Dennis Day Collection

Dennis Day
(1916 – 1988)

In the early days, Jack Benny's genius was take the basic format radio comedy variety program and put his own special spin on it. There were several programs out there with a big name host, an announcer, an orchestra with a somewhat recognizable leader, one or two supporting character players and a singer. On most shows, everyone else on the show was there to support the host whose job it was to get the laughs. The character players usually took the "straight man" role, and if the singer could also act as a character, so much the better, as long as the host was getting the laughs.

Jack believed it didn't matter who was getting the laughs, as long as the audience was laughing. By the time he was on the air for five years, Jack had his company in place and was carving his place in radio history. Don Wilson kept the sponsor's name in everyones attention, Rochester and Mary Livingston ran with the gags their boss set up for them, the Phil Harris Orchestra provided musical relief from the pace while Phil got plenty of laughs of his own, and Irish Tenor Kenny Baker's voice gave the ladies something to dream about when no one was looking.

Then two terrible things happened. The Jack Benny Program finished two seasons in a row at number two in the annual Hooper Ratings behind Charlie McCarthy, and after the 1938-39 season, Kenny Baker decided he should explore other opportunities. Nabbing the number one spot was just a matter of hard work and refining the formula, but how could the show go on without an Irish Tenor?

The Irish Tenor has been described as "a nasal tenor known and feared the world over". Musically, rather than simply being a tenor with an Irish background, the Irish Tenor is a light, lyric singer, in contrast with the heavier, more operatic tenors whose voice could reach all the way to the cheap seats. Thus, the Irish Tenor filled a role not unlike the classic crooner, his style was personal and intimate, and thanks to electronic technology he was intimately welcomed into the hearts of thousands of young ladies at a time.

So, finding a replacement for Kenny Baker was a critical offseason task for the Jack Benny Program, and over the summer Jack and his staff listened to more than 100 applicants for the job. In the best of vaudeville tradition, Jack had put his wife, Mary Livingstone (born Sadie Marks) in his act, but she was never comfortable performing and was happier to be the wife of a successful radio star than to be a part of the show's production. However, it was Mary who would bring Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty to the program, and he turned out to be the show's "missing piece of the puzzle".

Owen Patrick was the second of five kids born to immigrants Patrick and Mary McNulty in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx. Owen attended parochial schools where he distinguished himself in the choir and glee clubs. He won one of Mayor LaGuardia's vocational scholarships and got a job at WNYC, the municipal radio station. After composer Rudolf Friml heard Owen singing at a party, he was convinced to give show business a try. McNulty choose his grandmother's maiden name, thinking that Dennis Day had a more professional ring. After making the rounds of auditions, he landed a job singing on CBS's Varieties for $21 a week.

After Mary Livingstone heard Dennis on the radio, he was added to the list of candidates for the Irish Tenor spot. When he was called in for an audition at the RCA Building, he sang for twenty minutes straight before being asked to take a break. Dennis was in a corner of the room, talking to his piano player, when Jack's voice came over the intercom: "Dennis..." Startled, Dennis replied "yes please?" The answer delighted Mr. Benny, and Dennis was called back for a second audition.

Dennis was given a two week trial at the beginning of the 1939 season, and the two week trial grew into a professional relationship that would last more than four decades. His character was a naive, somewhat dim 19 year old boy (Day was 23 at the time). Verna Felton played his overbearing mother, and in the best Jello Show tradition, "Lucretia Day" got more laughs off of Jack than she did her son.

The core of the Jack Benny program was set for the next decade, only changing slightly while Day and Harris donned Navy uniforms during the War, and as promised to so many vets, their jobs were waiting for them when their service was over. NBC also offered Lt. Day his own program, A Day in the Life of Dennis Day, and from 1946 to 51, "the kid" from The Jack Benny Program had a life of his own. The fact that Dennis had two shows on the air while his boss had one was an easy punchline for Benny's writers to take advantage of.

By 1950, Jack was actively making a move towards television, and Day was the first to realize that while his radio voice could be a fresh-face kid, that face would not fit the character on the small screen. On TV, The Jack Benny Program was more dependent on guest stars than the regular company. However, Dennis was an astute business man and turned the money he made from Jack into some very savvy investments. When he was offered his own TV variety program, he saw the network's budget for set construction, decided to have his own sets built, and pocketed the difference.

Dennis and Jack remained close, with Benny as a second father to his protege. Their final appearance together was in a PSA for Savings Bonds in 1970. Even though Dennis was 49 during the last season of The Jack Benny Program, Jack still had lines referring to "that crazy kid".

In 1987, Dennis was diagnosed with ALS ("Lou Gehrig's Disease"). In April, 1988, he underwent brain surgery to control internal bleeding after a fall in his home. On June 22, 1988, he died at his home in Bel Air of complications from ALS. He was 72.

A Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6646 Hollywood Blvd honors Dennis Day's work in Television, and a Star at 7048 honors his contributions to Radio.

Please note this collection contains Dennis Days' various guest apperances with the final volumes being his own series "A Day in the Life of Dennis Day."