From Cuca….monga to Manhattan
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| Jack Benny Show cast |
Cast of the Jack Benny Show. From L-R (cast names): Rochester Van Jones, Dennis Day, Phil Harris, Mary Livingston, Jack Benny, Don Wilson, Mel Blanc
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| Seinfeld_051205113923469_wideweb__300×375.jpg |
Seinfeld cast: George, Kramer, Elaine, Jerry
I was going to post an old piece called The Evolution of the TV asshole. While I was writing the intro and acknowledging that I’d neglected a few people, most notably Jack Benny, I started to get obsessive about the common traits between The Jack Benny Show (which ran on radio from about 1933-1955 and then had a successful run on TV from about 1950 to the mid-1960s) and Seinfeld.
Like Jerry Seinfeld, Jack Benny played himself (or a variation of himself). He was Jack Benny, radio (and movie, if you asked him) star. He was cheap, petty and narcissistic (While Jerry was a neat freak and even went to extremes to lower his pant size with a marker..Benny was infamous for being the stingiest man alive and for never revealing his real age. Every year, he remained 39).
The show took place in a variety of settings. Sometimes it was on stage during the production of their radio show…or it was backstage, or at the local diner. They also often met at Jack’s home for parties and rehearsals.
Jack’s regular cast:
He had his Elaine in Mary (Mary Livingston– Benny’s real life wife)who played an uncertain role on the show. She wasn’t Jack’s girlfriend yet they dated and flirted and she often talked about other men.
Phil Harris, the drunk, horny, illiterate (really..his illiteracy was a regular joke) orchestra leader was sort of the Kramer of the show.
Dennis Day, the show’s singer, played a dimwit of a man-boy who lived with an overbearing mom. He was a constant thorn in Benny’s side. Although he and Jack were by no means friends, Day did have a lot of George (ie. idiot, loser) qualities.
Rochester, Benny’s personal assistant, was a cross between Newman and George. Although Benny was his boss, Rochester never shied away from taking on his boss and repeatedly chastising him for being cheap.
Don Wilson was the show’s host. He was sort of like the anchor or straightman (although it can be argued that Benny was actually the straight man. He was a generous comedian who often let his cast get the big laughs at his expense). Wilson was a constant target because of his weight, but perhaps his most notable contributions (aside from his often hyperbolic, sarcastic Benny intros to start the show) were his often clever ways of working plugs for the show’s sponsors into the show. In this sense, the show does anticipate Seinfeld where products were sometimes worked into the storyline (notably the Junior Mints episode).
Supporting Cast
Most of us know all about the remarkable supporting cast on Seinfeld. Through it’s 9 year run, many bit/supporting characters stole the show (Soup Nazi, Kenny Banion, Micky, The Costanzas, J Peterman, Newman etc…..). The Jack Benny show also had a steady stream of outstanding supporting characters who often got more laughs than the star.
Mel Blanc- The famous Warner Bros. cartoon voice actor was on Benny’s show for years doing a variety of bit parts and sound effects. His most notable characters included Benny’s tortured violin teacher, Professor Leblanc, the suicidal department store clerk who is haunted by Benny every xmas, Benny’s parrot, and he was the ‘voice’ of Benny’s beat up old car.
There was the loony old Mr Kitzell, Dennis Day’s bully mother who repeatedly abused Benny, poor Ed guarded Benny’s vault which was located miles beneath his house. Ed had not left his post since at least the U.S. civil war., real life comedian Fred Allen had a long standing fake feud with Benny. Benny even devoted an entire episode to mocking Allen’s show. There was Mabel and Gladys, the incompetent, gossipy Telephone operators who dated Benny a few times. Tough guy actor Sheldon Kearns had a recurring role as the hilarious ‘racetrack tout’. The character would pop out of nowhere and hassle Benny in a menacing, tough guy whisper: “Psst… hey bud.. watcha doin?” He’d then offer Benny advice on everything but horses (eg. in one bit he told Benny what candy to get from the snack machine). There were also many celebrities who appeared. The most famous was Oscar winning actor Ronald Colman who had the misfortune of living next door to Benny.
Probably the most famous bit player was Frank Nelson who played the infamous “Yeeeeeeessssssss” man (The Simpsons’ played a few homages to Nelson over the years). Nelson was in some ways, the Newman of Benny’s existence. Whether he was a waiter, train ticket seller, department store clerk, he existed to make Benny’s life miserable. He was constantly rude and sarcastic to Benny. Their heated interactions often made for some of the show’s best comedy. The show even had recurring characters who were–with a few exceptions– unseen and unheard. The most famous was Frank Remley, the guitarist in Phil Harris’ band. Remley was always late, he dressed poorly, drank a lot, chased skirts, and often ended up in jail. In fact, the entire band were routinely mocked as being half-assed musicians and drunken, criminal misfits.
It would be naive to suggest that Seinfeld is a direct descendant of the Jack Benny show (we can’t overlook the influence of Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David’s own experiences along with other old comedy shows like Sgt Bilko and Abbott and Costello–which were directly mentioned in one Seinfeld episode. In fact, the conversations between George and Jerry were often like the absurd and abusive exchanges between Abbott and Costello), but there’s no doubt that the Jack Benny show, with it’s steady diet of cynical put-down comedy, self-reflexivity (the Benny show performed live and they became famous for making light of their flubs), dysfunctional characters, and a humour that often quietly traipsed the border of the risque, was a major influence on not only Seinfeld but - for better and worse - on many modern sitcoms.
* as a bit of postscript, if anyone knows the clever kid’s TV program, Jack’s Big Music Show, the show is littered with Jack Benny references. The main characters are called Jack, Mary and Mel. They had a southerner named Phil on once (Phil Harris came from the south) and there is the regular appearance of the Swartzman Quartet, barbershop-style singers directly based on the Sportsmen Quartet who regularly appeared on the Benny show.
There are hundreds of Jack Benny’s radio shows online that you can download and You Tube has some nifty archival film footage of the gang performing in the 1940s.
Gee, now that I’m in TV geek mode, maybe I’ll sit down and write my Columbo-Socrates piece.