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 a slurring drunk throughout the movie. He also made many memorable appearances acting in films such as Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940) and Nice Girl? Benchley's humor inspired a number of later humorists and filmmakers. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. WebAlthough by his own account Benchley was not quite a writer and not quite an actor, he managed to become one of the best-known humorists and comedians of his time. Amazon.com: The Best of Robert Benchley product listing. They sent out a memo forbidding the discussion of salaries in an attempt to rein in the staff. Mrs. Benchley apologized profoundly and tried hard to atone for the remark. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Benchley. While the two styles were, at first glance, diametrically opposed, they coexisted in magazines such as Vanity Fair and Life. Matt Haber, "A One-Man Band Who Created an Oeuvre." The radio program, Melody and Madness, was more a showcase for Benchley's acting, as he did not participate in writing it. Artists Association of Nantucket Up there with Dorothy Parker, et. Amid accusations that both were pro-German (the United States was fighting Germany at the time), Benchley tendered his resignation in a terse letter, citing the lack of "rational proof that Dr. Gruening was guilty ofcharges made against him" and management's attempts to "smirch the character and the newspaper career of the first man in three years who has been able to make the Tribune look like a newspaper. writer of whimsical musings on the vagaries of modern life. Film director/producer, Norman Jewison made Benchleys 1961 novel The Off-Islanders into a motion picture titled The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming for which he received the nomination for an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. [3] Benchley's grandfather Henry Wetherby Benchley, a member of the Massachusetts Senate and Lieutenant Governor in the mid-1850s, went to Houston, Texas and became an activist for the Underground Railroad for which he was arrested and jailed. [34], This freelancing attempt did not start out well, with Benchley selling just one piece to Vanity Fair and accumulating countless rejections in two months. As a post-graduate journalist, between frequent firings and 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. While Benchley, along with many of his Algonquin acquaintances, was wary of getting involved with another publication for various reasons, he completed some freelance work for The New Yorker over the first few years, and was later invited to be newspaper critic. Benchley is best remembered for his contributions to The New Yorker, where his essays, whether topical or absurdist, influenced many modern humorists. [6] Nathaniel became a writer himself, and penned a biography of his father in 1955[7] as well as becoming a well-respected children's book author. [75], In his films, the common man exaggerations continued. (the name being a pun of the European revue Le Chauve-Souris), "An Anonymous Entertainment by the Vicious Circle of the Hotel Algonquin." 3 reviews Get A Copy Amazon Stores Published 1956 More Details Edit Details Reader Q&A To ask other readers questions about Robert Benchley , please sign up . 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. (New York City: Harcourt Brace, 1977. So are the two Benchley biographies, the first published by his son Nathaniel in 1955, the second by Babette Rosmond in 1970. . "[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. Paramount did not renew his contract in 1943, and Benchley signed back with MGM with an exclusive contract. His legacy includes written work and numerous short film appearances. 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). This experience was a poor one, as Brady was extremely difficult to work for. third class in Bulgaria. How to Sleep was named Best Short Subject at the 1935 Academy Awards, while the latter two shorts were not as well received. A guy would come in and pick out white appliances and then ask that they be shipped to Nantucket and held for pickup at the pier. [16], Benchley did copy work for the Curtis Publishing Company during the summer following graduation (1913) while doing other odd service jobs, such as translating French catalogs for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. In 1960 Benchley was posthumously inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Benchley kept these achievements in mind as he began to contemplate a career for himself after college. We should all be so lucky. When his older brother, Edmund, was killed in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, Edmund's fiancee, Lillian Duryea, the daughter of a wealthy starch-manufacturing family in Nyack, N.Y., took 9-year-old Robert under her wing, eventually paying for him to attend prep school and Harvard College. How to Sleep was named Best Short Subject at the 1935 Academy Awards, while the latter two shorts were not as well received. Dolores Gregory, "'Benchley': Seeing a Famous Forebear Whole." His performances gave him some local fame, and most entertainment programs on campus and many off-campus meetings recruited Benchley's talents.[13]. Benchley produced over 600 essays,[86] which were initially compiled in twelve volumes, during his writing career. Robert Charles Benchley (Worcester, Massachusetts, 15 de setembre del 1889 - Nova York, 21 de novembre del 1945) fou un actor, crtic teatral i humorista estatunidenc.. Es gradu a la Universitat Harvard i rpidament pass a formar part del personal laboral de la publicaci "Life" el 1920.Fou membre de l'"Algonquin Round URL accessed May 19, 2007. URL accessed May 21, 2007. As Life would say following his eventual resignation in 1929, "Mr. Benchley has left Dramatic Criticism for the Talking Movies". [68], Topical, current-event style pieces written for Vanity Fair during the war did not lose their levity, either. 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. ISBN 080570048X). While Benchley's books and Paramount contract were giving him financial security, he was still unhappy with the turn his career had taken. Campbell Scott portrays Robert Benchley. Nathaniel Benchley died in 1981 in Boston, Massachusetts and was interred in the family plot at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Nantucket. "[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. 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. This worried Sherwood, as he felt it could jeopardize his forthcoming raise. In his mid-50s Benchley suffered from cirrhosis of the liver and high blood pressure, and died from complications of both. Robert grew up and attended school in Worcester and was involved in academic and traveling theatrical productions during high school. 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.[60]. His explanatory note: I was loafing.[38]%29 He was offered $200 per basic subject article for The Home Sector,[39] and a weekly freelance salary from New York World to write a book review column three times per week for the same salary he received at Vanity Fair. Thanks to financial aid from his late brother's fiance, Lillian Duryea, he could attend Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire for his final year of high school. Nantucket Lighthouses; Museums; Festivals; Biking; Boating, Fishing & Water Sports; Arts; Family & Kid Fun; Theatre, Film, Music, Lectures; Tours; Wellness & 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. 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. Mr. Harvey asked him when he next had a vacation. his first comic performance, impersonating a befuddled after-dinner A theatrical production by the members of the Round Table was put together in response to a challenge from actor J. M. Kerrigan, who was tired of the Table's complaints about the ongoing theatre season. Select this result to view Robert Steven Benchley's phone number, address, and more. Copyright Jeff Schult. [87] He also appeared in a number of films, including 48 short treatments that he mostly wrote or co-wrote and numerous feature films. 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 19, 2007. 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. The work on The Sport Parade caused Benchley to miss the fall theatre openings, which embarrassed him (even if the relative success of The Sport Parade was often credited to Benchley's role), but the lure of filmmaking did not disappear, since RKO offered him a writing and acting contract for the following year for more money than he was making writing for The New Yorker.[56]. [73], Topical, current-event style pieces written for Vanity Fair during the war did not lose their levity, either. The management sent out a memo forbidding the discussion of salaries in an attempt to rein in the staff. Benchley's repertoire for the rest of his life. [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. 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.''. with Deanna Durbin, noteworthy for a rare dramatic performance by Benchley. 24 Amelia Drive Siasconset. Though Benchley had been a teetotaler in his youth, in later life he drank with increasing frequency, and eventually he was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. Born: 15-Sep-1889 Birthplace: Worcester, MA Died: 21-Nov-1945 Location of death: New York City Cause of death: [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. "[77] Horace Digby claimed that, "[M]ore than anyone else, Robert Benchley influenced [his] early writing style. The summer people, those from New York and Connecticut who swell Nantuckets population fivefold in July and August, are privately referred to, with only a little rancor, as the entitled ones, in reference to them taking so much for granted, and treating the island as a personal playground. 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 like Artemis Ward and David Ross Locke, through his alter-ego Petroleum Vesuvius Nasby and a more "genteel" style of humor, very literary and upper-class in nature, a style popularized by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Initially consisting of Benchley, Dorothy Parker, and Alexander Woollcott during their time at Vanity Fair, the group eventually expanded to over a dozen regular members of the New York media and entertainment, such as playwrights George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly and journalist/critic Heywood Broun, who gained prominence due to his positions during the Sacco and Vanzetti trial. 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. Benchleys novel Welcome to Xanadu was made into the 1975 motion picture Sweet Hostage. Husband of Gertrude Benchley Paramount did not renew his contract in 1943, and Benchley signed back with MGM with an exclusive contract. [47], Benchley was also hired to help with the book for a Broadway musical, Smarty, starring Fred Astaire. 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. [50], With the emergence of The New Yorker, Benchley was able to stay away from Hollywood work for a number of years. Benchley is best remembered for his contributions to The New Yorker, where his essays, whether topical or absurdist, influenced many modern humorists. The Writer: Dave Barry. [63], 1939 was a bad year for Benchley's career. His arrival put him on the scene of a number of productions almost instantly. Rob Benchley met his wife Carol at a Fourth of July party thrown in a Codfish Park house that has since washed out to sea. One theory holds that Edmund's death in battle seeded pacifist leanings in his writings. He was not afraid to poke fun at the establishment (one piece he wrote was titled "Have You a Little German Agent in Your Home? This worried Sherwood, as he felt it could jeopardize his forthcoming raise. Rob is a real icon on the island.. And that was the point of the trip, which made it a happy one in every way that it could be. Benchley also 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? [18] In September 1913 he was hired by Curtis as a full-time staff member, preparing copy for its new house publication, Obiter Dicta. al. The Art of Fiction No. While the session did not yield significant results, Benchley did get writing credit for producing the title cards on the Raymond Griffith silent film You'd Be Surprised, and was invited to do some titling for two other films. When a position as press agent for Broadway producer William A. Brady was offered, Benchley accepted it, against the advice of many of his peers. 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]. WebBorn Robert Charles Benchley in Worcester, Massachusetts. He served [41], The situation at Vanity Fair deteriorated upon management's return. Writing career [68], Benchley's definition of humor was simple: "Anything that makes people laugh. 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 (New York City, Twayne Publishers, 1968. URL accessed May 21, 2007. [7] The film was included in the compilation Robert Benchley and the Knights of the Algonquin. May 2003. Though his work was anthologized during his lifetime in 12 different volumes -- and posthumously in five or six more -- almost all of them are now out of print. [9], Robert Benchley met Gertrude Darling in high school in Worcester. According to Mr. Altman, when the urn that was supposed to contain his ashes was 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?. 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. The most comprehensive listing of Robert Benchley's books, essays, newspaper writings, and drama criticism is Robert Benchley: An Annotated Bibliography compiled by Robert Benchley Society Director Mr. Gordon Ernst, Jr. It also contains a publishing chronology, filmography, and discography. 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. He sold it to my Aunt Helen for the price that he had paid. Benchley is best remembered for his contributions to The New Yorker, where his essays, whether topical or absurdist, influenced many modern humorists. 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. 2004. Each summer, aware of the increasing the threat of polio in NYC, dad would send my mom and us three kids to Nantucket for the summer. WebRobert Benchley and Dorothy Parker were close friends and shared an office. [16], Benchley enrolled at Harvard University in 1908, again with Duryea's financial help. He identifies no new sources for his biography and asks no new questions of the old ones. of editor of the Harvard Lampoon was the other highlight of his college [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. [24] The first issue was roundly criticized by management, who felt it was "too technical, too scattering, and wholly lacking in punch. Died: Luke Lea, 66, former U. S. s Wilmington, New Hanover, North Carolina, USA, Private Family Plot, Nantucket, Nantucket, MA, United States, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, 1791-1963, The MacLeay Chronicle (Kempsey, Nsw) - Nov 21 1945, The Wilmington Morning Star - Nov 25 1945. WebDirector Robert Benchley Robert Benchley Writer (Uncredited) Jack Chertok Producer Harry Rapf Executive Producer Film Details Genre Short Comedy Release Date 1935 Production Company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. Distribution Company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. Technical Specs Duration 10m This piqued dads curiosity, so he asked the man about the place. [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. briefly as managing editor of the magazine Vanity Fair, where his 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. New and Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy, (June 6, 1914 - November 21, 1945) (his death), The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966), View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. As Life would say following his eventual resignation in 1929, "Mr. Benchley has left Dramatic Criticism for the Talking Movies". Helen is now 103 years old, resting comfortably in an assisted living home in Atlanta. 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. lying down. The crematorium had given the family the wrong urn. Upon learning of her termination, Benchley tendered his own resignation. My partner, Nancy, and I didnt visit there this past weekend, in our time on Nantucket. He is from USA. [64], Benchley's roles primarily came as a freelance actor, as his Paramount shorts contract didn't pay as well as feature films. WebRobert Benchley was an actor who had a successful Hollywood career. 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. [42], Benchley continued to freelance, submitting humor columns to a variety of publications, including Life (where fellow humorist James Thurber believed Benchley's columns were the only reason the magazine was read). Along with his duties at the Lampoon, Benchley acted in a number of theatrical productions, including Hasty Pudding productions of The Crystal Gazer and Below Zero. [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. the son of writer and humorist Robert Benchley and the father of 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 lot of money to complete a series of short films. (New York City: W. W. Norton, 1997. He wrote two articles a week: the first a review of non-literary books, the other a feature-style article about whatever he wanted. The situation was not positive for Benchley, as the studio "mishandled" him and kept Benchley too busy to complete his own work. The guy said, In five hundred years, this will all be gone.'. Gallery as well as at AAN. PLEASE NOTE that the "Benchley home" on Nantucket pictured at the link above is not one Robert ever knew: it was purchased by Nathaniel in 1954 (and sold by Peter in 1999, or so); the only piece of property Robert ever owned on Nantucket is the plot at the Prospect Hill cemetery [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. As a Harvard undergraduate, Benchley gave Benchley's humor was molded during his time at Harvard. 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. (the name being a pun of the European revue La Chauve-Souris), "An Anonymous Entertainment by the Vicious Circle of the Hotel Algonquin." career.) Gallery as well as at AAN. By this time Robert Benchley's screen image was established as a comic lecturer who tried but failed to clarify any given topic. 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. WebGenealogy profile for Nathaniel Benchley Nathaniel Benchley (1915 - 1981) - Genealogy Genealogy for Nathaniel Benchley (1915 - 1981) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. They became engaged during his senior year at Harvard University, and they married in June 1914. Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is a 1994 American film that depicts the Round Table from the perspective of Dorothy Parker. The result was No Sirree! and comedians of his time. While some of his pieces would not have been out of place in a crackerbarrel-style presentation, Benchley's reliance on puns and wordplay resonated more with the literary humorists, as shown by his success with The New Yorker, known for the highbrow tastes of its readers. While he completed his years work, his condition continued to deteriorate, and Benchley died in a New York hospital on November 21, 1945. , and Benchley signed back with MGM with an exclusive contract 16 ], was! Result to view Robert Steven Benchley 's books and Paramount contract were giving him financial security, he still... Deteriorated upon management 's return he sold it to my Aunt Helen for the rest of his Life people.... 63 ], in five hundred years, this will all be gone. ' product.... Written for Vanity Fair and Life Foreign Correspondent ( 1940 ) and Girl... Hundred years, this will all be gone. ' with Dorothy Parker were close friends and shared office. 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