Robert Charles Benchley

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Robert Charles Benchley

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Robert Charles Benchley 1889-1945, American humorist, b. Worcester, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1912. He was drama critic of Life (1920-29) and of The New Yorker (1929-40). Benchley was known for a series of short satirical films that he wrote, directed, and acted in himself. His books, which are rich in anecdotes and clever interpretations of everyday situations, include Of All Things (1921), My Ten Years in a Quandary (1936), and Benchley beside Himself (1943).

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Benchley, Robert (Charles)

The Oxford Companion to American Literature | 1995 | | © The Oxford Companion to American Literature 1995, originally published by Oxford University Press 1995. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Benchley, Robert [Charles] (1889–1945), drama critic, humorist, and actor, after graduating from Harvard (1912) wrote for New York newspapers and magazines, and was theater critic of Life (1920–29) and The New Yorker (1929–40). His sketches of the tribulations of the average man are collected in Of All Things (1921), Love Conquers All (1922), Pluck and Luck (1925), The Early Worm (1927), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; or, David Copperfield (1928), The Treasurer's Report (1930), No Poems (1932), From Bed to Worse (1934), My Ten Years in a Quandary (1936), After 1903—What? (1938), Inside Benchley (1942), and Benchley Beside Himself (1943). He also played in motion pictures and on the radio.

His son Nathaniel Benchley (1915–81), also a humorist, was the author of light novels, films and plays, and lives of his father and of his friend Humphrey Bogart (1975).

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James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Benchley, Robert (Charles)." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 8 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Benchley, Robert (Charles)." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (November 8, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-BenchleyRobertCharles.html

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Benchley, Robert (Charles)." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Retrieved November 08, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-BenchleyRobertCharles.html

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Free Article Sacco and Vanzetti and the Worcester connections.(INSIGHT)
Newspaper article from: Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, MA); 10/21/2007
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Newspaper article from: Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, MA); 7/2/2009
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Magazine article from: The Progressive; 9/1/1994

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Benchley, shaking change out of the world's pockets
Newspaper article from: Chicago Sun-Times; 4/6/1997; ; 700+ words ; ...Benchley. By Billy Altman. Norton. $30. As Robert Benchley once put it: "By 1936, we of course mean 1934...of it. But don't ask a cow to explain milk. Robert Charles Benchley (1889-1945) was one of these givers of milk...
Calling Down Fire: Charles Grandison Finney and Revivalism in Jefferson County, New York, 1800-1840.(Book review)
Magazine article from: Church History; 3/1/2006; ; 700+ words ; Calling Down Fire: Charles Grandison Finney and Revivalism in...two kinds of people in the world," Robert Benchley observed, "those who believe there...after 1830, brought about in part by Charles Grandison Finney, whose career mirrored...
Dogs, Snoopy and Charles M Schulz
Newspaper article from: The Nelson Mail; 2/19/2000; 700+ words ; ...turn around three times before lying down,'' quipped Robert Benchley) to old age. And in return all they want is food...that populated the Peanuts strip until its creator, Charles M Schulz, called it a day to fight cancer in January...
AUTHOR IS OFF MARK IN WEAK BIOGRAPHY OF FAMED HUMORIST.(DAILY BREAK)(Review)
Newspaper article from: The Virginian Pilot; 5/1/1997; 700+ words ; ...post-literate age. Benchley could assume that his...alludes only to itself, Benchley's literary references...he mangle names like Charles Evans Hughes and Scarlett...school would ``cause Robert to aspire to a more upscale lifestyle.'' Benchley rebuked an actor in...
`Vicious Circle' Boasts Satire in the Round
Newspaper article from: Chicago Sun-Times; 12/23/1994; ; 700+ words ; ...Jennifer Jason Leigh Robert Benchley Campbell Scott Charles MacArthur Matthew...likely to recognize Robert Sherwood, Edna Ferber...she married twice; Charles MacArthur (Matthew...long-suffering Robert Benchley. History does not...
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.
Magazine article from: Cineaste; 9/22/1995; ; 700+ words ; ...Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Robert Benchley (Campbell Scott...1920s, when she and Benchley were daily companions...affair with journalist Charles MacArthur (Matthew...friendship and love of Benchley, the monologs capture...
Sacco and Vanzetti and the Worcester connections.(INSIGHT)
Newspaper article from: Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, MA); 10/21/2007; 700+ words ; ...finally electrocuted at the Charles Street Jail on Aug. 23...in the famous case was Robert Benchley, the humorist and film maker. Mr. Benchley had long since moved out...more of the same in the Benchley affidavit but that was...
The Literary Life
Newspaper article from: The Sunday Telegraph London; 5/9/2004; ; 682 words ; ...long since we published Charles Williams's magnum...30 years since Peter Benchley's Jaws was first published...Title reveals that Mr Benchley had great difficulty...father [the humorist Robert Benchley] didn't like it...
Roaring '20s queen of quips wasn't a whole load of laughs
Newspaper article from: Jerusalem Post; 8/21/1995; ; 700+ words ; ...Jennifer Jason Leigh Robert Benchley....Campbell Scott Charles MacArthur....Matthew...cattier literati (among them Robert Benchley, George S. Kaufman...Parker's best friend, Robert Benchley, is especially fine...
ARTS With their wits about them
Newspaper article from: The Independent - London; 3/10/1995; ; 700+ words ; ...lifelong best friend, Robert Benchley, the only man that everybody...was back in England. Benchley was, by all accounts...They were joined by Robert Sherwood, a man six...satire on Hollywood), Charles MacArthur (who teamed...

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