Mary's "Stage Fright"

[Roman]

I've read many times here and elsewhere that Mary suffered from increasing stage fright as the years passed and that this explained her frequent absences in the later years. Well, after listening to the radio shows, I have trouble believing this explanation. I'm convinced rather that Mary's absences were the result of the fact that she simply tired of the constant performing and just chose not to appear whenever the mood suited.

I base this on my read of Jack's exchanges with Mary on the show over the years. While Jack enjoyed ribbing the castmembers (including himself) when they flubbed a line, he always had a particular joy in doing this to Mary. And it was clear that Mary got a great kick out of Jack's "scoldings." This part was always the closest window we got to the real Jack and Mary relationship. If Jack thought that Mary was bothered in the least by the kidding, I'm sure he would never have done it. Now unless Mary was the world's greatest actress, I think she enjoyed working with Jack - that is, when she felt like working. I didn't sense any extra nervousness or stage fright as the years passed. For better or worse, she was as composed before the microphone and made about the same number of flubs in 1937 as in 1952.

What I suspect Mary didn't like was the weekly grind of performing. And as Mrs. Jack Benny, she didn't have to whenever she chose not to. After all, it's not like they needed the extra income. If Phil or Dennis had all the "colds" that Mary had, they would have been replaced for sure. But Jack wasn't about to fire Mary. So it became a perfect part-time job for her. Who wouldn't love to work only when the mood struck?

As far as the television show is concerned, I think that Mary simply felt uncomfortable in front of the camera. Reading a script before a microphone is one thing; having to memorize a script and act on a stage is quite another. This would also explain her decision not to pursue a movie career.

[Alan]

Hmmm....interesting theory.

I suppose that citing stage fright is in some ways more "acceptable" than just saying i dont want and/or need to work.

Even tho i have read earlier posts that some of her post-performance meltdowns may have been more drama than reality, it seems to me that her nervousness is widely documented from many sources.

Over all those years and all the people, wouldn't there have been a good chance that her "famous" fear would be outed, or at least questioned?

Also, didn't she actually have her mic facing away from the audience (and shared w/JB) to greatly ease her during show.

ALSO and to your point, i think that many of us, me included, can attest to public speaking/performing nervousness ; but you go ahead anyways, and when you mention the problem, people will sincerely remark that "you didn't seem nervous." I think many of us also hear others claim they are panicky while on stage, but we genuinely don't notice it.

I suppose you could be right Roman, but i would still bet that as Mary had "put in her time", was financially and otherwise secure, the motivation to put up with the jitters lessened over time.

[shimp scrampi]

I'll add a third angle to this interesting discussion - depression.

It's pretty clear from reading Joan's book that Mary had some classic symptoms of clinical depression that got worse over time: withdrawing from social engagements, not leaving the house, etc. So, Mary may not have been just "tired" of performing but actually developed a dread of being engaged, public and performing -- as part of her illness; which, to be fair, was never really diagnosed as such as far as I am aware. So, maybe not classic "stage jitters" or "mike fright", but something really more deeply rooted in Mary.

"Stage nerves" might have been a convenient, understandable and not entirely inaccurate explanation for the friends and family of the Bennys, particularly since much less was known about depression back in the '40s and '50s...

[Gerry O.]

I'll add a third angle to this interesting discussion - depression.

It's pretty clear from reading Joan's book that Mary had some classic symptoms of clinical depression that got worse over time: withdrawing from social engagements, not leaving the house, etc. So, Mary may not have been just "tired" of performing but actually developed a dread of being engaged, public and performing -- as part of her illness; which, to be fair, was never really diagnosed as such as far as I am aware. So, maybe not classic "stage jitters" or "mike fright", but something really more deeply rooted in Mary.

"Stage nerves" might have been a convenient, understandable and not entirely inaccurate explanation for the friends and family of the Bennys, particularly since much less was known about depression back in the '40s and '50s...

Mary suffering from clinical depression makes a lot of sense and would explain many of her attitudes and actions during the years. Joan Benny wrote that after Jack's death, Mary spent most of her remaining years sitting alone in her room, smoking cigarettes and watching television. The depression probably intensified after Jack died (and understandably so), but if you look back at Mary's behavior over the years, clinical depression becomes a very real possibility.

Ronnie Burns mentioned in an interview that Gracie Allen died of heart problems at a relatively young age because during that time they didn't have the sophisticated diagnosis and treatment for heart disease that they have now....and the same could be said for Mary's depression if she did indeed suffer from it.

[LLeff]

Having recently re-read my interview with George Balzer, I noticed that his description of Mary's stage fright pretty much meshes with Roman's theory. He said that she wasn't really nervous on radio, but television was the thing that made her want to quit. And that sounds quite plausible. Live television is very demanding. You need to memorize your lines, you have to get it in "one take", you need to also remember your blocking (stage movements) and hit your mark and so on. It's a lot different than holding your script before a microphone and standing in one place, concentrating mainly on conveying the show with your voice. And of course, Mary wasn't a natural to the theatre the way Jack, George, and Gracie were.

I've heard several people put forth theories of depression and also social anxiety/agoraphobia about Mary. The fainting spells after broadcasts could be more a manifestation of an anxiety attack than hypoglycemia. It's almost impossible to do historical armchair psychology with any level of accuracy, but these are all possible explanations.

And one can't help but wonder if psychopharmacology had been at its current state back then, what might have been prescribed for Mary and how it might have affected her performance. I think it was the first show that she recorded from home where I thought she sounded almost "high", sort of soft and vaguely disassociated from the words and plot. Who knows...mother's little helper could even have played a part. But I have no evidence of that.

[Gerry O.]

And one can't help but wonder if psychopharmacology had been at its current state back then, what might have been prescribed for Mary and how it might have affected her performance. I think it was the first show that she recorded from home where I thought she sounded almost "high", sort of soft and vaguely disassociated from the words and plot. Who knows...mother's little helper could even have played a part. But I have no evidence of that.

Mary always sounded very listless and not quite "with it" during those "home recorded" performances, but I always attributed that to the fact that she was physically distanced from the rest of the production.

When she was actually in the studio and interacting with Jack and the other cast members, there had to be a certain energy and rhythm that couldn't be duplicated when she was sitting home, reading just her lines into a tape recorder long after the actual program had been performed.

Imagine yourself in the same situation....You've spent years standing in front of the microphone, performing with Jack and the cast before a live studio audience, and suddenly you're sitting in your living room with only a couple of production people with you, reading lines which probably don't make much sense taken out of context and which receive no immediate audience reaction.....It must have been boring as hell!

[Roman]

I wonder how much advance notice Jack's writers had when Mary decided to skip a show. I assume probably not much. It must have been rough on them not knowing each week whether they needed to write scenes for Mary. I also imagine that they probably weren't overly fond of Mary's cavalier attitude toward them and the show. While I doubt any of them would ever have said it publicly, I wouldn't be surprised if they were a bit upset at Jack too for allowing this to go on year after year. I know I would have felt that way. By contrast, it must have been a pleasure to write for the television show where at least they knew all the actors would show up.

[Gerry O.]

I wonder how much advance notice Jack's writers had when Mary decided to skip a show. I assume probably not much. It must have been rough on them not knowing each week whether they needed to write scenes for Mary. I also imagine that they probably weren't overly fond of Mary's cavalier attitude toward them and the show. While I doubt any of them would ever have said it publicly, I wouldn't be surprised if they were a bit upset at Jack too for allowing this to go on year after year. I know I would have felt that way. By contrast, it must have been a pleasure to write for the television show where at least they knew all the actors would show up.

That's an interesting point. There are some episodes of Jack's show where it's obvious that the writers knew far in advance (at least a few days) that Mary wouldn't be on the show that week. On those programs, Mary's character doesn't figure into the plot or dialogue at all except for a brief, passing reference. (Jack: "Gee, I must phone Mary later and find out how her cold is.")

However, there are other episodes where it seems as if Mary bailed out relatively close to air time, because those episodes usually have a "Mary Substitute" as one of the characters....most typically Mary's sister. (Mamie in early episodes, Babe in later ones). The substitute's lines are very "Mary"-type lines, so it sounds like another actress stepped in at the last minute and a few lines of dialogue were changed to explain Mary's "sister" being there instead of Mary.

[bboswell]

While reading scripts from tobaccodocuments.org, I see where complete scenes were written for Mary, and then Mary's name was crossed out (presumably at the last minute,) and the lines were given to another cast member. Usually it seems that Rochester gets them.

I may be drawing the wrong conclusions, but that's what it looks like to me.

here's an example: (Scroll down to the last scan on the page)

http://tobaccodocuments.org/atc/60233252.html?zoom=750&ocr_position=above_foramatted&start_page=61