Did Jack Benny make an uncredited cameo in the 1942 movie Casablanca? That odd claim isn’t new: it dates back to the movie’s release and appears in the Casablanca press book. But movie studio publicity departments weren’t known for slavish adherence to the truth and often invented stories for publicity. I had always assumed this story fell into the category of urban legend.

To my surprise, many people think that the story is true. Roger Ebert recently addressed it in his “Movie Answer Man” column in the Chicago Sun-Times (the December 9, 2009 and December 23, 2009 columns). Here is another discussion at the International Jack Benny Fan Club Forum. The best guess among viewers seems to be that Jack Benny is sitting at a table in the background at around the seven minute mark.

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“It’s okay to cut a competitor down a few notches, but never cut him six feet lower than the soles of his feet. That’s no longer fair competition, folks, that’s murder.”

“One way of landing a client is to fish him out of the river. Which is exactly how I commenced my confidential file on a character named Richie Stimson.”

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This episode of Gunsmoke was first broadcast on CBS Radio on July 19, 1952.

In a Dodge City saloon, Thorne Finley provokes a fight with a man he believes to be a “pasty-faced tenderfoot”. Unbeknownst to him, that “dude” is actually the notorious gunfighter, Doc Holliday. Marshall Dillon recognizes his old friend, and throws Thorne in jail before the fight can continue.

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You’re a detective sergeant. You’re assigned to homicide detail. A thirty-year old woman is missing. Three months passed before her disappearance is reported. There’s not a trace of the woman. No lead to her whereabouts. Your job: find her.

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