Benjamin Kubelsky
14 min read
Reading time
2,785
Words
Published
6
Awards
Jack Benny’s most famous gag was the Your money or your life routine, which generated two to three minutes of silence on his radio show The Jack Benny Program and became a signature of his comedic timing. Born Benjamin Kubelsky in Waukegan, Illinois in 1894, he built a career in vaudeville, radio, film, and television. His stage persona was vain, perpetually 39, and stingy, but offstage he was generous and a skilled violinist. He died of pancreatic cancer in 1974 at age 80.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Jack Benny — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Jack Benny by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Jack Benny — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
At age six, Jack Benny began studying the violin, an instrument that would become both a genuine skill and a comedic prop. He was born Benjamin Kubelsky on February 14, 1894 in Waukegan, Illinois to a saloon keeper father. Benny quit school to join vaudeville, performing in the same theatres as a very young Marx Brothers; Minnie Marx wanted him to go on the road with them, but his parents refused to let their 17-year-old son travel.
Jack Benny’s radio show The Jack Benny Program premiered in 1932 and became one of the most popular programs of the Golden Age of Radio, transitioning successfully to television in 1950. Running gags like his age always 39 and his feuds with Fred Allen defined his character as a vain, miserly but lovable man. His film roles included The Hollywood Revue of 1929 and To Be or Not to Be 1942, though radio and TV were his primary mediums. He hosted the Academy Awards in 1944 and 1947. His most famous routine, the Your money or your life sketch, demonstrated his comic timing.
Jack Benny married Mary Livingstone in 1927 after meeting her when she was a lingerie salesgirl at the May Company in Los Angeles. The couple adopted a daughter, Joan, in 1934. After his death, he arranged for a rose to be delivered to Mary every day for nearly nine years until she died. He maintained close friendships with fellow comedians Fred Allen, George Burns, and Bob Hope, and was a lifelong friend of violinist Isaac Stern.
Jack Benny’s influence on comedy is immeasurable; his timing and pregnant pause influenced generations of comedians. He received a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, and Peabody Awards. He has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures, Radio, and Television. In 1989 he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, and in 1991 he was honored on a U.S. postage stamp. A school in Waukegan is named after him, and its football team is called the 39ers. He is remembered as the man who was always 39.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Jack Benny — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Jack Benny — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
I Began My Show Business Career Playing Violin in San Francisco at the Corner of Market and Taylor. I Understand That There Is a Theater There Now.
Gags Die, Humor Doesn’t.
Age Is Strictly a Case of Mind Over Matter. If You Don’t Mind, It Doesn’t Matter.
When You Take a Joke Away from Milton Berle, It’s Not Stealing, It’s Repossessing.
I Have Always Thought Ed Wynn Was the World’s Greatest Comedian, and I Still Think There Is Nobody That Has Ever Been as Funny, or Will Be, in My Time as He Was in His Heyday.
I Didn’t Triumph Over Adversity. I Did Not Go Through Struggles and Hardship. I Always Had Shoes and Warm Clothes. My Only Handicap Is Golf.
Little-known facts about Jack Benny — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
George Burns began the eulogy at Jack Benny’s funeral but broke down, and Bob Hope then honored him with a reading about his timing being wrong only this once.
Jack Benny took his father to see To Be or Not to Be, but his father left disgusted seeing him in a Nazi uniform; years later, Jack convinced him the film was satire, and his father loved it on a second viewing.
After Jack Benny’s death, a rose was delivered to his wife Mary Livingstone every day until she died nearly nine years later.
Toward the end of his TV series, Jack Benny started watching Bonanza, which aired half an hour earlier, and missed his own show, remarking that if he wouldn’t watch himself, what chance did he have.
Jack Benny canceled his radio program after Carole Lombard’s death because he was grief-stricken; they had just starred together in To Be or Not to Be, and the time was filled with music instead.
Jack Benny’s long-standing comic feud with Fred Allen was a staple of his radio show, with the two trading barbs; they only appeared together on TV once on The Jack Benny Program because Allen died soon after starting his own show. They were close friends, and Benny eulogized Allen on the radio.
At the time of his death, Jack Benny was scheduled to appear in The Sunshine Boys; the role was taken over by George Burns.
In January 1949, Jack Benny served as Master of Ceremonies for Harry S. Truman’s Inaugural Ball. When a guard asked about his violin case, Benny joked it was a Thompson sub-machine gun; the guard replied he was relieved, fearing it was the violin.
Jack Benny was awarded three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: for Motion Pictures at 6650 Hollywood Boulevard, for Radio at 1505 Vine Street, and for Television at 6370 Hollywood Boulevard.
He once appeared on the TV quiz show The $64,000 Question and after answering the first question correctly he quit and took home $1.00; his category was violins.
After Mel Blanc was involved in a terrible car accident that left him in a coma, Jack visited him at the hospital every day until his recovery.
Jack Benny was a competent violin player and performed a series of benefit concerts with an orchestra. His bad violin playing and stinginess were just part of his act.
A middle school in his hometown of Waukegan, Illinois, was named after him; the school football team is the 39ers in honor of his insistence that he is 39 years old every year.
His most famous gag was on his radio show when a robber says Your money or your life, followed by two to three minutes of dead silence; finally the robber prods him and Benny replies I’m thinking it over!
After he died in 1974, he left an estate estimated at $4 million.
While touring, he refused to stay at hotels that wouldn’t allow Eddie Anderson to be a guest as well, and was joined in that protest by the rest of the road company.
In 1934, he and his wife adopted a daughter, Joan Benny.
For many years he lived at 1002 North Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills; his neighbors were Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz at 1000 North Roxbury, and Peter Falk and his wife at 1004 North Roxbury.
He turned down a role in The Big Broadcast of 1938; the role was then given to Bob Hope, which began his long film career.
When he appeared as a celebrity guest on Password, he got the word miser and gave his first clue as Me! thus bringing down the house.
He sometimes referred cryptically to my book in interviews; the manuscript for his autobiography Sunday Nights at Seven wasn’t discovered until years after his death.
A lifelong lover of classical music, he counted violinist Isaac Stern among his closest friends and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff among his most devoted fans.
Jack Benny was born in Chicago; his mother was on a shopping trip and insisted his birth certificate listed Waukegan because that’s where she carried him for nine months.
He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1989.
In 1935, Benny, captivated by the trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for kidnapping Charles Lindbergh’s baby, pulled strings to get a seat in the overcrowded New Jersey courtroom.
Interred at Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, California, USA.
He was close friends with singer Gisele MacKenzie who also played the violin, and often referred to her as Doll.
Appeared with Bob Hope and Fred Allen in the short film Radio Broadcasting Today.
A pre-adolescent Benny was taught violin by Otto Graham’s father; the Grahams and the Bennys were next-door neighbors.
In 1942-44 he starred on NBC Radio’s The Grape Nuts Flakes Program.
Interviewed in The Great Comedians Talk About Comedy by Larry Wilde.
On 7/25/55, his first grandchild, Michael, was born to his daughter Joan and Seth Baker.
In 1934-42 he starred on NBC Radio’s The Jell-O Program.
In 1948, the radio quiz show Truth or Consequences ran a weekly contest to identify the Walking Man; eventually they revealed it was Jack Benny.
Starred on The Lucky Strike Program on NBC Radio 1944-1949 and CBS Radio 1949-1955.
In 1934 he starred on NBC Radio’s The General Tire Show.
In 1933-34 he starred on NBC Radio’s The Chevrolet Show.
Pictured on one of five 29 cent U.S. commemorative postage stamps celebrating comedians in 1991, designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.
Starred on The Canada Dry Program on NBC Radio 1932 and CBS Radio 1932-1933.
Hosted the Academy Awards in 1944 and 1947.
Two holidays figured prominently in his life: born on St. Valentine’s Day 1894 and died on Boxing Day 1974.
He met his future wife Mary Livingstone while appearing at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, where he regularly ate at the lunch counter of the May Company where Mary worked as a lingerie salesgirl.
According to Phyllis Diller’s autobiography, Broadway producer David Merrick approached Benny with the idea of playing Dolly Levi in drag in Hello, Dolly! opposite George Burns, but it never came to fruition.
Biography in Who’s Who in Comedy by Ronald L. Smith 1992.
He enlisted in the navy at the outbreak of WW1.
Married Sadie Morse.
At 15 he was earning a living playing the violin in a cinema orchestra.
Was a Democrat.
Entered television in 1950.
His first film was The Horn Blows at Midnight.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Jack Benny.
Celebrities similar to Jack Benny — same craft, ranked by reach.
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇨🇴 Colombia
🇺🇸 United States
🇨🇦 Canada
