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Classic Movie Travels: Jack Benny Jack Benny Bejamin Kubelsky was born in Chicago, Illinois, on February 14, 1894, to Meyer and Naomi Kubelsky. Meyer worked as a saloon owner and haberdasher, emigrating to the United States from Poland; Naomi emigrated from Lithuania. Though Kubelsky was born read more

Carole Lombard and Jack Benny in Ernst Lubitsch’s “To Be or Not to Be” To Be or Not to Be (1942) is a comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Carole Lombard and Jack Benny The film is set in Warsaw, Poland, before the 1939 Nazi invasion. Josef Tura (Jack Benny) and his read more

Share This!“They named a brandy after Napoleon, they made a herring out ofBismarck and the Führer is going to end up as a piece of cheese!”  — Colonel Ehrhardt Jack Benny, who had been a successful vaudevillian and was, in the 1940s, a great success on radio, had less success in the movies, read more

Celebrating Waukegan’s Favorite Son… On a 1959 episode of the television game show What’s My Line?, Jack Benny quipped the following line to host John Charles Daly: “They say that I put Waukegan on the map. But it’s not true. Waukegan really put me on the map. That’s a fact.” read more

  Jack Benny was one of the most beloved entertainers in the world by the time he brought his talents to the small screen in 1950 with The Jack Benny Show, the television version of his popular radio show.  The Jack Benny Show ran until 1965, which gives a good indication of the show’s read more

Jack Benny was born on Valentines Day in 1894, which makes this the 120th anniversary of his birth. Today I share the love for both the special day and the special man with three old-time radio episodes of the Jack Benny Program.  Naturally, all three commemorate both occasions.  Enjoy!  These read more

The 1941 film "Dive Bomber" was released a month or so before the attack on Pearl Harbor. America wasn't yet formally involved in World War II, and it would be a few more months before Jack Warner started strutting around the Warner lot in the Army officer's dress uniform he'd had custom tailored in read more

The 1941 film "Dive Bomber" was released a month or so before the attack on Pearl Harbor. America wasn't yet formally involved in World War II, and it would be a few more months before Jack Warner started strutting around the Warner lot in the Army officer's dress uniform he'd had custom tailored in read more

Let’s continue our Christmas 2013 celebration showcasing more traditions from yesteryear – in this case when families gathered around a box, listening and imagining.  That would be old-time radio, as we refer to it today, and featured here is one of the most popular entertainers ever. read more

The short intro: For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, Old Time Radio is the phrase generally used to refer to the time when radio was (mostly) live, and was full of a variety of different shows, as opposed to simply being a means for record labels to use robots to promote the top records o read more

The short intro: For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, Old Time Radio is the phrase generally used to refer to the time when radio was (mostly) live, and was full of a variety of different shows, as opposed to simply being a means for record labels to use robots to promote the top records o read more

My Review —Hilarious Show / Depressing Sponsor—  Your Bogie Film Fix:  out of 5 Bogies! Director:  Ralph Levy The Lowdown In a sketch on The Jack Benny Show, notorious gangster ‘Babyface’ Bogart (Humphrey Bogart) is arrested and interrogated by Det. Lt. Benny (Jack Benny). What I read more

“I was born in Waukegan a long, long time ago. As a matter of fact, our rabbi was an Indian.” -Jack Benny Benjamin Kubelsky, or “Jack Benny,” as we know him, was born in Waukegan, Illinois on Valentine’s Day, in the year…. well, all you need to know was that he read more

The title character in Sidney Lanfield’s comedy THE MEANEST MAN IN THE WORLD  (1943) is not particularly mean, nor is he particularly funny. But he is portrayed by the otherwise hilarious Jack Benny, with support from radio sidekick Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, and those are reasons enough to read more

By the time "City for Conquest" was released in 1940, James Cagney had been one of the top stars at Warner Bros. for ten years. The movies that put him in that position -- tough, fast-moving urban dramas with lots of action and snappy dialogue -- were so successful financially, artistically and cult read more

By the time "City for Conquest" was released in 1940, James Cagney had been one of the top stars at Warner Bros. for ten years. The movies that put him in that position -- tough, fast-moving urban dramas with lots of action and snappy dialogue -- were so successful financially, artistically and cult read more

Benny was able to attract guests who rarely appeared on television. In 1953, both Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart made their television debuts on Benny's program. read more

Groucho does a spoof of You Bet Your Life on this 1955 episode of The Jack Benny Program. Jack's sporting quite the hairdo in this one! That's prolific television actress Irene Tedrow standing next to Benny. read more

Marilyn Monroe and Jack Benny are low-key, but silly in this 1953 sketch on Benny's show. Monroe sings Bye Bye Baby, from her recent movie, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Though she wasn't known for her pipes, I think she could really sell a song. read more

Mel Blanc somehow manages to keep a straight face while he demonstrates the hilarious sound effects he created for Jack Benny's radio show. Benny and Johnny Carson can't help collapsing into giggles. Check out that shag carpeting. It looks like they're sitting in a grassy field! read more