In addition to the usual Benny radio gang, you get the world's foremost violinist and two big-time movie stars on top of that. Stern not only knocks out some Mendelssohn but delivers scripted comedy lines.
I'm sure he had it sitting around.In the book "Sunday Nights at Seven", Jack Benny writes that it personally cost him $1,000 to have famed violinist Isaac Stern appear on this episode. Benny was allowed $10,000 for pay for guest stars to appear on the show. Ronald and Benita Colman were already booked for this episode, at a fee of $6,000. Benny had heard that Stern was in Los Angeles and booked him for the show, but Sterns' fee was $5,000, putting the program $1,000 over budget for guest stars. Jack paid the extra $1,000 himself, without ever telling Stern.
It's a great episode once you make it past the hard-sell Lucky Strike commercial...
Feb 3 1946: https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Jack_B ... oncert.mp3
This is the song that Ronald Colman references "Chickery Chick"