What happens
Jack Benny is at home in Beverly Hills in early December, addressing Christmas cards with his valet Rochester, while his friends Mary Livingstone and Bob Crosby drop by. Dennis Day arrives with news about an Elks Club award that Benny lost, and the group then talks about the film The Happy Time, which Benny saw the night before with Don Wilson. The talk turns to adapting the film into a sketch for the radio program, and Benny begins describing its characters and story. This is the Jack Benny program, sponsored by Lucky Strike, first broadcast on December 7, 1952, on NBC and CBS Radio.
Jack Benny's house in Beverly Hills, early December
Characters: Jack Benny, Rochester, Mary Livingstone, Bob Crosby, Dennis Day, Don Wilson
Listen for: Benny's attempts to fit the cast to the characters of The Happy Time, and Dennis Day's song and running jokes
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.