I'm writing a Benny article for my school paper.

[ZEjackbennykid]

Im the arts and entertainment editor of the Union Street Journal, the school paper of Cherry Creek High School, so Ive decided to do my february column on what else.... JACK BENNY MONTH. Id love any help from Laura and members, like quotes, feelings about Jack that I can use in the article. Rest assured, this will raise awarness of Jack to my community of high school students

[Yhtapmys]

Im the arts and entertainment editor of the Union Street Journal, the school paper of Cherry Creek High School, so Ive decided to do my february column on what else.... JACK BENNY MONTH. Id love any help from Laura and members, like quotes, feelings about Jack that I can use in the article. Rest assured, this will raise awarness of Jack to my community of high school students

Hi, Kid. I started writing for my high school paper in Grade 9. Today, I've spend 31-plus years in the low-paying world radio broadcasting. See where it'll get you?!

It should be a crime today that you can ask anyone in your class who Lindsay Lohan is and they'll know, but if you ask them who Jack Benny is, they won't. The best you might get is they'll vaguely recall it's a name their grandparents mentioned as someone they saw on TV way back when people somehow managed without cell phones (how did they do that anyway?).

The 50s? The 60s? 'Yeah, right,' you say? Well, Jack Benny is still relevant today for anyone who wants to be funny. All you have to do is watch his old TV shows or, better still, listen to what he did on radio when there was no TV and that's how the big names came into your home. Pay attention to the way he sets up a joke, using the characters around him. Even more importantly, hear when he *doesn't* talk. If anyone can teach you how to make someone laugh by stopping and pausing, it's Jack Benny. Nobody did it better. No one does today.

Lindsay Lohan may party better than Benny. But she sure isn't as funny.

Yhtapmys
"Drive Your Blues Away."

[Alan]

I think most kids of most generations tend to be mostly into what is of their time....if anything, i think "younger" people today (thru tech) have wider knowledge (at the least, of entertainment) than before....

Also, i have never seen JB as much of a draw for younger people even "back then"...and that was when there was less of a segregated "teenager" culture.

My final devil's advocate thought; Lindsay Lohan is a decent actress in her genre.....see "Mean girls" for an example. Tellingly, when that last Altman film came out (i havn't seen it, but ironically, its set in radio),
reviews of the film, tho she had one small part among a large ensemble, seemed to always note that she's not a bad actor, and this was in a role i believe as Meryl Streep's daughter.

[Jack Benny]

I think most kids of most generations tend to be mostly into what is of their time....if anything, i think "younger" people today (thru tech) have wider knowledge (at the least, of entertainment) than before....

Also, i have never seen JB as much of a draw for younger people even "back then"...and that was when there was less of a segregated "teenager" culture.

My final devil's advocate thought; Lindsay Lohan is a decent actress in her genre.....see "Mean girls" for an example. Tellingly, when that last Altman film came out (i havn't seen it, but ironically, its set in radio),
reviews of the film, tho she had one small part among a large ensemble, seemed to always note that she's not a bad actor, and this was in a role i believe as Meryl Streep's daughter.

Well stated, and let's not forget that she often forgets to wear panties. I'm pretty sure that never happened to Mary, though I'm pretty sure Linday can pronounce grease rack and swiss cheese sandwich.

[ZEjackbennykid]

I think most kids of most generations tend to be mostly into what is of their time....if anything, i think "younger" people today (thru tech) have wider knowledge (at the least, of entertainment) than before....

Also, i have never seen JB as much of a draw for younger people even "back then"...and that was when there was less of a segregated "teenager" culture.

My final devil's advocate thought; Lindsay Lohan is a decent actress in her genre.....see "Mean girls" for an example. Tellingly, when that last Altman film came out (i havn't seen it, but ironically, its set in radio),
reviews of the film, tho she had one small part among a large ensemble, seemed to always note that she's not a bad actor, and this was in a role i believe as Meryl Streep's daughter.

The thing is that kids would get his humor because back then it wasnt exactly a family program and kids today love anything thats in the least bit racy. Jacks humor is a bit racy in areas

[krledu]

The thing is that kids would get his humor because back then it wasnt exactly a family program and kids today love anything thats in the least bit racy. Jacks humor is a bit racy in areas

I have been listening to the entire Jack Benny program from the beginning to the end. I have noticed that as the program got into the 50's the content got decidedly more racy. Before, jokes that with double meanings were milder or refered to. But the jokes on 1950-1952 programs kinda suprised me. Then again, it would be nothing compared to today's stand up comedians. I always thought that in the 50's that sort of comendy would be frowned upon, at least on radio. Were the censor's less strict over those years? Though, I have to admit, Jack's programs always had a certain class about them.

[Mister Kitzel]

To make Jack Benny relevant to people in high school you can show Jack Benny's influence on America and today's entertainers.

Product placement in radio was not necessarily exclusive to Jack, but making jokes about a sponsor was something that was groundbreaking. That may have led to today's humorous commercials.

Entertainers of the 50's and later would have grown up hearing Jack Benny on radio or television. Kelsey Grammer is very much a prominent star of today with an appreciation of Jack Benny's work. Las Vegas icon, Wayne Newton, is another person who looked up to Jack.

How many high school students watch Jay Leno? You can link Jack through helping launch the career of Jack Paar and encouraging a young Johnny Carson, too.

Frank Nelson used his same "character" long after the Benny show, but that persona along with the trademark "Yeeeeeesssss!" were a part of the Jack Benny shows that have worked their way into a couple of Simpsons episodes. While Nelson is honored without mentioning Benny, there is still something linking Jack Benny with the present.

Once you make a connection to the present for the people who have never heard of Jack Benny, you can fill them in about his life and how big he was as a star of stage, screen, radio, and television.

[JohnM]

Product placement in radio was not necessarily exclusive to Jack, but making jokes about a sponsor was something that was groundbreaking. That may have led to today's humorous commercials.

Yes, I remember David Letterman in the 80s making ironic gratuitous product mentions and wisecracking about how he'll now get a year's supply of whatever product it was sent to his house because of it. Seemed such a modern, daring gag at the time.

But listening to the Benny radio show, you can hear the exact same thing as far back as the 1940s.

Once you make a connection to the present for the people who have never heard of Jack Benny, you can fill them in about his life and how big he was as a star of stage, screen, radio, and television.

And cartoons!

[Frank Nelson]

[quote="Mister Kitzel
Once you make a connection to the present for the people who have never heard of Jack Benny, you can fill them in about his life and how big he was as a star of stage, screen, radio, and television.[/quote]

And don't forget cartoons!

[Frank Nelson]

I guess it pays to read all the replies beforehand!

[DerekVOF]

And don't forget cartoons!

Definitely! When I started to listen to Jack Benny it gave a whole new meaning to so many of those old cartoons, I couldn't believe it. And Mel Blanc on the show all the time just blew me away. I love classic Warner Bros. cartoons, but I never realized all the connections.