Jack reads phony telegrams wishing him a Happy New Year, then chats with the coaches from tomorrow's Rose Bowl game, Red Sanders of UCLA and Duffy Daugherty of Michigan State.<br />The Sportsmen Quartet sing a football fight song with a verse about Lucky cigarettes.<br />For the last 12 years on radio, the Benny show has done a sentimental, patriotic piece about the New Year year called The New Tenent; they restage it for the camera as a radio performance. Sitting with the cast is a grumpy man Jack doesn't recognize from rehearsal; he's part of the audience but couldn't find a seat. In the radio sketch, Benny plays the Old Timer, 1955, turning 1956 over to a new young kid. <br /><br />THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM appeared infrequently during its first two years on CBS-TV. In his first season (1950–1951), Jack only performed on four shows, but by the 1951-1952 season, he was ready to do one show approximately every six weeks. During the 1953-1954 season, The Jack Benny Program aired every three weeks. From 1954 to 1960, the program aired every other week, rotating with such shows as Private Secretary and Bachelor Father. <br /><br />After the radio show ended in 1955, Benny took on another biweekly series, becoming a regular on Shower of Stars, CBS's hourlong comedy/variety anthology series, effectively appearing almost every week on one of the two series; it was on Shower of Stars that Benny's character finally turned 40, throwing a large birthday party for the occasion. Beginning in the 1960–1961 season, The Jack Benny Program began airing every week. The show moved from CBS to NBC prior to the 1964-65 season. During the 1953-54 season, a handful of episodes were filmed during the summer and the others were live, a schedule which allowed Benny to continue doing his radio show. <br /><br />Directed by Frederick De Cordova, Ralph Levy, Norman Abbott, Seymour Berns<br />Starring Jack Benny, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Don Wilson<br /><br />Cast<br />Jack Benny as Jack Benny <br />Don Wilson as Don Wilson<br />Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson as Rochester Van Jones <br />Dennis Day as Dennis Day <br />Mary Livingstone as Mary Livingstone <br />Mel Blanc as Polly <br />Benny Rubin as Bandit<br />The Sportsmen Quartet as Themselves <br />Frank Nelson as Clerk <br />Ned Miller as 2nd Man <br />Herb Vigran as 2nd Policeman <br />Jeanette Eymann as Nurse <br />Dale White as Harlow Wilson <br />Charles Cantor as Lingerie Salesman <br />Lois Corbett as Lois Wilson
