His first special (i.e., non-regular series show) was March 18, 1959, with guests Mitzi Gaynor, Bob Hope, and Senor Wences; the title is unknown. His last special was January 24, 1974, "Jack Benny's Second Farewell Special." Guest stars were George Burns, Johnny Carson, Redd Foxx, and Dinah Shore.

His first show was October 28, 1950, and his last was April 16, 1965 (reruns continued until September 10, 1965).

None of Jack's television specials are available on video, as far as I am aware, and very few collectors are fortunate enough to have any copies. One option is the special "A Love Letter to Jack Benny", aired on NBC on February 5, 1981. This special is hosted by George Burns, Bob Hope, and Johnny Carson, and features many excellent outtakes of Jack's television specials. Please consult our Tape Trading List.

February 14, 1894 in Chicago, Illinois. His parents lived in Waukegan, Illinois, thus his claim to it as his hometown.

Jack's original family house was at 224 South Genessee Street, Waukegan, Illinois over a haberdashery in Waukegan. The building was demolished in 1993, and was a vacant lot as of 1995. He did live in New York while the radio program was done there, but I do not have an exact address. The house that is most associated with him is 1002 North Roxbury, Beverly Hills, California.

Jack's first radio show was "The Canada Dry Ginger Ale Program" on May 2, 1932. His last radio show was "The Jack Benny Program" (for Lucky Strike) May 22, 1955. There seem to be two versions of the latter show available, as I have heard one with Mary's lines dubbed in, and one with another actress (unidentified) playing Mary.

P.M. on December 26, 1974 in his bedroom at home at 10231 Charing Cross Road, Los Angeles, California.

Jack Benny is buried in the mausoleum at Hillside Cemetery, 6001 Centinela Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. He is in the area called "Graciousness". Go in the front door of the mausoleum (behind Al Jolson's sarcophagus), turn right, go down the hall, turn left, and he and Mary are in the large black Italian marble sarcophagus at the end of that hall.

The first four are officially out of print, but they are fairly readily available through used book stores and Ebay. The last can be ordered directly from the Museum of Television and Radio. Please see our links page for more information.

He was born Benjamin Kubelsky. He initially performed in vaudeville as a violinist under his real name, but violinist Jan Kubelik requested that he change it. He then switched to Ben Benny (or Ben K. Benny, or Ben K. Bennie), and used it with partners Cora Salisbury (Salisbury and Benny) and Lyman Woods (Bennie and Woods: From Grand Opera to Ragtime). Bandleader (and violinist) Ben Bernie took issue with that name. The last name of Benny was taken from his then-stage name.

Jack was playing "The Rosary" on the violin to a group of servicemen, who were not particularly appreciative of the classical music. Jack's friend, Pat O'Brien (later known as an actor in his own right), walked on stage and whispered, "For heaven's sake, Ben, put down the damn fiddle and talk to 'em," in Jack's ear. Jack stopped playing, turned to the audience, and ad libbed the following joke: "I was having an argument with Pat O'Brien this morning..

Jack claimed on one of the radio shows to be 36. It got a laugh, so they continued using it. Later he became 37, then 38, then 39. There were plans to have a big production for Jack's 40th birthday show, but people started contacting him that he shouldn't turn 40, as it was too big of a milestone. Thus on the 2-14-54 program, they celebrate Jack's 40th birthday.

Here is the story based on George Burns' recounting of it. In 1938, George Burns and Gracie Allen were having dinner with a man named Albert Chapereau and his wife at "21." His wife was sporting a very wide diamond bracelet. As a small child, Gracie had pulled a boiling pot off the stove, and it had left permanent burn marks on her arm. Because of this, she always wore long-sleeve blouses.

Jack first appeared on radio on Ed Sullivan's New York interview program on March 29, 1932. His first line was, "This is Jack Benny talking. There will now be a slight pause while you say, 'Who cares?'"

If you are a member of the IJBFC, we have a tape library of well over 400 hours of Jack Benny programs, appearances, tributes, and related interviews. You can also trade tapes with other members through our Tape Trading List. There are a number of CDs available that have upwards of 100 programs per CD; I have seen them mainly on Ebay, but haven't actively sought them myself. There are also a several companies that distribute old radio programs on CD or cassette.

The television shows are harder to come by than the radio shows. There are several companies that have a few of the shows in their archives, and tapes show up regularly on Ebay. Please see our Tape Trading List and our links page for more information.

If you are a member of the IJBFC, you can be included on our Tape Trading List, which is available both on the Web and in our newsletter. This list includes people who are interested in trading audio and/or video tapes.

The International Jack Benny Fan Club® was officially founded on January 1, 1980 by Laura Lee (now Laura Leff) in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was ten years old at the time.

My mother loved to tell the story about how, when I was three years old, she sat me in front of the television to watch "Jack Benny's Second Farewell Special" (his last television special). "Watch this, Laura, he's a very famous comedian," she said. I watched for a few minutes, and then ran out of the room bored. One of the cartoons that I would watch as a youngster was the 1948 Warner Brothers' "The Mouse That Jack Built.

There are three stories about Jack's hand gestures, particularly about his hand on his cheek. The first is that Jack went on stage without his violin for the first time, and he didn't know what to do with his hands. So he started gesturing and visually punctuating his lines, which developed into the variety of hand gestures. This is in fact not true, as George Burns recalled that pushed Jack to leave the violin behind.

There are a variety of observations on this topic. Jack did study violin and perform in vaudeville for a time as a pure violinist. However, he enjoyed performing more than practicing, so never became the Mischa Elman (a Jewish violin virtuoso in the early part of the century) that his parents had wanted. Jack said that if he tried to play badly, it wouldn't be funny. He claimed that he would try to play as well as possible, but create comedy in his missing the mark.

The quest for Jack Benny paper material has always been a difficult one. You can find lots of things on personalities like the Beatles, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and others, but asking a dealer if he or she has anything on Jack Benny will always get you an odd look (and often a bad Jack Benny impersonation). The best option I've found recently is Ebay.

No, that connector is used to send signals into your television. We suggest connecting headphones to a headphone jack, if your model has one.

It's a relative term. From what I've learned, it's when a civilian (audience member, friend, etc.) suggests a line that care should be taken to ensure it's not someone else's. Stolen is far worse than hackneyed. Every comic has hackneyed material in their act. You try to minimize it because it makes you appear unoriginal, but most material 'becomes' hackneyed over time.

Jack Johnson is a surfer, singer/songwriter, and film maker. Jack has made such surf films as 'Thicker Than Water' and 'September Sessions.' Jack's debut album is 'Brushfire Fairytales.'

Jack has said (in Guitar World Acoustic issue #53) ... "When I was in high school I used to be into heavy metal and punk rock. I had a punk cover band; we'd do Bad Religion and Fugazi songs". The name of this band was 'Limber Chicken'. When Jack was at school at UCSB, he was in a band called 'Soil'. He played backup guitar, and Soil has been described as a fun Isla Vista party band.

Jack has said in many interviews that bands like Fugazi, Jimi Hendrix, Ben Harper, G. Love and Special sauce, and many others influence him and his music.

Josh is his road manager. Emmett Malloy was the original manager, and still does most managing things.

Mason Jennings (majority of Oct/Nov Midwest and East Coast 2001 tour and Feb 2002 shows, and June 15, 2002) Glen Phillips (former lead singer from Toad the wet Sprocket, opened for Jack on 10.6.01, 2.16.02, and a few others)

Jack released a music video for 'Flake' to MTV in mid-June 2002. The flake video is a collage of performances, however, the main performance of the video with Ben Harper was taken from the 4.26.02 performance in San Diego at the Rimac arena.