In 1955 Johnny Carson was basically a nobody. He had filled in for Red Skelton a few times and within the world of comedians, people were starting to take note. One of those was Jack Benny who invited the comedian to appear on his television show as sort of a coming out party. This photograph is from that extremely early and rare appearance showing the two men talking before the camera turned on. Carson would parlay this event into a bit more stardom and within a decade would take over late night television. This is an often reproduced image but the offered example is the ONLY vintage specimen known to exist through our research, or at least the first to ever be offered at public auction. It is hard to sometimes point to the moment a star was born, but in Carson's case, this moment was it!

Size: 7x9
Designation: Vintage 1
Condition: 4.5/5
Quality: 5/5
Overall Grade: 9.5/10