Holly A. Pearse
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781904113454
- eISBN:
- 9781800340336
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781904113454.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter discusses the Jewishness of modern radio comedy. The question of whether Jack Benny — who in a career spanning from 1932 to 1965 was internationally renowned as a star in the classic ...
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This chapter discusses the Jewishness of modern radio comedy. The question of whether Jack Benny — who in a career spanning from 1932 to 1965 was internationally renowned as a star in the classic radio period and, later, the ‘golden age’ of television — was a Jewish comic or not is hard to answer. The belief among popular culture critics that his screen and radio persona had no ethnicity and was part of a more universal strain of comedy as radio sought popularity outside urban centres has been expressed in many summaries of his life and career. However, scholars looking to Jewish cultural studies more than to media studies for analytical perspectives have argued that celebrities play a role in the construction of American Jewishness, even those ethnic performers who appropriate apparently non-ethnic stage personas. Performance can encode so-called ‘Jewish sensibilities’, though in a highly commodified form largely produced by generations of media portrayals of Jewishness. The chapter examines this thesis by giving special attention to Jack Benny in performance on the radio at a formative time for mass culture.Less
This chapter discusses the Jewishness of modern radio comedy. The question of whether Jack Benny — who in a career spanning from 1932 to 1965 was internationally renowned as a star in the classic radio period and, later, the ‘golden age’ of television — was a Jewish comic or not is hard to answer. The belief among popular culture critics that his screen and radio persona had no ethnicity and was part of a more universal strain of comedy as radio sought popularity outside urban centres has been expressed in many summaries of his life and career. However, scholars looking to Jewish cultural studies more than to media studies for analytical perspectives have argued that celebrities play a role in the construction of American Jewishness, even those ethnic performers who appropriate apparently non-ethnic stage personas. Performance can encode so-called ‘Jewish sensibilities’, though in a highly commodified form largely produced by generations of media portrayals of Jewishness. The chapter examines this thesis by giving special attention to Jack Benny in performance on the radio at a formative time for mass culture.
Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520295049
- eISBN:
- 9780520967946
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520295049.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Radio
Jack Benny became one of the most influential entertainers of the 20th century - by being the top radio comedian, when the comics ruled radio, and radio was the most powerful and pervasive mass ...
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Jack Benny became one of the most influential entertainers of the 20th century - by being the top radio comedian, when the comics ruled radio, and radio was the most powerful and pervasive mass medium in the US. In 23 years of weekly radio broadcasts, by aiming all the insults at himself, Benny created Jack, the self-deprecating “Fall Guy” character. He indelibly shaped American humor as a space to enjoy the equal opportunities of easy camaraderie with his cast mates, and equal ego deflation. Benny was the master of comic timing, knowing just when to use silence to create suspense or to have a character leap into the dialogue to puncture Jack’s pretentions. Jack Benny was also a canny entrepreneur, becoming one of the pioneering “showrunners” combining producer, writer and performer into one job. His modern style of radio humor eschewed stale jokes in favor informal repartee with comic hecklers like his valet Rochester (played by Eddie Anderson) and Mary Livingstone his offstage wife. These quirky characters bouncing off each other in humorous situations created the situation comedy. In this career study, we learn how Jack Benny found ingenious ways to sell his sponsors’ products in comic commercials beloved by listeners, and how he dealt with the challenges of race relations, rigid gender ideals and an insurgent new media industry (TV). Jack Benny created classic comedy for a rapidly changing American culture, providing laughter that buoyed radio listeners from 1932’s depths of the Great Depression, through World War II to the mid-1950s.Less
Jack Benny became one of the most influential entertainers of the 20th century - by being the top radio comedian, when the comics ruled radio, and radio was the most powerful and pervasive mass medium in the US. In 23 years of weekly radio broadcasts, by aiming all the insults at himself, Benny created Jack, the self-deprecating “Fall Guy” character. He indelibly shaped American humor as a space to enjoy the equal opportunities of easy camaraderie with his cast mates, and equal ego deflation. Benny was the master of comic timing, knowing just when to use silence to create suspense or to have a character leap into the dialogue to puncture Jack’s pretentions. Jack Benny was also a canny entrepreneur, becoming one of the pioneering “showrunners” combining producer, writer and performer into one job. His modern style of radio humor eschewed stale jokes in favor informal repartee with comic hecklers like his valet Rochester (played by Eddie Anderson) and Mary Livingstone his offstage wife. These quirky characters bouncing off each other in humorous situations created the situation comedy. In this career study, we learn how Jack Benny found ingenious ways to sell his sponsors’ products in comic commercials beloved by listeners, and how he dealt with the challenges of race relations, rigid gender ideals and an insurgent new media industry (TV). Jack Benny created classic comedy for a rapidly changing American culture, providing laughter that buoyed radio listeners from 1932’s depths of the Great Depression, through World War II to the mid-1950s.
Cynthia B. Meyers
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823253708
- eISBN:
- 9780823268931
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823253708.003.0006
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
This chapter analyzes the advertising industry debates over the use of entertainment and “showmanship” as a selling tool on radio. Early in the radio era, admen debated about the usefulness and ...
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This chapter analyzes the advertising industry debates over the use of entertainment and “showmanship” as a selling tool on radio. Early in the radio era, admen debated about the usefulness and necessity of showmanship, fearing that entertainment could undermine advertising's status as a respectable business. Humor, in particular, threatened to overthrow the rational, reason-why, product-centered strategies of the hard sell proponents. However, the soft sell proponents considered entertainment as a powerful attention-getting device. The most prominent of the soft sell agencies was Young & Rubicam (Y&R), which became a major force in radio. They promoted integrated commercials, which wove the sponsor's name or product mentions into the program text. The Jell-O Program Starring Jack Benny, beginning in 1934, included Y&R's best-known use of integrated commercials.Less
This chapter analyzes the advertising industry debates over the use of entertainment and “showmanship” as a selling tool on radio. Early in the radio era, admen debated about the usefulness and necessity of showmanship, fearing that entertainment could undermine advertising's status as a respectable business. Humor, in particular, threatened to overthrow the rational, reason-why, product-centered strategies of the hard sell proponents. However, the soft sell proponents considered entertainment as a powerful attention-getting device. The most prominent of the soft sell agencies was Young & Rubicam (Y&R), which became a major force in radio. They promoted integrated commercials, which wove the sponsor's name or product mentions into the program text. The Jell-O Program Starring Jack Benny, beginning in 1934, included Y&R's best-known use of integrated commercials.
Will Friedwald
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- June 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190882044
- eISBN:
- 9780190882075
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190882044.003.0012
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
During Christmas 1964, three members of the Cole family were in the hospital: Nat, in Los Angeles, and his father, in Chicago, were essentially on their deathbeds, but Nat’s oldest child, Carole was ...
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During Christmas 1964, three members of the Cole family were in the hospital: Nat, in Los Angeles, and his father, in Chicago, were essentially on their deathbeds, but Nat’s oldest child, Carole was bringing a new life into the world. Nat’s granddaughter, eventually named Caroline Clarke, was born on Christmas 1964, but Nat wouldn’t live to meet her. In the meantime, Nat’s last album, L-O-V-E, was successfully released in January. His father died on February 1, followed by Nat in the early hours after Valentine’s Day. This chapter talks briefly about his posthumous legacy but concludes with an account of his funeral in 1965, in which the primary eulogy was given by friend Jack Benny, who said, poignantly, “Time, as always, will work its healing ways. And I know that someday the dew drops will glisten on the ‘Ramblin’ rose’ again. The ‘Ballerina’ will dance again, and the ‘Mona Lisa’ will smile.”Less
During Christmas 1964, three members of the Cole family were in the hospital: Nat, in Los Angeles, and his father, in Chicago, were essentially on their deathbeds, but Nat’s oldest child, Carole was bringing a new life into the world. Nat’s granddaughter, eventually named Caroline Clarke, was born on Christmas 1964, but Nat wouldn’t live to meet her. In the meantime, Nat’s last album, L-O-V-E, was successfully released in January. His father died on February 1, followed by Nat in the early hours after Valentine’s Day. This chapter talks briefly about his posthumous legacy but concludes with an account of his funeral in 1965, in which the primary eulogy was given by friend Jack Benny, who said, poignantly, “Time, as always, will work its healing ways. And I know that someday the dew drops will glisten on the ‘Ramblin’ rose’ again. The ‘Ballerina’ will dance again, and the ‘Mona Lisa’ will smile.”
