A note of historic interest, in just 3 days of the airing of this episode will be Jack's birthday. Let's just say that he would be 39 for the 6th time. Do the math. In the spirit of Valentines Day, we kick off with a special musical number from Glenn Miller.
Remember, this is supposed to be a retelling of the ski trip that happened the previous week. Don Wilson does a good job of filling everybody in, so I'll let him do it. The story picks up as the crew begins their second day of the trip. They actually make it to the park, but not without some new adventures and laughs. And just where is Dennis... Oh, you'll figure it out.
Some corrections and Extra Notes
In an earlier podcast, I left show notes about Jack Benny's early life. I was partly in error on a point or two. In particular I mentioned that Sadie Marx, Jack Benny's wife, was a sister to the Marx Brothers. She was related, but likely a cousin. I also uncovered various occupations that Jack's dad was supposed to have held from saloon keeper to merchant and habadasher. I would imagine that he held all of them at one time or other . I also may have mentioned that Jack Benny was born at home. I don't remember where I learned that bit of misinformation. It was certainly a common practice in earlier America. Jack's mother had a notion that being born in a city was prestigious somehow. When labor pains set in, she had her husband drive her from Waukegan to Chicago so Jack could enter the world there.
Here's a few more bonus trivia facts about Jack Benny's early life. His sister Florence was born 2 years after Jack. He was given a violin to learn to play at age 6. It was customary for youngsters of that age to learn an instrument, usually the piano or violin. Jack took to it quickly but he didn't seem to be much interested in any type of discipline. He even left school early. Not that he couldn't play the violin, he just wasn't interested in pursuing it. His family wanted him to enroll in a school that taught kids music, but he refused to go.
As a youth Jack tried his hand at the family business but was a failure at it. He wanted to get involved in vaudeville but early on his parents held him back. He had to turn down the chance to tour with the Marx Brothers. He did take part in a couple acts and had some success. I mentioned that his stage name that he used was Benny K, it was actually Benny K Benny. Another well known performer named Ben Birney thought it was too close to his name and had Jack change it.
From 1912 until he went into the Navy, Jack was in vaudeville. His mom died of cancer in 1917, when Jack was 23. Shortly after that time he joined the Navy.
I also mistakenly mentioned that he was in a unit that was assigned to a Special Services unit, a unit that supplies recreation and does performances for troops. Well, I'm not sure exactly what his unit was, just a regular Navy unit stationed at Great Lakes Naval Base in Chicago, Illinois. In the off hours, To keep busy when times were slow, Jack and others would put on shows for each other in the unit. He was picked more or less at random to read some lines for a bit that kept growing. He would also play his violin for the sailors but found that he could get laughs from doing some wisecracking. That advice was said to be given to him by Pat O'Brian. They were both stationed at the same base at the same time, but later Pat O'Brian would claim that he never met Jack until years after their Navy days. That mystery sailor got Jack's comedy career started.
After Jack's stint in the Navy, he went back on the vaudeville circuit. The Ziegfeld Follies were all the rage back in those days. Jack didn't perform on the Follies, instead in New York there was the Vanities, considered to be even more racy than the Follies. According to an interview, Jack claimed to be making around $1500 per week performing in the Vanities. That was quite a lot of money for those days. When Jack left for radio his weekly income was down around the $300 range. A cut in pay, but in retrospect a much wiser career move. During this time touring in vaudeville, before his radio career, Jack made friends with most of the big names in entertainment. George Burns, Zeppo Marx and others. In a previous podcast note I told how Jack and Sadie Marx had met at a family Passover celebration. It was not love at first site. Sadie and a group of her friends went to Jack's show and heckled him. Later, while performing with his friend George Burns and his new girlfriend, Gracie, Jack ran into Sadie backstage. He barely noticed her, thinking she was just another fan hanging around the stagedoor. He had another girl he was interested in at the time, Mary Kelley. Somehow, Jack eventually discovered Sadie Marx working at the May Company. Jack would later claim that it was love at third sight. He would hang around her sales counter and in order to not cause problems, would by hosery from her so he could be around her more.
Jack and Sadie were married in January 1927. Depending on the source either the 14th or the 24th. Jack's stage act was continuously evolving. Possibly inspired by George and Gracie, he wanted to incorporate a dumb girlfriend into the act. He hired an actress for the part. While touring the west coast she became sick and Sadie had to fill in. The act, with Sadie got rave reviews. When the actress finally could rejoin the act, the shows weren't quite as good, so Sadie took over more often.
One of Jack's many friends was a young news columnist who also had a radio program, Ed Sullivan. Jack did a few things for Ed and later helped to get Jack on as the Canada Dry show host. Sadie Marx was also quickly brought on to reprise her role as Jack's dimwitted girlfriend. In some of the early radio shows she does sound a little spacy, but not in the vein of someone like Gracie Allen.
Sadie soon took on the stage name of Mary Livingston and provided the show with some of the singing talent and did well in performing the skits that were a mainstay of Jack's radio shows all through his radio career. Sadie found herself wildly popular with fans and signing her autographs as Mary Livingston. She would eventually have her name legally changed.
One last bit of trivia for the day. Jack's old girlfriend, Mary Kelley, would later turn up after a failed relationship and needing work. Jack put her to use doing a variety of voice acting jobs in his shows. She actually makes some appearances in the featured Jack Benny shows I'm doing this month. She plays the parts of the hotel clerk in episode 2, the lunch counter girl in the third episode ,and the nurse in the fourth episode.
That's all I wanted to set straight for now. If any listeners have any tidbits for me, use the comment feature or send me an email directly. I'll make note of any comments, corrections or updates on a future podcast.
