The Sportsmen Quartet were a Barbershop Quartet that performed renditions of songs written in the early half of the twentieth century. Many of their performances occurred between the late 1930s and late 1960s where they often performed on both radio and television. The Sportsmen Quartet Collection comprises the musical scores that were written for the various programs they appeared on, most notably for the Jack Benny Program. Robert Garsen, the later member of the Quartet and collector of this collection, also contributed photographs and publicity material pertaining to the Sportsmen Quartet; along with photographs pertaining to his earlier career with the quartet The Continentals as well as inscribed photographs of various performers of the time.

The Sportsmen Quartet was founded in 1938 by Bill Days and Max Smith, who had left the Paul Taylor Choristers to form their own quartet. They joined with Don Craig and Art McCullough as a group they called The Metropolitans, later renamed The Sportsmen. Over the years the membership of the quartet changed frequently. By 1947, the Sportsmen were best known for their work on the Jack Benny Program, where they often provided a "singing commercial," in which the group poked fun at or parodied the sponsor of the program. As a recurring gag on the program, Benny threatened to fire the group, which he pretended to actually do on March 9, 1947, replacing them the next week with a quartet that included Bing Crosby, Andy Russell, Dick Haymes, and Dennis Day. The Sportsmen did not perform exclusively with Benny, but also appeared on other radio programs such as Burns and Allen, the Eddie Cantor Show, the Judy Canova Show, and the Sealtest Village Store. On many of these programs they performed comic songs or commercials, similar to their work on Benny's program. In addition, they appeared in films, worked with other singing groups, recorded albums, and in the 1950s appeared on television programs as well, including the televised version of the Jack Benny Show. Tenor Robert Garsen founded a musical-comedy group called The Continentals in 1954. They performed in live venues, such as the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, and also on several television programs, including the Red Skelton Show, the Milton Berle Show, and the Ed Sullivan Show. Garsen was best known within the group for his whistling rendition of "Flight of the Bumblebee," and for portraying the character of Casey in "Casey at the Bat" - acts he continued to perform with The Sportsmen, whom he joined in 1957.

17 Linear Feet; (38 boxes: 37 document boxes, 1 flat box)

Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and are retained by the creator and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.

The collection is open for research.