Benny, Cole, and Jim Bradley, Junior

Young drummer wowed Jack Benny and Nat King Cole in a 1964 television appearance

Young Jim-w/Nat and Jack Caption: Jim Bradley Junior was a five-year old drummer prodigy in 1964 on the Jack Benny Program.

Ever since I was a child, I have been a fan of comedian Jack Benny.

I watched him in the sixties early seventies. He died in 1974.
The radio and television icon developed a character that was cheap, only thirty-nine years old, and who viewed himself as a great violinist while his playing would have you believing otherwise.

It was that connection to music that resulted in Benny booking some leading talent in the industry for his TV show.

There was a lot going on in music in the early 1960s, and Benny booked such acts as Peter, Paul, and Mary, Andy Williams, and Julie London on his program.

In February 1964, the Beatles would make their first of three appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Just one month prior, crooner Nat King Cole would make what became one of his final television appearances with a guest shot on the Jack Benny program.

In that appearance, we see Nat introduce a five-year old drummer who dazzled the audience with his talent, and gets a fair share of the laughs targeted toward the comic legend.

Jim Bradley was already a television veteran at the time he appeared on the Jack Benny Program.  He had performed on the Gary Moore, Art Linkletter, and Lawrence Welk shows.  Photo:  Jim Bradley Facebook Page

That five year old is introduced as Jim Bradley Junior, and he would go on to have a remarkable career as a drummer with such musical greats as Chuck Magione, Lionel Richie, Anita Baker, and the Beastie Boys..

“He was so smooth,” Jim told me as he recalled that appearance alongside Nat King Cole. “He was so cool.”

The premise for the Jack Benny guest appearance was to showcase Nat, already a best-selling singer with such classics as Unforgettable, Mona Lisa, Route 66, and many others.

His interpretation of the Mel Torme/Bob Well classic The Christmas Song is considered by many to be the quintessential version of the holiday favorite.

The show’s writers maximized the comedian’s violin-playing in a sketch featuring Nat leading a five-piece combo that would include a solo from the perpetual thirty-nine-year old Benny (he was actually near seventy in 1964).

When the drummer injures his arm during rehearsal, Nat offers Jack a substitute in the person of his cousin who just happens to be in the studio.

In the next scene, little Jim Bradley Junior comes out on stage.

Five year old Jim Bradley Junior wowed the Jack Benny Show audience in this January 1964 appearance.

“My agent got me the gig,” Jim says. “My mother and father were musicians and both knew Nat’s brother Freddie. In 1962, I was the youngest professional drummer in the United States.”

While the show was originally shown in black and white, there is now a YouTube version in color.

With the passage of time, Jim still remembers most of that experience as a five-year old on national television.

“Jack Benny was very nice,” Jim says. “And Nat was so smooth. He came into my dressing room to meet my parents and me before the show.”

“He was so cool, no stress,” Jim recalled of his lasting impression of Nat King Cole. “He brought out my natural talent.”

Nat had worked on a cue for little Jim to go over to the drums in the sketch.

The video shows Nat patting Jim on the head as he directs the young performer to take his place at the drums.

“Three taps was my cue to go to the drums and begin playing,” Jim says. “I don’t remember the actual performance as it actually happened, I just started on the cue from Nat.”

That performance with Nat and Jack created a memorable moment. It would also mark one of the last television performances by Nat King Cole.

Lung cancer would claim his life just one year later. The Benny broadcast happened in January 1964.

Nat King Cole died in February 1965.

Jim says he has memories of the passing of Nat, adding, “I am now the only living music artist to have performed with Nat King Cole on television.”

Jim as an older man. Jim Bradley Junior now lives in Stockholm with his wife of eighteen years and a lot of fond memories from his music career. Photo: Jim Bradley Facebook Page.

Jim would continue performing as a drummer through his school years. He did about a dozen television shows in the early 1960s, and then moved on to playing with several well-known musical artists.

He spent nearly five years with flugelhorn musician Chuck Mangione playing on such recordings as Feels So Good in 1977 and Give it All You Got, the theme for the 1980 Olympic Games.

He recalls coming to the Central Valley for a couple of gigs in Bakersfield years ago when he was based in Los Angeles. He spent the latter part of his adult musical career touring overseas.

While signing autographs after a tour with the Beastie Boys in Europe, Jim met the woman who would become his wife. The pair recently celebrated their eighteenth anniversary.

Jim has two children. He’s proud of them and he is proud of reaching the milestone of twenty-five years of sobriety.

During our conversation, we kept coming back to that little five year old, standing between funnyman Jack Benny and iconic singer Nat King Cole.

When Jack asked Jim his age, he answered “Thirty-nine.”

Seeing the video of the performance on YouTube has been a real gift for Jim. “I caught it first about ten years ago and my jaw dropped.”

When the colorized version came out in 2019, more fans reached out to Jim to compliment the performance.

“Now I get emails from folks and messages on Facebook telling me about it,” he said.

“It’s really nice.”

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His latest book Course Corrections is available on Lulu.com.