East Coast / West Coast Broadcasts

Before the use of transcription, where radio shows were recorded in advance for broadcast at the appropriate time, radio programs used to be performed twice because of the difference in time zones across the United States. There would be one performance for the East Coast, and another for the West.

The Jack Benny Program was 30 minutes in length, and it began on the hour. Therefore, the East Coast show would be performed, then they would wait a half an hour and perform the show for the West Coast. In that half hour between performances, the cast and writers would take the opportunity to make adjustments for jokes that did not get enough laughs or other lines that just did not work as well as they wanted.

The two links below are for the two different performances of the show broadcast on 17 December 1939 (episode 353). In this episode, "Christmas Shopping for Perfume and a Necktie," Jack and Mary visit a department store to buy Christmas gifts. You can listen to both to compare how the East Coast broadcast was modified before the broadcast for the West Coast.

• East Coast broadcast
• West Coast broadcast
• episode information

Below is a list of differences between the two shows that I have found.

• West Coast show introduction is brighter, although the commercial has identical pacing and pitches.
  
  
• Don's introduction of Jack seems cut from the recording of the West Coast broadcast, not dropped from the show.
  
  
• East Coast show has a different joke than the West Coast show. The East Coast show has Jack sleeping on the pool table and dreaming is an ostrich. He wakes with his head in one of the pockets. The West Coast show has Jack sleeping on the pool table and getting charged $.60/hr by Rochester, as it is his table. The West Coast version received much greater laughs.
  
  
• West Coast show has additional joke written in. In both, Jack does not understand why Paramount is making another picture with him, as he is not tired of the last one yet. The West Coast show follows that with Jack having seen it so many times he has won 8 Plymouths.
  
  
• Jack barely flubs line, comments on it and gets a bigger laugh in the West Coast show. Jack wishes he knew what Phil had on the director, so he could get more lines in the film.
  
  
• West Coast show credits another actor in the film. Ward Bond is mentioned in addition to Ellen Drew and Andy Devine.
  
  
• East Coast show has a different joke than the West Coast show. In the East Coast show, Phil says says it came to him like a flash, and Jack replies that he might get fired like that too. In the West Coast show, Phil mispronounces "impromptu" and Jack yells, "that's IMPROMPTU!" at him. The West Coast version had better laughs.
  
  
• East Coast show has a different joke than the West Coast show. In the East Coast show, Jack's relative is called "Shoot-The-Works" Benny. In the West Coast show, it was "Stand-Back-You-Bother-Me-Boys" Benny. The West Coast show gets bigger laughs.
  
  
• East Coast show uses a different fake name for Don Wilson. In the East Coast broadcast, he calls himself "Kims" Wilson (?), whereas in the West Coast show, he signs his name as "Cuddles" Wilson.
  
  
• East Coast show has a different joke than the West Coast show. In the East Coast show, Mary tells Jack to "bring back some cinnamon rolls," but in the West Coast show, she tells him to "stay away from the Wilshire Bowl."
  
  
• East Coast show has a different line than the West Coast show. In the East Coast show, Jack says, "I never dreamed you would mention our product." In the West Coast show, he says "I never expected it."
  
  
• East Coast show has a different joke than the West Coast show. In the East Coast broadcast, Dennis says, "I didn't trip over anything today." In the West Coast version, he says, "My shoes don't squeak anymore."
  
  
• East Coast show has a different joke than the West Coast show. Phil tells a joke when Jack prepares to leave. On the East Coast, the joke is about a hobo that asks a woman for a piece of cake because it's his birthday. On the West Coast, the joke is about his sleeping in attics while staying in Asia. The West Coast show gets a better laugh. Jack follows the East Coast line with, "wait 'til I get out. With those 1912 wows." In the West Coast broadcast, he says, "for heaven's sake! Stop with those 1912 thunderbolts."
  
  
• East Coast show has a different joke than the West Coast show. In the East Coast show, Jack mutters, "burns me up. I never got paid until I was 28 years old." On the West Coast, the line is, "his mother burns me up. She hasn't even paid me for her Christmas cards yet."
  
  
• Dennis' song is sung in a different key in each show.
  
  
• East Coast show has a different line than the West Coast show. In the East Coast show, the woman whose arm Jack takes says, "that's what they all say." On the West Coast show, she says, "tell it to the Marines."
  
  
• East Coast show has a different line than the West Coast show. In the East Coast show, Jack says, "I don't even know her." The woman replies, "well it ain't your fault Gary." In the West Coast show, he doesn't say the part about knowing the woman, but she says, "well you try hard enough Gary."
  
  
• West Coast show has an extra gag. In the East Coast show, Mary asks Jack who Gladys is, and he just says "nevermind." In the West Coast show, when she asks, he tells her, "she's the pin girl at the bowling alley. You've seen her a million times."
  
  
• East Coast show has a different joke than the West Coast show. Jack reads off his shopping list. In the East Coast show, Jack lists Gladys and says he is going to get her a fur coat. Mary responds that it will turn out to be perfume. In the West Coast show, this reference to Gladys was omitted.
  
  
• East Coast show has a different line than the West Coast show. Jack comments that the floorwalker is not wearing a carnation. In the East Coast broadcast, the floorwalker responds, "it's in my pocket. I detest them." On the West Coast, listeners heard, "I had one, but I ripped it to pieces."
  
  
• East Coast show has a different joke than the West Coast show. Jack tells Mary that the woman in the store thinks he's trying to make a date with her. In the East Coast show, Mary responds, "your approach is awful." Jack responds with, "well Gladys doesn't think so." In the West Coast show, she says, "you've done worse."
  
  
• East Coast show has a different joke than the West Coast show. In the East Coast broadcast, when talking about the Venus De Milo watch (it has no hands), the salesgirl answers, when asked how you tell the time, "nearly everybody asks me that, but they sell like hotcakes." In the West Coast version, she says, "call OVis-8900."
  
  
• West Coast show has an different timing on a gag. When Jack breaks the watch, there is a pause between most of the crash noise, then a string is plucked on a violin. In the West Coast version, the pause is considerably longer.
  
  
• East Coast show has a different line than the West Coast show. In the East Coast broadcast, the perfume salesman describes the perfume as, "exotic yet on the delicate side." In the West Coast broadcast, he says, "exotic yet you can smell it a mile."
  
  
• East Coast show has a different line than the West Coast show. When Rochester sees a tie for Jack that costs $0.89, on the East Coast show, he says, "now the blue of your tie meets the gold in my purse." In the West Coast broadcast, he says, "the deal is practically closed."