by Delmer Padgett

Created on: June 15, 2010

Long time host of "The Tonight Show" Johnny Carson, paid Jack Benny the ultimate compliment by admitting that he copied his style, timing and delivery from Benny, as much as this was possible. Jack Benny was indeed a hard act to follow, he could get more laughs with a pause or a well placed "but" than most comics could get from their entire routines.

Jack Benny developed one of the most memorable characters in show business history. His age was always 39. He was a penny pinching miser who made Ebenezer Scrooge look like "Diamond" Jim Brady.(In fact the opposite was true, in real life Benny was a very generous person, but his character was so believable that many took it seriously. He once gave a huge tip too a hat check girl and she gave it back telling Benny, "Please, don't shatter all of my illusions".) He and his valet "Rochester" took in laundry and sold greeting cards to make extra money. He drove a 1912 Maxwell automobile and had a polar bear named "Carmichael" living in his basement along with other memorable traits.

Jack Benny was born in Illinois on Valentines day in 1894. He studied music as a child and pushed by his parents had the ambition of becoming a concert violinist. After becoming disillusioned this career choice Benny went into vaudeville and developed a musical comedy act, he sometimes worked with a partner and sometimes did a solo routine. In 1927 after a brief romance Benny married the love of his life; Sadie Marx. (A distant relative of the "Marx Brothers"; Groucho, Chico, and the rest.) Sadie would sometimes appear in Jack's vaudeville act and would work with him for many years on radio and television under the stage name, "Mary Livingstone"

Benny's vaudeville career was moderately successful but he didn't become a huge star until he began to work in radio in 1932. In October of that year he signed on to do a weekly show for Canada Dry Ginger Ale. In 1934 Jello became the series sponsor and after sales of the product went through the roof Benny was allowed to develop the program into the classic it became. "The Jack Benny Show" would continue its long and storied run until 1958, near the end of radios golden age. Beginning in October 1950 "The Jack Benny Show" also appeared on television where it was nearly the success it was on radio.

In 1965 Benny decided to end the weekly grind and his TV series came to an end. He would continue to do a couple of hour length television specials each year and also made numerous guest appearances. Jack Benny died of Pancreatic cancer on the day after Christmas in 1974. His true age wa 80 years old, but to his many fans and admirers Jack Benny will always and forever be 39.

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