Jack Benny will red rose wife

Jack Benny will red rose wife. Jack Benny remains one of America's best-known and best-loved comedians, and also remains eternally 39 years old.

Benny was born in Chicago, but grew up in the suburb of Waukegan, IL. When he started performing as a violinist in vaudeville under his real name, Benjamin Kubelsky, another violinist named Jan Kubelik asked him to change his name, to avoid confusion. So Benny changed his name to Ben Benny, until bandleader and violinist Ben Bernie asked him to change it again, for the same reason, and he became Jack Benny. In 1911, at the age of 17, Benny was playing the violin in the pit orchestra at a vaudeville theater in Waukegan, for $7.50 per week, when the Marx Brothers brought their act to town. The Marxes offered to double Benny's salary if he would travel with them, playing the violin and conducting the pit orchestra. Benny initially accepted the offer, but his parents wouldn't allow him to go.

The day after Benny died, a single, long-stemmed red rose was delivered to Mary Livingstone Benny, his wife of nearly 48 years. After several days, with another rose delivered each day, Mary called the florist to find out who was sending them. The florist told her that Benny had made arrangements for a rose to be sent to her every day for the rest of her life, and included a provision in his will for the deliveries -- a touching and romantic final gesture for a man born on Valentine's Day.

Benny's sarcophagus contains the simple inscription, "A gentle man."

Buried with Benny is his wife, Mary Livingstone Benny (1906 - 1983), his co-star on both his radio and television shows.

Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky on Feb. 14, 1894, in Chicago, IL. He died on Dec. 26, 1974, in Los Angeles, CA.

Mary Livingstone Benny was born Sadie Marks on June 23, 1906, in Seattle, WA. She died on June 30, 1983, in Los Angeles, CA.