Jack Benny Annual 39th Birthday Collection

"Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."

Happy 39th Birthday to Jack Benny! One of the best running gags on the Jack Benny Show was celebrating Jack Benny's perpetual 39th Birthday.

Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky; on Valentine's Day February 14, 1894. However, for every year after 1933 he was forever age 39.

After celebrating Jack Benny's 39th Birthday, he decided to stay at the age 39 the next year because "there's nothing funny about 40." Listeners and fans were so amused that the Jack Benny Program celebrated Jack Benny's 39th Birthday as a running gag.

In one episode, Jack Benny's cast decides to surprise him for his 39th Birthday. Jack Benny planned to go to a movie with Mary Livingstone, but his cast had other plans. They bought him a birthday present "right from the heart" with "gastronomical appreciation"...a bicycle pump. Jack responds, "Which one of you heals suggested that!?!"

In another episode, Jack Benny gets a polar bear later known as "Carmichael The Bear" in other skits voiced by Mel Blanc. Later, the Oklahoma City Zoo renamed their polar bear Carmichael after the skit.

By the time of Jack Benny's Death in 1974, he celebrated his 39th Birthday 41 times. Newspapers across the country announced Jack Benny's Death with the headline "Jack Benny Dies at Age 39."

This collection includes all Jack Benny's Birthday Programs and included the comic retelling of the story of Jack Benny's birth on February 14, 1894.

See also: Jack Benny Christmas and Jack Benny Fights WWII Collection.