He was known for his comic timing and the ability to cause laughter with a long pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated summation "Well! "

Benny portrayed himself as a miser who obliviously played his violin badly and claimed perpetually to be 39 years of age.

At his father's behest, Benny began taking violin lessons at the age of six and was soon considered to be a child prodigy.

The next year, Benny formed a vaudeville musical duo with pianist Cora Folsom Salisbury, who needed a partner for her act.

This angered famous violinist Jan Kubelik, who feared that the young vaudevillian with a similar name would damage his reputation.

Benny left show business briefly in 1917 to join the United States Navy during World War I, often entertaining fellow sailors with his violin playing.

[3]: 17  He then received legal pressure from Ben Bernie, a "patter-and-fiddle" performer, regarding his name, so he adopted the sailor's nickname of Jack.

Benny had some romantic encounters, including one with dancer Mary Kelly,[3]: 23–24  whose devoutly Catholic family forced her to turn down his proposal because he was Jewish.

Called on to fill in for the "dumb girl" part in a Benny routine, Sadie proved to be a natural comedienne.

Sadie's older sister Babe would often be the target of jokes about unattractive or masculine women, while her younger brother Hilliard would later produce Benny's radio and TV work.

The next film, Chasing Rainbows, did not do well, and after several months Benny was released from his contract and returned to Broadway in Earl Carroll's Vanities.

[13] Benny's long radio career began on April 6, 1932, when the NBC Commercial Program Department auditioned him for the N. W. Ayer & Son agency and their client Canada Dry, after which Bertha Brainard, head of the division, said, "We think Mr. Benny is excellent for radio and, while the audition was unassisted as far as orchestra was concerned, we believe he would make a great bet for an air program."

Recalling the experience in 1956, Benny said Ed Sullivan had invited him to guest on his program (1932), and "the agency for Canada Dry ginger ale heard me and offered me a job.

On March 28, 1954, Benny co-hosted General Foods 25th Anniversary Show: A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein with Groucho Marx and Mary Martin.

When Benny moved to television, audiences learned that his verbal talent was matched by his controlled repertory of dead-pan facial expressions and gesture.

Television viewers became accustomed to live without Mary Livingstone, who was afflicted by a striking case of stage fright that didn't lessen even after performing with Benny for 20 years.

In fact, the only radio cast members who appeared regularly on the television program as well were Don Wilson and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson.

Benny also acted in films, including the Academy Award-winning The Hollywood Revue of 1929, Broadway Melody of 1936 (as a benign nemesis for Eleanor Powell and Robert Taylor), George Washington Slept Here (1942), and notably, Charley's Aunt (1941) and To Be or Not to Be (1942).

The failure of one cinematic Benny vehicle, The Horn Blows at Midnight, became a running gag on his radio and television programs, although contemporary viewers may not find the film as disappointing as the jokes suggest.

The last of these is probably the most memorable: Robert McKimson engaged Benny and his actual cast (Mary Livingstone, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, and Don Wilson) to do the voices for the mouse versions of their characters, with Mel Blanc – the usual Warner Brothers cartoon voicemeister – reprising his old vocal turn as the always-aging Maxwell, always a phat-phat-bang!

In the cartoon, Benny and Livingstone agree to spend their anniversary at the Kit-Kat Club, which they discover the hard way is inside the mouth of a live cat.

In the 1960s, Benny was the headlining act at Harrah's Lake Tahoe with trumpeter Harry James, clown Emmett Kelly and singer Ray Vasquez.

Benny was preparing to star in the film version of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys when his health failed later the same year.

[citation needed] The Lucille Ball roast, his last public performance, aired on February 7, 1975, several weeks after his death.

[30] In October 1974, Benny cancelled a performance in Dallas after suffering a dizzy spell, coupled with numbness in his arms.

[3]: 293–294  While in a coma, he was visited by close friends, including George Burns, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson, John Rowles and then Governor Ronald Reagan.

[32] Burns, Benny's best friend for more than fifty years, attempted to deliver a eulogy but broke down shortly after he began and was unable to continue.

"[33] Pallbearers included Sinatra, Mervyn LeRoy, Gregory Peck, Milton Berle, Billy Wilder, Irving Fein, Leonard Gershe, Fred de Cordova and Armand Deutsch.

[32][34] His will arranged for a single long-stemmed red rose to be delivered to his widow, Mary Livingstone, every day for the rest of her life.

"[3]: 301 Upon his death, Benny's family donated his personal, professional and business papers, as well as a collection of his television shows, to UCLA.