A New Book: Jack & Johnny-

A preview of the book detailing the friendship between Jack Benny and Johnny Carson

Jack & Johnny- Benny, Carson and a Friendship Made for Television. Available at Lulu.com

My new book is Jack & Johnny- Benny, Carson and a Friendship Made for Television. It’s a departure from my California series and other books that have been written over the past fifteen years.

As a fan of both comedians, I often felt other writers rarely expanded upon the story of their twenty-year friendship. I fill that void in a one-hundred, ninety-page exploration of their mentor/mentee relationship.

This book is not a biography of either man but rather a study into the multiple levels of friendship that the pair experienced from the mid-1950s through Benny’s death in 1974.  

Jack Benny and Johnny Carson exchanged appearances on each other’s television shows from 1955 to Benny’s death in 1974. Photo: NBC

Here’s a preview that begins in October 1962, one week after Carson became host of the Tonight Show late evening broadcast on the NBC network. His guest on that particular evening was his comedy idol Jack Benny:

One week after the debut of The Tonight Show, Johnny would welcome his comedy mentor to the broadcast.

Other guests that night were Jack’s daughter Joan, actor Sebastian Cabot and Mitch Miller the host of Sing Along with Mitch.

There’s no video from that episode. In keeping with the standard operating procedure at the time, NBC would erase episodes of most daily shows so that the expensive videotape could be used again. This practice went on until the early seventies when Carson negotiated ownership of the show. What remains of the first decade of Carson programs are private recordings generally made for guests of a particular program.

It’s likely the interview began with platitudes from Johnny to Jack, thanking him for his many years of entertainment. Jack would have likely thanked his young mentee, and after a self-depreciating remark or two, would go on to reaffirm what he said about Johnny on that 1955 appearance of the young fledging star. Something along the lines of, “You know Johnny, I said it before and I’ll say it again. You have everything it takes to be a big star.”

We’ll never know exactly what was said, unless an audio recording or even a brief video clip emerges from someone’s attic.

Jack Benny made a name for himself as a radio star from the 1930 through the mid 1950s. As a young man growing up in the 1930s and 1940s, Johnny Carson would listen to the Benny radio program from his parents’ living room in Nebraska. Photos: International Jack Benny Fan Club, WOWT TV.  

What is known about that night centers on the bond between Jack and Johnny. The friendship that started with Carson appearing on Benny’s show back in the mid-1950s was connected once again by that appearance.  

Jack would reciprocate the guest shot by inviting Johnny on his CBS series one year later. That episode aired on October 22, 1963.  

   It’s clear in the Benny episode that Johnny was now firmly in place as star of the Tonight Show. The comedy sketch centered on the concept that a host of a nightly talk show needed to be versatile. The Benny writers created a comedy bit designed to show that a successful talk show host had to know a little bit about many aspects in the entertainment business. The sketch featured Johnny playing the drums, performing card tricks, and doing a song and dance routine.

In contrast to Johnny’s appearance with Jack on the 1955 Benny program where he offered polite jabs at Jack’s persona, here Johnny is showing Jack and the audience that he could do just about anything. -

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

Jack & Johnny is available online at: Jack & Johnny (lulu.com) It can also be purchased from Bookish Modesto in the Roseburg Square Shopping Center in Modesto..

Steve’s California book series is available at the Merced County Courthouse Museum Gift Shop.