What happens
Jack Benny makes his first professional radio appearance as master of ceremonies for a Canada Dry ginger ale program. He introduces bandleader George Olsen and his orchestra, singer Ethel Chutes, and a vocal trio, while joking about his own inexperience and about the sponsor's made-to-order drinks sold by the glass at drug stores and soda fountains. Olsen and Chutes perform several numbers, and Benny fills the time with comic patter and stories. The broadcast is a 1932 episode of the Jack Benny series, first aired on May 2, 1932, on NBC and CBS Radio, with Benny, Mary Livingstone, Eddie Anderson and Phil Harris among the lead actors. The program is presented as the first in a new sponsored series.
A live radio variety broadcast of the Canada Dry ginger ale program, May 2, 1932
Characters: Jack Benny, George Olsen, Ethel Chutes, Fran Frye, Bobby Bawerger, Bob Wright
Listen for: Benny's self-deprecating patter about being newly paid and his teasing of George Olsen, and the comic chatter around the musical numbers
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.