Benny's urbane brand of humor quickly established him as a star attraction at the large vaudeville houses, where he earned $750 per week. Unlike the zany comedians of the day he dressed in dapper street clothes and presented himself as a vain sophisticate. Throughout the 1920s Benny honed his comic skills, perfecting his timing and developing a suave stage personna. It was also at this time that he changed his name to Jack Benny so that audiences would not confuse him with another vaudevillian, Ben Bernie. Benny-Fiddle Funology.' He now considered himself a comedian and the violin became merely a prop. Aside from his new act, Benny was given the lead in a comedy skit called 'Izzy There, the Admiral's Disorderly.' Following his discharge Benny returned to vaudeville as a single act, 'Ben K.

He became an instant hit with enlisted men and joined The Great Lakes Revue, which toured most major cities in the Midwest.

In one early performance Benny's violin actīombed so he started telling jokes. It was not until Salisbury was forced to return home after a year and he teamed up with Lyman Woods that the act was booked in large towns and Benny began to introduce humorous musical numbers into the repertoire.ĭuring World War I Benny enlisted in the Navy and soon became a performer in camp shows at the Great Lakes Naval Station. Their act was billed as 'Salisbury and Benny: From Grand Opera to Ragtime.' He reluctantly had changed his name, which he felt was too similar to that of violinist Jan Kubelik, to Ben K. Shortly thereafter Benjamin went on the vaudeville circuit with the leader of the Barrison Theater Orchestra, Cora Salisbury. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), he was a poor student and an incorrigible clown, and in 1912 he was expelled from high school. Early CareerĪt the age of 15 Benjamin was offered a job at Waukegan's Barrison Theater playing violin in the pit for vaudeville and stage shows. Considered something of a prodigy around his home town, he played as a member of a musical group at various town and social functions. Benjamin, the eldest child, had no desire to enter his father's business, but he had a natural talent for music which his parents encouraged by purchasing a small violin for him and paying for expensive lessons. After marrying Emma Sachs four years later he opened a small haberdashery shop in Waukegan. His father, Meyer Kubelsky, was a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant who arrived in New York in 1889. Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky on February 14, 1894, in Waukegan, Illinois. A master of comic timing, Benny changed the nature of the weekly comedy show on radio and his likeable skinflint stage personna delighted audiences in the United States and around the world. Comedian Jack Benny (1894-1974) was one of the top stars of radio, television, and stage in a career which spanned over 50 years.

Sunday Nights at Seven by Jack Benny