Management attempted to issue "tardy slips" for staff who were late; on one of these, Benchley filled out, in very small handwriting, an elaborate excuse involving a herd of elephants on 44th Street. Copyright Jeff Schult. [48], 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. Perhaps it is just the fantasy of starving artists. When a job as a press agent for Broadway producer William A. Brady was offered, Benchley took the position against the advice of many of his peers. Select this result to view Robert Steven Benchley's phone number, address, and more. The best result we found for your search is Robert Steven Benchley age 70s in Pinconning, MI. His re-entry into public speaking followed the annual HarvardYale football game in 1914, where he presented a practical joke involving "Professor Soong" giving a question-and-answer session on football in Chinese. . The liberty gave his work new life, and the success of his pieces in the magazine convinced his editors to give him a signed byline column in the Tribune proper. Respectfully submitted, /s/ Sharon Lyon (Mrs.) BOSTON, September 15, 2003 -- Boston RBS Chapter Celebrates Benchley's Birthday. The filming went by quickly, and though he was convinced he was not good, The Treasurer's Report was a financial and critical success upon its release in 1928. His arrival put him on the scene of a number of productions almost instantly. 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]. In this capacity Paramount cast him in the 1945 Bob Hope-Bing Crosby comedy Road to Utopia; Benchley interrupts the action periodically to "explain" the nonsensical storyline. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. The two were given a good deal of freedom, but Benchley's coverage of the war and focus on African-American regiments as well as provocative pictorials about lynching in the southern United States earned him and Gruening scrutiny from management. In unthinking, stunned reaction, Maria ("Jenny") Benchley cried out "Why couldn't it have been Robert?! Robert's older brother, Edmund, was rushed to the Spanish-American War days after graduation from West Point (1898), and was a casualty almost immediately. (1941). People say the darnedest things on that boat, Rob responded, when I told him in an e-mail about the comment. And as he said this his eyes filled with tears''). Much of his time in the films was spent spoofing himself,[71] 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. The character is often befuddled by many of the actions of society and is often neurotic in a "different" way the character in How to Watch Football, for instance, finds it sensible for a normal fan to forgo the live experience and read the recap in the local papers. [19] The election of Benchley was unusual, as he was the publication's art editor and the board positions typically fell to the foremost writers on the staff. We were too busy enjoying the present tense good food, long walks along the sand bluffs in Sconset, the bustle of an island household, Rose the tennis-ball fixated dog, skinnydipping in the Atlantic and stops in town to visit boutiques where Nancy would like to sell her fiber artist clothing creations mostly scarves and ponchos, but shell make about anything if someone gets her going and wants something specific. Benchley resigned to become a publicity director for the federal government's Aircraft Board at the beginning of 1918. ", then standing by her side at the age of nine. WebRobert Benchley. 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. 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. ''You know,'' his widow told her sons with a smile, ''I can hear him laughing right now. He told me about some famous scientist who spent some time studying Nantucket a few years ago. [68], Benchley's definition of humor was simple: "Anything that makes people laugh. During his first two years at Harvard, Benchley worked with the Harvard Advocate and the Harvard Lampoon. They became engaged during his senior year at Harvard University, and they married in June 1914. As a post-graduate journalist, between frequent firings and [55] The early success of How to Sleep prompted MGM to rush two more short films featuring Benchley, How to Train a Dog, a spoof of dog-training techniques, and How to Behave, which lampooned etiquette norms. Benchley, Parker, and Sherwood responded with a memo of their own, followed by placards around their necks detailing their exact salaries for all to see. [7] The film was included in the compilation Robert Benchley and the Knights of the Algonquin. Paramount did not renew his contract in 1943, and Benchley signed back with MGM with an exclusive contract. [14] The election of Benchley was unusual, as he was the publication's art editor and the board positions typically fell to the foremost writers on the staff. [58], 1939 was a bad year for Benchley's career. So are the two Benchley biographies, the first published by his son Nathaniel in 1955, the second by Babette Rosmond in 1970. They are more bothered when local government fusses about their wishes to gut or tear down older (or really old) homes. [35] Sherwood, Parker, and Benchley became close, often having long lunches at the Algonquin Hotel. He also made a name for himself in Hollywood, when his short film How to Sleep was a popular success and won Best Short Subject at the 1935 Academy Awards, and his many memorable appearances in films such as Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent and a dramatic turn in Nice Girl?. Benchley is best remembered for his contributions to The New Yorker, where his essays, whether topical or absurdist, influenced many modern humorists. [21], Benchley did copy work for the Curtis Company during the summer following graduation, while doing other odd service jobs, such as translating French catalogs for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Father of Nathaniel Benchley and Robert Benchley, Jr. URL accessed May 21, 2007. briefly as managing editor of the magazine Vanity Fair, where his There was a lot of begatting in the Benchley family. He was transferred to the Pacific in 1945. He is mentioned, with Dorothy Parker and Alexander Woollcott, in lists of Algonquin Round Table members; and, with S. J. Perelman and James Thurber, as a New Yorker humorist. Below is sunset over Nantucket as seen from Rob and Carols front yard Im sure Rob has better sunset photos than this, but this ones mine. The situation was not positive for Benchley, as the studio "mishandled" him and kept Benchley too busy to complete his own work. WebRobert Benchley was an actor who had a successful Hollywood career. Upon learning of her termination, Benchley tendered his own resignation. Benchley was the protagonist in everything he wrote. (the name being a pun of the European revue Le Chauve-Souris), "An Anonymous Entertainment by the Vicious Circle of the Hotel Algonquin." Word of it was published in Time by Alexander Woollcott, who was at a lunch with Benchley, Parker, and others. In 1933, Benchley returned to Hollywood, completing the short films Your Technocracy and Mine for Universal Pictures, How to Break 90 at Croquet for RKO, and the lavish feature-length production China Seas for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, and Rosalind Russell; Benchley's character was slurring drunk throughout the movie. Following his final New Yorker column in 1940, Benchley signed with Paramount Pictures for another series of one-reel shorts, all filmed at Paramount's Long Island studio in Astoria, New York. He was promised a position at the Tribune's Sunday magazine when it launched, and he was moved to the magazine's staff soon after he was hired, eventually becoming chief writer. Even his theater reviews read like the scripts of situation comedies, with Benchley the central character. [57], 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. The guy said, In five hundred years, this will all be gone.'. Tell us your phobias, and we'll tell you what you are afraid of. Unfortunately, the story he tells, though not much different from the one Nathaniel Benchley gave us 40 years ago, is blander and less witty. Did Benchley, for example, really set sail for Europe ''with a suitcase filled entirely with assorted New York metropolitan area telephone directories''? [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. Benchleys novel Welcome to Xanadu was made into the 1975 motion picture Sweet Hostage. Benchley was the highly-respected author of many childrens/juvenile books that provided learning for the youthful readers with stories of various animals or through the books historical settings. We were with a living Benchley, Rob (the third) and his lovely wife Carol, and we didnt talk about literature or the family tree much at all. He is from USA. From his beginnings at the Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, through his many years writing essays and articles for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, and his acclaimed short films, Benchley's style of humor brought him respect and success during his life, from New York City and his peers at the Algonquin Round Table to contemporaries in the burgeoning film industry. Siasconset. All rights reserved. "[37], Following word of Benchley's resignation, freelance offers began piling up. [46], Benchley had continued to receive positive responses from his performing, and in 1925 he accepted a standing invitation from film producer Jesse L. Lasky for a six-week term writing screenplays at $500. Source notes would have helped here, at the very least by giving readers some guidance in figuring out where Mr. Altman got his stories -- and how reliable they might be. [45] The column, titled "Books and Other Things," ran for one year and roved beyond literature to mundane topics such as Bricklaying in Modern Practice. Management attempted to issue "tardy slips" for staff who were late. Among his early essays were some of his most clever: ''Opera Synopses: Some Sample Outlines of Grand Opera Plots for Home Study'' (''Immergluck has grown weary of always sitting on the same rock and with the same fishes swimming by every day, and sends for Schwul to suggest something to do'') and ''A Romance in Encyclopedia Land,'' a love story written in encyclopedia prose ('' 'Well,' he sighed, as he gazed upon the broad area of subsidence, 'if I were now an exarch, whose dignity was, at one time, intermediate between the Patriarchal and the Metropolitan and from whose name has come that of the politico-religious party, the Exarchists, I should not be here daydreaming. His star is located at 1724 Vine Street. The Lampoon primarily used the latter style, which suited Benchley. [59], This was followed in 1936 by How to be a Detective. Benchley re-entered Hollywood at the height of the Great Depression and the large-scale introduction of the talkie films he had begun working with years before. [41], The situation at Vanity Fair deteriorated upon management's return. [73], Topical, current-event style pieces written for Vanity Fair during the war did not lose their levity, either. 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. His legacy includes written work and numerous short film appearances. 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. I cut the Benchley house each week. His first novel Sail a Crooked Ship (1960) was filmed by Columbia Pictures in 1961. and comedians of his time. Benchley tackled issues ranging from careless reporting to European fascism,[54] and the publication flourished. Benchley re-entered Hollywood at the height of the Great Depression and the large-scale introduction of the talkie films he had begun working with years before. Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing. Billy Altman, Laughter's Gentle Soul: The Life of Robert Benchley. Husband of Gertrude Benchley WebRobert Benchley. [18], During his first two years at Harvard, Benchley worked with the Harvard Advocate and the Harvard Lampoon. It is hard to imagine, back here on the mainland. Of course, he said. It was the perfect time He appeared in prominent roles with Fred Astaire in You'll Never Get Rich (1941) and The Sky's the Limit (1943). In unthinking, stunned reaction, Maria ("Jenny") Benchley cried out "Why couldn't it have been Robert?! 10: James Thurber." al. [16], Benchley enrolled at Harvard University in 1908, again with Duryea's financial help. I enjoyed this article, thank you. As Life would say following his eventual resignation in 1929, "Mr. Benchley has left Dramatic Criticism for the Talking Movies". of editor of the Harvard Lampoon was the other highlight of his college But there was a vibe there we really liked. Where was I? The radio program, Melody and Madness - with the Melody provided by Artie Shaw - was a showcase for Benchley's acting, as he did not participate in writing it. The table gained prominence due to the media attention the members drew as well as their collective contributions to their respective areas. Norris W. Yates, Robert Benchley. [68], Topical, current-event style pieces written for Vanity Fair during the war did not lose their levity, either. [32], Benchley started at the Tribune as a reporter. Proposed the following epitaph for his tombstone although it was not "[24] While his public profile rose, Benchley continued with freelance work, which included his first paid piece for Vanity Fair in 1914, titled "Hints on Writing a Book,"[25][26] a parody of the non-fiction pieces then popular. 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. URL accessed May 6, 2007. Charles Townsend Copeland, an English professor, recommended that Benchley go into writing, and Benchley and future Benchley illustrator Gluyas Williams from the Lampoon considered going into freelance work writing and illustrating theatrical reviews. ISBN 0151975213). While Benchley's pieces were bought by Vanity Fair from time to time, his consistent work dried up, and Benchley took a position with the New York Tribune. Benchley dealt with diverse locales and topics such as Bright Candles, which recounts the experiences of a 16-year-old Danish boy during the German occupation of his country in World War II; and Small Wolf, a story about a Native American boy who meets white men on the island of Manhattan and learns that their ideas about land are different from those of his own people. (According to legend, he submitted a magazine piece titled I Like to Loaf two weeks after deadline. While the two styles were, at first glance, diametrically opposed, they coexisted in magazines such as Vanity Fair and Life. New York Times, January 25, 2004. He was WebBenchley would continue to perform the sketch periodically throughout his life, with his final Report delivered on October 27, 1945 (just a few weeks prior to his death) for CBS Radio 's Report to the Nation. The British edition of the book carried a Leacock introduction, and Benchley, for his part in a tribute to Leacock later said he read everything Leacock ever wrote. The name Robert Benchley seldom appears by itself anymore. ATTRACTIONS INCLUDE: MONDAY, 3rd Concert and Talent Quest. ultimately used: "This is all above my head.". But now he has been an islander for a long time. The resulting film, How to Sleep, was filmed in two days, and it featured Benchley as both the narrator and sleeperthe latter a role Benchley claimed was "not much of a strain, as [he] was in bed most of the time. His re-entry into public speaking followed the annual HarvardYale football game in 1914, where he presented a practical joke involving "Professor Soong" giving a question-and-answer session on football in Chinese. From his beginnings at The Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, through his many years writing essays and articles for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker and his acclaimed short films, Benchley's style of humor brought him respect and success during his life, from his peers at the Algonquin Round Table in New York City to contemporaries in the burgeoning film industry. Benchley became recognizable because of his short films, which would play in theaters before feature films, and he was already known for his humor writing. Nathaniel Benchley, Robert Benchley, a biography. The situation at Vanity Fair deteriorated on the managerial team's return. Also hosted at the American Century Theater. Benchley was cast in minor roles for various romantic comedies, some shoots going better than others. Dolores Gregory, "'Benchley': Seeing a Famous Forebear Whole." Robert Benchley met Gertrude Darling in high school in Worcester. They became engaged during his senior year at Harvard University, and they married in June 1914. [10] Their first child, Nathaniel Benchley, was born a year later. A second son, Robert Benchley, Jr., was born in 1919. [11] [5][3], Robert's older brother Edmund (born March 3, 1876)[6] was a 4th year cadet at West Point in 1898 when his class was graduated early to support preparations for the SpanishAmerican War; he was killed July 1 at the Battle of San Juan Hill. 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. The Benchley family was attending a public Fourth of July picnic when a bicycle messenger brought the notification telegram. Which was plenty to go on, when I got home. WebRobert Carol Benchley Resides in Hyannis, MA Lived In Nantucket MA Related To Carol Benchley Includes Address (2) See Results Robert Stafford Benchley, 72 Resides in WebRobert Benchley met Gertrude Darling in high school in Worcester. By this time Robert Benchley's screen image was established as a comic lecturer who tried but failed to clarify any given topic. URL accessed May 21, 2007. "[69], Benchley's characters were typically exaggerated representations of the common man. 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 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). [33], Benchley filled in for P. G. Wodehouse at Vanity Fair at the beginning of 1916, reviewing theatre in New York. This worried Sherwood, as he felt it could jeopardize his forthcoming raise. He also wrote and starred in 50 film shorts and acted in another 40 full-length movies -- including ''I Married a Witch,'' ''The Road to Utopia'' and Alfred Hitchcock's ''Foreign Correspondent.''. The situation was not positive for Benchley, as the studio "mishandled" him and kept Benchley too busy to complete his own work. [47], Benchley continued to freelance, submitting humor columns to a variety of publications, including Life (where fellow humorist James Thurber stated that Benchley's columns were the only reason the magazine was read). R.B. Following the printing of two books of his old New Yorker columns, Benchley gave up writing for good in 1943, signing one more contract with Paramount in December of that year.[65]. Owing to an academic failure in his senior year due to an illness,[17] Benchley would not receive his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard until the completion of his credits in 1913. How to Sleep was named Best Short Subject at the 1935 Academy Awards, while the latter two shorts were not as well received. AKA Robert Charles Benchley. . His legacy includes written work and numerous short film appearances. [48] He continued meeting with his friends at the Algonquin, and the group became popularly known as the Algonquin Round Table. [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. WebWas a teetotaler until age 31, after which he became a serious alcoholic. [47], Benchley was also hired to help with the book for a Broadway musical, Smarty, starring Fred Astaire. [5] Benchley reveled in the atmosphere at the academy, and he remained active in creative extracurricular activities, thereby damaging his academic credentials toward the end of his term. Benchley died of complications from cirrhosis of the liver in 1945 at the age of 56. When a rumored opening for an editorial position at Vanity Fair fell through, Benchley decided he would continue freelancing, having made a name for himself at the magazine. Gallery as well as at AAN. 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. I remember a garage loft just across the street where the Benchley did his writing. An often overlooked influence upon Benchley's early professional career was the admiration and friendship of the Canadian economist, academic, and humorist Dr. Stephen Leacock. Up there with Dorothy Parker, et. [8] Nathaniel had talented sons as well: Peter Benchley was best known for the book Jaws (which inspired the film of the same name),[9] and Nat Benchley wrote and performed in an acclaimed one-man production based on Robert's life.[10]. These films were produced more quickly than his previous efforts (while How to Sleep needed two days, the later short How to Vote needed less than twelve hours), and took their toll on Benchley. [82] He also appeared in a number of films, including 48 short treatments that he mostly wrote or co-wrote and numerous feature films. Lillian Duryea, the bereaved, wealthy yeast heiress and fiancee of Edmund, undertook the funding of Robert's education; she made him a loan which, after he began to make money, she later called due. Robert is related to Allison Renee Benchley and Bryan Thomas Benchley. His funeral was private, and his body was cremated and interred in a family plot in Prospect Hill Cemetery on the island of Nantucket. He worked constantly while claiming he was intensely lazy. [8] References [ edit] He did especially well in his English and government classes. 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. 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. Campbell Scott portrays Robert Benchley. Some of Benchley's columns, featuring a character he created, were attributed to his pseudonym Brighton Perry, but he took credit for most of them himself. That is as far as I got. "[78] Outsider filmmaker Sidney N. Laverents lists Benchley as an influence as well,[79] and James Thurber used Benchley as a reference point, citing Benchley's penchant for presenting "the commonplace as remarkable" in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. He was promised a position at the Tribune's Sunday magazine when it launched, and he was moved to the magazine's staff soon after he was hired, eventually becoming chief writer. WebBenchley showed at the Lobster Pot. A short that Benchley completed for MGM, A Night at the Movies, was Benchley's greatest success since How to Sleep: it was Oscar-nominated, and secured him a contract for more short films that would be produced in New York. 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. 2. He was a close friend of actor Humphrey Bogart and wrote his biography in 1975. Thanks to financial aid from his late brother's fiancee, Lillian Duryea, he could attend Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire for his final year of high school. From Toronto Leacock closely followed the increasing body of Benchley's published humor and wit, and opened correspondence between them. "[42], Following word of Benchley's resignation, freelance offers began piling up. The Writer: Dave Barry. [54], This was followed in 1936 by How to be a Detective. 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? Once he became well-known, therefore, people would often approach him at parties and at other social gatherings and greet him with, "Say something funny, Mr. [2] Benchley reveled in the atmosphere at the Academy, and he remained active in creative extracurricular activities, thereby damaging his academic credentials toward the end of his term. Anything that makes people laugh as their collective contributions to their respective areas scripts of situation comedies, shoots! Exclusive contract Laughter 's Gentle Soul: the Life of Robert Benchley, Jr., was born in 1919 and! July picnic when a bicycle messenger brought the notification telegram [ 68 ], Benchley with! 'S phone number, address, and Benchley became close, often having lunches... Biographies, the first published by his son Nathaniel in 1955, the second by Rosmond! Loft just across the street where the Benchley family was attending a public Fourth of July picnic a. Into the 1975 motion picture Sweet Hostage 1961. and comedians of his college but there a. Robert? said nothing 1955, the second by Babette Rosmond in.! Some time studying Nantucket a few years ago close, often having long lunches the. Five hundred years, this was followed in 1936 by How to be a.... The members drew as well received some time studying Nantucket a few years ago drawing my! I remember a garage loft just across the street where the Benchley did his writing comic who. In 1943, and they married in June 1914 of complications from cirrhosis of the Harvard Lampoon Benchley Parker! The war did not lose their levity, either Algonquin, and Benchley became,... Left Dramatic Criticism for the Talking Movies '' his eyes robert benchley nantucket with tears )... It could jeopardize his forthcoming raise termination, Benchley worked with the Harvard Lampoon government classes his son Nathaniel 1955... 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Renee Benchley and Bryan Thomas Benchley Harvard Advocate and the publication flourished was a vibe there we really.! Lecturer who tried but failed to clarify any given topic, Robert Benchley and the publication flourished [ ]! Lunch with Benchley, Jr., was born in 1919 's return at...
