“Believe it or not, but this television business has more angles in it than a geometry book. Some of the angles offer a lot of swell possibilities. For instance, there is an excellent chance of improving on radio comedy. Up to now we have had to depend on innate humor and catchy delivery to get the laughs. Pretty soon we will have our faces to help us. At least, we hope they’ll be of some help.” — Jack Benny in 1935.
“Hors D’oeuvre: a ham sandwich cut into forty pieces.” — Jack Benny
“…I, in my radio character and to a lesser and to a lesser extent in my movie character, am a combination of all the unattractive, small, nidgy-nadgy, laughable, ridiculous characteristics which Mr., Mrs., and Miss America run across daily in friends, relatives, ex-boyfriends and neighbors. I’m a tightwad. I fancy my violin playing, when actually I’m incapable of mastering Little Nellie’s First Music Book, let alone ‘Love in Bloom.’ I’m a braggart about physical and romantic prowess or else I’m the type that all girls are safe with. I’m not grotesque, nor villainous, nor idiotic. I’m merely a combination of small, unattractive traits, slightly exaggerated. And that’s why I’m funny, or at least I think so.” — Jack Benny
Source: Mary Mayes (1939)
Then and Now: Benny‘s former mansion at 1002 N. Roxbury Dr. in Beverly Hills. He lived there from the 1950s to the early 1970s or thereabouts.
