The Secret Desire of Jack Benny

During the ‘50s and ‘60s, Jack Benny repeatedly told newspaper reporters if he had to do it all over again, he would be a concert violinist and not a comedian.

It appears, though, he had a different desire in the days before he did violin theatre performances.

The North American Newspaper Alliance revealed it in its Hollywood column of January 20, 1944. Interestingly, whole chunks of this column appeared a year and a half later. And the columnist is quite correct. Jack talked in print about retiring a number of times in the ‘40s, then did a 180 when television came along.

Jack Benny Keeps Amiable by Keeping Always Busy
By HAROLD HEFFERNAN
HOLLYWOOD (NANA) — Jack Benny is going to retire and have himself some fun. He said so yesterday. He said so a year ago, five and 10 years ago. Not right away, of course. He's too busy at the moment. He's been too busy for the past 30 years. But some day, and mark it well, he's going to get clear away from gag writers, radio programs, movies and such and really relax.
At least that's what he says. Personally, we think Benny is just talking through his cigar again. Benny is the sort of fellow who'll pass out of the picture with a gag on his lips and his feet on the chalk marks before a camera. He can no more relax than you can lay your hands on a 50-gallon drum of gasoline tonight. It isn't in the cards, and, secretly, no one knows it better than Benny.
We had a talk with Jack in his make-up for one of the most fantastic characters of his career. It's that of an angel, complete with wings, for "The Horn Blows at Midnight," which he's doing for Warner Bros. As The Angel Least Likely to Be Missed," Jack is sent down from heaven by Chief Guy Kibbee to destroy the earth by the simple act of blowing his trumpet at midnight.
Actually, he never gets around to the act, as the world is deemed worth saving after all. But before getting to the fadeout enough screw-ball things happen to give us a clue as to why Benny won't be retiring this year, or next, or even next. The reason is this: Jack Benny gets too much fun out of his work to give it up.

He admits he must be busy or he gets irritable. That's why he crowds his days with writers' conferences and work, and his nights with benefits and shows for soldiers. It beats sitting around with the boys at Chasen's or the Brown Derby.
Jack isn't interested in the past, doesn't care to talk about it at all. The superb work he did entertaining troops in North Africa and Italy is never mentioned. We did, and he quickly shifted the subject. All that happened yesterday. Jack has his sights on tomorrow.
Because he’s been a reigning radio favorite for more than a decade, many people overlook the fact that Waukegan-born Benny Kubelsky (his real name) has been a screen star for even longer 16 years to be exact. He has, then, been "in the money" for long time, and money, as such, has long ceased to interest him. But Jack knows if he stops work tomorrow he would toss some 100 people, his official family, out of work.
Like most everybody who reaches the top of his line, Jack entertains a secret ambition. He wants to be a movie director. With certain qualifications, he is quick to add.
"If I thought I'd be a good director," he told us, "I'd try it tomorrow. But I don't want to be just another director. I'd want to know I'm bringing something to the business that wasn't there before." Many of his closest friends are directors. He studies their actions on the set. It he has an idol among directors it is Mervyn Le Roy. When Le Roy was making “Random Harvest,” Benny was a visitor two or three times a week, always observing and always question questions of Le Roy as to why he did this or that.
Benny thinks the most enviable fellow in the entertainment field to day is Elliot Nugent. This for the reason that Nugent is equally adept at acting, writing or directing.
“If Elliot sees a good part in a New York play, he takes it,” said Jack. “When the run is over and he has an urge to direct, he hops a train for Hollywood and picks up a megaphone. He never will be in a rut and, of course, you can say the same thing for Orson Welles.”
All of which may be by way of warning you that you needn’t be surprised when, some day in the not too far distance, you see on the screen of your favorite theatre: "Produced by Jack Benny. Directed by Jack Benny. Starring Jack Benny. Written by Jack Benny.
He thinks that would be just tops.

Jack Benny never retired. He was set to do a television special (the script had been written and guest stars hired) and was to appear on the big screen in The Sunshine Boys when he died after Christmas in 1974.