On this day, February 14, 1894, Benjamin Kubelsky was born. You knew him as Jack Benny.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Jack Benny


Benny in 1964

Born: Benjamin Kubelsky; February 14, 1894; Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died: December 26, 1974 (aged 80); Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place: Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, California

Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky; February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer, who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to a highly popular comedic career in radio, television and film. He was known for his comic timing and the ability to cause laughter with a pregnant pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated "Well!"

His radio and television programs, popular from 1932 until his death in 1974, were a major influence on the sitcom genre. Benny often portrayed his character as a miser who obliviously played his violin badly and ridiculously claimed to be 39 years of age, regardless of his actual age.

{snip}

A lot of his humor wouldn't work today. You can see where Johnny Carson got his routine.

Jack Benny Roasts Ed Sullivan on The Ed Sullivan Show
7,311 views•Jan 21, 2021

The Ed Sullivan Show
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Jack Benny Roasts Ed Sullivan on The Ed Sullivan Show on April 30, 1967. Subscribe now to never miss an update: https://ume.lnk.to/EdSullivanSubscribe​

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The Ed Sullivan Show was a television variety program that aired on CBS from 1948-1971. For 23 years it aired every Sunday night and played host to the world's greatest talents. The Ed Sullivan Show is well known for bringing rock n' roll music to the forefront of American culture through acts like Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones. The entertainers each week ranged from comedians like Joan Rivers and Rodney Dangerfield, to Broadway stars Julie Andrews and Richard Burton, to pop singers such as Bobby Darin and Petula Clark. It also frequently featured stars of Motown such as The Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder and The Jackson 5. The Ed Sullivan Show was one of the only places on American television where such a wide variety of popular culture was showcased and its legacy lives on to this day.

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[PSPS]

1. Jack Benny & Eddie "Rochester" Anderson

The year was 1937, and the first role offered Eddie Anderson on The Jack Benny Program on radio was that of a Pullman porter. It was to be a one-time part, but there was something about the gravely-voiced African-American actor that led the producers to use him again — first as a waiter, and another time as a fellow who has an altercation with the star, Jack Benny. Benny realized that Anderson could be so much more than a stereotype.



Jack Benny changed the character of Rochester from a near stereotype to a much more positive and affirmative character, but in his own way he also stood up against segregation on behalf of Eddie Anderson. Once Eddie Anderson was denied a room in a hotel in St. Joseph, Missouri at which Jack Benny's cast and crew had planned to stay, Jack Benny told them, "If he doesn't stay, neither then do I." The hotel relented and gave Eddie Anderson a room.

The South was not the only place where racism against Eddie Anderson took place. Once in New York, a couple at a hotel at which the cast and crew were staying complained about being in the same hotel as Eddie Anderson. The hotel manager tried to convince Eddie Anderson to move to another hotel. The show's producer and Mary Livingstone's brother (Livingstone was Benny's wife,) Hilliard Marks, told the manager that Eddie Anderson would be happy to move to another hotel. The following day the entire cast and crew, 44 people in all, checked out of the hotel.



In the end Jack Benny and Eddie Anderson became a comedy team, much in the same way that Bob Hope and Bing Crosby or George Burns and Gracie Allen were. What made them a success as a team was not simply that they were two very talented men, but that they were also very close friends who were quite comfortable with each other.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Thanks for posting that. I was reluctant to bring up Rochester, but this puts

the way he was received by the cast and crew in a new light.

A lot of the humor that was acceptable in Jack Benny's time makes us cringe today.

[FSogol]

4. A lot of the humor involving Rochester was based on stereotypes, but unlike other comedy of its

time, Rochester usually came out on top. Jack Benny always made himself the butt of joke which gave Rochester the win.

Until the 1950's, Eddie Anderson was the highest paid African American actor.

He'd be a great subject for a film biography.

[rsdsharp]

3. Damn! The ties in that first picture makes it

look like they raided Limbaugh’s closet.