Sunday Nights at Seven

by Jack Benny, Joan Benny, George Burns (Foreword)

The unfinished memoir of the late comedian is interwoven with reminiscences by his daughter in an anecdotal biography of the golden age of television and of the celebrities of the era

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir, Humor, Comedy, Tv, Autobiography

302 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1990

About the author

Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky) was an American comedian, vaudevillian, radio, television, and film actor, and also a notable violinist. Widely recognized as one of the leading American entertainers of the 20th century, Benny played the role of the comic penny-pinching miser, insisting on remaining 39 years old on stage despite his actual age, and often playing the violin badly.
Benny was known for his comic timing and his ability to get laughs with either a pregnant pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated "Well!" His radio and television programs, popular from the 1930s to the 1960s, were a foundational influence on the situation comedy genre.

Reviews

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know how many of you reading this remember Jack Benny. If you don't, you've missed quite a bit. I would suggest that you go immediately and find some recordings of the radio programs and give them a listen. The humor may be a bit dated but it's some of the funniest humor out there.

I enjoyed this as Mr. Benny (Benjamin Kubelsky) goes over his career. There are some laughs and some sadness. There are for me memories and also reminders of that time.

I recall him more from TV than radio. The character he created, the stingy, age denying, miser who was actually just the opposite of Mr. Benny himself was so believable that people simply assumed it was the real Jack Benny.

In one account he relates an incident, I don't know if I can give the laugh value without giving a lot of explanation but I'll try. Mr. Benny created a character who was a penny pinching miser who drove an ancient car because he refused to pay for a new one, who paid his employees poverty wages who never let money go if he could help it.

One day (in real life) he had to use a public restroom and after he had left said restroom he missed his wallet. He hurried back to the restroom and looked under the door to the stall and saw his wallet laying there. This as it happened was something you don't see anymore, a pay-toilet. You had to put a dime in the door to get it to open, so jack was reaching under the stall to get his wallet when a man walked in.

Jack saw the smile on the man's face when he was recognized. What the man saw was "the miser Jack Benny" crawling under the stall door to save a dime.

I like the book and if you happen to recall Jack Benny I think you'll really enjoy it.

I gave it a 4 as the memories of Mr. Benny's daughter while interesting, did not really interest me as much as those of her father (from a manuscript he wrote but was discovered by his daughter only after his death). I did skim through and skip a bit of her sections... To each.

I can recommend this one enjoy.

[Samantha Glasser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, equal parts autobiography and a daughter’s tribute to her father, gives a nice and lovable portrait of the iconic comedian Jack Benny. For those who have never heard his radio show or seen his films, I urge you to do so, but this book does describe some of his most famous running jokes.

Concerning Rochester, “...remember, you who look back with perhaps contempt or patronizing pity on the old radio programs, that like most entertainers of the period I was brought up in another time and another place. I developed and learned my trade in vaudeville... Everybody loved ethnic humor during vaudeville and often the people who were being ridiculed most enjoyed the kind of ethnic humor aimed at their own group. During World War II, attitudes changed. Hitler’s ideology of a Aryan supremacy put all ethnic humor in a bad light. It became bad taste to have Jewish jokes, Italian jokes and Negro jokes... I never felt and I do not feel today that Rochester and Mr. Kitzel were socially harmful... I didn’t hire Rochester because I was fighting for equal rights. I hired him because he was good.”

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Jack Benny's autobiography co-written with his daughter Joan. Jack had an unfinished manuscript that Joan retrieved after his death, doctored and added her own stories, resulting in this book.

The best parts are Jack's retelling of some of the skits that he performed on his radio show. I enjoy listening to his rebroadcasts on satellite radio, so reading some of the pieces were LOL mementos for me. He truly knew how to paint hilarious pictures in the minds of his listeners.

The not-so-great parts of the book were Joan's reminiscences. There are two or three significant gaps in Jack's story where Joan jumps in to tell the reader about her childhood, school years and three successive failed marriages. This book could use less of Joan and more of Jack.

I believe that there are two or three other biographies of jack Benny out there. I suggest reading one of those and skipping this one.

[Teresa Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

After Jack Benny's death, his daughter Joan found his unpublished autobiography hidden away. Using these pages and her own memories, she produced this marvelous book full of stories and laughter.

The story does cover his childhood, it is the stories about his career in radio that dominate the book. While Joan does include her own memories, she allows her father Jack to tell his story in his own way. Many of the things in the book are covered in Milt Josefberg's book, which I have previously reviewed. What is touching is how Jack talked about the comedians that made him laugh the most, and how Joan cuts in with her memory of those hilarious moments. One in particular involves George Burns, who also wrote the foreword of the book. He told her that he always played the most outrageous jokes on her father, and how people who did not know them thought he was being rather sadistic to poor Jack. But George told her that if he hadn't played jokes on her father, he would have thought George hated him. It all started when they were talking on the phone, making arrangements to meet that evening. Somehow, they got disconnected. When they met that night, George found out he was the funniest comedian in the world, because Jack thought it was hilarious that George had hung up on him. After that, George told Joan, he always hung up on Jack because he wanted him to go on thinking he was the world's greatest comedian.

Eighteen of the last twenty pages are from Joan's point of view, as Jack retired but continued to stay busy. She talks about the touching funeral service and the memories her children had of their grandfather. But it is Jack who gets the last word, talking about feeling like a passenger on a train admiring the scenery. "And when the train arrives at the last station, I get off. I look around. I like the place where I am. I don't know exactly how I got here, but I'm glad to be here just the same."

[John L · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a completist, but I have to admit that, about 2/3 of the way through, I began skipping past the portions written by Joan Benny. My rating is **** for the parts written by Jack and ** for the parts written by Joan, averaging to ***.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It talked about the history of electronic entertainment (radio, television and finally the early moving pictures) that I was mostly unfamiliar with or had forgotten. As each form of entertainment became available to Americans, I liked thinking about how my great-grandparents, grandparents and parents responded to them. There was a lot of name-dropping about the stars of each entertainment form, which I enjoyed. These were names I had heard of at some point and of which I was vaguely familiar. It was good to learn how these people fit into the entertainment scene, what exactly they did, with whom they were friends, etc. Again, as a genealogist, I asked myself, “What did great-grandparents Emil and Selma think of him/her?” “Did my grandparents dance to that song?” “Did my parents play this song?”

Having grown up in California and being familiar with Los Angeles and Hollywood, it was nice to read about how and why people lived there in the early days. For example, at Jack Benny’s homes in Hollywood, there was no security necessary. When buses of tourists drove around the neighborhood, Jack would often run out of the house to meet the bus and say “hi”. Jack’s family lived just next door to George Burns’ family for some years. The two families became quite close.

My husband and I have found a place where we can rent the Jack Benny show. We’ve found much of the humor still funny today. I look forward to renting the shows of the other people mentioned in the book!

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

In contrast to what a lot of other reviewers are saying, I actually enjoyed the parts about Joan and her life. Her (relatively) honest, "behind-the-scenes" take on the life of a celebrity family added depth to what might have merely been a fun but ultimately bland recounting by Jack of his favorite people and comedy bits. Without devolving into a nasty "Mommie Dearest"-type hatchet-job (and interestingly, Christina Crawford makes a brief appearance in this book), Joan is still able to show us that even families considered to be Hollywood royalty can have their problems too. Near the end of the book, someone mentions that Jack made no status distinctions among his friends--from President Truman to golfing cronies, he treated them all the same. I think a good lesson to take from this memoir is that Joan's life is ultimately just as important as Jack's. Good book!

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of laughs, background on Hollywood in the mid 20th century, life as a kid in that realm, information on Jack Benny and much more. This book is made up of two books in essence; the manuscript of an autobiography by Jack Benny called "I Always Had Shoes" and by Joan Benney, his only, adopted child.

The combination of Jack's recollections and thoughts with that of his beloved daughter (he signed off the radio show for years with "good night, Joanie") is unique and carries amazing insights into the career and life of one of the most gifted, funny, and good guys ever to grace American entertainment.

[Kim Turney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic account of Jack Benny's life told through the eyes of his daughter Joan,with excerpts from his own memoirs. This is a great book for actors because Benny shares his philosophy of comedy timing and the process he went through to create his radio and later television shows.

Plus this book gives you an inside view of the lifestyles of early Hollywood stars. Extremely informative and very entertaining.

[Malcolm Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Jack Benny and I was fortunate to see him in his last one man show at the London Palladian in the early seventies.
I enjoyed that of this book written by him.Whilst his daughter gave us some interesting insights she seemed at times to think this book was about her.All about her weddings and divorced and even comments from her children.Lots of name dropping.
Her comments on her mother are backed up by George Burns in his autobiography.

[Shae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book from both Jack Benny's own memoirs and his daughter’s outlook on her father. A wonderful combination. If you are looking for a scathing Mommy Dearest type biography you will be disappointed by the normality of this great comedians life but you will never be bored reading it since it is told with Benny's classic dry wit.

[Paul Riches · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sunday Nights At Seven Is An Okay Jack Benny Story


When I was a wee little Geek, millions of lightyears ago, I was very much into Old Time Radio, an obsession that led me from X Minus One and Lights Out reruns on CHUM FM to finding comedy shows on some other station I cannot remember.

And I quickly fell in love with two all time legends, Jack Benny and Burns And Allen. A few years back, thanks to the magic of podcasts, I managed to listen and relisten to a zillion episodes of Jack Benny and just feel the magic.

Flashforward to last year and I am reading Made You Laugh and it mentions a sorta autobiography of Benny, which got my attention, and after a recent trip to the library, it was consumed by me.

Sunday Nights At Seven by Jack Benny and Joan Benny is the sorta autobiography. Found in 1984 by Joan the daughter, a decade after Benny’s passing and shortly after her mother’s passing, the unfinished manuscript was called I Always Had Shoes and was worked on in his final years. So Joan got it published in 1990 and added her own autobiography / look at her parents as well. Both versions of this story are clearly marked by differences in type styles.

Jack’s story starts off with his birth on February 14th 1894, which is funny because I started reading this book that same day in 2022. He clearly says he is a boring nice guy who had a whatever childhood, was never great at school, and a mother who pushed him to become a world class violinist. In his teens he discovers vaudeville, much to his mother’s horror and his father’s disapproval, and does a musical act while meeting lifelong friends including George Burns. He finds true love, but it does not work out partially because of religious differences since Benny was raised Jewish.

But his faith, and Harpo Marx, lead him to the love of his life, the future Mary Livingstone, at this point named Sadie, who is kinda dragged into his career. His act was already morphed into a musical comedy, and over a few years he gets into movies, which leads to where he certainly does not want to, that thing called radio.

Which is where he skyrocketed to fame with The Jack Benny Show, dominating radio for years, before eventually joining that other place he never wanted to go, television.

Throughout his story, Benny rambles on, much like the version of himself he played for decades, with his thoughts on a zillion things, from blackface to why some parts of the show were funny even if he did not understand why to people’s attitudes to racism to funny stories of celebrities he knows. It is interesting that Benny, who you can tell is very smart and very introspective, not understand why so many of his shows recurring gags and characters were funny and universal and therefore so beloved. And even with his smarts and introspection and niceness, he is still very much a man of his time, hence his defense of blackface and some of the early writing of Rochester, his black butler on the show.

Now the parts of Sunday Nights At Seven that Joan Benny wrote are also interesting. She mentions that she is adopted, which was a not a secret from the world, and namedrops all the millions of celebrities her parents know and hobknob with, and tells of all the adventures she has with George Burns and Gracie Allen’s adoptive daughter. She is occasionally critical of her parents with her mother being strict and her dad non confrontational, and she makes it clear she is daddy’s little girl, but that is only for the first part of the book.

The Mommie Dearest stuff then kicks in, which is funny because she went to the same boarding school as Christine Crawford but did not know her. Joan goes on at length about issues she had with her mother, which includes how critical and controlling Mary was with her and Jack, and how she really could not understand why her dad loved and adored her mother so much. Her only complaint about her dad, whom she loved absolutely and truly, was that he avoided confrontations as much as possible. Joan blames the lack of example of a good marriage from her parents as to why she was married three times. Along with this part of the book she mentions her own show business career in the 1960’s and 1970’s, which never really blossoms, and occasionally she gives thoughts on religion and being adopted and political correctness at the time.

But the big failing for me here is that, while Joan brings up a zillion issues and situations she had growing up and as an adult with her parents, her actual analysis is not much and not great. You can tell their was way more going on in certain stories, but for whatever reasons she does not tell the full tales. Could it be, even through they are her parents and they dead and it is years later, lawyers are involved? I wonder if Crawford’s Mommie Dearest book had lingering effects on celebrity biographies. But if so, what was different about David Michaelis’s Schultz And Peanuts biography that really really got into every aspect of the subjects life, exploring and exposing and explaining in detail so many things that the family, who authorized the book, got upset.

Sunday Nights At Sunday was an interesting read for the most part, but for someone like me, who loves to see how the sausage was made, it really lacks that meat.

Scoopriches

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always enjoyed Jack Benny as a comedian and as an actor, especially in To Be or Not To Be. I looked forward to reading this book by Benny and his daughter Joan. The parts written by Benny, from an unpublished autobiography are quite interesting. However, there's way too much of Joan's life, her friends, her numerous marriages, her problems with her mother, ect.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jack Benny's recollection of early days in vaudeville were interesting, as were the challenges of the transitions to radio and later TV. Most of his daughter's insights were less interesting, many passages were heavy with name-dropping.

[Christine Norman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joan Benny relates her own personal memories of her father interspersed with excerpts from her dad's memoirs. Interesting peek into the social lives and friendships of familiar Hollywood stars in the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best of the biographies of comedian Jack Benny. This book is partly Jack's unpublished memoir and part biography by his daughter Joan. The book really paints a fun and beautiful picture of a great comedian. Highly recommended.

[Annette Workman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a well written book! If you have a passion for the Vaudville days, classic old movies, famous people, as well as history, this is a MUST read book!

[Douglas Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I so much enjoyed my last selection from the “Celebrity Bio” section of my at home bookcase (see April 10th’s review) that I decided to look there again for my next read. This time I was drawn to, “Sunday Nights at Seven,” which coincidentally I purchased at the same Half Priced Book Warehouse sale in Bloomington where I nabbed Betty White’s book that I just read and reviewed.
Much as Betty’s book focused on the development of television, Benny’s book goes back even further and gives fascinating insight into vaudeville and radio.
This book won’t appeal to everyone, Benny doesn’t have the mainstream longevity that White still does, but if you know me and you know Jack Benny, then you know he is a comedy icon of mine. I have stolen his deadpan delivery, and am trying my darnedest to steal his brilliant timing.
This particular book, I discovered there are many written about him, is written by his daughter Joan, but she has wisely added about 40% of an autobiography Jack was writing but was never published, so the reader still gets plenty of Benny antidotes told by Benny himself. These are the best pages of the book for me. Benny tells us stories about how he got started, what radio was like, and how he created his various characters and plots. Of course the sections where I leaned in very close are where he discusses joke writing, his comedy, and how he developed his timing.
As for the sections written by his daughter, who admits early on to being boring, they are still enjoyable because they almost all either deal directly with her father and their relationship, or include some type of name dropping or old Hollywood celebrity story. She did attend the same boarding school as Joan Crawford's daughter Christina, again I leaned in, but Christina was several years younger so they rarely saw one another. Damn!
Speaking of tell-alls about famous mothers, the reader can’t help but pick up on Joan’s negative connotations towards her own mother peppered through the book. Finally, towards the end of the book, I am assuming on the advice of a therapist, she finally pens a lengthy chapter stating that she really didn’t like her mother, and claiming in retrospect her mother most likely suffered from what we now call clinical depression. Being a gay boy, we only worship our mothers, so I did find this mostly Benny-free chapter to still be insightful.

[Don LaFountaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Much of it was by Jack Benny but hid away until his daughter Joan found it and then combined her thoughts and memories with Jack's to complete this book.

Jack Benny was a beloved entertainer who started out in vaudeville, then moved into radio, and finally ending up on Television. His sense of humor and legendary perfect timing made millions laugh during his career, and has since added millions more with those of us who only discovered him after his death.

The book follows his life throughout his personal life and show business. Jack tells a lot of his own stories, and if you have listened to and/or seen a Jack Benny show, you can't help but read the book in his voice while adding his pauses at the right time. Some of the stories told include:
- How he met his wife at a holiday gathering and did not recognize her later on in life and had to be told who she was.
- What it was like to work with his best friend George Burns
- How he felt when he made the transitions from vaudeville to radio to television
- What life was life growing up for Joan in as the daughter of Jack Benny and Mary Livingston
- How Joan was able to interact with each of her parents as well as all their famous friends
- How others in the entertainment industry felt towards Jack Benny

This was a wonderful book about the life of one of my favorite entertainers. I wish more words had been written by him, but I loved most of the book. (Admittedly, the "Mommie Dearest" parts written by Joan about Mary Livingston were a little off-putting.) I would most certainly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Jack Benny, vaudeville, and early radio and TV shows. It is a must read,

[Mabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love Jack Benny and enjoy watching videos featuring him over and over again. I'm so glad they are available and they always make me laugh. It's nice to hear that at least one show biz icon was as nice offscreen as he seemed to be on. As far as I can tell no one ever had a bad word to say about him. His daughter Joan, who adored him, was a bit disappointed that he wasn't the kind of father to have deep emotional heart-to-heart talks with. I can understand that, but I think it's very rare. I would have given anything to have had a father who is funny, easy to get along with, loving, takes you with him to his radio broadcasts and to lunch just the two of you every week: perfection. At least as close as you'll ever get to it in this life. I can't help thinking how much happier all our lives would be if we treated each other the way Jack did, and in a profession not known for kindness and respect for other people---ALL other people. Not just the ones who are more successful (that would be hard to find) or more powerful. Most people respond well to that approach, so it is no wonder he was universally loved by both audiences and fellow entertainers. Bob Hope ended his eulogy with these words: "God bless him and enjoy him. We did for 80 years." And we're STILL enjoying him!

[Larry Hostetler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book as a fun and hopefully funny book to read. But it turned out to be both more and less. Joan has taken Jack Benny’s autobiography and added her own perspective to it.

Her additions fill out many missing parts and explain some parts that Jack’s version elided. They also contain some very interesting stories from some of Jack and Mary’s many friends (and even some of Joan���s). I also found Joan’s recounting of her mother’s descent into chronic depression very interesting because of its honesty, it’s breaking of unhealthy taboo on the illness, and its replication in my wife’s family. But I also felt there were times earlier in the book when Joan’s part detracted. Perhaps there wasn’t enough of Jack’s content to make a good book, or didn’t flow as well as what was included? But they at times seemed superfluous.

Overall, though, the book was a wonderful account of what appears to be a wonderful man whose life was successful in vaudeville, radio, and television. While his movies were mostly forgettable and even a source of humor, his life among the icons of the golden ages of radio and television is interesting and insightful.

A very good read for anyone.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even almost 60 years after his television show ended, Jack Benny is one of the greatest comedians of all time. After his death, his daughter Joan found a manuscript her father had written for a memoir. She fleshed it out with her own remembrances and stories from his friends, and it reads like a who's who of 1940s-60s Hollywood.
I would have like a bit more from his own words and a few less stories from Joan. Despite her having a whole section explaining that she was celebrity adjacent and not famous herself, she makes much of the book about herself: antics she got into, celebrities she met, her relationship with her mother. It is like a Joan Benny biography featuring some stories about her father.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memories of listening to Jack Benny on the radio, driving home from a visit to the Wases -- grandmother, Aunt Mildred, maybe the families of Uncle Lou & Aunt Minnie, Uncle Joe and Aunt Mollie, in the dark, late for Elinore and me.
I quickly found that I didn't care much for the daughter's sections. It was Jack's hidden manuscript, found 10 years after it had been stored in her mother's closet, that told quite a story!
His background -- Jewish immigrant families, the mis-match he had with regimentation, especially in school, the floundering around he did until he finally landed in vaudeville, doing what he was so well suited for.
I was struck by the sadness of his later life, as he was left behind by the culture -- changes that left his sort of humor behind.

[Sally Lindsay-briggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book sat on my shelf for a long time. When I opened it, there was “To Mom and Dad, Christmas 1990, Sally”. I had no memory that I gave it to them, 3 years before Mom passed away. Lovely memories came rolling in, those warm fuzzy ones of my parents and how much they enjoyed Jack’s humor. I genuinely loved all of this read: it was funny, engaging and full of anecdotes, background, even lots of information about Joan who co-wrote and obviously loved her father dearly. There were many pictures of movie stars that Jack knew. Their memories of him and Joan were priceless. I can’t wait to pass this on to my oldest sister. She remembers as I do watching him Sunday nights at seven.

[Sandy Murrah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book sat on my coffee table for years, and I finally picked it up and read it. I love Jack Benny! This was a very well-written book by both Jack and his daughter Joan. There were so many interesting stories. Everyone has only the best things to say about him. I remember watching the old Jack Benny tv shows when I was little, and I always thought they were hilarious.

A few years ago, I read all of George Burns’ books, and I loved his books too. That’s when I bought this Jack Benny book.

I also just repurchased and am going to re-read the Mel Blanc book.

All three of these men were funny, talented, and so kind.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best parts of this book are the ones written by Jack Benny himself. Joan XXX writings do add to the story in places, but this is also her autobiography. She was older than my parents, so I wasn’t really familiar with her other than the times she appeared on the Benny program. So some parts weren’t all that interesting to me, but may be to some. There are a few good photos, but there are better ones out there in different books on Benny. I think the best book out there on the topic of Jack Benny is “Jack Benny and the Golden Age of American Radio Comedy.

[David Colwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best parts were those directly from Jack Benny himself. I didn't care so much for the daughters contributions, other than that which directly related to her dad. He seems to have been a nice man and I'm interested now in finding out more about him and finding some of his radio and tv stuff. It was interesting hearing about the parties and all the A-list Hollywood celebraties that were there.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though only a pre-schooler when Jack Benny was at the height of his popularity, I vaguely recall some of his episodes. I had no idea what a genius of a comedian he was. The story of his life from his own viewpoint and from that of his beloved only daughter, his only child, these perspectives bring out a wonderful story and a period piece that anyone would be interested in. A safe, enjoyable read.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

The parts that Jack wrote were wonderful. A great insight into him and his life. The behind-the-scenes of his show and the people involved.
But Joan Benny took a section of the book for herself and told about her life. She does love to name-drop and often talks about the many, many material possessions. It was a stark contrast to her dad's words.
Great insight into Jack and old time radio with a few mentions of other people involved.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this very entertaining and, unlike other reviewers, enjoyed the parts written by Joan even more than those written by her father. His were very detailed stories about radio and TV show, his writers, the scripts, the gags, the guest stars, the sound effects. All interesting stuff, but Joan wrote about the family, their home, and their relationships, which made the book more well-rounded than had it been just Jack's reminiscences.