Jack Benny's Birthday

[Joe Postove]

Today Feb. 14th, is Jack Benny's 39th birthday. There was another date, 1894
I believe, that has been thrown around. That must have been his grandfather.

Jack's been gone for 25 years now, and I miss him more than any other
entertainer.
Every generation has what it should rationally know cannot go on forever,
but gets so used to, and makes such a part of its life, that when we turn
around and it's gone, the emptiness is personal and heavy.
Sunday nights at seven with Jack Benny.
11:30 and Johnny Carson.
Mornings with Charlie Brown and the gang.

I think I have a stomach ache...Joe Postove

[James Darnell]

Happy 67th anniversary of your 39th Birthday Mr. Benny!

[Vanessa Powell]

I guess it's only fitting that my Grandfather had his funeral today.

Here's an exert from Comedy from the Golden Age of Radio by Anthony Tollin:

Jack Benny first introduced himself to radio listeners on Ed Sullian's CBS interview sho March 29,1932: "Ladies and Gentelmen this is Jack Benny talking. There now will be a slight pause while you say, Who cares?" Audiuces did care, and Jack Benny reigned as one of the most popular stars on radio and television for the next forty years.
Benny had originally intended to becom a concert violinist but achived vaudevill sucsess as a comedi monologist. With the decline of vaudville, he began to consider a career in radio, especially after his friends Eddie Cantor and Burns & Allen moved into the medium. On May 2, 1932 Jack debuted as the master of ceremonies of the Canada Dry Ginger Ale program and joked about "making my first appearance on the air professionally. By that I mean I'm getting paid which will of course be a great relif to my creditors." Following the footsteps of Ed Wynn, Benny became one of the first stars to poke fun at the sponseor. Benny returned the following year for Chevrolet in a show that featured tenor Frank Parker, orchestra leader Frank Black and Sadye Marks, a.k.a Mary Livingstone. Jack met his future wife when she was only fourteen when he attended her famil's Passober seder with her relatives, the Marx Brothers. Four years later, Jack began courting Sadye while she was working in the hosiery department of The May Company.

Benny was portrayed as a miser on the show but was renowned for his generosity in his private life. His writers and cast were the hightest paid on the radio and Jack was equally generous with the comedy punchlines. Unlike many big stars, Jack Benny gave most of the funniest lines to his co-stars and allowed his charactor to become the butt of the jokes. "It's not important who gets the laugh. When people talk about the show the next day, they won't remember who delivered the punchline," Jack explained. "all they'll recall is that The Jack Benny Show was funny last night."

Listeners loved the show and the related to Jack Benny as if he was a member of their own family. "The reason my character sustain over many years is because I played a character who included all the faults and frailties of mankind. Every family had someone like me. Either they had an uncle who was stingy or one who thought he was very sexy and he wasn't."

"Their whole show was built around situations rather than just jokes," explained Johnny Carson. "You couldn't stear from Jack Benny. Yoiu can steal from Henny Youngman and can steal from other comedians but you can't steal from Jack because it doesn't mean anything with anyone eles doing it." Unlike comedians like Bob Hope and Milton Berle, the laughs on The Jack Benny Show depended upon strong charatorazations and plotting. "Jack Benny was not only the most successful comedian on radio, he also revolutionized radio comedy," wrote Fred Allen. "Until he came along it was pretty much vaudeville with a microphone. He was the first to realize that the listener is not in a theatre with a thousand other people, but is in a small circle at home."

"Jack was a quiet riot Hie stood there quietly and he'd kill the audience," recalled George Burns years later. "Jack Benny handled radio as good or beter than anyother comedian because he made use of the pauses and waits. There was no hurry with Jack. He knew ho to use those waits and he knew how to use radio."

[artical uncompleted by typest with sore fingers, will finish later]

[Karen]

Hi! My parents and I celebrated Jack Benny's birthday with a cake that had 2 candles (one shaped like a 3, the other like a 9). We also sang to him. Happy (belated) Jack Benny's birthday!
-Karen