FLASH FRIDAY: Jack Benny and George Burns in HELLO, DOLLY!?; It Might Have Happened

Big stars didn't come into Broadway shows as replacements when Carol Channing opened in HELLO, DOLLY!'s original Broadway production back in 1964. It was taken as a sign that you were no longer popular enough to draw crowds right from the start and just wasn't done.

But producer David Merrick, a man with dollar signs where his heart should be, knew he had quite a carrot dangling from a stick with the role of Dolly Gallagher Levi and managed to employ a parade of top talent to keep his bonanza running. Ginger Rogers led the parade, followed by Martha Raye, Betty Grable, Pearl Bailey, Phyllis Diller and Ethel Merman.

After all, what star wouldn't want to strut down a staircase onto a stage full of adoring chorus boys?

Well, there was one.

Believe it or not, David Merrick offered the role of Dolly Gallagher Levi to one of America's most beloved comics, Jack Benny.

Jack Benny as Dolly? Well, audiences adored him in a dress when he starred in the 1941 film of CHARLIE's AUNT. And to sweeten the pot, Merrick offered to cast Benny's good pal George Burns as Horace.

The producer probably knew Benny would turn him down, but he got some publicity out of it and, to Merrick, that's what counted.

Bette Midler, just announced to be starring in a new production of HELLO, DOLLY!, directed by Jerry Zaks and opening in April of 2017, is certainly a infinitely better choice, but you have to admit the Benny/Burns chemistry was irresistible, especially in this episode of THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM, where the host fills in for an absent Gracie Allen.