What we think of as Jack Benny today was something that evolved over a long period of time on radio. When Jack and his writers found something that brought laughs from the audience, they stuck with it as long as it worked.
Freddie was right. Attempts to go against Jack’s type were failures. One was in 1949 when Jack was hit on the head and became a wild spender. The writers hoped to mine a bunch of shows out of it, but gave up on the idea one week later. One said they just couldn’t write a non-cheapskate Jack Benny.
Another was Jack’s age. There was an attempt to push him past 39. It, too, failed. Just like Jack’s Maxwell, which mysteriously re-appeared in the later ‘40s after he gave up it during a war-time scrap drive, the idea was treated as it never happened.
Jack talked about “40” a number of times after the fact. One musing made its way into a column for the Bell Syndicate, published in Sunday newspaper supplements starting July 23, 1961.
39’s Find but 40? That’s Too Far
(Editor's Note: While Margaret McManus is on vacation, her column is being written this week by television comedian Jack Benny. Margaret McManus will resume her column next week.)
BY JACK BENNY
HOLLYWOOD—One way to stay young is simply to stop counting birthdays. I did that a long time ago.
It also is important to "think" young—stay active and surround yourself with young people. I have a friend, a motion-picture producer, who is in his 80s, but still one of the most youthful people I know.
He is vital and alive and he always talks about his next picture — not the one he just made or something that happened 20 or 30 years ago. It's deadly to make a habit of reminiscing: take it from me, there was no such thing as the "good old days."
Dennis Day calls me an "ancient Robert Cummings." You know. Dennis was a carefree bachelor when he joined the show and now he's married and the father of eight. He knows I would never fire an expectant father.
Well, anyway, when I come back on CBS-TV this fall I'll still be 39, and I have to say that sometimes it's a little hard to live up to the legend.
I look into the mirror some mornings and ask myself. "Just who do you think you're kidding?"
Then I shrug and think: "So I don't look 39; I don't look my right age either."
Now you can take that two ways, of course. But take it my way.
NOT HIS IDEA
Now. I hate to say this, but stopping the clock —deciding to be 39 for the rest of my life—actually was not a stroke of inspiration on my part. I wish I could say that was the case, but it isn't.
The truth is this: My writers and I liked the idea of a fellow being so vain that he would never admit how old he really was, so we made that a part of the "Jack Benny" character I played.
And I'm sure not many of you will remember this: the writers made me 36 first (to tell the truth. I can't remember how old I really was when I was posing on radio as a 36-year-old). Then they made me 37, and I stayed that age for a few years, then I became 38 and finally 39.
When we got to that number, I told my writers, "Fellows, this is it. We go no further."
And that's the way it stood until I made that awful mistake a few years ago and decided to turn 40. I never should have done it, but I guess I was just impressed by all the publicity it would bring the show.
My wife. Mary, tried to tell me I was making a big mistake, but I said I could be just as funny at 40 as at 39.
ASTONISHED AT RESPONSES
Well, we had a big 40th birthday party on one of the shows, and the next day the telegrams, letters and phone calls starting pouring in. I was astonished.
No one wanted me to become 40. They said that, at 39, I had given a lot of encouragement to people over 40 who didn't like to tell their true ages for all sorts of reasons.
One letter, from a woman, said, "Mr. Benny, for years I've been fibbing about my age because I don't look it and I don't feel it. You have given hope to all of us who are long on years but young in spirit for a long time, and now you are going to change it all. I. and thousands of others my age, wish you wouldn't."
I also learned at about that time there were clubs all over the country for "39-year-olds." The idea was that you couldn't get into clubs until you were 39, and you couldn't get any older as far as the club was concerned. And, Brother, did I hear from them!
So I did a lot of thinking and didn't mention "40" for a few weeks. Then I decided, what the heck, I'm a comedian, and nothing I do is supposed to make much sense — so I went back to being 39.
Thirty-nine is a funny and not quite “real” number; when you say you’re 40, it sounds like you’re over the hill. I’ve been 39 for almost 30 years, so I should know what I’m talking about.
Jack's analysis was right. People found “39” funny. They referred it in their own lives. Jack knew that. Knowing what got laughs was why he was on top for so many years.
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