It's the birthday of comedian Jack Benny, born Benjamin Kubelsky, in Waukegan, Illinois (1894), the son of a saloonkeeper. A violin prodigy, he hoped for a concert career, but by 17 was playing in vaudeville, where he discovered he was not only musical, but also very funny. His NBC radio program, The Jack Benny Show, began in 1932 and ran weekly for 23 years. His onstage character was a sour, exceedingly stingy person, a remarkably awful violin player, and perpetually 39 years old.
...an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing the violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with a highly popular comedic career in radio, television, and film. He was known for his comic timing and the ability to cause laughter with a long pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated summation "Well! "
His radio and television programs, popular from 1932 until his death in 1974, were a major influence on the sitcom genre. Benny portrayed himself as a miser who obliviously played his violin badly and claimed perpetually to be 39 years of age.
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