Jack Benny (1894–1974)

Jack Benny was one of the most popular and influential comedians of the twentieth century. He was known for his subtle sense of comic timing, which relied on a long pause and a frozen, pained expression in order to milk laughs. Benny's humor focused on the made-up persona of a wisecracking penny-pincher (one who is very conservative, often cheap, with his or her money). In one of his classic comic sketches, Benny is held up by a burglar who demands, "Your money or your life." After his characteristic lengthy pause, Benny responds, "I'm thinking about it." In another classic bit, when asked his age, Benny always said he was "thirty-nine," a line that grew funnier as the years passed and he was well into old age.

Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky. Unlike other Jewish entertainers of his time, he did not adopt an ethnic approach to comedy. This may be because his roots were in the midwestern town of Waukegan, Illinois, rather than in the immigrant "melting pot" (racial, social, and cultural mixture) of New York City, where exaggerated Yiddish accents and Semitic jokes were more prevalent. His first appearances were as a teenager, playing the violin in vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1). When he realized that audiences applauded his stiff demeanor and wrong notes rather than his musical ability, Benny became a stage comic and often used his violin-playing as a means of getting laughs. As the century progressed, Benny successfully starred on his own series on the radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 1) and later on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). He also starred in several films.

—Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information

Benny, Jack, and Joan Benny. Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack BennyStory. New York: Warner, 1990.

Fein, Irving. Jack Benny: An Intimate Biography. New York, Putnam, 1976.

Josefberg, Milt. The Jack Benny Show. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1977.