Celebrity Name : Jack Benny

Celebrity Real Name : Benjamin Kubelsky

Date of Birth : February 14, 1894

Birth Location : Chicago

Biography of Benjamin Kubelsky :
Jack Benny (February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974), born Benjamin Kubelsky, was an American comedian, vaudeville performer, and radio, television, and film actor. He was one of the biggest stars in classic American radio and was also a major television personality.
Benny may have been the first standup comedian, as the term is known, as well as one of the first to work with what became the situation comedy. He was renowned for his flawless comic timing and (especially) his ability to get laughs with either a pregnant pause or a single expression. In hand with his great “rival” Fred Allen — their long-running “feud” was one of the greatest running gags in comedy history — Benny helped establish a basic palette from which comedy since has rarely deviated, no matter how extreme or experimental it has become in their wake.

Early career :
Benny grew up in Chicago and Waukegan, Illinois, the son of a Jewish saloon keeper. He began studying the violin, an instrument that would become his trademark, when he was six. By fourteen, he was playing in local dance bands as well as in his high school orchestra. After he found an opportunity to play the instrument in local theaters for $8 a week, he quit school and eventually began a career in vaudeville.
In 1911, he was playing in the same theater as the young Marx Brothers, whose mother Minnie Marx was so enchanted with Benny that she invited him to be their permanent accompanist. The plan was foiled by Benny’s parents, who refused to let their son, then seventeen, go on the road, but it was the beginning of his long friendship with Zeppo Marx. A distant cousin of the Marx Brothers was Benny’s wife Mary Livingstone.
The following year, Benny formed a vaudeville musical duo with pianist Cora Salisbury. This provoked famous violinist Jan Kubelik, who thought that the young vaudeville entertainer with a similar name (Kubelsky) would damage his reputation. Finally, Benjamin Kubelsky agreed to change his name to Ben K. Benny (sometimes spelled Bennie). He also found a new pianist, Lyman Woods. He left show business briefly in 1917 to join the Navy during World War I, but even then, he often entertained the troops. One evening, he was booed by the troops, so he began telling Navy jokes on stage. He was a big hit, and earned himself a reputation as a comedian as well as a musician.
After the war, Benny returned to vaudeville and changed his first name to Jack (purportedly after another actor named Ben Benny complained). He had several romantic encounters, including one with a dancer, Mary Kelly, whose devoutly Catholic family forced her to turn down Benny’s proposal because he was Jewish. Jack was introduced to Mary by Gracie Allen. Later on years after the split between Mary and Jack, Mary resurfaced as a dowdy fat girl and Jack gave her a part of an act of three girls. One homely, one fat and one who couldn’t sing. This lasted till at Mary Livingston’s request Mary Kelly was let go. Gracie Allen and George Burns later had Mary Kelly appear on their radio program as “Bubbles” Kelly. Her signature line on “Burns And Allen” was this. Gracie would say “Here’s Mary Kelly.” George would pause and say “Mary??? She’s big enough to be the Queen Mary.”
In 1922, he accompanied Zeppo Marx to a Passover seder where he met Sadie Marks, whom he married in 1927. (Despite the repeated references in the show, they did not meet when she, Sadie, was working in sales at May’s department store; this was a fabrication for the fictional Mary Livingstone character.) Adopting Mary Livingstone as her stage name, she became Benny’s collaborator throughout most of his career. They later adopted a daughter, Joan.[wikipedia]