And some of the ways he made a difference in people’s lives aren’t that well known. That’s because Kubelsky wasn’t like most people in radio today. Instead of shouting out how great he was and telling the world of all of his do-good deeds, he insisted they be kept secret. How wonderful would life be today if our celebrities and wannabe celebrities did good things just because it’s the right thing to do?
Benjamin Kubelsky is his given name, and after employing several stage names, he became Jack Benny. In my mind, he was the supreme radio entertainer. He and wife Mary oversaw all the writing of his radio programs, and if you listen closely, you’ll notice that most of the good comedic lines went not to him, but to his supporting cast of characters.
There is a special place in heaven for a headliner who deflects glory to his cohorts rather than demanding that the spotlight be on him. Think how great radio would be today without all the bloviators forcing their opinions on you. Instead, talk radio could actually perform a valuable service by bringing on knowledgeable guests to provide listeners with educated and well-researched information, and forcing all the know-it-all talk hosts to listen instead of pontificating.
If the spotlight were to shine only on the truly generous, good people, most radio stations would go silent and Hollywood would be a ghost town.
There was more to Jack Benny than his sharing of the spotlight. His carefully calculated tightwad persona could not have been further from the truth, and his love for his co-workers was evidenced many times over.
His announcer, Don Wilson, gave interviewer Mel Simons an example of the kind of person Jack Benny was:
“Mrs. Wilson, who was professionally known as Lois Corbett, was playing stock. Jack was always at opening night. It didn’t make any difference where she was playing…
“He was constantly doing whatever he could to build up the people who were associated with him on the show…He knew that the bigger he could make the characters that [sic] worked with him on the show, the bigger it made the Jack Benny Show.”
What a refreshing concept!
Of course, if people were good just because it’s right, half of the people employed in public relations would be unemployed, and there’d be a lot of lawyers looking for other lines of work. I guarantee the entertainment world and the media would produce better products.
But I’m sure someone can come up with a good reason for us to keep doing things the way we are.
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