Product Code Database
Henry " Henny" Youngman (March 16, 1906 – February 24, 1998) was an English-born American comedian and musician famous for his mastery of the "one-line joke", his best known being "Take my wife... please".
In a time when many comedians told elaborate anecdotes, Youngman's routine consisted of telling simple one-liner jokes, occasionally with interludes of violin playing. These depicted simple, cartoon-like situations, eliminating lengthy build-ups and going straight to the punch line. Known as "the King of the One-Liners", a title conferred to him by columnist Walter Winchell, a stage performance by Youngman lasted only 15 to 20 minutes but contained dozens of jokes in rapid succession.
During the 1940s, Youngman tried to work into films as an actor, but he found little work in Hollywood. He returned to nightclubs and worked steadily, performing as many as 200 shows per year. Working with writer/producer Danny Shapiro, in 1959 Youngman recorded The Primitive Sounds of Henny Youngman, a live album for National Recording Corporation performed at the Celebrity Club in St. Louis. Later, the album was re-released as a CD.
Like many comedians, Henny Youngman treated his profession as a working job, one where making a living is difficult, and getting paid for the work is all-important. In numerous interviews, Youngman's advice to other entertainers was to nem di gelt (Yiddish for "take the money").
He was quoted in an interview with the online magazine Eye: "I get on the plane. I go and do the job, grab the money and I come home and I keep it clean. Those are my rules. Sinatra does the same thing, only he has a helicopter waiting. That's the difference."
When the New York Telephone Company started its Dial-a-Joke in 1974, over three million people called in one month to hear 30 seconds of Youngman's material—the most ever for a comedian.
Youngman never retired, and he performed his stage act in venues worldwide until his final days. As his fame passed into legendary status, he never considered himself aloof or above others, and he never refused to perform a show in a small venue or unknown club. In a tribute to Youngman, TV and animation producer Mark Evanier described him in a way that emphasized both his money consciousness and his love of performing:
He would take his fiddle and go to some hotel that had banquet rooms. He'd consult the daily directory in the lobby and find a party—usually a bar mitzvah reception—and he would go up to the room and ask to speak to whoever was paying for the affair. "I'm Henny Youngman," he would tell that person. "I was playing a date in another banquet room here and one of the waiters suggested you might want to have me do my act for your gathering here." He would negotiate whatever price he could get—$200, $500, preferably in cash—and he would do his act for them.
Roger Ebert described a similar episode in a 2011 film review:
I once observed Henny Youngman taping a TV show in the old NBC studios at the Merchandise Mart. We got into an elevator together. It stopped at the second floor, a private club. A wedding was under way. Youngman got off the elevator, asked to meet the father of the bride and said, "I'm Henny Youngman. I'll do 10 minutes for $100."
Youngman made numerous appearances on television, including a long-running stint on Laugh-In. In 1955, he hosted a TV series entitled The Henny and Rocky Show, appearing with champion boxer Rocky Graziano. He had cameo appearances in several movies, including Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood; History of the World, Part I; and Goodfellas.
He had a larger role as the strip-club owner in Herschell Gordon Lewis's The Gore Gore Girls.
His autobiography is entitled Take My Life, Please!
Youngman's last movie appearance was in Daniel Robert Cohn's film Eyes Beyond Seeing, in which he has a cameo as a mental patient claiming to be Henny Youngman.
He performed while holding his trademark prop of a violin and bow, occasionally playing a short interlude of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" on the violin in between jokes.
Henny explained the origin of his classic line "Take my wife, please" as a misinterpretation: he took his wife to a radio show and asked a stagehand to escort his wife to a seat. But his request was taken as a joke, and Youngman used the line countless times ever after.
Youngman had two children, Gary and Marilyn. Gary started his career screenwriting and directing, continuing to work in the film industry in various capacities. Gary is best known for his 1976 film Rush It!
With the exception of a week following his wife's death, and the month he was in his final hospital stay, Youngman worked almost every day for over seventy years without vacations or other breaks.
|
|
