Writing and Reading With Jack Benny

When Bill Morrow and Ed Beloin left the Jack Benny show during the war, they were replaced with five different writers (which dropped to four within weeks when Cy Howard left).

Why did Jack double the number of writers?

He actually answered that question in an interview with the appropriately named Interview magazine.

Fred Allen and the Maxwell came up, but the interviewer seems to have shied away from some the usual questions that, sometime, Jack grew tired of answering. In this feature piece from the January 24-29, 1944 edition, he’s asked about books and music. There’s some familiar biographical material, and a couple of jokes about his latest trip to entertain the troops.

This is one of a number of occasions where he expressed his like for the works of Canadian humourist Stephen Leacock.

The Joke’s on Him
Funny Business Made Jack Benny a Network Favorite But He Likes Serious Books, Music
By Gretta Baker
BEING a radio “funny man” is no joke, according to Jack Benny. It means plenty of hard work.
Jack Benny’s program goes on the air Sunday night at 7 (EWT). But work on the program begins Tuesday morning.
I talked with Jack during his last visit to New York, and he explained how it happens. “I meet with my script writers Tuesday morning. I used to have two writers, but now I have four.”
“Why so many?” I had to ask.
“Well, I figured I’d play safe. You never can tell when Uncle Sam may decide that he needs a couple of husky fellows. Actually, though, writing a show like mine is a tough business. It takes a lot of bright ideas to keep it running week after week and year after year. Each writer contributes something to the final product.
“Then it’s a cooperative job,” I remarked.
“Exactly. For example, one fellow may get the idea for the show. He’ll work out the situation around which we’ll build the program. Another may write the dialogue, and a third may supply some of the gags. Of course, I try to throw in a few ideas myself.”
This was a triumph of understatement, for Jack Benny works as hard as any of his staff in planning, writing, and polishing the script. I saw an example of this as I watched the rehearsal in New York that Sunday afternoon. The script was two minutes over time, and Jack was in a huddle with his writers. What to cut, was the problem. One laugh depended on another. So Jack and his writers went through the entire script, carefully gauging the possible effect of an omission here or there. After thirty minutes of hard work the script was ready for air.
Meanwhile, the cast had gone out for lunch, so my interview with Jack Benny was resumed. He had recently returned from overseas where he had entertained our fighting men on the battle fronts. His troupe included Larry Adler, harmonica player; Jack Snyder, pianist; Wini Shaw, singer, and Anna Lee, actress. They played in all kinds of weather, indoors and out. At one spot along the Persian Gulf the audience sat in the sun for an hour and a half with the temperature at 140 degrees. Jack and his companions wore khaki while traveling and civilian clothes for the performances.
In Egypt Jack rode a camel, although he said he preferred his old Maxwell. He also played his violin for the Sphinx. But he didn’t say how his efforts were received. Probably in silence!
In reply to a question about his itinerary, Jack Benny said, “I followed the same route as Wendell Willkie, although I didn’t go to Russia or China. But I met many of the same people he did. Now I have a greater appreciation of his book One World and a deeper understanding of his viewpoint expressed in that book. I can highly recommend One World.
“I spent some time in the Holy Land and was greatly impressed by the co-operative farms. I think I could read the Bible now with a new interest.”
Following up his lead on books, I wanted to know more about Jack Benny’s reading tastes.
“A great many fine books are coming out of this war,” he continued. “One of my favorites is William L. Shirer’s Berlin Diary. I generally read a bit before I go to sleep. Of course, for that purpose I like something light. I am very fond of Robert Benchley and Stephen Leacock. They are two of the world’s best humorists, in my opinion.”
In music Jack Benny prefers symphony to opera. He is familiar with all the classic composers, for he once studied to be a concert violinist. On the lighter side he enjoys the music of Irving Berlin and George Gershwin. He was enthusiastic about the musical hit, Oklahoma! now playing on Broadway, the music for which was written by Oscar Hammerstein, 2d, and Richard Rodgers.
He likes music on the phonograph and radio, too. He also is a mystery fan and enjoys Ellery Queen and Inner Sanctum. His famous feud with Fred Allen is just a gag. It started when they both worked for the same agency. Fred and Jack are really great friends. But now Fred Allen may have cause for complaint, because two of his actors have joined the Benny show.
Jack Benny started his theatrical career at the age of fifteen. He took a job in the orchestra of a vaudeville theater in Waukegan, Illinois, where he went to high school. The theater closed the following week. (Jack insists he had nothing to do with that!)
Jack got into World War I via the Navy. He was immediately assigned to the Great Lakes Review, a sailor’s road show, where he had a chance to capitalize on his theatrical talents. Benny returned to vaudeville after the war. It was during a vaudeville engagement in Los Angeles that some movie scouts saw his act and offered him a part in the Hollywood Revue of 1929. After this first success he appeared in Chasing Rainbows and The Medicine Man for MGM.
Jack Benny left Hollywood for New York to take a leading role in Earl Carroll’s Vanities. It was a lucky move in more ways than one, for it started Jack on his radio career. He first appeared with Ed Sullivan but soon became a network star in his own right.
The Waukegan Jester likes to share the credit for his show with his leading lady, Mary Livingstone, who in private left is his wife. He met Mary at a dance in Los Angeles and married her in 1927. She was not a professional at that time, but in working with Jack she has become one of radio’s leading comediennes. In 1934 the couple adopted a daughter, Joan Naomi, then only four months old.
Jack Benny’s father is now living in Chicago. Until last year he kept up his little haberdashery in their home town of Waukegan. He loves to tell the neighbors about his famous son Jack, and they love to listen. Like millions of others, they are all Benny fans.

Note: This story comes from the wonderful Benny scrapbook collection kept by fan Barbara Thunell.