Joe Penner had been the sensation of The Baker's Broadcast but had walked out of that show at the height of its popularity. Now, after a year's absence, he returned with hopes of capturing the magic that had made Jack Benny a top radio comic. He hired away Benny's writer, Harry Conn; Conn did to Benny what Penner had done to Fleischmann (his Baker's sponsor), and the "Park Avenue Penners" skits struggled for two years in the long inevitable slide.

Penner simply lacked the imagination to be a Jack Benny, and Conn had oversold his own importance as Benny's writer. Penner had one dimension, a standup style rooted in vaudeville and built around one silly line -- "Wanna buy a duck?" When the puyblic tired of the duck gag, he had little left. His post-Cocomalt shows, for Huskies and later Tip Top Bread, drew dreary ratings, about a quarter of the audience that Penner had regaled in his Fleishmann days. On Jan. 10, 1941, Penner died of a heart attack. He was 36.