Jack Benny February 14, 1894 - December 26, 1974) is an American comedian, vaudevillian, radio, television and movie actor, and violinist. Recognized as a 20th-century American entertainer, Benny often portrays his character as a miser, plays his violin poorly, and claims to be 39 years old, regardless of his true age.
Benny is known for his comic timing and the ability to make laughter with a pregnant break or a single expression, such as his despairing signature " Yah! " His radio and television program, popular from 1932 to his death. in 1974, was a major influence on the sitcom genre.
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Benny was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in nearby Waukegan, Illinois. He is the son of Jewish immigrants Meyer Kubelsky and Emma Sachs Kubelsky. Meyer is the owner of the saloon and then a male trader who emigrated to America from Poland. Emma emigrated from Lithuania. Benny began studying the violin, the instrument that became his trademark, at the age of 6 years, his parents hoped he became a professional violinist. He liked the instrument, but hated the practice. His music teacher is Otto Graham Sr., neighbor and father of Otto Graham of the NFL. At 14, Benny played in his high school bands and orchestra. He was a dreamer and poor in his studies, and was finally expelled from high school. He then did poorly in business school and tried to join his father's business. In 1911, he began playing violin at a local vaudeville theater for $ 7.50 a week. He joined the circuit by Ned Miller, a young composer and singer.
That same year, Benny played in the same theater with the young Marx Brothers. Minnie, their mother, enjoys Benny's violin game and invites her to accompany her children in their action. Benny's parents refused to let their son go on the road at age 17, but it was the beginning of his long-standing friendship with the Marx Brothers, especially Zeppo Marx.
The following year, Benny formed a vaudeville music duo with pianist Cora Folsom Salisbury, a 45-year-old divorcee who needed a partner for his acting. This provoked the famous violinist Jan Kubelik, who feared that the young vaudevillian of the same name would damage his reputation. Under legal pressure, Benjamin Kubelsky agreed to change his name to Ben K. Benny, sometimes spelled Bennie. When Salisbury abandoned the action, Benny found a new pianist, Lyman Woods, and changed his name to "From Grand Opera to Ragtime". They worked together for five years and gradually integrated the comedy element into the show. They reached Palace Theater, "Mecca Vaudeville", and it did not go well. Benny left the show business briefly in 1917 to join the United States Navy during World War I, and often entertained the troops with his violin game. One night, his violin appearance was booed by troops, so with encouragement from fellow sailors and actor Pat O'Brien, he left the way out of the jam and left them laughing. He received more comedy places in the revues and did well, earning a reputation as a comedian and musician.
Shortly after the war, Benny developed a one-man action, "Ben K. Benny: Fiddle Funology". He then received legal pressure from Ben Bernie, a "pat-and-fiddle" player, about his name, so he adopted the sailor's name. In 1921, the violin was more of a prop, and a low-key comedy took over.
Benny has several romantic encounters, including one with the dancer Mary Kelly, whose devout Catholic family forces him to reject the proposal because he is Jewish. Benny was introduced to Kelly by Gracie Allen. A few years after their breakup, Kelly reappears as a fat girl and Jack gives her part in the three-girl act: one simple, one fat and one who can not sing.
In 1921, Benny accompanied Zeppo Marx to the Passover Passover in Vancouver at the residence where he met 14-year-old Sadie Marks. Their first encounter did not go well when he tried to go during Sadie's violin show. They meet again in 1926. Jack does not remember their previous encounter and immediately fell in love with her. They married in 1927. He worked in the socks section of the Hollywood branch of the May Company, where Benny seduced him. Called to fill the "stupid girl" section in Benny's routine, Sadie proves to be a natural comedian. Adopting Mary Livingstone's stage name, Sadie collaborated with Benny throughout most of her career. They then adopted a daughter, Joan.
In 1929, Benny's agent, Sam Lyons, convinced Irving Thalberg, an American film producer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, to watch Benny at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. Benny signed a five-year contract with MGM, where his first role was at The Hollywood Revue of 1929 . The next movie, Chasing Rainbows, did not go well, and after a few months Benny was released from his contract and returned to Broadway at Earl Carroll's Vanities . At first doubting about the survival of the radio, Benny grew excited to get into new media. In 1932, after a four-week nightclub, he was invited to Ed Sullivan's radio program, speaking his first radio spiel. "This is Jack Benny talking." There will be a bit of a pause when you say, 'Who cares?'... "
Maps Jack Benny
Radio
History
Benny has become a minor vaudeville player before becoming a national figure with The Jack Benny Program, a weekly radio show run from 1932 to 1948 on NBC and from 1949 to 1955 on CBS. This is one of the highest rated programs during the run.
Benny's long radio career began on April 6, 1932, when NBC's Commercial Programs Department audited him for N. W. Ayer & Son agency and their client, Canada Dry, after Bertha Brainard, division head, said, "We thought Mr. Benny was great for radio and, while his audition was not helped as far as the orchestra was concerned, we were sure he would make a big bet for the air program." Given his experience in 1956, Benny said Ed Sullivan had invited him to be a guest on his program (1932), and "the Canadian agent for dried ginger ale heard me and offered me a job."
With Canadian Dry ginger ale as a sponsor, Benny came to the radio at the Canadian Dry Program on May 2, 1932, on the NBC Blue Network and continued for six months until October 26, moving to CBS on October 30th. With Ted Weems leading the band, Benny remained at CBS until January 26, 1933.
Arriving on NBC on March 17, Benny performed the Chevrolet Program until April 1, 1934. He continued with General Tire sponsorship until the end of the season. In October 1934, General Foods, the maker of Jell-O and Grape-Nuts, became a sponsor who identified strongly with Benny for 10 years. American Lucky Strike from American Tobacco was his longest radio sponsor, from October 1944 to the end of his original radio series.
The show shifted the network to CBS on January 2, 1949, as part of NBA's "robbery" of NBA presidential talent against NBC's talent in 1948-1949. It stayed there for the rest of the radio, which ended on May 22, 1955. CBS repeated episodes from 1956 to 1958 as The Best of Benny.
Character
Benny's comic character changed during his career. At some point he develops a miserly persona. The character of this stage is everything that Jack Benny does: cheap, small, pointless and self-congratulatory. His comic rendering of these features is a boost to the success of his show. Benny sets himself up as a comedy foil, allowing his supporting character to make laughter at the expense of his own shortcomings. With humanism and its vulnerability in an era in which some male characters are left to have such a character, Benny makes what he should not like to be a human character.
Benny said: "I do not care who gets a laugh at my show, as long as the show is funny." Benny feels he gets credit or blames both, not the actor who says the sentence, so there is an emphasis on the bottom line of comedy. This attitude culminates in a broadcast that is structured as a Hollywood bus tour at the stars' homes. Every "stop" on the tour was in a house belonging to one of the show's supporters, who would then have a scene that included a joke about Benny who was not present. Not until the last moments of the bus program arrived at Jack Benny's home, at that moment the listening audience heard only Benny's line from the episode: "Driver, here I am down." Few stars have a combination of courage, humility, and comical time to commit to such extended results.
Mary Livingstone, his wife, is a support character, as his loverlike and not-so-lavish friend. She is not quite her boyfriend, as Benny often tries to date movie stars like Barbara Stanwyck, and sometimes has a stage girlfriend, like "Gladys Zybisco". Don Wilson, the dilapidated announcer, also appeared on the show. She also announced to hit Fanny Brice Baby Snooks. Bandleader Phil Harris emerged as a talking person, an alcoholic who reparted her very risquà © because of the time. Dennis Day's tenor boy appeared as an unlucky and naive teenager, who often gets better than his boss. This character comes from the replaced Kenny Baker Day. Singer Larry Stevens replaced Dennis Day from November 5, 1944 to March 10, 1946, while the latter served in the Navy.
Rochester
Eddie Anderson plays Benny's maid and driver, Rochester van Jones. Rochester comic comics regularly get better from their useless skinflint bosses. Rochester looks through his boss's pride, and knows how to stab him without going too far, often with his famous phrase: "Oh, Boss, come on now!" With mock-befuddled one-liners and sharp retort, Rochester broke racial barriers of comedy. Unlike many black supporters at the time, Rochester was an ordinary member of the fictional Benny family, and functionally the same as him. Benny wrote the character as a transcending racial stereotype of the era, and Rochester's popularity almost rivaled itself. The New Year's Eve episode, in particular, shows love and respect with them as they toast with champagne.
After the war, Benny made a conscious effort to remove the stereotypical aspects of the Rochester character. In 1948, the 1941 manuscript for the event was reused, including some African-American stereotypes - for example, a reference to Rochester carrying a razor. This prompted some listeners who were not aware that the manuscript was a repetition to send angry letters protesting against stereotypes. After that, Benny insisted that his writers avoid all jokes or negative racial references.
The players include character actors and comedians:
- Sheldon Leonard - who later became a successful television producer and creator, as a tightly knit racetrack
- Joseph Kearns - remembered as a sad Wilson in the television version of Dennis the Menace, like Ed, the superannuated guard to Jack's cash vaule
- Andy Devine - was a regular on show during the late 1930s, for "Buck Benny Rides Again" sketch, a Western cowboy spoof of Western. Devine always greeted Benny with an expression, "Hi, Buck!"
- Sam Hearn - appeared in the 1930s as "Schlepperman," a sarcastic Yiddish character who called Benny "Boopsie." In the 1950s, Hearn returned to the show as a "Farmer" character, who greeted Benny with an expression, "Hi, Rube!", And treated him with a country cornball humor.
- Verna Felton - describes Dennis Day's mother
- Frank Nelson - usually as a greasy desk clerk or desk clerk, always greets Benny with excitement Yeeeeeeesss? The character is anxious to make Benny angry.
- singer/band leader Bob Crosby - replacing Phil Harris in the early 1950s;
- Artie Auerbach - as Mr. Kitzel who is a Yiddish ("hoo, hoo, hoo! ");
- Sara Berner and Bea Benaderet - as Mabel Flapsaddle and Gertrude Gearshift, two gossip board operators; Mel Blanc - a couple of character sounds, including a train station announcer who said, "Trains leave on line five for Anaheim, Azusa and Cu... camonga!". This gag became famous, and is used in some Bugs Bunny cartoons that are also voiced by Mel Blanc. Finally leads to the statue of Benny in Cucamonga. Blanc also appeared with Benny as a Mexican character in the classic Si-Sy routine, and on the radio as Benny Maxwell's car. He also gave Carmichael a growling voice, Benny's pet pole, and then a voice wringing Polly, Benny's pet parrot. Blanc is probably best remembered as Professor LeBlanc, Benny's constantly frustrated violin teacher, who tends to attack his disciple outraged that he has to jump out the window before he comes out the door.
Other musical contributions came in 1946 from the singing quartet of Sportsmen (members: Bill Days, Max Smith, Marty Sperzel and Gurney Bell) singing the middle Lucky Strike ad. In the early days of the program, the supporting character is often an ethnically vaudevillian stereotype whose humor is based on dialect. Over the years, the humor of these characters became character-based.
The method Benny used to insert a character into a comedy by announcing his name was the famous name of Benny shtick: "Oh, Dennis..." or "Oh, Rochester..." is usually answered by, "Yes, Mr. Benny (Bos )? "
Situation comedy
The Jack Benny Program evolved from various blending comedy sketches and musical interludes to the now familiar sitcoms, setting up certain situations and scenarios from the fictionalization of Benny the radio star. Common situations include hosting parties, income tax time, city nights, "backstage" interactions between Jack and his players in the radio studio during a show rehearsal, contract negotiations, or traveling by train or plane to and from many of Jack's personal appearances across corners of the world. country (hence "Trains leave on track five" gag). The authors and the stars will include musical interludes from Phil Harris and Dennis Day. With Day, always, a short sketch ends with Benny ordering Hari to sing the song he planned for the show that week.
One of the popular scenarios that became a tradition at The Jack Benny Program was the annual "Christmas Shopping" episode, where Benny would go to a local department store for shopping. Every year, Benny will buy a very cheap Christmas gift for Don Wilson, from a shopkeeper tricked by Mel Blanc. Benny will then push Blanc into madness by exchanging gifts many times throughout the episode.
On the Christmas episode of 1946, for example, Benny bought a shoelace for the Don, and could not decide whether to give Wilson a shoelace with a plastic end or a metal tip. After many exchanges, Mel Blanc heard a frenzy of cries, "Plastic tips! Metal tips! I can not take it anymore!" The variation in 1948 was with an expensive wallet, but repeatedly changing greeting cards, prompting Blanc to shout, "I have not seen anyone like you in 20 years! Oh, why did the governor have to give me that apology?" Benny then realizes that he should get don wallet for $ 1.98, where shopkeepers respond by committing suicide. Over the years, in the Christmas episode, Benny buys and exchanges cuff links, golf tees, a box of dates, a set of paint (water or oil color), and gopher traps. In the following years, Benny will meet Mel Blanc's wife (played by Jean Vander Pyl) or the shop clerk's psychiatrist, and drive them crazy too.
In 1936, after several years of broadcasting from New York, Benny moved the show to Los Angeles, allowing him to bring guests from his show business friends, including Frank Sinatra, James Stewart, Judy Garland, Barbara Stanwyck, Bing Crosby, Burns and Allen George Burns is Benny's closest friend), and many others. Burns, Allen and Orson Welles hosted several episodes in March and April 1943 when Benny was sick of pneumonia, while Ronald Colman and his wife Benita Hume often appeared in 1940 as long-suffering neighbors of Benny.
On the January 8, 1950 broadcast, Drew Pearson's journalist was the subject of the wrong joke. Don Wilson's broadcaster should have said he heard that Jack bought a new suit at Drew Pearson, but the name was wrong; Don said "Drear Pewson". Later on the show, comedian actor Frank Nelson was asked by Benny if he was a doorman. Changing his original response at the suggestion of the authors, Nelson said, "Well, who do you think I am, Drear Pewson?" The audience laughed for almost 30 seconds.
Sponsor
In the early days of radio and in the early television era, airtime was owned by sponsors, and Benny put advertising into the show's body. Sometimes sponsors are targeted by jokes, though Benny does not use this device as often as his friend and "rival" Fred Allen did, or as a member of Phil Harris's player then performs a successful sitcom on the radio. Nevertheless, for many years, Benny insisted in contract negotiations that the authors were signing sponsor ads in the middle of the program (leaving sponsors to provide opening and closing spots) and cleverly produced ads and cleverly working into the storyline of the show. For example, on one program, Don Wilson accidentally misread the Lucky Strike slog ("Be happy, go Lucky") as "Be Lucky, go happy", which prompted the story for several weeks that made Wilson unable to appear on the show because traumatized by that mistake.
In fact, radio shows are generally not announced as The Jack Benny Program . Instead, the main name of the event is tied to the sponsor. Benny's first sponsor was Canada Dry Ginger Ale from 1932 to 1933. Benny's sponsors included Chevrolet from 1933 to 1934, General Tire in 1934, and Jell-O from 1934 to 1942. Jell-O Programs starring Jack Benny > Very successful in selling Jell-O, in fact, General Foods could not produce it fast enough when the sugar shortage appeared in the early years of World War II, and the company stopped advertising a popular dessert mix. General Foods switched Benny's program from Jell-O to Grape-Nuts from 1942 to 1944, and that, of course, was the Grape Nuts Program starring Jack Benny . Benny's longest sponsor is a Lucky Strike cigarette from the American Tobacco Company, from 1944 to 1955, when the show is usually announced as the Lucky Strike Program starring Jack Benny.
Writers
Benny is famous for hiring a small group of writers, most of whom lived with him for years. This is different from successful radio or television comedians, like Bob Hope, who will often replace writers. One of Benny's writers, George Balzer, noted: "One of the nice things about writing for Jack Benny is that he never denies your existence, instead he publishes it - not just in conversation, but in interviews and in the air." history (as written by Benny's old writer Milt Josefsberg) suggests that Benny's role is essentially as the chief writer and director of his radio program, although he is not credited in any capacity. Unlike Fred Allen, who originally wrote his own radio script (and rewrote the script produced extensively by writing staff), Jack Benny is often portrayed by his author as a perfect comedy editor rather than a writer. George Burns describes Benny as "the greatest material editor in the business, he has the talent of cutting all the weaker mud and keeping only the strong and strong lines."
Jack Benny has a reputation as master of timing. Since his days on the radio, he often explores the time limit for comedic purposes, such as stopping some time before answering questions. Balzer describes the writing material for Benny as well as composing music, with one element as a rhythm of submission as the equivalent of a musical tempo.
Music theme
During the original radio show, there was no recurring theme, the program was opened every week with a different popular song at the time. Throughout the years of Jello and Grapenuts, Don Wilson's announcer will announce the name of the show, several players, then declare "The orchestra opens the show with [song name]." The orchestra number will continue gently as a backdrop for Don Wilson's opening advertisement.
Starting from the Lucky Strike era, Benny adopted the medley "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Love in Bloom" as the theme music, opening every show. "Love in Bloom" later became the theme of his television show. The radio show often ends with an orchestra playing "Hooray for Hollywood". The TV show ended with one of two rocking instrumental written for the show by the music arranger and conductor, Mahlon Merrick.
Benny sometimes jokes about the "Love in Bloom" courtesy as the theme song. In the segment that is often played on the Retrospective Tonight Show, Benny talks to Johnny Carson about this. Benny says he does not mind the song itself, just as a theme. Prove his point, he began to read the lyrics slowly and deliberately: "Could it be a tree . It fills wind. With a rare and magical perfume Now what to do with < i> me? "
"Your money or your life"
In an episode that aired March 28, 1948, Benny borrowed Oscar's neighbor Ronald Colman, and returned home when he was greeted by a robber (voiced by comedian Eddie Marr). After asking for a match to light a cigarette, the robber demanded, "Do not move, this is a blow.Now, come on, your money or your life." Benny paused, and the audience in the studio - knowing the skinflint character - laughing. The robber then repeated his request: "Look, man, I say your money or your life!" Benny snapped, without a break, "I thought about it!" This time, the audience laughed louder and longer than at the break.
The funny thing came to the staff writers Benny John Tackaberry and Milt Josefsberg almost by accident. Author George Balzer describes scenes for writer Jordan R. Young, for The Laugh Crafters, a 1999 interview book with veteran comedy radio and television writers:
- ... they get to the point where they have a line, "Your money or your life." And that stopped them... Milt paced back and forth, trying to follow... And he was a little annoyed at Tack, and he said, "For God's sake, Tack, say something." Tack, maybe he was half asleep - defending himself, saying, "I'm thinking about it." And Milt said, "Wait a minute, that's it." And that's the line that goes in the script... By the way, it's not the greatest laugh Jack ever had. It has the reputation of getting the biggest laugh. But that's not true.
The actual length of the joke's laughter was five seconds when it was initially delivered and seven seconds when the joke was tempted at a follow-up event. In fact, the joke may not be that impressive for the length of laughter that is provoked, but because it becomes a definite "Jack Benny joke" - the joke that best describes the "stingy" male figure of Benny. The funny part - "I thought about it!" - will not work with comedians other than Benny.
The longest laugh known to the collectors of Jack Benny's Program lasted more than 32 seconds. International Jack Benny Fan Club reported that, at the closing of the program, aired on 13 December 1936, sponsored by Jell-O, guest Andy Devine said that it was "the last number of the eleventh program in the new Jelly series." Viewers, who like all kinds of unintentional flubs in the live broadcast program, still laugh after 32 seconds, at which point the network disconnects the program to prevent it from working overtime.
According to Benny himself, Mary Livingstone got the biggest laugh he had ever heard on the show, on April 25, 1948, broadcast. The funny part is the result of the following exchange between Don Wilson and famous opera singer Dorothy Kirsten:
According to Benny, a great laugh resulted from a long buildup, and audience knowledge that Benny, with his arrogant personnel, had to break into a conversation at some point.
Similar exchanges occurred more than a year earlier, among famous violinist Isaac Stern, actors Ronald Colman, Jack Benny, and Mary Livingstone. The back-and-forth quartet, which centered on the recent Stern public performance of a Mendelssohn piece, was heard in the first episode aired on February 16, 1947. The resulting laughter lasted about 18 seconds, after Benny retorted, "Mary, it does not exist how to talk to Mr. Stern. "
Later in the day, when appearing as a stand-up comedian in Las Vegas, Benny has just started telling long jokes about salesmen, farmers, and daughter farmers: "So the salesman and the peasant daughter come to the front door, and the farmer opens the door." this, Sammy Davis, Jr. walking onstage behind Jack, the crowd shouted, and Davis started talking and singing and dancing for about 25 minutes while Benny continued to stand in the center of the stage, quietly watching the spectacle. When Davis finally walked off the stage and the audience's applause subsided, Benny continued to watch Davis offstage for a while, then, as the audience finally calmed down, continued: "... So the farmer said--" And that's as far as the joke is, because the audience laughed for a few minutes afterwards.
The enmity of Benny-Allen
In 1937, Benny started a famous radio feud with rival Fred Allen. Allen kicked the showdown on December 30, 1936, after child violinist Stuart Canin gave FranÃÆ'§ois Schubert's Bee Bee's appearance quite convincingly that Allen was critical of "a suspected violinist." Who to compare should be ashamed of himself. Benny, who listened to Allen's friendly response at the end of January 3, 1937. And the comedians left and ran.
For a decade they both stepped back and forth, so convincingly that the fans of the good show could be forgiven for believing that they had become bloodless enemies. In fact, the two men were close friends and mutual fans. Benny and Allen often appear on their respective shows during the ongoing feud; many surviving episodes of a showcased comedian radio show, in both the recognized guest venue and occasional brilliant acting. On a Christmas program, Allen thanks Benny for sending him a Christmas tree, but then adds that the tree is dead. "Well, what do you expect," Allen said, "when the tree is in Brooklyn and the sap is in Hollywood."
Benny, in his memoirs ( Sunday Nights at Seven ) and Allen in his book Treadmill to Oblivion later revealed that every comedic writing staff often met together to plan for the future of taking a hostile mock. If Allen attacks Benny with Benny's innuendo ("The Pinch Penny Program"), Benny counters with Allen's parody of Town Tonight called Clown Hall Tonight and their hoax ("Benny was born know nothing, and he's lost the ground ever since") are also proficient in the movies Lovey Neighbor and It's in Bag! .
Perhaps the climax of the feud came at Fred Allen's parody of the popular quiz-and-gift show Queen of a Day, which was only a year old when Allen decided to crack it on The Fred Allen Show - an episode that survives to listeners today to appreciate. Calling the "King for a Day" sketch, Allen plays host and Benny a contestant who sneaks into the event using the Myron Proudfoot alias. Benny answered the prize-winning question correctly and Allen crowned him "king" and showered him with a virtually meaningless gift. Allen is proud to announce, "Tomorrow night, in your cigar robe, you will be taken by bicycle to Orange, New Jersey, where you will be the judge of the chicken cleansing contest," which Benny excitedly declared, "I am king for a day! "At this point, professional irons are driven on stage, to press Benny's suit properly. No matter Benny is still in settings. Allen instructed his assistants to remove Benny's clothes, one by one, ending with his trousers, any garment removal provoking a louder laugh from the studio audience. As his trousers started loosening, Benny howled, "Allen, you have not seen my final !" Allen immediately replied, "It will not be long now! "
The laughter was so loud and chaotic in the chain of events that Allen's announcer, Kenny Delmar, was cut off from the air while trying to read the final ad and show credit. (Allen is famous for frequent overtime, thanks largely to his ad-libbing talent, and he's wasting time again this time.)
Benny was deeply shocked by Allen's sudden death from a heart attack in 1956. In a statement released on the day after Allen's death, Benny said, "People often ask me if Fred Allen and I really are friends in real life. I am always the same: You can not have a longstanding and successful feud like we do, without having a deep and sincere friendship in the heart. "Allen himself wrote," For years people have asked me if Jack and I are friendly. do not think that Jack Benny has enemies in the world.... He is my favorite comedian and I wish he could be his friend until he is forty, that will be forever. "
CBS talent appeal
On the advice of MCA, Lew Wasserman, Jack Benny formed the parent company, "Amusement Enterprises" (a tax entertainer usually enjoyed by entertainers in those years), allowing it to combine all of its programs and personnel into a commodity. The company also gave Benny the opportunity to produce and package other radio programs (including the summer series of 1947, starring Jack Paar), and invest in other entertainment businesses, including the feature film production of 1949, The Lucky Stiff , starring Dorothy Lamour, and Broadway 1948 version of Mister Roberts, starring Henry Fonda. While Benny is at the top of the pile on NBC, CBS William S. Paley looks into the comedian's eyes. Paley apparently has good reason to believe that Benny can be owned. In the summer of 1948, he managed to negotiate deals with Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, purchased their parent company, which had an Amos 'n' Andy radio show (and the rights to that character), moving the whole "package" from NBC to the falling CBS: he later learned that NBC strongly refused to buy the "Jack Benny" package when "Jack Benny" was not the real name of the star. Paley reaches Benny and offers him an agreement that will allow the purchase of the package.
But Paley, according to CBS historian Robert Metz, also finds out that Benny is scuffed beneath NBC's almost indifferent attitude towards talent that attracts listeners. NBC, under the leadership of David Sarnoff, seemed at the time thinking that listeners were listening to NBC because of NBC itself. To Paley, according to Metz, that is the best foolish thought: Paley believes listeners listen because of talent, not because of which platform they host. When Paley told Benny, the comedian agreed. Because Paley has a personal interest in Benny's negotiations, as opposed to Sarnoff, who has never met a top-rated star, Benny is sure to make the jump. He convinced a number of other NBC artists (notably Burns and Allen, Edgar Bergen, Red Skelton, and Kate Smith) to join him.
To sweeten the deal for a very nervous sponsorship, Paley also agreed to make a difference with American Tobacco if Hooper Benny's rating (radio version of Nielsen's rating today) on CBS dropped to a certain level below NBC's best Hooper ratings. Benny's CBS debut on January 2, 1949 beat the top NBC rankings by a few points while also upgrading the event that followed, Amos 'n' Andy . NBC, with its crumbling Sunday night lineup, offered a lucrative new offer for two of Sunday night's hits, The Fred Allen Show and The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show . Benny Bandleader and wife of the singing actress are now starring in their own hit sitcom, which means Harris performing on shows for two different networks.
Benny and Sarnoff finally met a few years later and became good friends. Benny then observes that if he had this kind of relationship with Sarnoff before, when he was Sarnoff's number one radio star, he would never leave NBC.
Television
After making his televised debut in 1949 at the local Los Angeles KTL station, the CBS affiliate, The Jack Benny's network television program lasted from October 28, 1950, until 1965, all except last season. on CBS. Originally scheduled as a series of five "specials" during the 1950-1951 season, the show appeared every six weeks for the 1951-1952 season, every four weeks for the 1952-1953 season and every three weeks in 1953-1954. For the 1953-1954 season, half the episodes were broadcast and half were filmed during the summer, allowing Benny to continue his radio show. From the fall of 1954 to 1960, it appeared every week, and from 1960 to 1965 it was seen every week.
On March 28, 1954, Benny co-hosted the 25th Anniversary of the General Food Show: Respect to Rodgers and Hammerstein with Groucho Marx and Mary Martin. In September 1954, CBS launched Chrysler's Shower of Stars hosted jointly by Jack Benny and William Lundigan. It enjoyed a successful run from 1954 to 1958. Both television shows often overlapped with radio shows. In fact, radio shows are often alluded to his television counterparts. Often not, Benny will sign a radio show in that state with the phrase "Well, good night, friends, I'll see you on television."
When Benny moves to television, the audience knows that his verbal talent matches his controlled repertoire of dead facial expressions and gestures. The program is similar to a radio show (some radio scripts are recycled for television, as it is somewhat common with other radio shows that move to television), but with the addition of visual jokes. Lucky Strike is her sponsor. Benny performs his opening and closing monologues in front of the live audience, which he considers important for determining material time. As in other TV comedy shows, canned laughter is sometimes added to "sweeten" the soundtrack, just like when the studio audience missed some close-up comedy because of the camera or microphone on their way. Television viewers learn to live without Mary Livingstone, who is suffering from the glaring case of stage fright. Livingstone rarely appears if at all on television shows. In fact, during the last few years of radio shows, he recorded his lines and the girls Jack and Mary, Joan, stood up for live recording, with Mary's lines edged into the ribbon that replaced Joan before being broadcast. Mary Livingstone eventually retired from the show business permanently in 1958, as did her friend Gracie Allen.
Benny's television program relies more on guest stars and fewer on its regular customers than its radio program. In fact, the only members of radio actors who appear regularly on television programs are also Don Wilson and Eddie Anderson. The day came sporadically, and Harris had left the radio program in 1952, although he made guest appearances on television shows (Bob Crosby, "replacement" Phil, often appearing on television until 1956). Guests who often come is a Canadian-born violinist Gisele Mackenzie.
As a joke, Benny made a 1957 appearance at that very popular $ 64,000 Question . His choice category was "Violins", but after answering the first question correctly, Benny chose not to continue, leaving the show for just $ 64; Mr. Hal March gave Benny the prize money from his own pocket. March appeared on Benny's show in the same year.
Benny is able to attract guests who rarely, if ever, appear on television. In 1953, both Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart made their television debut on Benny's program. One of the guest stars on Jack Benny's show is Rod Serling who starred in The Twilight Zone where Benny goes to his own house... and finds that no one knows who he is!
Canadian singer Gisele MacKenzie, who toured with Benny in the early 1950s, was a seven-time guest at The Jack Benny Program. Benny was impressed with MacKenzie's talent he served as executive producer and guest star on his NBC's 1957-1958 variety show, The Gisele MacKenzie Show .
In 1964, Walt Disney was a guest, especially to promote his production Mary Poppins . Benny persuaded Disney to give him over 110 free admission tickets to Disneyland for his friends and one for his wife, but then on the show Disney apparently sent his pet tiger after Benny in retaliation, at which time Benny opened his umbrella and floated on stage like Mary Poppins.
In time, the rating game finally reached Benny as well. CBS canceled the show in 1964, due to Benny's lack of interest in younger demographics, the network began dating, and he went to NBC, his original network, in the fall, only to be topped by CBS Gomer Pyle, USMC < i> The network dropped Benny at the end of the season. He continued to make special occasions in the 1970s, most recently aired in January 1974.
In his unpublished autobiography, I Always Have a Shoe (the part that Jack's daughter Joan Benny later inserted into her memoirs about her parents, Sunday Night at Seven) Benny said that he, instead of NBC, made the decision to end his TV series in 1965. He said that while his ratings were still very good (he quoted a figure of about 18 million viewers per week, though he qualified the figure by saying he never believed ranking services do more than just guess, no matter what they promise), advertisers complain that the commercial time on his show is spending almost double what they pay for most other events, and he's tired of the so-called "speed race ". So, after about three decades on radio and television in the weekly program, Jack Benny came out as the winner. In fairness, Benny himself shared Fred Allen's ambivalence about television, though not enough for Allen. "In my second year on television, I saw that the camera was a man-eating monster... This gives the player close contact with him, week after week, threatening his existence as an exciting entertainer."
In a joint performance with Phil Silvers on Dick Cavett show, Benny recalled that he had advised Silvers not to appear on television. However, Silvers ignored Benny's suggestion and went on to win several Emmy awards as Sergeant Bilko on the popular series The Phil Silvers Show, while Benny claimed he never won a television award.
Movies
Benny also acted in films, including the 1929 Academy Award winner The Hollywood Revue, Broadway Melody (1936) as a bitter enemy for Eleanor Powell and Robert Taylor), George Washington Slept Here (1942), and especially, Charley's Aunt (1941) and To Be or Not to Be (1942). He and Livingstone also appeared in Ed Sullivan. Broadway (1933) as themselves. Benny often parodies contemporary films and genres on radio programs, and Buck's 19 Benny Rides Again shows all the major radio characters in a funny Western parody adapted from the theatrical program. The failure of one of Benny's vehicles, The Horn Blows at Midnight, became a joke on his radio and television programs, although contemporary audiences may not find the movie disappointing as the joke suggests.
Benny may have an unfilled cameo role in Casablanca , claimed by contemporary newspaper articles and advertisements and reported in the press book Casablanca . When asked in the "Human Answer Film" column, film critic Roger Ebert first replied, "It looks just like him, that's all I can say." He writes in the next column, "I think you're right."
Benny is also caricatured in some Warner Brothers cartoons including Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur (1939, as Casper the Caveman), I Love to the Lion Happy Pappy Slap i>, and Goofy Groceries (1936, 1940, and 1941 respectively, as Jack Bunny), Malibu Beach Party (1940, as himself), and The Jack Mouse Built (1959). The latter is perhaps the most memorable: Robert McKimson involves Benny and his true cast (Mary Livingstone, Eddie Anderson, and Don Wilson) to vote for a mouse version of their character, with Mel Blanc - Warner Brothers the usual cartoon voicemeister - inspiring his old vowel as the ever-aging Maxwell, always a phat -phat- bang! away from the collapse. In the cartoon, Benny and Livingstone agree to spend their anniversary at the Kit-Kat Club, which they find the hard way is inside the living cat's mouth. Before the cat could eat a mouse, Benny himself woke up from his dream, then shook his head, smiled wryly, and murmured, "Imagine me and Mary as little rats." Then he glanced at the cat lying on the carpet in the corner and saw his Livingstone cartoon changing the ego running out of the cat's mouth. Cartoon ends with a confusing classic Benny look. There was a rumor that Benny asked, in exchange for money compensation, he received a copy of the finished film.
Benny made a cameo appearance in This is A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World . When some characters argue on the side of the road, Benny pulls into his car and asks thoughtfully, "Difficulty? Having problems?", The character played by Ethel Merman shouted, "Yes, and we did not." "I do not need any help from you!" Benny did the taking with his smile slowly fading and murmuring, "Well!", And left.
Running a joke
Benny works with Fred Allen for the best jokes in classical radio history, in terms of character dialogue. But Benny himself maintains a classic repertoire of running a joke on his own right, including his leather radio and his television persona; references to regular star and regular guests for his "blue baby" eyes, always sure to get a smile of complacency or a clear false attempt at courtesy from Benny; continuously giving her age of 39; and the awkwardness of playing the violin, most often shown by a futile attempt to do Rodolphe Kreutzer ÃÆ' â € ° tude No. 2 in C major. In fact, Benny is a pretty good violinist who achieves a bad illusion, not deliberately playing badly, but by trying to play a part that's too difficult for his level of expertise. In one of his show plays, Benny was a USO player in the Pacific while playing his violin when he was attacked; Benny still plays his violin when the two Japanese surrender him - all the other enemy soldiers commit suicide rather than survive listening to Benny's dreadful music!
A comedy drama was heard repeatedly on the radio, and seen many times on television, had Mel Blanc as a Mexican in the sombrero and serape sitting on the bench. Jack Benny sat down and started the conversation. For every question asked by Benny, Blanc answers SÃÆ' . When Benny asks for his name, Blanc answers Sy , who will ask for a change, Sy? , SÃÆ'. And when Benny asks where Blanc will go, Blanc answers, "to see her sister", Sue ( Sue? , SÃÆ'. ), of course sewing to earn a living ( Sew? , SÃÆ'. ).
A joke in Benny's private life relates to George Burns. For Benny's perennial frustration, he can never make Burns laugh. Burns, on the other hand, can tear down Benny with little effort. This example occurred at a party when Benny drew a match to light a cigar. Burns announced to all, "Jack Benny will now do the famous match tricks!" Benny does not know what Burns is talking about, so he starts to burn. Burns observed, "Oh, a new ending!" and Benny fainted from the helpless laughter.
Benny even had a sound-based joke: his famous basement alarm, suspected by Spike Jones, rang with whistle, siren, bell and blast, before it finally ended in a foghorn.. The alarm rings even when Benny opens his safe with the right combination. The safe also featured a guard named Ed (voiced by Joseph Kearns) who had posted below before, apparently, the end of the Civil War, the end of the Revolutionary War, the founding of Los Angeles, on Jack's 38th birthday, and even the beginnings of humanity. In one performance, Ed asked Benny, "By the way, Mr. Benny... what's it like outside?" Benny replied, "... winter is almost here, and leaves fall." Ed replied, "Hey, that would be fun," Benny replied (in a humiliating joke for that period), "Oh no - people wear clothes now." In one episode of Benny's radio show, Ed the Guard actually agrees when Jack invites him to rest and returns to the surface world, only to find that modern comfort and transport, which was not around the last time he 'has been to the surface, terrorized and confused him. (Poor Ed thinks the crosstown bus is a "red and yellow dragon.") Finally, Ed decides to go back to the fathom post downstairs and stay there. The basement vault blow is also used in the The Built Jack Mouse and an episode of The Lucy Show .
A separate sound gag involves a song written by Benny, "When You Say I'm Sorry, Then I'll Go Back To You". The ridiculous lyrics and bland melodies guarantee that it will never be published or recorded, but Benny keeps trying to cheat, blackmail, or reveal some of his music guests (including The Smothers Brothers and Peter, Paul and Mary) to do that. Nothing ever works.
In accordance with his "stingy" schtick, on one of his television shows, he says that, in his way of looking at something, "special" is when the price of coffee is marked down.
Another popular running joke is concerned about Benny's orchestral social habits, consistently described as a bunch of drunken ne'er-do-wells. The first lead by Phil Harris and then by Bob Crosby, the orchestra, and especially the band member Frank Remley, were jokingly portrayed often too drunk to play properly, using an upturned bass drum to play cards just minutes before the show, and so enamored so seeing a glass of milk will make them sick. Remley is depicted in unflattering situations, such as being thrown into a trash can by a street sweeper who has found her passed out on the street at 4 am, and on a fugitive poster at the Beverly Hills police station.
One Christmas program made Crosby tortured for having to get Remley:
Benny: "Well, why do not you give him manners, like a bottle of Drambuie?" Crosby: "That's a good idea, Jack, but Drambuie is after dinner." Benny: "So?" Crosby: "So Remley never made it until after dinner."
Crosby also gets a consistent laugh with often joking about the wealth of his more famous brother, Bing Crosby.
The Maxwell
Beginning with a radio show on October 24, 1937, where Jack proudly announce the purchase of his car, the joke that circulated was that Benny drove an old car Maxwell, a brand that went out of business in 1925. Despite some details such as the car body style and model year exactly will vary over the years, what remains constant is that Benny's old car is so worn out that it can barely walk, but the miserable Benny insists he can get a few more miles away from him. A lot of the sound effects for the rattling of cars come from the real old motorcycle that the sound effects store has saved from the Los Angeles junkyard. When the human voice effects missed cues for the car engine, Mel Blanc quickly improvised the vocal reproduction of the cute, sputtering car engine that was so funny that it became a regular feature of the show.
The on-going story of Maxwell was initially disrupted after just five years, when on October 18, 1942 Jack broadcasted his car to a local junkyard and donated it to a World War II waste rescue drive, receiving $ 7.50 in a war stamp instead. Yet many of the radio audiences may still be unaware that Maxwell ever left, because soon Jack was heard walking around old cars again, and by the end of the 1940s his car would once again be specifically identified as Maxwell..
When Jack Benny's Program began appearing on television in 1950, 1916 the Maxwell Model 25 Tourer became one of the standard production props. Benny Maxwell then became 1923 Tourer. In addition to being on the program, Benny often makes a public appearance at Maxwells. He drove Maxwell to the stage on one of his last television specials.
In 1941, Jack Benny's Maxwell has become a well-known aspect of popular culture referenced in Billy Mills's song "I'm in Love with the Sound Effects Man" as it was heard on June 17, 1941 Fibber McGee and Molly radio show (and then performed on a 1943 record by Spike Jones). The car was also featured in Benny's 1943 film The Meanest Man in the World. Benny and his archaic car were featured in a series of television and print ads for Texaco from the 1950s to the 1970s. A series of jokes are built around the premise that Benny appreciates the value of the Sky Chief brand in keeping his car running smoothly, but it is too cheap to buy more than a gallon at a time. In the classic "The Mouse that Jack Built" cartoon, Jack owns himself and Mary is driven by Rochester in a stuttering Maxwell car.
Many people believe that Benny appeared behind the wheel of his Maxwell in the 1963 movie It is Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, but actually it is Cadillac 1932. The long photos for the scene were taken in months - months before Benny was thrown - with an action driver on wheels - and the role was aimed at Stan Laurel (which is why derby wear characters, which Jack almost never did). When Laurel is finally inherited appears, Jack agrees to play it. According to comments on the film Criteria edition, his close-up was filmed at the rear projection stage at Paramount studio.
Last year
After his broadcasting career ended, Benny appeared as a standing comedian and returned to the movie in 1963 with a cameo appearance in This is Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World .
Benny made one of his last appearances on television on July 20, 1973 on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. Benny is preparing to star in Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys movie when his health failed in 1974. In fact, he won over his old friend, George Burns, to replace his place on a nightclub tour while preparing film. Burns eventually had to replace Benny in the movie as well and then won an Academy Award for his performance.
Despite his failing health, Benny made several appearances in The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast in the last eighteen months, baking Ronald Reagan, Johnny Carson, Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, in addition to being roasted in February 1974. Roasting Lucille Ball was his last public appearance, and aired on February 7, 1975, a few weeks after his death.
Death
In October 1974, Benny canceled a show in Dallas after experiencing a spell dizziness, plus a numbness in his arm. Despite a series of tests, Benny's disease can not be determined. When she complained of a stomachache at the beginning of December, the first test showed nothing, but the next one showed her having an inoperable pancreatic cancer. Benny was in a coma at home on December 22, 1974. While in a coma, he was visited by close friends including George Burns, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson, and John Rowles. He died on 26 December 1974 at the age of 80. At the funeral of George Burns, Benny's friend for more than fifty years, tried to deliver a speech but soon failed after he started and could not continue. Bob Hope also delivered a speech in which he stated, "For a man who is a timed comedic master who does not need to be debated, you have to say this is the only time when Jack Benny's timing is wrong, he's leaving us too soon." He was buried in the basement at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. Benny will arrange one long-stemmed red rose, to be sent to his widow, Mary Livingstone, every day for the rest of his life. Livingstone died nine years later on 30 June 1983.
In trying to explain his successful life, Benny sums it up by saying "Everything good that happened to me happened by chance." I was not filled with ambition or triggered by a push toward a clear goal I never knew exactly where I was.. "
After his death, his family donated to UCLA his personal, professional and business letters, as well as his television show collection. The university founded the Jack Benny Award in his honor in 1977 to recognize incredible people in the field of comedy. Johnny Carson was the first recipient of the award. Benny also donated the Stradivarius violin (bought in 1957) to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Benny commented, "If it's not the $ 30,000 Strad, I'm out $ 120."
Awards
In 1960, Benny was inducted into a Hollywood Walk of Fame with three stars. His stars for television and film are located at 6370 and 6650 Hollywood Boulevards, respectively, and at 1505 Vine Street for radio. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame Television in 1988 and the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1989. He was also inducted into The Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame.
Benny was sworn in as Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois and was awarded the Lincoln Order (highest honor of the State) by the Governor of Illinois in 1972 in the field of The Performing Arts.
Posthumous gift
When the standard first-class postal stamp price increased to 39 cents in 2006, fans petitioned to dismiss Jack Benny in honor of his eternal stage. The US Postal Service has issued a stamp depicting Jack Benny in 1991, as part of a book of stamps honoring comedians; However, the stamp was issued at the current rate of 29 cents.
Jack Benny Middle School in Waukegan, Illinois, named after the famous comedian. His motto corresponds to his famous statement as "The House of the 39ers". Jack Benny's statue with his violin now stands on Genesee Street in downtown Waukegan.
Movieography
Radio appearance
See also
- List of the most listened radio programs
References
Further reading
- The New York Times, April 16, 1953, p. 43, "Jack Benny is planning more work on TV"
- The New York Times, March 16, 1960, p.Ã, 75, "Canned laughter: Comedians weep inside about publicly known CBS rules about their use"
- Jack Benny , Mary Livingstone Benny, Hilliard Marks with Marcia Borie, Doubleday & amp; Company, 1978, 322 p.
- Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack Benny Story , Jack Benny and Joan Benny, Warner Books, 1990, 302 p.
- CBS: Reflections in Blood Eye , by Robert Metz, New American Library, 1978.
- The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing on Radio and TV Golden Age , by Jordan R. Young; Past Times Publishing, 1999. ISBNÃ, 0-940410-37-0
- Well! Reflections on the Life and Careers of Jack Benny , edited by Michael Leannah, BearManor Media, 2007.
- Jack Benny v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue , 25 T.C. 197 (1955).
- Balzer, George. They will break your heart (unpublished autobiography, undated), available at: http://www.jackbenny.org
- Hilmes, M. (1997). The radio broadcasts the voice of America, 1922-1952. Minnesota Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
- Josefsberg, Milt. (1977) The Jack Benny Show. New Rochelle: Arlington House. ISBNÃ, 0-87000-347-X
- Leannah, Michael, editor. (2007) All right! Reflections on the Life and Careers of Jack Benny. BearManor Media. Contributing author: Frank Bresee, Clair Schulz, Kay Linaker, Janine Marr, Pam Munter, Mark Higgins, BJ Borsody, Charles A. Beckett, Jordan R. Young, Philip G. Harwood, Noell Wolfgram Evans, Jack Benny, Michael Leannah, Steve Newvine, Ron Sayles, Kathryn Fuller-Seeley, Marc Reed, Derek Tague, Michael J. Hayde, Steve Thompson, Michael Mildredson
- Wisely, James. Blue Star: Movie Actor at Sea Services America . Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997. ISBNÃ, 1557509379 OCLCÃ, 36824724
- Zolotow, Maurice. "Jack Benny: self-deprecating art" in Zolotow, People Do not Like to Show People , Random House (New York: 1951); rpt Bantam Books (New York: 1952).
External links
- Jack Benny on IMDb
- Jack Benny (pilot TV) program on IMDb
- Jack Benny Program (TV series) on IMDb
- Jack Benny on Broadway Internet Database
- Jack Benny on TVGuide.com
- Jack Benny at AllMovie
- Jack Benny's Program on TV.com
- Jack Benny at National Radio Hall of Fame
- Jack Benny Fred Allen Feud
- History of Benny Audio Jack
- Jack Benny International Fan Club
- In-depth interview with Laura Leff, Founder and President of International Jack Benny Fan Club (2011)
- A copy of Jack Benny's Radio and TV script, with handwriting edits
- Jack Benny Center for Cultural Art
- Jack Benny's paper at Wyoming University - American Heritage Center
- FBI files in Jack Benny
- Audio
- Collection of Jack Benny's radio show.
- All
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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