Benny Rubin (February 2, 1899 – July 15, 1986) was an American comedian and film actor. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Rubin made more than 200 radio, film and television appearances over a span of 50 years.
Rubin was known for his ability to imitate many dialects, as was evident when he was a panelist on the joke-telling radio series,
Stop Me If You've Heard This OneStop Me If You've Heard This One was a comedy radio series, created by the actor-humorist Cal Tinney and sponsored by Quaker Oats. Hosted by Milton Berle, it aired Saturday evenings at 8:30pm on NBC beginning October 7, 1939.The premise was that listeners received prizes for jokes they submitted...
.
He made frequent guest appearances on both the radio and television versions of
The Jack Benny ProgramThe Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series which ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century comedy.-Radio:...
.
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Benny Rubin (February 2, 1899 – July 15, 1986) was an American comedian and film actor. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Rubin made more than 200 radio, film and television appearances over a span of 50 years.
Radio and television
Rubin was known for his ability to imitate many dialects, as was evident when he was a panelist on the joke-telling radio series,
Stop Me If You've Heard This OneStop Me If You've Heard This One was a comedy radio series, created by the actor-humorist Cal Tinney and sponsored by Quaker Oats. Hosted by Milton Berle, it aired Saturday evenings at 8:30pm on NBC beginning October 7, 1939.The premise was that listeners received prizes for jokes they submitted...
.
He made frequent guest appearances on both the radio and television versions of
The Jack Benny ProgramThe Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series which ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century comedy.-Radio:...
. A popular bit included Jack asking a series of questions that Rubin would answer with an ever-increasing irritated, "I don't know!" followed by the punchline.
Books
Jokes by
Lew LehrLew Lehr was a comedian, writer and editor known for his humorous contributions to Fox Movietone News, his radio appearances and his popular catchphrase, "Monkeys is the cwaziest peoples."Prior to 1930, he appeared in vaudeville and musical theater...
, Cal Tinney, Roger Bower and Rubin were collected in
Stop Me If You've Heard This One, a 1949 Permabook published by Garden City Publishing. Permabooks were designed with an unusual format of a paperback bound with stiff cardboard covers (with a "special wear-resistant finish") to simulate the look and feel of a hardcover book, and the company had previously published
Best Jokes for All Occasions, edited by Powers Moulton.
The
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Permabook featured a two-page foreword by Tinney, a one-page introduction by Bower, 66 pages of jokes by Bower, 85 pages of jokes by Tinney and 82 pages of jokes by Lehr. Under the heading, "P.S.", Rubin only had space for four jokes on two pages, as explained, "Benny Rubin was added to our show just before press time."
In 1980, Rubin published his autobiography,
Come Backstage with Me.
Rubin died of a heart attack in
Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
on July 15, 1986.
External links