Jack Benny, Honorary Degree

Originally Aired: March 10, 1939 Lum #135, "Jack Benny, Honorary Degree," Pine Ridge University has been awarding honorary degrees to distinguished individuals, and Jack Benny has called to say he'll be arriving to receive his diploma. However, when Lum and Abner are waiting at the Jot 'Em Down Store, they grow skeptical. Lum believes the phone call was just a prank, especially since Benny called collect. When a man claiming to be Jack Benny finally arrives, Lum and Abner refuse to take him at his word, having dealt with imposters before. They devise tests to prove his identity, demanding he tell funny jokes and play the fiddle that's been gathering dust under the counter. The visitor struggles with the joke-telling but eventually wins them over with his violin playing and his stingy haggling over the price of gumdrops. After surviving a mousetrap in the cracker barrel and enduring Lum's prepared speech, the real Jack Benny finally learns what his honorary degree is for: Doctor of Fisticuffs and heavyweight champion of radio, awarded in recognition of his famous feud with Fred Allen.