CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1  •  Becoming Benny: The Development of Jack Benny’s Character-Focused Comedy for Radio

2  •  “What Are You Laughing at, Mary?” Mary Livingstone’s Comic Voice

3  •  Masculine Gender Identity in Jack Benny’s Humor

4  •  Eddie Anderson, Rochester, and Race in 1930s Radio and Film

5  •  Rochester and the Revenge of Uncle Tom in the 1940s and 1950s

6  •  The Commercial Imperative: Jack Benny, Advertising, and Radio Sponsors

7  •  Jack Benny’s Intermedia Juggling of Radio and Film

8  •  Benny at War with the Radio Critics

9  •  Jack Benny’s Turn Towards Television

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index