What happens
Jack Benny hosts a Jell-O broadcast from New York rather than Hollywood, with Harry Von Zell filling in for Don Wilson as announcer. Benny chats with Abe Lyman and his orchestra, meets Bob Ripley, who quizzes him with curiosities, and welcomes Kate Smith, who sings a number. Benny's valet Rochester seeks an advance on his pay, and Fred Allen arrives to trade jibes with Benny over a Boy Scout knife and their rivalry. This is the 1938 episode of the Jack Benny series, broadcast on NBC and CBS Radio, with Benny, Mary Livingstone, Eddie Anderson and Phil Harris as the regular cast.
A New York radio broadcast of the Jell-O program, with Benny on a train trip to New York, in the studio and at the Waldorf-Astoria.
Characters: Jack Benny, Harry Von Zell, Abe Lyman, Bob Ripley, Kate Smith, Rochester, Fred Allen
Listen for: Benny's exchanges with Fred Allen over the Boy Scout knife, and Kate Smith's song.
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.