage, I would love to give another shout out to Heather Hands of Flourishing Foodie. I will try her recipe for Oatmeal with California Prunes. (Check her blog out, it’s gorgeous.) I will post a picture of my version on the 20th!
Prune’s Away!
“History.” California Prunes | Prunes. For Life., californiaprunes.org/history/. ↩︎
“History.” California Prunes | Prunes. For Life., californiaprunes.org/history/. ↩︎
Tidbits and Timemachines 