The Bennys

January 24, 1927
Jack Benny & Mary Livingstone

When Jack Benny first met Mary Livingstone, she was 14 years old and her name was Sadye Marks.

While performing in Vancouver, Benny was invited to her house for Passover by her cousin (Zeppo Marx of Marx Brothers fame). She was immediately smitten.

Years later, she met him again while working at a department store in Los Angeles and it was his turn to fall in love.

They married in 1927 and soon after, he began hosting a radio show for NBC called The Jack Benny Program. One day, an actress who had been hired to play the role of Benny’s biggest fan didn’t show up and Benny called his wife in to take her place.

The character she portrayed, named Mary Livingstone, became so popular to listeners, that she became a regular character on his show.

She was addressed as the character so often in public, that she legally changed her name to Mary Livingstone. It’s safe to say that being his wife made her his biggest fan anyway.

Their marriage lasted 47 years until his death in 1974. Livingstone never remarried.

She passed away in 1983.