What happens
Jack Benny hosts a Mother's Day edition of his Jell-O program in 1938, with Mary Livingstone, Eddie Anderson and Phil Harris and his orchestra. Benny jokes that he is the mother of the cast, and the guests trade banter about the gifts they sent their mothers. Mary places a long-distance call to her mother in New Jersey, and the group then discusses the Kentucky Derby. Kenny Baker sings, and the mayor of Walkiegan, Illinois, Mansell Talcott, visits as a guest. The show ends with a comic playlet built around a jealous husband, and a Jell-O strawberry dessert is promoted along the way. The program is broadcast on May 8, 1938.
A Jell-O radio program broadcast from Los Angeles, with comic skits set in a New York City home.
Characters: Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, Don Wilson, Phil Harris, Kenny Baker, Mansell Talcott, Mrs. Benny, Mortimer
Listen for: Mary's long-distance call to her mother, the Kentucky Derby conversation, and the comic playlet with the hidden suitors.
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.