On This Day, August 22: Jack Benny and Perry Mason
Also featured: The Saint, Brian Donlevy.
August 22 Exhaustive Update
This report documents the comprehensive provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, and story synopses for 6 historical broadcasts transmitting on August 22 across American and South African broadcasting history (1932–1975):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story-First Plot Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "The G.I. Ghouls (War Surplus Smugglers)" | CBS (KNX) 1945-08-22 8:00 PM EWT |
Campbell Soup Co. Campbell's Soups & V8 |
Brian Aherne (Simon Templar), Louise Arthur (Patricia Holm), Ken Christy (Inspector Fernack) | Leslie Charteris (Creator), Louis Vittes (Writer), Helen Mack (Director), Dick Joy (Announcer) | ["Mystery", "Detective", "Drama", "Crime"] |
Simon Templar uncovers a ruthless post-war black market ring hijacking army surplus penicillin and surgical equipment from military warehouses, cornering the gang's corrupt quartermaster in an abandoned airfield hangar. |
| "Jack and Mary at the Summer Carnival" | NBC Blue (WJZ) 1932-08-22 8:00 PM EDT |
Canada Dry Ginger Ale "The Champagne of Ginger Ales" |
Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, George Olsen and his Music, Ethel Shutta | Harry Conn (Writer), Alois Havrilla (Announcer) | ["Comedy", "Variety", "Music"] |
Jack Benny takes Mary Livingstone to a summer traveling carnival, getting into a hilarious feud with a carnival barker at the ring-toss booth after spending two dollars trying to win a cheap plaster kewpie doll. |
| "USAF Band & Singing Sergeants: 'They Can't Take That Away From Me'" | USAF Transcription 1954-08-22 (Bolling AFB) |
Non-commercial USAF Recruiting Service |
USAF Band & Singing Sergeants, Col. George S. Howard, Bobby Nichols | USAF Radio Branch, Bolling Air Force Base Washington | ["Music", "Big Band", "Military", "Easy Listening"] |
Colonel George S. Howard directs The United States Air Force Band and The Singing Sergeants in patriotic and swing arrangements, opening with 'They Can't Take That Away From Me' and 'I've Got the World on a String' for Air Force recruiting. |
| "The Case of the Forged Holographic Will" | CBS (WCBS) 1951-08-22 2:15 PM EDT |
Procter & Gamble Tide ("Tide's in, dirt's out") & Camay |
John Larkin (Perry Mason), Joan Alexander (Della Street), Matt Crowley (Paul Drake), Mandel Kramer | Erle Stanley Gardner (Creator), Dan Shuffman (Writer), Bob Dixon (Announcer) | ["Drama", "Legal", "Mystery", "Serial"] |
Defense attorney Perry Mason and Della Street uncover erased pencil notations on a contested holographic will, proving that an unscrupulous probate executor altered the inheritance terms to disinherit the testator's young daughter. |
| "The Homestead in the Karoo" | SABC English Service 1975-08-22 (Durban / Jo'burg) |
Non-commercial SABC Cultural Programming |
Michael Coulson (Host), SABC Drama Repertory Company | SABC Drama Department, Durban/Johannesburg Studios | ["Drama", "Literature", "Anthology", "Cultural"] |
A dramatized literary adaptation presenting a gripping South African short story about an isolated Karoo sheep farmer whose family confronts an encroaching drought and the mysterious arrival of a wounded trekker seeking shelter. |
| "Fairway Acres (Starring Brian Donlevy)" | U.S. Military Syndication 1948-08-22 (Disc 42) |
U.S. Armed Forces Army & Air Force Recruiting |
Brian Donlevy (Tom Gallagher), Frances Rafferty (Ellen) | Charles Schenck (Director), Vladimir Selinsky (Music), Kenneth Banghart (Announcer) | ["Drama", "Military", "Anthology"] |
Hollywood star Brian Donlevy headlines the story of a decorated World War II veteran who designs a cooperative suburban housing community for returning soldiers, fighting off corrupt municipal zoning commissioners to see the development completed. |