His large square face, with the slicked-back black hair, thin mustache and bemused smirk, is a bit more familiar to fans of film comedies of the 1930's and 40's in which he played some version of himself: a slightly tipsy, caustically funny, physically clumsy New York sophisticate. Does the garage still exist? Part of it was Benchleys. I remember a garage loft just across the street where the Benchley did his writing. Son of Charles Henry Benchley and Maria Jane Benchley He worked constantly while claiming he was intensely lazy. But now he has been an islander for a long He married his childhood sweetheart, Gertrude Darling, in 1914. Although by his own account Benchley was not quite a writer and not WebRobert Benchley AKA Robert Charles Benchley Born: 15-Sep - 1889 Birthplace: Worcester, MA Died: 21-Nov - 1945 Location of death: New York City Cause of death: Cerebral Hemorrhage Remains: Buried, Prospect Hill Cemetery, Nantucket, MA Gender: Male Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Author, Screenwriter While Benchley's pieces were bought by Vanity Fair from time to time, his consistent work dried up, and he took a position with the New York Tribune. Nathaniel Benchley, novelist, humorist and author of 15 children's books, died of a liver infection yesterday at New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston. The format of Vanity Fair fit Benchley's style very well, allowing his columns to have a humorous tone, often as straight parodies. (1941). ISBN 0151975213). He was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor who is best remembered for his contributions to The New Yorker, where his essays, whether topical or absurdist, influenced many modern humorists. [62], Benchley's return yielded two more short films, and his high-profile prompted negotiations for sponsorship of a Benchley radio program and numerous appearances on television shows, including the first television entertainment program ever broadcast, an untitled test program using an experimental antenna on the Empire State Building. Benchley, who had also been offered a syndicated column by Hearst, was able to film the shorts in New York and keep up with his new column. He admitted to occasional borrowing of a Benchley topic for his own reflection and writings. On April 22, 1945, he guest starred on the Blue Network's (soon to be ABC) top-rated radio series The Andrews Sisters Show, sponsored by Nash motor cars & Kelvinator home appliances. This experience was not as positive, and most of Benchley's contributions were excised and the final product, Funny Face, did not have Benchley's name attached. Dave Barry, author, onetime humor writer for the Miami Herald, and judge of the 2006 and 2007 Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor,[80] has called Benchley his "idol"[81] and he "always wanted to write like [Benchley]. [37] He accepted and began work there in 1919.[38]. In unthinking, stunned reaction, Maria ("Jenny") Benchley cried out "Why couldn't it have been Robert?! On this day in 1889 the American writer and humourist Robert Benchley was born. The revue was applauded by both spectators and fellow actors, with Benchley's performance in particular receiving the biggest laughs. May 2003. In 1931, he was persuaded to do voice work for RKO Radio Pictures for a film that would eventually be titled Sky Devils, and he acted in his first feature film, The Sport Parade (1932) with Joel McCrea. Though Mr. Altman recounts all the stories, he hardly ever tries to sort out fact from fiction. This character was apparent in Benchley's Ivy Oration during his Harvard graduation ceremonies,[66] and would appear throughout his career, such as during "The Treasurer's Report" in the 1920s[67] and his work in feature films in the 1930s. The work of Robert Benchley is as funny as it was 80 years ago. [68], Topical, current-event style pieces written for Vanity Fair during the war did not lose their levity, either. A reprise of "The Treasurer's Report" was often requested for future events, and Irving Berlin hired Benchley for $500 a week to perform it nightly during Berlin's Music Box Revue. The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers and actors who met regularly between 1919 and 1929 at the Algonquin Hotel. The crematorium had given the family the wrong urn. [53], During the time that Benchley was filming various short films, he also began working at The New Yorker, which had started in February 1925 under the control of Benchley's friend Harold Ross. ATTRACTIONS INCLUDE: MONDAY, 3rd Concert and Talent Quest. quite an actor, he managed to become one of the best-known humorists Born in Newton, Massachusetts to a literary family, he was the son of Gertrude Darling and Robert Benchley (18891945), the noted American writer, humorist, critic, actor, and one of the founders of the Algonquin Round Table in New York City. It was a joke about the canals, but in winter its frequently true as is well known by visitors wading through Piazza San Marco and other flooded sites. Benchley's humor was molded during his time at Harvard. R.B. Benchley was later known for writing elaborately misleading and fictional autobiographical statements about himself (at one point asserting that he wrote A Tale of Two Cities before being buried at Westminster Abbey). Rob Benchley was raised in Connecticut and, as a boy, maybe he was one of the entitled ones. He fit the profile. Benchley kept these achievements in mind as he began to contemplate a career for himself after college. and comedians of his time. From 1914, when he sold his first humorous essay to Vanity Fair, to 1943, when he gave up writing for film acting because ''I don't think I write funny anymore,'' Benchley published more than 2,000 essays and reviews in various magazines and newspapers. Eventually, he began lobbying gently for Benchley to compile his columns into book form, and, in 1921, was delighted when the result of his nagging - Of All Things - was published. The town of Benchley, Texas, is named after his grandfather, who ISBN 080570048X). In his mid-50s Benchley suffered from cirrhosis of the liver and high blood pressure, and died from complications of both. [40] The column, titled "Books and Other Things," ran for one year and roved beyond literature to mundane topics such as Bricklaying in Modern Practice. [47], Benchley was also hired to help with the book for a Broadway musical, Smarty, starring Fred Astaire. His elder son, Peter Benchley (19402006), was a writer best known for writing the novel Jaws and the screenplay of the 1975 Steven Spielberg film made from it. The first Robert Benchley was the one I thought I sort of knew, as much as you can know someone who died 11 years before you were born. Word of it was published in Time by Alexander Woollcott, who was at a lunch with Benchley, Parker, and others. 'Benchley': Seeing a Famous Forebear Whole. [50], With the emergence of The New Yorker, Benchley was able to stay away from Hollywood work for a number of years. [28], Benchley filled in for P. G. Wodehouse at Vanity Fair at the beginning of 1916, reviewing theatre in New York. (the name being a pun of the European revue Le Chauve-Souris), "An Anonymous Entertainment by the Vicious Circle of the Hotel Algonquin." with Deanna Durbin, noteworthy for a rare dramatic performance by Benchley. In 1941 Benchley received two more feature-length roles: Walt Disney's The Reluctant Dragon, in which Benchley tours the various departments of the Disney studio, and Nice Girl? These issues contributed to a general deterioration of morale in the offices, culminating in Parker's termination, allegedly due to complaints by the producers of the plays she skewered in her theatrical reviews. "[74] His lighter fare did not hesitate to touch upon topical issues, drawing analogies between a football game and patriotism, or chewing gum and diplomacy and economic relations with Mexico. I hadnt really had any idea about the Benchley family tree. [82] He also appeared in a number of films, including 48 short treatments that he mostly wrote or co-wrote and numerous feature films. Benchley was invited to be theatre critic for The New Yorker in 1929, leaving Life, and contributions from Woollcott and Parker became regular features in the magazine. "[64], Benchley's characters were typically exaggerated representations of the common man. They are bothered when they cant have what they want. his first comic performance, impersonating a befuddled after-dinner According to Mr. Altman, when the urn that was supposed to contain his ashes was delivered to the family burial plot in Nantucket, the undertaker discovered it was empty. (New York City, Twayne Publishers, 1968. [63], 1939 was a bad year for Benchley's career. According to Mr. Altman, when the urn that was supposed to contain his ashes was He wrote The Off-Islanders (filmed as The Russians Are That is as far as I got. He appeared in prominent roles with Fred Astaire in You'll Never Get Rich (1941) and The Sky's the Limit (1943). [39] Benchley's work was typically published twice a month. In what the local press dubbed "the Chinese professor caper," Soong was played by a Chinese-American who had lived in the United States for over thirty years, and pretended to answer questions in Chinese while Benchley "translated. Benchley was cast in minor roles for various romantic comedies, some shoots going better than others. [8] Additionally, because the news about Edmund had arrived during a July 4th celebration, Robert for the rest of his life associated fireworks with Edmund's death. "[58] The film was well received in preview screenings, and promotions took over, with a still from the film being used in Simmons advertisements. Benchley's earliest roles were in film, including the romantic comedy "Rafter Romance" (1933) with Ginger While Benchley was more interested in writing than acting, one of his more important roles as an actor was as a salesman in Rafter Romance, and his work attracted the interest of MGM, who offered Benchley a considerable sum to star in a series of short subjects. He still completed two shoots in one day (one of which was The Courtship of the Newt), but rested for a while following the 1937 schedule. That's what makes it so tough for us outsiders: we have to fight home [78] Even the more stereotypical characters held these qualities, such as the incapable sportscaster Benchley played in The Sport Parade.[79]. URL accessed May 21, 2007. Word of it was published in Time by Alexander Woollcott, who was at a lunch with Benchley, Parker, and others. "), and his common man observations often veered into angry rants, such as his piece "The Average Voter," where the namesake of the piece "[F]orgets what the paper saidso votes straight Republicrat ticket. His performances gave him some local fame, and most entertainment programs on campus and many off-campus meetings recruited Benchley's talents. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor and served as a public relations officer and on convoy duty in the Atlantic on destroyers and patrol craft. "[25] Things did not improve for Benchley and Obiter Dicta, and a failed practical joke at a company banquet further strained the relationship between Benchley and his superiors. Benchley participated in two more films that year: a second talking film he wrote, The Sex Life of the Polyp, and a third starring but not written by him, The Spellbinder, all made in the Fox Movietone sound-on-film system and released by Fox Films. While on that first visit dad scouted around, found a dilapidated duplex not far from the ocean at Surfside and tracked down the local realtor. [47] His reviews were known for their flair, and he often used them as a soapbox for issues of concern to him, whether petty (people who cough during plays) or more important (such as racial intolerance). [35], At the Tribune, Benchley, along with new editor Ernest Gruening, was in charge of a twelve-page pictorial supplement titled the Tribune Graphic. [18] In September 1913 he was hired by Curtis as a full-time staff member, preparing copy for its new house publication, Obiter Dicta. We never quite learn what it was about Benchley's style or subjects that made him the most admired humorist of his generation and prompted James Thurber to remark, years after Benchley's death, that ''one of the greatest fears of the humorous writer is that he has spent three weeks writing something done faster and better by Benchley in 1919.''. Perhaps it is just the fantasy of starving artists. Matt Haber, "A One-Man Band Who Created an Oeuvre." Upon learning of her termination, Benchley tendered his own resignation. His family opted for a private funeral service, and his body was cremated and interred in a family plot on the island of Nantucket.Altman, 352362. URLs accessed June 6, 2007. The films enjoyed similar success and were critically acclaimed, and Benchley was signed to a deal to produce more films before heading back to New York to continue writing. [3][7], Edmund's fiance Lillian Duryea, a wealthy heiress, doted on Robert for many years, and Edmund's death may have seeded the pacifist leanings seen in Robert's writing. Besides the cancellation of his radio show, Benchley learned that MGM did not plan to renew his contract, and The New Yorker, frustrated with Benchley's film career taking precedence over his theatre column, hired a new critic. Also hosted at the American Century Theater. In unthinking, stunned reaction, Maria ("Jenny") Benchley cried out "Why couldn't it have been Robert?! . Mr. Harvey asked him when he next had a vacation. Oh, yeah. [64], Benchley's roles primarily came as a freelance actor, as his Paramount shorts contract didn't pay as well as feature films. [3] His brother Edmund was thirteen years older. the son of writer and humorist Robert Benchley and the father of [4], His father served in the Union army for two years during the Civil War and had a four-year hitch in the Navy before settling again in Worcester, marrying and working as a town clerk. [13] Nathaniel married and also had talented sons who became writers: Peter Benchley was best known for the book Jaws (which was adapted as the film of the same name),[14] and Nat Benchley wrote and performed in an acclaimed one-man production based on their grandfather Robert's life. He is from USA. The prominent styles of humor were then "crackerbarrel," which relied on devices such as dialects and a disdain for formal education in the style of humorists such as Artemis Ward and Petroleum Vesuvius Nasby, and a more "genteel" style of humor, very literary and upper-class in nature, a style popularized by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Anyone can read what you share. Much of his time in the films was spent spoofing himself,[76] whether it was the affected nervousness of the treasurer in The Treasurer's Report or the discomfort in explaining The Sex Life of the Polyp to a women's club. Edmund's death had a considerable effect upon Robert's life. Another English professor recommended that Benchley speak with the Curtis Publishing Company; but Benchley was initially against the idea, and ultimately took a position at a civil service office in Philadelphia. Those were priceless memories. Of All Things (1921)Love Conquers All (1922)From Bed to Worse (1934)My Ten Years in a Quandary and How They Grew (1936)Inside Benchley (1941)Benchley Beside Himself (1943), Do you know something we don't? The situation was not positive for Benchley, as the studio "mishandled" him and kept Benchley too busy to complete his own work. He was elected to the Lampoon's board of directors in his third year. Besides the cancellation of his radio show, Benchley learned that MGM did not plan to renew his contract, and The New Yorker, frustrated with Benchley's film career taking precedence over his theatre column, appointed Wolcott Gibbs to take over in his stead. Representations of the liver and high blood pressure, and others 080570048X ) particular. In particular receiving the biggest laughs n't it have been Robert? learning of her termination, was. A One-Man Band who Created an Oeuvre. Benchley kept these achievements in mind as he began to contemplate career! 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