The Canada Dry Ginger Ale Program was the first of many incarnation of The Jack Benny Program. It premiered on May 2, 1932 on the NBC Blue Network and remained there for six months before moving to CBS Radio on October 30. Benny stayed with NBC until the end of January 1933. Benny moved to NBC on March 3, with the program now named The Chevrolet Program; in April 1934, a change of sponsor meant a change of title and the program briefly became The General Tire Revue. In the Fall of 1934, with General Foods as a sponsor, the show was again retitled, adding Benny's name, to The Jell-O Program Starring Jack Benny; this incarnation ran until 1942. When World War II sugar rationing impacted Jell-O, the show became The Grape Nur Flakes Program Starring Jack Benny (later The Grape Nuts and Grape Nuts Flakes Program). October 1, 1944, saw a new sponsor and another new title: The Lucky Strike Program Starring Jack Benny The show returned to CBS on January 2, 1949, remaining there until it ended on May 22, 1955. Repeats of the final three years were reaired from 1956 tp 1958 as The Best of Benny, sponsored by State Farm Insurance. On television, The Jack Benny Program on Octoner 28, 1950, on CBS; it moved to NBC in September 1964, running until September 10, 1965.
All totaled, well over three decades of comic genius.
The premiere episode of The Canada Dry Program featured George Olsen and his Ochestra, Broadway star Ethel Shutta (who also happens to be Mrs. George Olsen), Bob Borger, and Bob Rice, with Ed Thorgersen announcing. Don't expect Jack's regular gang -- Don Wilson, Eddie Anderson, Mary Livingston, Phil Harris, Kenny Baker, or Dennis Day -- they would come later. Instead, we have Jack introducing various musical numbers while shilling for "made to order" Canada Dry (now available in a glass -- not a bottle -- at neighborhood soda fountains).
Journey back to the early days of Jack benny's radio career. And enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWsRqfLIjk4
Diane drinks Canada Dry almost every day. She likes that Canada Dry has no caffeine. I like the more spicy GOYA Ginger Beer.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you one ginger beer, George. As for ginger ale, I prefer a golden ginger ale rather than the pale dry ginger ale, but it's hard to find a decent golden ginger ale. My all-time favorite came from my hometown, Chelmsford, Massachusetts. First bottled (in stone bottles, no less) in 1901 as Chelmsford Ginger Beer, it changed its name to Chelmsford Ginger Ale went it began being sold in glass bottles. Canada Dry bought the company in 1931 and continued producing it under its original recipe until it was discontinued in 2003. The local demand for Chelmsford Ginger Ale was so great that a local supermarket chain, MarketBasket, bought the label from Schweppes, which purchased Canada Dry in the 80s. Sadly, they did not buy the recipe, but they have made a fairly good attempt at duplicating it. The current Chelmsford Ginger Ale is pretty good, but quite like the original. Time passes on. there are no more stone bottles, the spring which supplied to original water was filled in in 1959 for safety reasons, the original Chelmsford Ginger Ale factory was razed around the same time, although the factory's sign is still there, surrounded by benches. And now you know more about Chelmsford Ginger Ale than you ever wanted, Geroge.
DeleteJerry, I completely relate to your experience with Golden Ginger Ale. When I was growing up, there were several local firms who sold various flavors of Soda Pop and Golden Ginger Ales was one of them. Those local firms are long gone and Pepsi and Coke can't be bothered with Golden Ginger Ale production. Our loss....
ReplyDeletePolar's purchased offshoot ginger beer (diet version) Gosling's (I haven't yet delved into why a company named for goose-chicks has a seal, Stormy, as its mascot trademark) is the item I've tended to drink most in the last several years, though Polar's devotion to reasonable prices is not extended to Gosling's. Well, their liter bottles in plastic are reasonably priced, but the soda tastes unfortunately of the plastic.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, a Jack Benny interview you might never have seen...or not in a half-century+: https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-55-25k99j5b
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