An anecdote

[Brad from Georgia]

Some years back, I taught with a colleague who had met Jack Benny late in Benny's career. My colleague was a music teacher and performer, and he had been a member of an orchestra with which Jack appeared for one of his benefit performances.

My friend said the orchestra had rehearsed the program several times; Jack was to show up a day or two before the performance and rehearse his part with the orchestra. My friend was eager to meet the famous comedian.

Well, on the day scheduled for Jack's first rehearsal, Jack and his aides showed up. The conductor greeted him and said, "I'd like to introduce our musicians to you, Mr. Benny."

Very seriously, Jack said, "Before you do that, I have something I'd like to tell them all. Fellas, I'm staying at the --- Hotel here in town, and I've just had breakfast there. I just want to let you all know that if you're in the neighborhood, their dining room serves the best fried-egg sandwich I have ever tasted."

Whenever he told the story, my friend would always say, "I wish I could be that sort of person, taking such joy from every little thing in life!"

[Caretaker]

Very nice indeed.

[Roman]

Jack's frequent concert appearances to support local orchestras and his numerous live and television performances late in his life put some perspective on Joan Rivers' recollection of Jack in her book as a bitter defeated man after his weekly show was cancelled by CBS in 1965. Like Joan herself, Jack impresses me as a very resilient person who didn't let momentary setbacks deter him from doing what he loved, which was to entertain. I'm sure that Jack was angry at CBS for the way they treated him (which explains why Jack chose to return to NBC for his periodic specials after CBS's cancellation) but he didn't retreat into a Norma Desmond cocoon. Almost immediately after the cancellation, Jack was out on the road entertaining with a new stand-up act (he was a huge draw in Las Vegas) and he continued to be actively involved with symphony fundraising concerts. He made numerous guest appearances on Dean Martin's, Lucy's, and other shows and, of course, he hosted his own periodic specials on NBC. Jack's ebullience and love of entertaining were his constant anchors until the day he died.