Well! Jack’s Back : HBO tribute remembers the late comedian

The late, great Jack Benny made laughs over five decades as a penny-pinching, vain, exasperated man who confessed to being 39 years old and insisted on playing his theme song, “Love in Bloom,” off key on the violin.

Even Benny’s gestures and phrases became trademarks: When exasperated he would take a pregnant pause, fold his arms and raise his hand to his cheek and exclaim, “Well!”

He once said of his persona: “The reason my character sustained over so many years is because I played a character that included all the faults and frailties of mankind.”

Benny, who died 16 years ago (at the age of 39, of course) is the subject of a new HBO special, “Jack Benny: Comedy in Bloom.”

Tom Smothers narrates the tribute to Benny’s life and career, which features clips from his classic television show, currently in repeats on cable’s Comedy Central, home movies and family photos.

Also included are interviews with those who knew Benny, including George Burns, who took over Benny’s role in “The Sunshine Boys” after he was stricken with cancer, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Carol Burnett, Ann-Margret, Dinah Shore, his daughter Joan, former “Tonight Show” producer Fred DeCordova and Benny writers Hal Goldman, Sam Perrin, George Balzer and Al Gordon.

While appearing in vaudeville as a serious violinist, Benny discovered he had a knack for comedy. After he guest-starred and stole the show on a radio sports program hosted by Ed Sullivan, Benny was given his own radio show in 1932. The top-rated series also featured Eddie (Rochester) Anderson, Benny’s wife Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Dennis Day and Don Wilson.

Benny, who also appeared in several movies in the 1930s and ‘40s, including “The Horn Blows at Midnight” (1945) and “Charley’s Aunt” (1941), made his foray into television in 1950. He headlined 10 specials for CBS during the 1950-51 and 1951-52 seasons. They placed in the Top 10 and on Sept, 13, 1953, “The Jack Benny Show” was seen on an alternate week basis. It was a weekly series for five seasons starting in October, 1959.

He was joined on the series by most members of the radio show cast, including regulars Rochester, who played Benny’s valet, and Wilson, Benny’s announcer and friend; Day, Livingstone and Mel Blanc. Blanc, of course, was the voice of such Warner Bros. cartoon characters as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. He appeared on the show on a recurring basis as the voice of Jack’s old Maxwell car and as his long-suffering violin teacher, Prof. Le Blanc. The series dipped in and out of the Top 25 until 1964. Benny continued doing television specials, though, up until his death a decade later.

“Jack Benny: Comedy in Bloom” premieres Monday at 10 p.m. on HBO; the special repeats Oct. 12, 18 and 29 .

Repeats of “The Jack Benny Show” air weekdays at 9:30 a.m. on Comedy Central.