Radio Archives is proud to count the International Jack Benny Fan Club as one of the newest members of the Pulp Book Store! The Fan Club’s store features 39 Forever: Second Edition, Volume 3 written by Laura Leff and Martin Gostanian. This book is part of a series that focuses on Benny’s career and illustrates the impact that he had as a comedian and an individual on the entertainment industry and society at large. In the following interview, Laura and Martin discuss their personal interest in Jack Benny as well as the Fan Club itself and the importance of Jack Benny to fans, listeners, and Pop Culture Enthusiasts today.
Radio Archives: First, could you share something about yourself and how you developed your interest in Jack Benny?
Laura: The short version is that it all started for me with the 1958 Warner Brothers’ cartoon The Mouse That Jack Built. It portrayed many of the classic radio characters as mice, and included a rare live-action sequence with Jack at the end. Later, I was drawn to reruns of Jack’s programs on a Detroit station in the late 1970s, and then decided it was high time to start the Jack Benny Fan Club.
Martin: Along with family, friends and my mother’s cooking, my earliest memories starting in the early 1960s revolved around and were defined by television. To be sure, I loved to read and my interests were varied, from history to math. But when it came to TV, I was just simply obsessed by it, there’s no other way to put it. Through it all, my preferences always lead to comedy, physical as well as verbal and literate humor. My first memory of Jack Benny was his weekly TV series in 1963 when it was on Tuesday nights right after Petticoat Junction – that is why I usually watched it. I will admit I gravitated to whatever physical comedy and sight gags that Jack would either instigate or had become the butt of, but it wasn’t until I had become fascinated with what was dubbed “old-time radio” that was resurfacing on local radio stations in the late 1960s that I really first discovered who Jack Benny really was.
It was when I was becoming more mentally discerning that I had latched onto Jack’s deft comedic skills. I started to fathom his virtuosity and his escalated absurdist vision of the world he inhabited, which constantly plagued him and bordered on the surreal. This rewarded audiences with not only what he espoused but also how he expressed his finely calculated wit. Such was the sum total of his greatness as a communicator. I had grown to understand and cherish the subtleties as well as the broad mental conjuring that only Benny’s radio comedy could evoke so superbly and unfailingly – and which had been translated so organically and envisioned so imaginatively when adapted for television. As a writer, I also have a true reverence for the scribes Benny employed who helped shape, hone and perfect Jack’s peerless humor for the ear as well as the eye.
In adulthood, I appreciated most the genuineness and universality of his comedy that other more astute pundits and mavens of comedy have already attested more eloquently and precisely. After over 45 years, the more I listen and watch Mr. B, the more I am in sheer awe of his depth, influence and humanity.
Radio Archives: What is the background/history of the International Jack Benny Fan Club?
Laura: I started the club when I was 10, and have to credit Jay Hickerson for giving it the first boost of publicity. Once upon a time there was no Internet (*GASP!*), and you had to get the word out by connecting to other people and groups who were interested in the same kinds of things that you were! Through 32+ years of accumulating members, shows, information, technology…progressively everything comes together. Today we have an extensive Web site, monthly chats, a newsletter that is published three times per year, audio and video libraries, and lots of resources to help members connect with the things they love most about Jack Benny, his life, and his work.
Radio Archives: What do you think there is about the legacy and work Jack Benny has left behind that still makes him popular today?
Laura: The major factor is that his comedy was based on character, not topical humor. Everyone still knows someone who is cheap, who thinks they do something very well (like play the violin) when they really don’t, someone who is silly and naive (like Dennis), etc. The characters are people to whom you can relate immediately without running for Wikipedia (“Who was Wendell Wilkie again?”). I have had many members tell me how they enjoy listening to the shows with their children, and even use them as bedtime stories.
Martin: Jack’s esteem in the pantheon of American entertainment is celebrated to this day for a variety of reasons. First and foremost was his “everyman” character persona that was so empathetic, sincere and endearing to audiences. His comic logic of inflating his own sense of self and in reacting to the inanities of life that unmercifully and hilariously confronted him revealed his mastery of humor and his ingenuity in connecting with audiences. On a larger scale, Jack’s influence and legacy stemmed from the acknowledged achievements that he innovated or epitomized on radio: character-driven humor, the running gag and the ensemble comedy.
Admittedly, there are a good many people, mostly under thirty, who have never seen or even have heard of Jack Benny. However, when they delight in the uproarious antics of sitcom favorites such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends and 30 Rock, they indirectly know who Jack is because he set the standards for the character-driven, ensemble comedy. And when these same deprived viewers are treated for the first time to Jack’s unique brand of humor, whether from radio or TV, they most always are rewarded with belly laughs, a true sense of appreciation for such a comedic talent and an earnest desire for more Mr. B.
By far the greatest testament to Jack’s comedy legacy is readily apparent in late night network talk shows. As learned author and television scholar David Marc observed in his essay, “Lending Character to American Comedy,” hosts such as Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett, David Letterman (and more recently Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien) are “heirs to the mechanics of the Benny inheritance.” He perceptively noted that these stars (and well as other post-primetime “desk-and-sofa” scions since Marc’s 1993 observations) have developed their own versions of the “Benny stare” to minimally express “their personal aggravation with onstage occurrences” and in beseeching viewer support, all while “creating identity with audiences and picking up laughs in the bargain.” In one regard they are like Benny in that each is an “everyman” who tries to make sense of the world around them, all while juggling the vainglorious as well as the self-deprecating within their comic repertoire. Carson was the most vocal on air about his love for Jack and the influence Benny’s comedy wielded in shaping Johnny’s own comic vision, which in turn still serves as the hallmark for any successful comedy-variety talk show on late night TV.
Radio Archives: Comedy is a slippery slope as far as timeliness. Does Benny’s work transcend that and if so, what about his work appeals to a modern audience?
Laura: Many things don’t age well because people simply don’t understand them any more, or can’t relate them to their own personal experience. For example, consider immigrant humor of the early 20th century. People understood it in the context of that society, and experiencing it today can provide a sociological study of how people were struggling to make the transition into American society. Yet the Irish washerwoman or the Yiddish peddler is largely an artifact of the past, inspiring question marks over the heads of most people who don’t have a first-hand memory of the Reagan administration (and many who do).
While you get the very occasional topical joke on Jack’s program, it’s in the larger context of character with which people can connect. Stinginess aside, who doesn’t laugh at Jack playing a broken-down Tarzan opposite Carol Burnett as his put-upon Jane? It’s still character-based, with the humor of a robust young couple growing older in amusing ways.
Martin: The timeliness of Jack’s comedy lies in the individuality of Jack’s persona and how he is simply trying to rationalize the world around him, regardless of the scenario. How Jack interprets and reacts to a situation or a condition under one pretense while cleverly revealing his true motivation or hidden agenda resonates with and relates to audiences across all generations because it speaks to our emotional make-up and traits in its many shades through the prism of human behavior.
On the whole, people aspire to the same things Jack does: we want to be loved, we want to excel, we want to be respected, we want to know the how and why of situations affecting us, etc. His comic slant is predicated on and motivated by these universal desires and goals. Moreover, Jack’s exaggerated and likeable comic outlook was tinged with self-deprecating humor, yet he carried the veneer of a vulnerable, genteel and harmless fussbudget. The dynamics of Benny’s outward appearance clashing but coexisting with his visceral inner agenda only enhanced the hilarity. Again, comedy emerging out of a well-developed character.
This contrasts to comedy that heavily relies on topical references that are soon dated and eventually rendered arcane or obtuse. True, Benny did use topical references and idioms of the day, but the contexts were so broadly used that latter-day audiences unfamiliar with such timely citations could usually get the gist of the joke or outrageous allegory regardless of the era when they first occurred or still had prominence in the then-current culture.
Jack Benny endures as an eloquent comic presence and influence who appeals to modern audiences because he was most human and humane of them all in the 20th century. And thanks to the wonders of digital entertainment and the internet, Jack will continue to attract, amuse and amaze legions of new fans in the generations ahead.
Radio Archives: What is the goal and purpose of the Fan Club as well as your mission in terms of sharing Jack Benny with today’s listeners/readers/fans?
Laura: We are a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit, with the official purpose being to educate people about the life and work of Jack Benny and his associates. We do so by preserving and making material available through our libraries, online resources, and other publications. We also do ongoing research for books such as the 39 Forever series and the newsletter to provide a growing body of knowledge about Jack Benny, expanding the context of understanding who he was as a person, an artist, and one of the foremost comedians of the 20th century.
Learn about one of the greatest comedic talents in history by visiting the International Jack Benny Fan Club’s page in the Pulp Book Store!
While we’re almost halfway through the current football season, hard to believe, fans who cannot get enough of the sport should know that season three of The League is now out on home video.
The box set includes the following Special Features:
