Greek War Relief Benefit

Here is a piece that appeared in Photoplay magazine: Again we say there is no community anywhere or any group or people so ready and willing at all times to give of their precious time and talent to a worthy cause as the people of Hollywood.

The gigantic radio program organized by Mr. Samuel Goldwyn for Greek Relief and broadcast to Greece and England had practically every star in the business participating, from Shirley Temple to Charles Laughton. Bob Hope and Jack Benny, as co-partners in emceeing, kept the performers in stitches—Bob with lighthearted quips, Benny with his heavyhearted worry.

Myrna Loy was the belle of the ball throughout rehearsals and little Shirley Temple was so popular she and Ronald Colman were compelled to lock themselves in a dressing room to rehearse in peace. But [our photographer] is resourcefulness itself. He merely climbed up to the transom and clicked away.

Big bad George Raft, who scares millions on the screen, got the willies when he learned he was to be tossed like a badminton cock between Benny and Hope in a skit, He couldn’t even go on the air, he was so frightened. 

It was Mickey Rooney who nearly threw the troupe into a fit. Mickey, who had been rehearsing for the Charlie McCarthy-Edgar Bergen show over at NBC, got caught in the traffic jam outside the Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard and arrived backstage just two minutes before he went on the air in a Hardy skit.

 Considering the hours and days of rehearsals and the writing and technical talent that lay behind the broadcast, we’d say Hollywood had done its bit once again—and done it magnanimously.

January 8, 1941

Hosted by:
Bob Hope and Jack Benny

Part One
Jack Benny and Bob Hope’s opening bit, a skit with Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor and Melvyn Douglas; appearances by Shirley Temple, Charles Laughton and more; a skit with Madeleine Carroll and Groucho Marx; Mickey Rooney and Lewis Stone in an “Andy Hardy” skit.