Jack Benny was one of the most beloved stars of both the Golden Age of Radio and the Golden Age of TV. Born Benjamin Kubelsky, he underwent a couple of name changes in his career. By the time he became “Jack Benny” he was established in the comedic character that millions of Americans would come to know and love.

In reality, Jack was nothing like the character he played on stage – vain, self-important and the ultimate skinflint. Much of the humor in sketches on both radio and television centered on these less than admirable qualities. But Jack didn’t mind that the jokes were usually on him. He was known to say that he didn’t care who got the laugh as long as the show was funny.

Jack never aged past 39. He had celebrated his 39th birthday on his show and didn’t want to celebrate 40. He didn’t think 40 was a very funny age and so he continued to be 39. It became another one of Jack’s running jokes and trademarks.

Another was his violin. In reality, Jack started playing the violin at age 6 and was accomplished enough to make his living at it in his early days.

Perhaps Jack’s greatest talent was his ability to get a laugh by saying nothing. With pregnant pauses, facial expressions and hand gestures, he cracked up the audience and the laughs were sustained and even increased with the length of the pause.

Possibly the best-known pause and subsequent punch line came when a mugger demanded of Jack “Your money or your life”. Jack paused and looked at the studio audience. Getting no response after a few moments, the mugger rasps again, “Look, pal! I said your money or your life!” to which Jack snaps back, “I’m thinking it over!”.

If you have a yen to return to the days of genuinely funny comedy, then I have found some great clips for you to watch.

You can watch an entire Jack Benny program by clicking on these links in sequence:

JACK BENNY & LIBERACE PART 1 Watch for a guest appearance by Bea Benederet as a telephone operator

JACK BENNY & LIBERACE PART 2 Hilarious look into the home life of Liberace

JACK BENNY & LIBERACE PART 3 Watch Jack play violin in concert with Liberace

These links will take you to a film of Jack, Mary Livingstone, Don Wilson and Eddie Anderson as Rochester as they broadcast Jack’s radio show:

Jack Benny from Camp Haan 1942 Part 1

Jack Benny from Camp Haan 1942 Part 2

I found this under the Humor section at Senior Resource:

The people who are starting college this fall across the nation are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.
Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.
The CD was introduced before they were born.
They have always had an answering machine.
They have always had cable.
They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.
Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
They can’t imagine what hard contact lenses are.
They don’t know who Mork was or where he was from.
They never heard: “Where’s the Beef?”, “I’d walk a mile for a Camel”, or “de plane Boss, de plane”.
They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. even is.
McDonald’s never came in Styrofoam containers.
They don’t have a clue how to use a typewriter.

J. Williams

The problem is that all those things are much more true than they are funny. The world is changing so quickly now that most of the population do not know what life was like before the invention of television. Notice that the majority of the points made up there have to do with entertainment – and the television has been the most important single factor in the explosion of entertainment that occurred in our lifetimes.

Every generation sees change; new ideas and inventions have always come along and altered the way we see the world. But our generation has seen more change than any other and most of it has been through the television. If the pace of change continues to accelerate, what will the world be like fifty years from now? And will new generations not understand things that were common knowledge only ten years before their time?

Sometimes I look ahead to such things and am glad that I won’t be there to find out the answers.

“America’s oldest teenager”, Dick Clark, is selling a lifetime of memories.

Fifty years after the first “American Bandstand” show aired, the 76-year-old Clark is auctioning off some impressive music memorabilia including a bass guitar played by Beatle Paul McCartney and a harmonica played by Bob Dylan. You can read more about the auction here.

Dick Clark is well-known for his years as the host of American Bandstand, the show our parents didn’t want us to watch (making it all the more attractive). In addition, he had success hosting the game show $25,000 Pyramid. His Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve debuted in 1972 and has become a tradition that continues to the present. Although Dick suffered a stroke in 2004, he struggled back to return as host of the New Year’s special in 2006. Many stroke survivors praised him for being a role model for those dealing with recovery from stroke.

Dick Clark is famous for his longevity, youthful appearance and energy. Although slowed by the stroke, Dick has battled bravely back and has been in front of the cameras doing what he does best: entertaining.

Dick Clark’s 77th birthday is Monday, November 30th so we here at Golden Agers would like to wish him a happy birthday a little in advance.

On this date in 1902, a legend was born.

Ed Sullivan was an entertainment writer and sports columnist for a New York newspaper The New York Daily News when CBS asked him to host a weekly Sunday night variety show on TV. Stiffly awkward in front of a camera with no acting or performing talent of his own, and possessing odd vocal mannerisms, Sullivan seemed a strange candidate for a TV host. But the show that started out as The Toast of the Town lasted 23 years on network television.

The Ed Sullivan show (as it became known in 1955) was watched by entire families every Sunday night for over two decades as Sullivan showcased talent that appealed across the generations. Sullivan’s genius lay in his ability to spot new talent, to introduce it to America and then simply step out of the spotlight.

Sullivan garnered the widest audience by booking acts of every type and genre, introducing comedians, classical ballet and pop stars all in one show. It was on The Ed Sullivan show that the Beatles made their 1964 American television debut. And who can forget Topo Gigot and Senor Wences?

Sullivan took a fatherly authority over the acts on his show, demanding changes in suspect lyrics and those who defied his demands never appeared again. The Doors and Jackie Mason were banned after such incidents.

But Sullivan stood strong against sponsors who opposed featuring black performers, booking and showcasing The Supremes, Louis Armstrong, Richard Pryor, The Jackson 5 and many others. In the end, America benefitted greatly from his courage and principles.

I miss 8:00pm, Sunday nights with Ed Sullivan. It was an exciting hour, a family hour, an educational hour and an entertaining hour.