This is a snippet from Breaking Walls Episode 108: Halloween 1948—Dewey Vs. Truman

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On Halloween 1948, after Jack Benny signed off at 5:30 Pacific time, Phil Harris & Alice Faye signed on.

Benny’s famous bandleader joined The Fitch Bandwagon in 1946. In October 1948 he and starlet wife Alice Faye were given name billing. Rexall signed on as sponsor. That month, their rating was 21.2, fourth-highest on air, and a point higher than Benny’s.

Radio writer, director, and actor Elliott Lewis played Frank Remley, in a take on Phil’s real-life band member. Remley had worked Benny’s show, who often singled him out for critical comment.

Harris’ character was lazy, shiftless, stupid, and alcoholic, and Remley, though never given voice on Benny’s programs, became the point man for Harris’ virtues.

On the Harris show, the “Frank Remley gag” was expanded into a speaking role: Remley played the part in the first episode, but it didn’t work. Elliott Lewis turned the role into a comic masterpiece. The cast also featured Gale Gordon, Robert North, Jeanine Roose, Anne Whitfield, and Walter Tetley.

The show would peak in December with a twenty-six point rating. Writers Ray Singer and Dick Chevillat had to account for five-minutes of necessary cuts because of audience laughter.