Jack Benny

Jack Benny, formerly known as Benjamin Kubelsky was one of radio's hugest stars for over 50 years. He was born on February 14, 1894, and lived until December 26, 1974. He was known widely as comic vaudevillian, radio, television, film actor, and violinist who portrayed his most popular character as a miser who played the violin very badly. While in character, Benny would play a 39 year old, regardless of his actual age. He was known best for his great comic timing, using his ability to create laughter with a simple comedic pause or expression, such as his signature exasperated pharse, "Well!" His sitcoms and radio progams were exteremely popular and created a lasting influence on the future sitcom genre.

Before his radio stardom, Benny had been a minor vaudeville performer. As a vaudeville performer, Benjamin decided to embark on a solo act. "Ben K. Benny: Fiddle Funology" hit the boards of the Western Vaudeville Circuit in 1919 with an act comprised of violin music, singing, and jokes.

Eventually, Benjamin found the name Ben K Benny to be too close to his own, so he was faced with the need to change his name. "There are several stories of the influences on this decision. One is that the sailors called each other "Jack" as a generic term, akin to "fella" or "dude", so that was selected. An elaboration is the story that Jack himself tells. He was having dinner with Benny Rubin during the time he was looking for a new name, and a couple former Great Lakes sailors approached and greeted him as "Jack". Rubin then suggested that he use "Jack" as his new first name. Still another story indicates that he took the first name from Jack Osterman, a vaudeville comedian whose style he partially borrowed for his own. In any event, by 1921 Benjamin had eliminated the singing and most of the violin playing, developed his delivery, and now billed himself as 'Jack Benny: Aristocrat of Humor' "( International).

Jack Benny worked with folks such as The Marx Brothers, Fred Allen, George Burns and Gracie Allen, and many more throughout his career.

Benny's radio debut for The Jack Benny Program began in 1932, when he was asked by NBC Commericial Program audition for the N.W. Ayer agency and their client, Canada Dry. Benny came to radio on The Canada Dry Program for NBC, on May 2, 1932 and continued it for six months until October 26, when it then moved to CBS. Along with Ted Weems, Benny stayed on CBS until 1933.

Soon, Benny did The Chevrolet Program on CBS until April 1, 1934. In 1934, General Foods became Benny's most strongly identified sponser for advertising for 10 years. Then, American Tobacco's Lucky Strike began to sponser him, and was his longest-lasting radio sponsor from 1944 through to the end of his original radio series. Throughout this time, Jack also appeared in a variety of movies: Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round (1934), Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935), It's In the Air (1935), The Big Broadcast of 1937 (1936), College Holiday (1936), Artists and Models (1937), Artists and Models Abroad (1938), and Man About Town (1939) which debuted at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan (International).