Don Wilson talks about Jack Benny with Gisele MacKenzie, etc

[joshscobey]

Reminds me a bit of Harry Caray.

[chumshot1]

lol he reminds me soo much of Mr. Rumbold from Are You Being Served?

[dale1966gto]

i can't imagine jack benny without don wilson. he was part of the show like ed mc mahon was to johnny carson...sort of a second banana. a guy who had inherent talent but was at the right place at the right time..what wonderful memories this guy has to share. this was only 3 years after jack's death in 1974.

[nlc3000]

Are there any tapes of the "Town Talk" show Don and Lois Wilson did in Palm Springs in the 70s?

[CarlDuke]

The Irving on the show was Jack manager Irving Fein. When George Burns' manager passed on, Jack suggested he use Jack's which was Irving and Fein helped revive Burns' then flagging career and he stayed with George until George passed away at age 100.

[jvarela965]

@CarlDuke

Was not Iriving Mary's brother?

[LoopTheLoopster]

He said, "I'm thinking about it."

[bikenik]

A talk show where people just talked about their lives rather than plugging their latest movie, book of fragrance. What a concept!

[POPTUB]

What an awesome oldie! We featured your video on our channel today, so come check it out :)

[FlamingoKicker]

The only member of the original Jack Benny cast that he couldn't get a starring show for was Rochester but that wasn't Jack's fault, nobody seemed willing to give a black man a starring role in a radio show. Even Amos and Andy were really white men.

[VideosTimes2]

...and look at the shameful way Nat King Cole was treated much later over his TV show...because he was black, he couldn't get a sponsor. What a disgrace...

[glinkaboo]

Jack Benny died in 1974. This looks like it may have been done shortly after his death. A sort of tribute show. Thanks for posting!

[TomBarristerX]

It's from August 12, 1977.

[gqjohnny]

Watch the 1953 movie Niagara for Don Wilson in a supporting role.

[fromthesidelines]

Don was Jack's radio announcer for 21 years (1934-'55) and on TV for 15 (1950-'65). Because of the prestiege of being "Jack Benny's announcer", he was also announced dozens of other radio shows as well, and was still active as an "announcer for hire" in the '70s. I had the pleasure of personally meeting him in 1978- a wonderful man.

[pegcage]

I didn't know Don started as a sportscaster! Jack Benny's radio program had so many great people on it! All the jokes were made about how he paid out so little money to them, but his show had undoubtedly to be the most expensive on the air. Because he had all those great stars: Phil Harris, Dennis Day, Mel Blanc doing voices, etc. etc. All of these had their own shows and other enterprises, too!

[chetmcgee]

didn't don answer one of merv's questions by saying, "yes, irving." maybe i heard wrong or misunderstood.

[BannerBombers]

You heard correctly.

[VideosTimes2]

Keep in mind that Irving was the name of Jack's long-time manager, who was also on the show. He also wrote a book about Mr. Benny.

[BannerBombers]

I have it & several other books on Benny. It's a wonderful read.

[CarlDuke]

No, you heard right.

[Bopalena]

Don Wilson rocks! Best announcer ever and a fine comic actor as well.

[VideosTimes2]

I'm not sure how long Don's local show lasted in the Palm Springs area. Gisele MacKenzie also had a local TV show in the LA area that was syndicated to some other markets across the US.

[GabrielCarey]

WOW. Don Wilson!!!! Thanks for this rare interview. Had no idea Don Wilson ever had his own (i presume) local tv show in the late 70s!