Robert Benchley
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 Gluyas Williams's drawings illustrated—and highlighted—many of Robert Benchley's books of short stories.
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espite his alleged confusion, Robert Benchley (1889-1945):
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wrote and acted in the first all-talking film (”The Treasurer’s Report,” Fox-Movietone, 1928) |
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in 17 years, wrote and starred in 48 short films, winning the1935 Academy Award for M-G-M’s “How To Sleep” |
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wrote and acted in 38 feature films and wrote partial scripts or dialogue for dozens of others |
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starred on his own radio show for three years (1938-1940) with Artie Shaw as his bandleader |
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was a frequent guest artist on other radio shows, such as “Amos ‘n’ Andy” and The Fred Allen Show and recorded a classic version (Thurber’s avowed favorite) of James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” |
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in the late 1930s was writing three syndicated magazine columns simultaneously, while making films |
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published 73 “Wayward Press” (criticism) columns for The New Yorker under the pseudonym “Guy Fawkes,” 1927-1939 |
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from 1920-1929 was the weekly drama critic for Life magazine |
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was the regular drama critic for The New Yorker from 1929-1940 |
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published 12 books of short stories in 21 years (three more were published posthumously) |
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published more than 600 stories in various magazines (and had several hundred others which were not published until long after his death). |
And this from a man who claimed to be professionally lazy!
“We must be careful of what we eat. We must eat a balanced diet. By a balanced diet I mean no bread, no butter, no potatoes, no meat, no vegetables, no solid food—just a handful of old lettuce now and then or a few dried beans is all we’d better try to take care of.”
| The Robert Benchley Society | Fan forum for appreciation and discussion of the work and life of Robert Benchley. |
| The Dorothy Parker Society | Devoted to Dorothy Parker’s life in New York |
| The Algonquin Hotel | Landmark hotel that is best known for hosting the Round Table. |
| Algonquin Round Table | Site devoted to Vicious Circle facts |
| Robert Benchley | |
| Comedic Literature of the Early 20th Century | Links to Benchley, Parker, Wodehouse, Thurber & the Round Table |
| Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle | Review of biography (starring Jennifer Jason Leigh) of the disastrous love life of writer Dorothy Parker, surrounded by wise-cracking literary friends at the Algonquin Round Table in the 1920’s. |
| Quotations from Chairman Les | Page about Les Marsden, actor who has portrayed various Marx Brothers |
| The New Yorker | |
| TVNow |
lists upcoming Robert Benchley films on television |
| Al Hirschfeld Signature Series | Al Hirschfeld lithographs online |
| IMDb Robert Benchley Filmography | Robert Benchley listings from the internet’s number one movie database |
| Nat Benchley’s film credits | Nat Benchley’s film credits on IMDb |
| Peter Benchley’s film credits | Peter Benchley’s film credits on IMDb |
| Nathaniel [G.] Benchley’s film credits | Nathaniel [G.] Benchley’s film credits on IMDb |
| Robert Benchley III’s latest book | Scallop Season: A Nantucket Chronicle |
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