Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:29 — 13.5MB)
On this first day of Daylight Savings Time, Jack is introduced as that man so good at saving things. Don is worried that he’s getting a little plump. Phil is running late, and rushed and gets teased at his clothes, or lack thereof. Mary is a little confused over the concept of Daylight Savings Time, and the extra hour of rain that California is experiencing… or is that an extra hour of sunshine?
Kenny is also a little confused over the time change. Not wanting to be distracted by the confusion, Jack wants to get the play started since it will be a long one. Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, but since the guys don’t much resemble dwarves, they’ll be the Seven Gangsters. To beef up the cast there’s an addition of a wicked witch, and a few others.
To get into character, Don puts on a tough guy act to deliver the commercial then tough guy Kenny sings, One Song. (from the Snow White sound track).
The play begins in the gangsters hideout as Doc Benny talks about the upcoming bank robbery. The gangsters are introduced as the roll call is taken. Andy Devine pitches in as does a special guest voice, the actor who normally does Popeye. Kenny makes an excellent Dopey. Once the shipment of dynamite is delivered, the job can begin as the gangsters sing a spooff of Heigh Ho.
The scene changes to Snow White’s Park Avenue penthouse where the wicked witch of a step mother tries to keep her from PrinceCharming Schlepperman. Mary and Schlepperman do a version of, Someday My Prince will Come. When the Prince leaves, the witch tries to make her eat the poison apple, but Mary runs away to the forest. The pretty birds greet her with a special bird call that gets one of the longest laughs in recorded Jack Benny history.
Before Mary can reach the cottage, the gangsters depart as they reprise their spoof of, Heigh Ho. Well, almost, they actually kidnap her, but she tries to get the guys to act nice. Wil they reform, and change their evil ways? In the big happy ending, the prince returns to reprise, Someday My Prince will Come.
As time is quickly comeing to a close, Jack summarizes the epilog of the play and Don kicks in with yet another yummie Jello recipe idea. Afterward, Jack, Mary, and Andy do a few lines from the Wishing Well song.
PS: This one definitely rates up there in the top Jack Benny shows. In fact it is one of the few that would be repeated, pretty much as is, a year later without much change. In the encor performance Walt Disney himself would be in the audience to witness firsthand the satire of his animated masterpiece.
