Rochester and the Future

Rochester was a great character.

Sure, Jack Benny paid him next to nothing, and had him do just about everything for him. But Rochester really ran Benny. He wore his clothes, drank his booze, smoked his cigars, sat around if he didn’t feel like working, ran around with women when the plot called for it (and faithfully stuck with Susie when the plot called for it), and caroused with his Lodge buddies, winning cash from them on occasion. In the later years, the writers gave Rochester a buddy (played by fine character actor Roy Glenn) to set up his jokes.

Eddie Anderson’s distinctive voice no doubt helped his character, too, though I understand he exaggerated it for radio.

Benny showed his genius at casting when Anderson’s one-shot appearance as a stock porter character was so popular, he found a way to put him in the show on a regular basis. Anderson soon got cast in Benny’s films and critics praised him. There were even gags on the Benny show about Rochester’s fan mail.

When the Benny series went off the air in 1965, Rochester appeared in a couple of specials. Benny died in 1974. Here’s what Anderson was doing post-Benny. This syndicated column appeared January 5, 1976. Anderson died in 1977.

Eddie's Not Living In Past At 70, He Wants To Produce
By NANCY ANDERSON
Copley News Service
HOLLYWOOD — Eddie Anderson, who for almost 30 years as the sassy “Rochester” served Jack Benny well, turned 70 last September, but he’s not living in the past. Instead, he’s looking forward to producing a picture from a script he's writing.
“It’s a comedy,” says Anderson, “Integrated.
“I can’t tell you whether it’s going to be like ‘Uptown Saturday Night’ or any of the other recent comedies or not because I haven’t seen them.”
A studio or so is interested in the project, Anderson continues, and so are one or two friends with money who might bankroll the production.
Asked whether the humor in his picture will be more visual or verbal, the comedy star doesn't seem to understand the question. One gets the feeling that his hearing’s not perfect, but, otherwise, Anderson seems to be in lively good health.
He says he is, continuing:
“I’m 70 years old, but a man’s true age depends on how he feels, and I feel fine.”
Anderson, whose pebbly voiced, pert-mannered Rochester made him almost as well known as Jack Benny during the three decades they worked together in radio, television and films, was born in Oakland, Calif., and entertained in vaudeville and nightclubs before Benny’s radio show signed him for a single performance. “I first met Mr Benny when I went for an interview for the part,” Anderson remembers.
“It was supposed to be a one shot, but he got so much mail about me that he kept me on.”

As a result of his success with Benny, Anderson not only worked in pictures with his radio and television boss but also appeared in a number of others without him, notably “Jezebel,” “Cabin in the Sky,” and even “Gone With the Wind.” His final film appearances to date were in “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World” and “Divorce, American Style,” in which he played a cameo role.
“But,” Hollywood's most uppity butler assures, “I get calls to work in various television shows, and someday I may do a spot.”
Since Anderson eschews the paths of glory, living quietly in a solid but less than fashionable section of Los Angeles and ignoring the premieres and glittering party scene, it’s a miracle that his fan mail finds him.
Yet he receives encouraging quantities of it, much from young people and college students to whom he’s a new personality.
Since Rochester was a comedy figure and a white man's domestic, one would imagine that he’s been target for the kind of criticism that killed “Amos and Andy.” But Anderson says all the mail he's received has been complimentary.
“Mostly people just write and say they’ve enjoyed this performance or that, or that they thought Rochester was funny,” he claims.
Like most rational fathers, Anderson is extremely proud of his children, including two daughters in college, a son in high school, and another son who was a star athlete until he fractured a knee.
“That’s my son Billy,” he says. “He made quite a mark in sports. He played at Compton (Calif.) Junior College, and then he played two seasons with the Chicago Bears. And he was on the all-Army team.
“Billy had been hired by the Chargers, but then he fractured his knee and that put him out of football. “He was a good all-around athlete. “Now he’s manager of a maintenance company, and he’s doing well at that, too.”
So far, none of Anderson’s children has shown any desire to become a performer, though their father thinks. “All of them have indications of talent. “But I don’t care whether they go into show business or not.”
Asked how he spends his own free time, Anderson claims, “I stay pretty busy working on my script.”