Trimming the Christmas Tree

·33 min·3 clips

On Christmas Eve 1944, Jack Benny's holiday shopping leads to a wild dispute with a floor walker and a persistent stranger.

The episode opens with host John Henderson introducing the December 24, 1944 broadcast, noting it was reused in 1949. Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone are trimming a Christmas tree, but Jack keeps getting electrocuted while testing lights, first shocking himself and later taping his finger to a wire. Rochester enters with a cake misspelling 'Merry' and refuses to fix the lights, giving a confused explanation about electrons and atoms while worrying about a man at Boulder Dam flipping a switch. A policeman arrives to investigate a complaint about Jack disturbing the peace at Moore's Department Store, where a floor walker and a persistent stranger caused chaos. Jack explains the incident, involving arguments over carnations and gift advice, and the officer leaves wishing them Merry Christmas. The tree trimming continues with jokes about candy canes and a present for Rochester labeled as toilet water. Phil Harris arrives, jokes about his tree having a red star for ration points, and gives Jack a sweater with a live turtle inside. Jack tries to electrocute Phil as a prank but fails due to a supposed issue at Boulder Dam. Don Wilson and Larry Stephens arrive, discussing the movie Hollywood Canteen. Andy Devine drops by, and the group shares banter. They gather for a toast with champagne, and Jack delivers a solemn message to troops in Africa, Europe, and the South Pacific, acknowledging their hardships during wartime Christmas.

As heard by us

Jack Benny's Christmas shopping feud snowballs into farce, then gives way to a sober wartime holiday note.

Christmas Eve turns Jack Benny's shopping grudge into a cleanly escalating radio farce. His refusal to settle on a Christmas gift keeps pushing the scene outward, from perfume-counter indecision to wife-stealing accusations and a complaint that somehow ends with a police officer…

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Why you'd press play

You get Christmas Eve gifts, a perfume-counter quarrel, and a wartime blessing in one Jack Benny old-radio turn.

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