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WHY JACK BENNY DOESN'T LIKE TELEVISION
Then I got to thinking about Fred Allen. What must be going on in his mind? In spite of what everybody thinks about Allen, we must admit he is intel¬ ligent. He realizes what television will mean to him. He knows what he looks like. I tuned in on his program — acci¬ dentally — last Sunday, and it was pitiful ... I never felt so embarrassed for anybody in my life. The only thing that saved Allen’s program was the audience. They were so sorry for him, they laughed continuously all through the show. You can’t fool the American
Drawing by Breger. ©1946, King Features Syndicate, Inc.
"Day and night! I just KNEW television would come to this!"
public. The people know television is just around the corner, and it was just their way of saying ‘So long, Fred. You did a great job.’
“Last night I went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. I kept tossing and turn¬ ing. Every time I closed my eyes I saw poor little Eddie Cantor, Burns & Allen, Bob Hope, Fred Allen, and all those other comedians less fortunate than I. It was a never-ending parade. Fibber McGee & Molly, Edgar Bergen, Red Skelton, Jack Carson. Yes, and even The Great Gildersleeve. All of them potential victims of television.
“And as I lay there wide awake in bed, I knew what they were goingthrough — sleepless nights, tossing and turning, wondering what the future held in store for them. The uncertainty
“Radio lives in a skyscraper. We haven’t found all the keys to all the rooms yet and there is still some difference of opinion among the prospective tenants over the desirability of the upstairs floors versus the lower floors, but no land¬ lord has a longer waiting list of applicants than the FCC.” — Paul A. Porter, Chairman, Federal Com¬ munications Commission.
— the agony of waiting! The feeling of complete helplessness as, moving ever closer, television crept to engulf them and relegate them to the past.
“It doesn’t seem fair. Why doesn’t science leave well enough alone? Radio is all right the way it is. Television can wait. Another 20 years won’t make any difference. I’m willing to make the sac¬ rifice. I’ll relinquish my high place if it will help others less bestowed.
“Let’s not forget the human equa¬ tion. Let’s remember that the backbone of civilization is charity and kindness. So I say, hold off television. Science be damned! Long live radio!”
— Jack Benny, in Variety.
Drawing by Lichty. ©1946, Chicago Times, Inc. Courtesy Chicago Times Syndicate, Inc.
"Until we make television practical, stop inventing things to make it obsolete!"
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