Jack Benny: “Put a dress on Benny…”
Jack Benny’s mincing walk occasionally caused people to question his basic “fundamentals.” In a time when, even in
Because of his walk, there were occasional questions about Jack’s virility.
The rumors about the possibility of Jack being gay–and they were just that, rumors–were initially prompted by his walk, and the rumors were spread widely by Jack himself, who always joked about his seemingly feminine gait.
There’s a story about Phil Harris, Benny’s band leader in radio, once saying “Put a dress on that guy and take him anywhere.”
There were many jokes done about Benny’s distinctive gait. It was a very simple bit and frequently done in many forms. One example was when Lucille Ball was supposed to show Jack something that was in another room. She was to start to exit and say, “Walk this way,” and as she walked away from him in a ladylike way, Jack was supposed to reply, “I always do.”
It wasn’t just the line that got a laugh. In fact, without Benny’s incredible timing the joke would not have worked nearly so well. A split second after she said her line the audience screamed and then went on screaming.
Jack waited, and waited, and waited. Finally he ad-libbed an apologetic shrug to the audience—as only he could do–and said, “I always do.” This resulted from an even bigger laugh from the audience.
Then, finally, he started to walk, perhaps “mincing” a bit more than usual. This final bit got the biggest laugh and a round of applause as he exited.
