I hired him because he was good.”Īfter Jack Benny's death, his daughter Joan found his unpublished autobiography hidden away. I didn’t hire Rochester because I was fighting for equal rights. I never felt and I do not feel today that Rochester and Mr. It became bad taste to have Jewish jokes, Italian jokes and Negro jokes. Hitler’s ideology of a Aryan supremacy put all ethnic humor in a bad light. Everybody loved ethnic humor during vaudeville and often the people who were being ridiculed most enjoyed the kind of ethnic humor aimed at their own group. I developed and learned my trade in vaudeville. For those who have never heard his radio show or seen his films, I urge you to do so, but this book does describe some of his most famous running jokes.Ĭoncerning Rochester, “.remember, you who look back with perhaps contempt or patronizing pity on the old radio programs, that like most entertainers of the period I was brought up in another time and another place. This book, equal parts autobiography and a daughter’s tribute to her father, gives a nice and lovable portrait of the iconic comedian Jack Benny. I did skim through and skip a bit of her sections. Benny's daughter while interesting, did not really interest me as much as those of her father (from a manuscript he wrote but was discovered by his daughter only after his death). I like the book and if you happen to recall Jack Benny I think you'll really enjoy it. What the man saw was 'the miser Jack Benny' crawling under the stall door to save a dime. Jack saw the smile on the man's face when he was recognized. You had to put a dime in the door to get it to open, so jack was reaching under the stall to get his wallet when a man walked in. This as it happened was something you don't see anymore, a pay-toilet. He hurried back to the restroom and looked under the door to the stall and saw his wallet laying there. One day (in real life) he had to use a public restroom and after he had left said restroom he missed his wallet. Benny created a character who was a penny pinching miser who drove an ancient car because he refused to pay for a new one, who paid his employees poverty wages who never let money go if he could help it.

In one account he relates an incident, I don't know if I can give the laugh value without giving a lot of explanation but I'll try. Benny himself was so believable that people simply assumed it was the real Jack Benny. The character he created, the stingy, age denying, miser who was actually just the opposite of Mr. There are for me memories and also reminders of that time. Benny (Benjamin Kubelsky) goes over his career. The humor may be a bit dated but it's some of the funniest humor out there. I would suggest that you go immediately and find some recordings of the radio programs and give them a listen. I don't know how many of you reading this remember Jack Benny.

Sunday Nights at Seven by Jack Benny