All Roads Lead to Jack Benny

Let’s peer into the Tralfaz question box.

Today’s query comes from Kathy Fuller Seeley from Coldernell, Texas. “What is the ‘I Cook and Cook’ Show?”

There is a Jack Benny connection here, but we have to set things up.

“I Got to Cook and Cook and Cook” isn’t a show. It’s part of the lyrics for a jingle for Hunt’s Tomato Sauce that was big on television in 1954. It was so big the jingle singer, Peggy King, was offered a contract with Columbia Records. She was also hired for The George Goble Show for which she was nominated for an Emmy. Along the way she also made a guest appearance on the Los Angeles TV game show Musical Chairs where one of the regulars was Mel Blanc.

But Mel isn’t the Benny connection in this case.

Peggy appeared on an episode of the Jack Benny TV show in 1955. A gentleman named Marc Myers interviewed her several years ago for JazzWax.com. She brought up Jack in the interview.

JW: You also worked with your share of top comedians. Was that tricky — making sure you didn’t laugh too soon?
PK: Jack Benny was my favorite. The strange thing is he was anything but tight with his money. He was a very generous guy. I did a five-week tour with him. He thought I was a good straight-man. It was hard not to laugh at Jack.
JW: How did you avoid doing that and blowing his jokes?
PK: It has to do with being an actress. You develop a sense of timing. I learned my timing from Jack and Bob Hope. The trick is to listen very carefully to what’s being said, even though you’ve rehearsed it. When Jack or Bob delivered the line, I had a way of counting to myself, “One, two — then I’d make a little face,” which would compound audience laughter. You have to put the punch line out of your mind and imagine you haven’t heard it before. Otherwise, you’d instinctively telegraph it. Working with Jack was a little harder than most because he made those great faces on his own. So I had to avoid laughing and wait until he finished completely before making my face. I also did this with TV, in general. I just thought of it as radio with everybody staring at you. I got to the point where I didn’t think about the lens much. I just thought about what I was doing.

Peggy King is yet another in show business who has a tale similar to what you’ve read from others on this blog, that Jack Benny was a great person, a generous man, with an expert sense of comedy timing. Her show with Benny and guest star Art Linkletter is on line.