Let's Talk Hollywood

This was the summer replacement series for Jack Benny in 1948.
Jack appeared on the panel for the final show of the series.

Complete "As Broadcast" scripts for all episodes are available.
Only one recording is known to be in circulation, episode # 4 of July 25, 1948.


The show was produced by Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne, Inc.
for The American Tobacco Company
sponsoring product : Lucky Strike

The Show aired on NBC Sundays at 7:00 - 7:30 PM EST or EDST
and was repeated at              8:30-9:00 PM PST
                                 9:30-10:00 PM PDST
                                (by Transcription)

First broadcast: July 4, 1948
Last broadcast: September 26, 1948

The show was first introduced as:
"That brand new, that different, that exciting program... Yes! "Let's Talk Hollywood".
Featuring that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer star, George Murphy, as our master of ceremonies,
and our special guests for tonight, Edith Gwynn, Hollywood reporter David Butler,
Eddie Bracken, and Jimmy Stewart.
"Let's Talk Hollywood", presented by Lucky Strike."

Master of ceremonies was George Murphy
Program announcer was Hy Averback
Lucky Strike announcer was Basil Ruysdael
Producer: Hilliard Marks
Editors: Sol Stein and Martin Work
Engineer: George Foster

Eddie Bracken provided regular comic relief on the panel
Edith Gwynn and Erskine Johnson, Hollywood columnists alternated as regulars.
The rest of the panel were guest producers, directors, film stars,
and well known technical experts in sound, makeup, and costume.

The show was performed before a live studio audience.

The format was that of a "stump the experts" quiz. It was essentially a feeble imitation
of "Information Please". The panel attempted to answer questions about Hollywood films
sent in by listeners. If no one on the panel could correctly answer the question,
the listener received a certificate for a year's admission to their favorite home-town theater,
a new RCA television set, complete with installation and one year's service guarantee.
(Or an RCA combination radio/phonograph with $100 worth of RCA Victor records)
In addition, thousands of Lucky Strike cigarettes banded with the listener's name and
address would be sent to a VA hospital. Over one and a quarter million cigarettes
were distributed.

Any listener whose question was used on the air received a 5-year subscription
to Photoplay magazine.

The complete dialog of the program is recorded in the script.
The questions seem quite difficult today but even then the panel was frequently stumped

Note that the names of the experts for the following week were announced at the end
of the program, but occasionally those were not necessarily the people who actually appeared.

The names of the panel will be sufficient to identify the episode.