The Man Who
Kept America Laughing
A gentle man on the inside and a loud one on the outside,
Jack Benny entertained generations until
pancreatic cancer pulled him from the stage
By Jocelyn Selim
CR | Page No. 42 | Winter 2009
For more than
40 years, Jack Benny
entertained millions
of Americans with
his comic genius.
In March 1932, more than a decade
before launching his weekly TV
variety show, Ed Sullivan invited
an old friend to appear on his
radio program. At the time, radio
itself was relatively new—the
first broadcast stations were
only about a decade old—and
Sullivan’s friend, a well-known
vaudeville comedian, was hesitant
about appearing in this new
technological medium. His wife,
who fancied his voice as perfect
for radio, pushed him to accept
the offer.
Thus, on March 29, a rich,
velvety voice drifted across the
airwaves for the first time: “Ladies
and gentlemen, this is Jack Benny
talking. There will be a slight pause
while you say, ‘Who cares?’ ”
As it turned out, millions
of people did care. Barely a
month later, Benny had his own
show. And within two years,
polls showed he was the most
popular comedian in the country.
In Sunday Nights at Seven—a
book by Benny and his daughter,
Joan—a fan recounted how everybody left their windows open during
warm weather in the 1930s in New
York City. “It didn’t matter how far
or fast I went, I knew I would never
miss a word of Jack Benny,” he
