Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky, on February 14, 1894 to Meyer Kubelsky and Emma Sachs of Waukegan Illinois. When six-year-old Benny displayed some musical talent on the family's piano, his father presented him with his first violin. Iin just a short time young Benny had become so adept with the instrument he was sent to study under Hugo Kortschak at the Chicago School of Music. However Benny was a disappointment to his family when he preferred to daydream rather than practice.

By age sixteen Benny had been expelled from Waukegan's Central High School and fired from his job at his fathers haberdashery and was now playing his violin in the orchestra pit of the Barrison Theater. When they played Waukegan, Mini Palmer, The Marx Brothers' mother and manager, became so impressed with Benny, she wanted to make him part of the their act. Benny's, parents told her no, he was too young to go out on his own.

In 1912 The Barrison was sold and closed. Needing money to support herself and her mother, Cora Salisbury, the piano player in the orchestra who had previously traveled the vaudeville circuit with her pianologues, persuaded the Kubelsky's to let Benny go with her on the vaudeville circuit. When they left Waukegan in September of 1912, the act was billed as Salisbury and Kubelsky: From Grand Opera to Ragtime but soon Jan Kubelik, an  established violinist, filed a grievance with the vaudeville booking agency and demanded that Benny change his stage name."Salisbury and Benny" then began playing theaters across the Midwest entertaining the audience with Cora's ragtime compositions like Ghost Dance, and Benny's rendition of "The Rosary". After playing for about a year the act broke up so Cora could care for her ailing mother.

While laying over in Waukegan, Benny's long time pal, Everett (Stub) Wilbur, who once worked in the Kubelsky store, introduced him to pianist Lyman Woods. With the foundation of an act, but needing a piano player, Benny teamed with Woods to form Bennie And Woods: From Grand Opera To Ragtime.

On September 9, 1917, after nearly five years together, they got their chance at the big time - playing the Palace Theater in New York - and bombed, although Variety reviewed it as a "Pleasing turn for an early spot..." Soon after they dissolved their partnership with Jack returning home to his ailing mother and Woods continuing to be a vaudeville pianist.

With America's entry into World War One, the recruiting posters catch Benny's eye, so he joins the Navy and gets stationed at Great Lakes Naval Station near his home of Waukegan. It was during this time that when not engaged in military duties like stacking wood, he teamed up with fellow servicemen and did shows for the other sailors. One night, while playing "The Rosary", a staple of his act from the beginning, one of Benny's pals (Probably Dave Wolff, but Jack sometimes says Pat O'Brian) walked on stage and whispered something in his ear to the effect that he was bombing, so Benny stopped playing and ad-libbs a joke. This results in a deal of laughter and was the first time that Benny had ever spoken on stage. 

When a notice was posted about "The Great Lakes Revue", a fund raiser for the Navy Relief fund, Benny and Edward Elzear "Zez" Confrey, a vaudevillian piano player, auditioned the act they had been playing for the other sailors, while waiting to rehearse Benny was offered a comedy line in a sketch with Bob Carleton. Dave Wolff liked his delivery and kept growing Benny's  part until the bit became 'the standout hit' of the show.

After the war, Ben K. Benny embarked on a solo act touring on the B.F. Keith, Interstate, Western and Orpheum circuits, mixing his violin playing with and increasing amount of comic patter. Starting February, 1920 while on the Orpheum Circuit, he was on the same bill as the Marx Brothers and became fast friends with Herbert "Zeppo" Marx.

The week of March 7th found them in Vancouver, British Columbia. David Marks, a local businessman interested in performers, invited the Marx Brothers to his home for dinner. Only Zeppo wanted to go and brought along his friend Jack telling him they were going partying and "meet a couple of cute numbers."

Jack was 26 years old when he met David's daughters, Ethel and Sadye and son Hilliard for the first time during the family's Passover diner. After dinner Sadye was to play the violin for the guests when she overheard Jack whisper to Zeppo, "Let's get out of here!" when Jack didn't want to listen to the young girl play, thinking it was an audition. She thought that Benny was a very rude man and at the next days performance she and her girl friends heckled Jack from the audience.

Eventually performer and violinist Ben Bernie took exception to the use of the name "Ben K. Benny", claiming it was too close to his own, so again Benny was faced with the need to change his stage name, while discussing the problem of a name with Benny Rubin, they were calling each other Jack, a name all sailors were then called, when it stuck them that "Jack Benny" would be a good name.

In 1922, Jack Benny was doing his vaudeville routine and plugging songs for Nathan "Ned" Miller, when his close friend and fellow vaudevillian, Nathan Birnbaum (also known as George Burns), had met Gracie Allen and starting a new act with her. After one of their performances, Jack, George, Gracie, and Gracie's roommate went to dinner. It was here that Jack was introduced to Mary "Bubbles" Kelly, a beautiful blonde Roman Catholic from Chicago and the next four years saw a continuing romance between Jack and Mary.

Jack and Sadye Marks met for the second time a couple of years later when Jack was playing in San Francisco. The Marks family had moved south and Ethel had married vaudevillian Al Bernovici of the violin act The Bernovici Brothers, but other than giving little notice to Sadye, nothing happened at that meeting.

Four years after their meeting, Jack and Mary Kelly had ended their relationship and she was married to another man. Sadye had moved to Los Angeles where she was working for theMay Company and was engaged to a law student, when her sister set her up on a blind date. Jack was so taken by his date that the he started showing up at the store, and for the next several days he couldn't even talk to her except to ask where the washroom was. Finally Jack asked her to dinner and they remained together the rest of their lives. Jack and Sadye were married in Chicago January 14, 1927.

Jack had been working steadily in theaters from the time that he got out of the Navy and was making quite a name for himself as a Master Of Ceremonies on the vaudeville circuits, when he began dabbling with movies. His first appearance was in a Vitaphone short called "Bright Moments", released in July 1928 and co-staring Sadye. Irving Thalberg, the "wonder boy" of MGM, signed Jack to a five year contract after seeing him on stage, and a couple of shorts and features quickly followed. "The Hollywood Revue of 1929", "The Song Writers' Revue", "The Rounder" and "Chasing Rainbows". This last feature didn't do so well at the box office and Jack was released from his contract after he did an uncredited cameo in"Children of Pleasure". 

While still in Hollywood Jack did "The Medicine Man" (Released June 1930) and then returned to the vaudeville stage. Not giving up on having a movie career, Jack made three shorts for Paramount in 1931,"A Broadway Romeo", "Cab Waiting" and "Taxi Tangle" before going back to New York to star in Earl Carroll's "Vanities." 

Jack came to the realization that the next big thing in show business was radio and left Carroll when "Vanities" went on the road. Columnist/broadcaster Ed Sullivan who was doing a sports program at the time, invited Benny on to his show of March 29, 1932. Jack said "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Jack Benny talking. There will be a slight pause while you say, 'Who cares?'" 

Over the years this story has been related as Jack's first appearance on radio, but that is not the case. Newspaper clippings credit earlier appearances including October 9, 1929 on the CBS Network's MGM Movie Club originating at KHJ, most probably to promote "The Hollywood Revue of 1929", and then September 3, 1931 on the RKO Theater Of The Air program on NBC. Also, in his book 'All My Best Friends', George Burns tells of when Jack did a 15 minute fill on a Chicago station with Benny Rubin sometime about October 8, 1931.

A person with the advertising agency representing Canada Dry Ginger Ale heard Sullivan's program and cared enough to get Jack as Master Of Ceremonies on a new show featuring bandleader George Olsen and his wife Ethel Shutta that would air twice a week starting May 2, 1932. 

The show was doing well with Jack as M.C. humourously plugging Canada Dry and introducing songs by the Olsen Orchestra with vocals by Ethel Shutta and Fran Fray, but a twice-a-week show eats up material faster than a writer can put it to paper. Sometime in August the show was running short and needed another 'bit'. Sadye, who had occasionally worked with Jack on stage, as his 'dumb dora' partner, was asked if she would do a few lines. She agreed and Jack with his writer Harry Conn created the character of Mary Livingstone from Plainfield, New Jersey and the rest, as they say, is history.

Jack had been on the air for just two years but was already on top according to a national poll that The New York World-Telegram published. During that time Jack's sponsor went from Canada Dry, who didn't always approve of the humourous jibes, to Chevrolet who thought music was better suited to selling their cars, and then on to General Tire who didn't really want to let Jack go when his contract expired and thought that after a short time with General Foods, he would be back selling their tires. They were wrong. "The Jell-O Program" would run for the next eight seasons over NBC airing Sunday night at 7:00 p.m., a time slot which he would occupy for the next twenty-one years.

The character that Jack portrayed on radio was very different from any other character at that time. His was "a highly faulty, very foolish, but still totally believable human being rather that a comic caricature." Many of the gags and jokes that made the show a success were based on this unique character. He was portrayed as a very stingy, difficult man, who thought that he knew everything. The real Jack Benny was also a very different boss, instead of demanding all the good gags, he let his cast take shots at him. As long as they were getting laughs on the "Jack Benny Program" it didn't matter to Jack who got the good lines, people would be talking about 'The Jack Benny program."

Moving the show to California in 1935 allowed Jack to make movies while at the height of his radio career. As the program evolved from featuring music with a bit of comedy, into a true situation comedy chronicling what was happening in Jacks fictional life, it was easy to integrate a promotion of his latest theatrical release. Films that didn't quite make a box office smash were a good source of material for the radio program and much laughter came from "Charley's Aunt" (1941) and "The Horn Blows At Midnight" (1945.) One film that never was ridiculed was "To Be Or Not To Be" (1942). This is partly due to the high quality of the work itself and partly to the fact that Jack's co-star, Carole Lombard, was tragically killed soon before the films general release. Lombard's death so devastated Jack, that he could not do that weeks show, and a musical replacement with Dennis Day and Mahlon Merrick was aired on January 18, 1942 instead of the program already prepared.

In 1937 a favourite feature of the Jack Benny program began, the Benny-Allen feud. Fred Allen, a close and long-time friend of Jack's and fellow radio show personality, had a young violinist, Stuart Canin on his radio show and mockingly instructed Benny on good violin technique, knowing full well that he would be listening and hoping that he would responded in kind on his own show. Jack took the bait and for ten weeks, the two battled each other over the airwaves. The feud culminated with Jack finally playing Shubert's "The Bee" on the air, but the animosity, jibes and purely funny characterizations would last forever. The public was fascinated by this chemistry between these two popular men and in 1940 Benny and Allen starred in the film "Love Thy Neighbor" The plot of the film revolved around the reconstruction of the feud. The picture helped to perpetuate the duel and it is considered a classic even today.

Some of the biggest laughs Jack ever got dealt with his characteristic stinginess. On one show in 1947 Jack had just borrowed Ronald Coleman's Oscar when he was held up by a man who said, "Your money or your life ..." He paused for a while and the man said, "Well?" Jack replied, "I'm thinking it over!", but the biggest laugh of the show was when opera singerDorothy Kirsten appeared. Announcer Don Wilson was praising her theater performance, talking about the technicalities of her singing, when Jack tries to join in the conversation only to be shut out by Mary's simple "Oh Shut Up" that brought down the house. So firm in the listeners mind were the characters, that simple pauses, hmmms and yipes would let the listener read more into the thinking of the character than pages of dialogue.

In 1939 Jack was in serious trouble, he and George Burns had purchased some jewellery for their wives that, unknown to them, was smuggled into the United States. Jack, refusing to admit anything to the grand jury, was indicted on three counts of smuggling, a Federal crime. If he fought the case and was convicted, he faced a Federal prison sentence. He was worried also about the effect the publicity would have on his sponsor even though he had one of the only "non-cancellable" contracts in radio. But General Foods reassured him that it would stand behind him come what may, and Jack bit the bullet. On April 4, 1939, Jack Benny appeared before Federal Judge Vincent Leibell to take his medicine. Benny was fined $10,000, and drew a suspended sentence of a year and a day in prison, along with a year and a day's probation.

When Jack began his association with Jell-O, the General Foods product was just sitting on the store shelves, but by 1942 the company couldn't keep up with the demand for this now household staple. With America`s entry into the Second World War came rationing of sugar and this was causing production difficulties so General Foods had Jack pitch their Grape-Nuts and Grape Nuts Flakes cereal from 1942 to 1944.

During the summer break of 1943, forty-nine year old Jack Benny may have been too old to fight, but that did not stop him from being a part of the war effort. Like many entertainers Jack had been going to stateside bases and entertaining soldiers for a few years, now he decided to do a nine week tour with the U.S.O. of Central Africa, North Africa, Egypt, the Persian Gulf, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Sicily and Italy. Along with him he brought Larry Adler, Anna Lee and Wini Shaw. While in Cairo, a special shortwave broadcast was made back to the states.

April 1944 saw Jack and Mary back in Vancouver where they had met twenty-two years before. The Benny Program was in town to kick off the "Sixth Victory Loan Drive". Jack and his gang helped raise $2,799,850 on the first day. Also on that particular trip, Dennis Day left the program to join the Navy for two years and bandleader Phil Harris' wife, Alice Faye, gave birth to their second child Alice.

Jack went out on tour again in the summer of 1944, this time with U.S.O. Troupe 278 consisting of Larry Adler, Carole Landis, Martha Tilton and June Bruner. This group would visit the South Pacific islands including Port Moresby, Australia, New Guinea, The Marianas, The Marshalls, The Gilberts, The Solomons, Kwajalein and Hawaii.

While on tour Jack's contract with General Foods expired, American Tobacco offered Jack "a deal he could not refuse", so Lucky Strike Cigarettes became his new sponsor starting with the 1944-45 season, when he got home from his tour, Jack, along with a new writing staff, dived right back into the work that made his radio show number one.

With the war over, Benny made one more trip for the USO, this time to Germany. Accompanying him were previous Tour veterans Larry Adler and Martha Tilton and they were joined by Ingrid Bergman who did a sketch based on Casablanca with Jack as well as some more dramatic bits.

Dissatisfied with his contract with American Tobacco because he was loosing money due to the high cost of production, Jack signed M.C.A Artists Ltd. to be his agents and in a deal with the MCA,  Benny would have a personal services contract with American Tobacco and a corporation, "Amusement Enterprises, Inc", would be formed to handle the show and any other properties. This would relieve Jack of the personal responsibility of managing the show. Benny owned 60% of the stock (3,000 Shares of 5,000), and his business manager Myrt T. Blum held 1,500 shares and would be President of the Corporation; 250 shares were held by Sylvan Oestreicher, an acountant at Olvany, Eisner and Donnelly a New York Law Firm and would be Vice President; Jacks attorney Loyd Wright held 250 Shares and would be the Corporations Secretary. All sharesholders paid $10 per share. Amusement Enterprises then contracted with American Tobacco to provide a complete radio show where American would supply the star for the next 364 weeks beginning July 1, 1947, for $27,500 per week for each show produced.

Amusement Enterprises produced "Let's Talk Hollywood" in 1947-48 staring Jack Paar, and the motion picture "The Lucky Stiff" with Dorothy Lamour, as well as invested in the stage productions of "Mr. Roberts" and "Anne of the Thousand Days".

In what is know as the CBS Talent Raid, CBS and MCA made arangements to purchase the Amos and Andy Show and began negotiations to purchase Amusement Entrprises with the idea of getting Jack Benny. In consideration of their historical relationship, Amusement Enterprises informed NBC of its dealings with CBS and offered NBC the opportunity to purchase the corporation. But since Jack Benny's Personal Services contract was not part of the deal with Amusement NBC wanted some guarantee that the transaction would be submitted to the IRS for a ruling on Capital Gains or Ordinary Income. When NBC wanted more time for its board to review the contract, negotiations broke off, and CBS were shown the NBC contract and agreed to it.

CBS purchased all the stock in October 1948 for 2.26 Million dollars and the Benny's filed the income  as long-term capital gain, but the IRS determined that 2.054 Million Dollars was compensation for for services, and so he ows them $236,382.81 

During negotiations for 1948-49 season, NBC had sent in former U.S. Attorney for New York, John T. Cahill as part of their team. Cahill had prosecuted Jack in the smuggling case and it cinched Jack's move to CBS where he stayed through the remainder of his radio career and most of his television years.

It was at this time that Jack also began thinking about doing a television show. He decided to do a test program to see how he came across on the tube. Again, Jack Benny made a sensation. The skills and techniques that had made him one of the greatest vaudeville performers and a top radio personality would soon make him into a television legend.

Just as he had done in radio, Jack redefined television comedy. Most shows then were just a collection of comedians and performers doing specific spots on the show, causing Fred Allen is quip "Television is a medium because anything well done is rare." Jack simply continued the format he had perfected on radio, that of a family of regular people and performers who interacted in well planned, humorous situations to create an excellent show for the audience.  

Jack's first regular television show aired on Saturday, October 18, 1950. One of the best things about being televised was that they could now portray real pictures of scenes and situations that had previously only been left to the imagination of the radio audience and the better examples of this are found with Jacks trip to Europe in 1956. However TV could get them into trouble with the avid fan as previously everyone had their own interpretation of Benny's world now the audience got to see it.  Of all the places in that world, none were more evocative than the epitome of Benny's frugalness; his vault. This elaborate sound construct was so imprinted on the listener, that anything that could be built would pale in comparison, or as Lucille Ball found out in 1967 on the episode of her "Lucy Show" where she tries to get Jack Benny's Account, they have to build one of the most expensive sets made for television.

When the United States became involved in the United Nations Korean Peace Action starting in June 1950, the United Service Organization was re-activated and many entertainers again went overseas to play for the troops, including a trip in July 1951 by Jack Benny and Errol Flynn. This is not as well remembered or publicized as the four days in February 1954 that newlywed Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMagio spent over there after the armistice was signed, but LIFE magazine has a large collection of photographs of Jack performing for the troops near Uijongbu.

In the early 1950's The Benny show was seen as a safe place for veteran actors to make their television debuts, knowing that Benny and his writers would do everything possible to make them appear at their best. Two of the most notable guests were Marilyn Monroe in September 1953, followed in October by Humphry Bogart.

In May 1955 CBS aired the last original Jack Benny Radio program, while 'The Best Of Benny' would continue for a few more seasons, the writing was on the wall that network radio was in its final days and television was not a passing fancy.  The work of having to write for both radio and television required Jack to hire 'The New Writers' and at 61, Jack was far from his 39 year-old self.

In January 1947, 

In 1961 Jack sold J. and M. Productions to MCA for stock valued at $2,750,000, this began a legal challenge between Benny and the Internal Revenue Service over how much tax he would have to pay. Benny won the landmark case.

In 1964 Jack was annoyed with CBS program chief Jim Aubrey and gave CBS an ultimatum, either pick up his option or he walked. CBS stalled and NBC signed Jack the next day, and once again was back at NBC.

In 1964 the Benny's purchased a winter home in Palm Springs from Tom and Anita May of the May Company department stores. They used the 5,700 square foot compound with a two bedroom 4,000 square foot main house and detached guest house until 1970.

When Jack's television show went off the air in 1965, despite his well established age of 39, Benjamin Kubelsky was now 71 and the show continued to draw in about 18 million viewers, but the network felt that Jack wasn't attracting the younger viewers that they were after, so after 33 years, over 900 radio broadcasts and 343 television episodes the Jack Benny Show was retired.

After he retired from weekly broadcasts, Jack continued to work just as hard as he always had. Jack had begun seriously practicing the violin again in the late 1950's and made special guest appearances at many of the great orchestra halls throughout the nation including the effort to save Carnegie Hall. Playing with many of the world famous orchestras and conductors. One of his favourite conductors, and great friends, was Zubin Mehta, who conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic. He and Jack played both venues together.

Jack also continued to make yearly television specials, and he discovered the joys of doing shows in Las Vegas. He became a favourite in places like Harrah's and Caesar's Palace. Jack had restarted his hour long specials in December, 1964 with "Jack Benny's Christmas Program". He then followed with a new "The Jack Benny Hour" in colour on November 3, 1965. He continued doing specials for NBC, averaging one per year and kept doing guest shots on various shows, such as The Tonight Show, Merv Griffin, and teaming with George Burns for "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour."

In 1965, Mary decided that she and Jack did not need the large Roxbury House and after almost 30 years in the residence, they moved to the penthouse on the 39th floor of the Century Towers at Century City. However, it never suited them and soon thereafter, they purchased a house at 10231 Charing Cross Road, not far from the original Roxbury house.

Now in his seventies, Jack continued a hefty schedule of globe-trotting, performing at symphony benefits around the world including Gotham City eventually raising almost $6 million for orchestras around the world. He played various hotels in Las Vegas, and appeared around the world for a variety of performances and benefits. In his show at the Montreal Expo '67, he included his grandson, Michael.

Jack's universally recognizable character was borrowed by multiple advertisers. In 1968, he pitched for Texaco with an ad campaign featuring him saying, "I'll try a gallon", a reference to his now legendary stinginess, indicating that he wouldn't try a whole tank of gas, and station signs imploring him to "Fill It Up, Jack". Jack also was contracted by the American Republic Life Insurance Company as the centre of a plan called Americare 39: Life Insurance at Jack Benny Prices. A large mailing package contained several glossy marketing pieces featuring Jack, 39 reasons that people should consider Americare 39, and a vinyl sound sheet with Jack promoting the plan. Also released was a brown plastic safe with Jack's face on the dial, promoted as "Jack Benny's vault". And The Longines Symphonette Society released "Golden Memories Of Radio", a collection of side-splitting humour, breathtaking adventures and suspense that brought terror to your heart narrated by Jack Benny. George Burns made a similar album, 'The Golden Age of Comedy' that featured a episode of the Fred Allen Show with Jack.

In spite of the fact that Jack on stage seemed 20 years younger than his actual age, offstage people could see the years starting to wear on him. Some recalled him looking "small" or "fragile" in the dressing room, and having some difficulty moving or walking. He once commented upon receiving an award, "I don't deserve this award. But I have arthritis, and I don't deserve that, either." However, when the curtain went up and the orchestra began to play "Love in Bloom", Jack straightened his shoulders and strode out onto the stage with ease.

March 20, 1968, The University of California at Los Angeles became the recipient of one of the greatest collections of show business memorabilia. Fifty years of Jack's life including 900 scripts, radio recordings, photographs and awards now reside in the UCLA special collections department.

Jack had a history of hypochondria; when he complained of abdominal pains in 1974, few close to him paid much attention to it. His special "Jack Benny's Second Farewell Special" aired on January 24 of that year, and despite his 80 years, his schedule didn't slow. He appeared in a benefit with the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra on April 20, and was later cast opposite Walter Matthau for the movie of Neil Simon's play, The Sunshine Boys. Plans were in the works for "Jack Benny's Third Farewell Special" (or "Jack Benny's Special Special"), to be aired in February, 1975. But the pain continued, and worsened. Jack was in and out of the hospital for tests, which revealed little. On November 17, he was inducted into the Television Advertising Bureau's "Hall of Fame", receiving a plaque and telling jokes for 20 minutes despite the continuing pain. On December 8, he was scheduled to receive the Louella Parsons Award from the Hollywood Women's Press Club. By this time, Jack was in such pain that he was forced to leave the event early and have George Burns stand in for him. Doctors administered an increasing amount of sedatives. On December 18, Jack conferred with writer Hugh Wedlock and manager Irving Fein about his upcoming television special, but was unable to get through his monologue due to the medication. On December 20, Jack was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer was called "the silent killer" due to its tendency to remain undiagnosed until it was too late. All the doctors could do was keep Jack sedated, and he eventually lapsed into a coma. A press release of Jack's condition on December 25 brought a galaxy of Hollywood talent to the Benny home, along with expressions of concern from around the globe. In the last minutes of December 26, Jack Benny quietly passed away.

At his funeral on December 29, over a thousand people attended the service at Hillside Memorial Park. Jack had stood on these grounds 23 years earlier, delivering the speech at the unveiling of the Jolson memorial. Now Bob Hope delivered a moving eulogy for the man who was almost universally loved. He was laid to rest in the mausoleum's Hall of Graciousness in a black Italian marble sarcophagus. His epitaph: "A Gentle Man".

After his death, a red rose began appearing daily at the Benny home. At first Mary was too deep in grief, but later she asked the florist. It seems that on one of Jack's frequent purchases of flowers, he had paused at the door. "If anything should happen to me," said Jack, "I want you to send my Doll a red rose every day." This wish was granted and Mary received a long stemmed red rose every day until June 30, 1983 when she finally rejoined the man who had loved her so much.