Jack Benny

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 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.

Television and Movies

The Jack Benny Show ran on television from October 28, 1950 to 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.

Related Topics:
The Jack Benny Show - October 28 - 1950 - 1965 - 1960 - 1965 - Lucky Strike

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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.

Related Topics:
CBS - 1964 - NBC - Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

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

Related Topics:
Academy Award - The Hollywood Revue of 1929 - Charley's Aunt - 1941 - To Be or Not to Be - 1942 - The Horn Blows at Midnight

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Benny also was caricatured in several Warner Brothers cartoons including Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur (1939, as Caspar the Caveman), Slap-Happy Pappy (1940, as Jack Bunny), Malibu Beach Party (1940, as himself), and The Mouse That Jack Built (1959). The Mouse That Jack Built is particularly special in that Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, Eddie Anderson and Don Wilson performed the actual voice work for their mouse caricatures (while Mel Blanc reprised his role as The Maxwell); the cartoon ends with a live action appearance of Jack Benny as he awakens from a dream.

Related Topics:
Warner Brothers - Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur - Slap-Happy Pappy - Malibu Beach Party - The Mouse That Jack Built

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Toward the end of his career, Benny returned to film, appearing in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in (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 at the age of 80. His wife passed away in 1983 and they are interred together in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Related Topics:
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World - 1963 - Neil Simon - The Sunshine Boys - George Burns - Pancreatic cancer - Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery - Culver City, California

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