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Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14,
1894 – December 26, 1974) was a comedian,
vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the
most prominent early stars of American radio
programming|radio and television. Often cited for
his impeccable comic timing, Benny was an
influential comedy innovator, a major architect of
the modern forms of standup comedy and situation
comedy.

Image:Jbpose.gif|frame|right|Jack Benny
== Early career ==
Benny grew up in Chicago, Illinois|Chicago and
Waukegan, Illinois. He began studying the violin,
an instrument that would become his trademark,
when he was six. By fourteen he was playing in
local dance bands, as well as in his high school
orchestra, until he failed school and left for a
career in vaudeville. In 1911, he was playing in
the same theater as the young Marx Brothers, whose
mother was so enchanted with Benny that she
invited him to be their permanent accompanist. The
plan was foiled by Benny's parents, who refused to
let their son, then seventeen, go on the road, but
it was the beginning of his long friendship with
Zeppo Marx. 

The following year, Benny formed a vaudeville
musical duo with pianist Cora Salisbury. This
provoked famous violinist Jan Kubelik, who thought
that the young vaudeville entertainer with a
similar name (Kubelsky) would damage his
reputation. Finally, Benjamin Kubelsky agreed to
change his name to Ben K. Benny (sometimes spelled
Bennie). He also found a new pianist, Lyman Wood.
He left show business briefly in 1917 to join the
United States Navy|Navy during World War I, but
even then, he often entertained the troops. One
evening, he was booed by the troops, so he began
telling Navy jokes on stage. He was a big hit,
earning himself a reputation as a comedian as well
as a musician. 

After the war, Benny returned to vaudeville and
changed his first name to Jack. He had several
romantic encounters, including with a dancer, Mary
Kelly, whose devoutly Catholic family forced her
to turn down Benny's proposal because he was
Jew|Jewish. In 1922, he accompanied Zeppo Marx to
a Passover seder in Vancouver, where he met Sadie
Marks, whom he eventually married in 1927. As Mary
Livingstone, she was his collaborator throughout
much of his career.

== Radio ==
Benny had been only a minor vaudeville star, but
he became an enormously successful national figure
with The Jack Benny Program, a weekly radio show
which ran from 1932 to 1955, and was consistently
among the most highly-rated programs during most
of that run. Benny's program centered around a
fictional version of himself: a successful
comedian who was cheap, petty, and vain. The
program introduced a stable of colorful characters
who made Benny their foil. Staples on the show
were Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson|Eddie Anderson,
who played Benny's African-American valet,
"Rochester Van Jones" (and who became nearly as
popular as Benny himself); rotund announcer Don
Wilson (announcer)|Don Wilson, the butt of endless
"fat" jokes;  Mary Livingstone, Benny's real-life
wife, who played his wisecracking lady friend on
the show; bandleader Phil Harris, whose tales of
drinking and womanizing were risqúe for the time
(although in reality, the band was led by Mahlon
Merrick); and tenor singer Dennis Day, who
portrayed a naïve, sheltered young man. Other
cast members included Frank Nelson and the
remarkably versatile Mel Blanc, who provided
several characters' voices, as well as the famous
sound of Benny's aging auto, an early century
Maxwell that always seemed on the verge of
collapse.

The show featured sketch-like "situations" from
the fictional Benny's life (Jack hosts a party,
Jack and Mary go Christmas shopping, and so on),
with Harris and Day providing musical interludes.
The program, which had been broadcast from New
York City|New York, moved to Los Angeles in 1936,
and its new show-biz locale allowed for frequent
guest appearances by Benny's celebrity colleagues,
including Frank Sinatra, James Stewart
(actor)|James Stewart, Barbara Stanwyck, Bing
Crosby and many others. Orson Welles, Burns and
Allen and other stars guest hosted several
episodes in March and April of 1943 when Benny was
seriously ill. Ronald Colman and his wife Benita
Hume appeared frequently in the 1940s as Benny's
neighbors.  

In the early days of radio, the airtime was owned
by the sponsor, and Benny made a point of
incorporating the commercials into the body of the
show; the sponsors were often the butt of jokes.
Benny's radio programs were sponsored by Canada
Dry Ginger Ale from 1932 to 1933, Chevrolet from
1933 to 1934, General Tire in 1934, and Jell-O
from 1934 to 1942. The Jack Benny Program was so
successful in selling Jell-O, in fact, that
General Foods could not manufacture it fast
enough, and had to stop advertising it. General
Foods switched the Benny program from Jell-O to
Grape Nuts and Grape Nuts Flakes from 1942 to
1944. Benny's longest-running sponsor, however,
was the American Tobacco Company, specifically
Lucky Strike cigarettes, from 1944 to 1955. 

Benny was notable for employing a small group of
writers, most of whom stayed with him for many
years. This was very much in contrast to other
successful radio or television comedians, such as
Bob Hope, who would change writers frequently.
Historical accounts (like those by longtime Benny
writer Milt Josefsberg) indicate that Benny's role
was essentially that of both head writer and
director of his radio programs, though he was not
credited in either capacity.

In 1937 Benny began his famous radio "feud" with
rival comedian Fred Allen, who complained about
the way Benny played violin. In fact, the two were
close friends. A typical Benny and Allen episode,
in this case on Fred's radio show, was a satire of
"Queen for a Day" re-titled "King for a Day". In
it, Allen plays host and eventually showers Benny
with a ton of worthless prizes in honor of him
being named King for a Day. The grand prize is a
pants pressing from a local dry cleaning company.
The hilarity builds as Jack's shirt is being taken
off. Then, his pants are pulled off to the shock
of the audience. The laughter was so loud and
chaotic at the chain of events that Fred's
announcer, Kenny Delmar, was cut off the air
amidst the wild laughter while trying to read the
credits—Fred's show had ran over-time yet
again! 

Benny was famous for his carefully timed pauses;
one of the most famous laughs in radio came when
he was accosted by a robber who demanded, "Your
money or your life!" After an extended pause, the
gunman reiterated the threat. Benny, ever the
cheapskate, snapped, "I'm thinking it over!"

During his early radio show, Benny adopted a
medley of "Yankee Doodle Boy" and "Love in Bloom"
as his theme song, opening every show. The song
later became the theme of his television show as
well.

== Television ==
The Jack Benny Show ran on television from October
28, 1950 in television|1950 to 1965 in
television|1965. The show appeared infrequently
during its first two years on TV, then ran every
fourth week for the next two years. From 1955 to
1960 it appeared every other week, and from 1960
to 1965 it was seen weekly. When Benny moved to
television, audiences learned that his verbal
talent was matched by his assortment of facial
expressions and physical gestures. The program was
similar to the radio show—many radio scripts
were recycled for TV—with the addition of
visual gags. Lucky Strike cigarettes was the
sponsor.

CBS dropped his show in 1964, and he went to NBC
in the Fall, only to be out-rated by Gomer Pyle,
U.S.M.C. on CBS.  NBC dropped his show at the end
of the season, though he continued to make
periodic TV specials into the 1970s.

Benny also acted in movies, including the Academy
Awards|Academy Award-winning The Hollywood Revue
of 1929 and notably, Charley's Aunt (1941 in
film|1941) and To Be or Not to Be (film)|To Be or
Not to Be (1942 in film|1942). The failure of one
Benny vehicle, The Horn Blows at Midnight, became
a running gag on his program.

Toward the end of his career, Benny returned to
film, appearing in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
in (1963 in film|1963). He also continued to
perform live as a stand-up comedian. He was cast
in the film version of Neil Simon's The Sunshine
Boys, but was forced to give up the role
(ultimately played by Benny's close friend George
Burns), when he was diagnosed with terminal
pancreatic cancer. He died of that disease in
1974. He was interred in the Hillside Memorial
Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.

== Sources ==
* Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone Benny, Hilliard
Marks with Marcia Borie, Doubleday & Company,
1978, 322 p.
* Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack Benny Story,
Jack Benny and Joan Benny, Warner Books, 1990, 302
p.


== External links ==
* http://www.jackbenny.org International Jack
Benny Fan Club

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14,
1894 – December 26, 1974) was a comedian,
vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the
most prominent early stars of American radio
programming|radio and television. Often cited for
his impeccable comic timing, Benny was an
influential comedy innovator, a major architect of
the modern forms of standup comedy and situation
comedy.


== Early career ==
Benny grew up in Chicago, Illinois|Chicago and
Waukegan, Illinois. He began studying the violin,
an instrument that would become his trademark,
when he was six. By fourteen he was playing in
local dance bands, as well as in his high school
orchestra, until he failed school and left for a
career in vaudeville. In 1911, he was playing in
the same theater as the young Marx Brothers, whose
mother was so enchanted with Benny that she
invited him to be their permanent accompanist. The
plan was foiled by Benny's parents, who refused to
let their son, then seventeen, go on the road, but
it was the beginning of his long friendship with
Zeppo Marx. 

The following year, Benny formed a vaudeville
musical duo with pianist Cora Salisbury. This
provoked famous violinist Jan Kubelik, who thought
that the young vaudeville entertainer with a
similar name (Kubelsky) would damage his
reputation. Finally, Benjamin Kubelsky agreed to
change his name to Ben K. Benny (sometimes spelled
Bennie). He also found a new pianist, Lyman Woods.
He left show business briefly in 1917 to join the
United States Navy|Navy during World War I, but
even then, he often entertained the troops. One
evening, he was booed by the troops, so he began
telling Navy jokes on stage. He was a big hit,
earning himself a reputation as a comedian as well
as a musician. 

After the war, Benny returned to vaudeville and
changed his first name to Jack. He had several
romantic encounters, including with a dancer, Mary
Kelly, whose devoutly Catholic family forced her
to turn down Benny's proposal because he was
Jew|Jewish. In 1922, he accompanied Zeppo Marx to
a Passover seder in Vancouver, where he met Sadie
Marks, whom he eventually married in 1927. As Mary
Livingstone, she was his collaborator throughout
much of his career.

== Radio ==
Benny had been only a minor vaudeville star, but
he became an enormously successful national figure
with The Jack Benny Program, a weekly radio show
which ran from 1932 to 1955, and was consistently
among the most highly-rated programs during most
of that run. Benny's program centered around a
fictional version of himself: a successful
comedian who was cheap, petty, and vain. The
program introduced a stable of colorful characters
who made Benny their foil. Staples on the show
were Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson|Eddie Anderson,
who played Benny's African-American valet,
"Rochester Van Jones" (and who became nearly as
popular as Benny himself); rotund announcer Don
Wilson (announcer)|Don Wilson, the butt of endless
"fat" jokes;  Mary Livingstone, Benny's real-life
wife, who played his wisecracking lady friend on
the show; bandleader Phil Harris, whose tales of
drinking and womanizing were risqúe for the time
(although in reality, the band was led by Mahlon
Merrick); and tenor singer Dennis Day, who
portrayed a naïve, sheltered young man. (Day was
preceeded by another dim-witted tenor, Kenny
Baker.  Baker appeared from 1935 to 1939, leaving
to join -  ironically - the Fred Allen Show.) 
Other Benny cast members included Frank Nelson and
the remarkably versatile Mel Blanc, who provided
several characters' voices, as well as the famous
sound of Benny's aging auto, an early century
Maxwell automobile|Maxwell that always seemed on
the verge of collapse.

The show featured sketch-like "situations" from
the fictional Benny's life (Jack hosts a party,
Jack and Mary go Christmas shopping, and so on),
with Harris and Day providing musical interludes.
The program, which had been broadcast from New
York City|New York, moved to Los Angeles in 1936,
and its new show-biz locale allowed for frequent
guest appearances by Benny's celebrity colleagues,
including Frank Sinatra, James Stewart
(actor)|James Stewart, Barbara Stanwyck, Bing
Crosby and many others. Orson Welles, Burns and
Allen and other stars guest hosted several
episodes in March and April of 1943 when Benny was
seriously ill. Ronald Colman and his wife Benita
Hume appeared frequently in the 1940s as Benny's
neighbors.  

In the early days of radio, the airtime was owned
by the sponsor, and Benny made a point of
incorporating the commercials into the body of the
show; the sponsors were often the butt of jokes.
Benny's radio programs were sponsored by Canada
Dry Ginger Ale from 1932 to 1933, Chevrolet from
1933 to 1934, General Tire in 1934, and Jell-O
from 1934 to 1942. The Jack Benny Program was so
successful in selling Jell-O, in fact, that
General Foods could not manufacture it fast
enough, and had to stop advertising it. General
Foods switched the Benny program from Jell-O to
Grape Nuts and Grape Nuts Flakes from 1942 to
1944. Benny's longest-running sponsor, however,
was the American Tobacco Company, specifically
Lucky Strike cigarettes, from 1944 to 1955. 

Benny was notable for employing a small group of
writers, most of whom stayed with him for many
years. This was very much in contrast to other
successful radio or television comedians, such as
Bob Hope, who would change writers frequently.
Historical accounts (like those by longtime Benny
writer Milt Josefsberg) indicate that Benny's role
was essentially that of both head writer and
director of his radio programs, though he was not
credited in either capacity.

In 1937 Benny began his famous radio "feud" with
rival comedian Fred Allen, who complained about
the way Benny played violin. In fact, the two were
close friends. A typical Benny and Allen episode,
in this case on Fred's radio show, was a satire of
"Queen for a Day" re-titled "King for a Day". In
it, Allen plays host and eventually showers Benny
with a ton of worthless prizes in honor of him
being named King for a Day. The grand prize is a
pants pressing from a local dry cleaning company.
The hilarity builds as Jack's shirt is being taken
off. Then, his pants are pulled off to the shock
of the audience. The laughter was so loud and
chaotic at the chain of events that Fred's
announcer, Kenny Delmar, was cut off the air
amidst the wild laughter while trying to read the
credits—Fred's show had ran over-time yet
again! 

Benny was famous for his carefully timed pauses;
one of the most famous laughs in radio came when
he was accosted by a robber who demanded, "Your
money or your life!" After an extended pause, the
gunman reiterated the threat. Benny, ever the
cheapskate, snapped, "I'm thinking it over!"

During his early radio show, Benny adopted a
medley of "Yankee Doodle Boy" and "Love in Bloom"
as his theme song, opening every show. The song
later became the theme of his television show as
well.

== Television ==
The Jack Benny Show ran on television from October
28, 1950 in television|1950 to 1965 in
television|1965. The show appeared infrequently
during its first two years on TV, then ran every
fourth week for the next two years. From 1955 to
1960 it appeared every other week, and from 1960
to 1965 it was seen weekly. When Benny moved to
television, audiences learned that his verbal
talent was matched by his assortment of facial
expressions and physical gestures. The program was
similar to the radio show—many radio scripts
were recycled for TV—with the addition of
visual gags. Lucky Strike cigarettes was the
sponsor.

CBS dropped his show in 1964, and he went to NBC
in the Fall, only to be out-rated by Gomer Pyle,
U.S.M.C. on CBS.  NBC dropped his show at the end
of the season, though he continued to make
periodic TV specials into the 1970s.

Benny also acted in movies, including the Academy
Awards|Academy Award-winning The Hollywood Revue
of 1929 and notably, Charley's Aunt (1941 in
film|1941) and To Be or Not to Be (film)|To Be or
Not to Be (1942 in film|1942). The failure of one
Benny vehicle, The Horn Blows at Midnight, became
a running gag on his program.

Toward the end of his career, Benny returned to
film, appearing in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
in (1963 in film|1963). He also continued to
perform live as a stand-up comedian. He was cast
in the film version of Neil Simon's The Sunshine
Boys, but was forced to give up the role
(ultimately played by Benny's close friend George
Burns), when he was diagnosed with terminal
pancreatic cancer. He died of that disease in
1974. He was interred in the Hillside Memorial
Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.

== Sources ==
* Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone Benny, Hilliard
Marks with Marcia Borie, Doubleday & Company,
1978, 322 p.
* Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack Benny Story,
Jack Benny and Joan Benny, Warner Books, 1990, 302
p.


== External links ==
* http://www.jackbenny.org International Jack
Benny Fan Club