Wag Bag

Some of radio's oldtimers had no time to think about old times.

Jack Benny headed right back where he started from: vaudeville. But 15 years before the microphone had made the boards seem mighty soft underfoot. When Jack quit the stage in 1931, he was making a mere $1,000 a week. Now he would open on Broadway, at the Roxy, for what looked like the biggest pay ever shelled out for a personal appearance. Variety's guess: $40,000 a week.

Boosted by such guest stars as Bob Hope, Fibber McGee & Molly, Red Skelton--and by the fact that Amos had a kidney operation and dramatically made the broadcast from a hospital bed--Amos 'n' Andy reached third place in Hooperatings, the largest listenership (about 30,000,000) since the days when movies were interrupted so that audiences could hear them.

George Burns & Gracie Allen passed their 15th radio anniversary. George thought he knew why they have lasted so long: "People get smarter and so do we. . . . Every comedian usually thinks the whole world depends on each joke. . . . Actually the world doesn't give a damn [so] now we concentrate on overall effect. It makes us feel better and . . . you've got to be fluid in this business. You've got to get like jelly."

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