名人轶事:People in America – Jack Benny

（单词翻译）

VOICE ONE:


I’m Sarah Long.


VOICE TWO:


And I’m Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA.

Today, we tell the story of Jack¹ Benny. He was one of America’s best-loved

funnymen during the Twentieth Century.


(MUSIC)


VOICE ONE:


Jack Benny was one of the most famous names in show business for more than

fifty years. He started as a serious musician, before he discovered he could

make people laugh.


Jack Benny (left)      


Jack Benny became famous nationwide in the Nineteen Thirties as a result of

his weekly radio program. His programs were among the most popular on

American radio, and later on television.


Jack Benny won the hearts of Americans by making fun of himself. He was known

not as someone who said funny things, but as someone who said things in a

funny way.


VOICE TWO:


Jack Benny was born in Chicago, Illinois, on February fourteenth, Eighteen

Ninety-Four. His parents, Meyer and Emma Kubelsky, were religious Jews. They

had moved to the United States from eastern Europe. They named their first

child Benjamin. 


Benjamin Kubelsky and his family lived in Waukeegan , Illinois. Benjamin was

a quiet boy. For much of the time, his parents were busy working in his

father’s store. As a child, Benjamin, or Benny as his friends called him,

learned² to play the violin. Benny was such a good violin player that, for a

time, he wanted to become a musician.


VOICE ONE:


While in school, Benny got a job as a violin player with the Barrison

Theater, the local vaudeville³ house. Vaudeville was the most popular form of

show business in the United States in the early Nineteen Hundreds. Vaudeville

shows presented short plays, singers, comedians⁵ who made people laugh and

other acts.

Benny worked at the Barrison Theater -- sometimes during school hours. He

left high school before completing his studies. The piano player for the

theater was a former vaudeville performer named Cora Salisbury. For a short

time, she and Benny formed their own performing act. Later, he and another

piano player had their own act.

At first, Benny changed his name to Ben K. Benny. However, that name was

similar to another actor who played a violin. So, he chose the name Jack

Benny.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The United States entered World War One in Nineteen Seventeen. Benny joined

the Navy⁶ and reported to the Great Lakes Naval⁷ Station. He continued using

his violin to perform for sailors at the naval station. In one show, he was

chosen more for his funny jokes than for his skill with the violin. That

experience made him believe that his future job was as a comedian⁴, not in

music.

VOICE ONE:

After leaving the Navy, Benny returned to vaudeville. His performances won

him considerable⁸ popularity⁹ during the Nineteen Twenties. He traveled across

the country with other well-known performers, including the Marx Brothers.

In Nineteen Twenty-Seven, Benny married Sadie Marks, a sales girl from the

May Company store in Los Angeles. Missus Benny soon became part of the

traveling show. She used the name Mary Livingstone.

Jack Benny appeared in a few Hollywood films, but then left California and

moved to New York. He had a leading part in the Broadway show, “Vanities.”

VOICE TWO:

Benny made his first appearance on radio in Nineteen Thirty-Two. He was

invited to appear on a radio show presented by newspaper reporter Ed

Sullivan. Benny opened with this announcement:

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jack Benny talking. There will be a short

break while you say, who cares?” 

However, many listeners did care. Within a short period, Benny had his own

radio show. It continued for twenty-three years.

(JACK BENNY OPEN)

ANNCR:“The Jack Benny Program…”

(MUSIC)

“…starring Jack Benny, with Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Rochester,

Dennis Day, and yours truly, Don Wilson…”

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Jack Benny developed a show business personality that had all the qualities

people dislike. He was known for being so stingy he refused to spend any of

his money, unless forced to do so. He always was concerned about money. For

example, he would put on a jeweler’s glass to examine the diamond on a

wealthy woman he had just met.

In another example, a robber¹⁰ points a gun at Benny.

(JACK BENNY PROGRAM)

ROBBER: “This is a stick-up.”

BENNY: “Mister¹¹, put down that gun.”

ROBBER: “Shut up. I said this is a stick-up. Now, come on. Your money or

your life.”

((laughter))#p#副标题#e#

ROBBER: “Look, bud¹². I said, your money or your life!”

BENNY: “I’m thinking it over.”

((laughter/music))

VOICE TWO:

On his shows, Jack Benny often spoke¹³ of his appearance, especially his baby

blue eyes. As he grew older, he always claimed to be thirty-nine years old.

Benny was known as a comedian with great timing¹⁴. He seemed to know the

perfect time to tell a joke and when to remain silent. The way he looked at

other actors and his use of body movements were world famous. He also was

skilled¹⁵ at using his violin to make people laugh.
VOICE ONE:

Jack Benny was one of the first comedians who was willing to let other people

share some of the laughs. He rarely made jokes that hurt other people.

Instead, he would let the other actors on the show tell jokes about him.

Many of the actors in Benny’s show became almost as famous as he was. They

would criticize¹⁶ Benny’s refusal¹⁷ to replace his ancient automobile¹⁸. They made

fun of the pay telephone that he added to his house.

This is a telephone discussion¹⁹ between Benny and his trusted employee,

Rochester.

(JACK BENNY PROGRAM)

BENNY: “Hello…”

ROCHESTER:  “Hello, Mister Benny. This is Rochester…”

((applause))

BENNY: “Rochester, I’m in the middle of the program.”

ROCHESTER: “I know, boss, but this is very important. The man from the life

insurance company was here about that policy you’re taking out and he asked

me a lot of questions.”

BENNY: “Well, I hope you answered them right.” 

ROCHESTER: “Oh, I did. When he asked me your height, I said five-foot-ten.”

BENNY:  “Uh, huh.”

ROCHESTER: “Your weight, one-hundred-sixty-four.”

BENNY:  “Uh, huh.”

ROCHESTER: “Your age, thirty-nine.”

BENNY:  “Uh, huh.”

ROCHESTER: “We had quite a roundtable discussion on that one.”

((laughter))

(JACK BENNY PROGRAM)

BENNY: “Wait a minute, Rochester. Why should there be any question about my

age?”

ROCHESTER: “Oh, it wasn’t a question. It was the answer we had trouble

with.”

((laughter))

VOICE TWO:

Jack Benny said: “The show itself is the important thing. As long as people

think the show is funny, it does not matter who tells the jokes.”  He also

made fun of the paid announcements broadcast during his radio show that were

designed to sell products. They often provided²⁰ some of the funniest moments

in the show. Most performers never would make fun of the businesses that

helped pay for the show.

VOICE ONE:

Over the years, Jack Benny did well financially. In Nineteen Forty-Eight, he

moved his show from the National Broadcasting Company to the Columbia

Broadcasting System. As part of the agreement, CBS paid more than two million

dollars to a company in which Benny had a controlling interest.

Much later, the Music Corporation²¹ of America bought Benny’s production

company. Benny received almost three million dollars in MCA stock²² shares.

 In real life, he was the opposite of the person he played in his show. He

was known to be very giving and someone people liked having as their

employer²³. He also could play the violin very well.

VOICE TWO:

Jack Benny entered the new medium of television in Nineteen Fifty. Five years

later, he dropped his radio program to spend more time developing his

television show. At first, his appearances on television were rare. By

Nineteen Sixty, the Benny show was a weekly television program. It continued

until Nineteen-Sixty-Five.

Benny appeared in about twenty films during his life. A few became popular.

But most were not. In Nineteen Sixty-Three, Benny returned to Broadway for

the first time since Nineteen Thirty-One. He performed to large crowds.

VOICE ONE:

Jack Benny received many awards during his lifetime. The publication²⁴ “Motion

Picture Daily” voted him the country’s best radio comedian four times. In

Nineteen Fifty-Seven, he won a special award from the Academy²⁵ of Television

Arts and Sciences for the best continuing performance. He also won the

Academy’s television award for the best comedy series in Nineteen Fifty-

Nine.

Perhaps the one honor²⁶ that pleased him most was that his hometown of

Waukeegan named a school for him. This is was special honor for a man who had

never finished high school.

VOICE TWO:

Jack Benny continued to perform and to do a few television specials after his

weekly series ended. He died of cancer on December twenty-sixth, Nineteen

Seventy-Four. His friend, comedian Bob Hope, spoke at the funeral about the

loss felt by Benny’s friends and fans. He said: “Jack Benny was stingy to

the end. He gave us only eighty years.” 

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by and produced by George Grow. I’m

Sarah Long.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA

program on the Voice of America.