Robert Charles Benchley

Bio

(1889-1945) Writer, journalist, humorist. Robert Benchley was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, lived at the McBurney YMCA, 215 West 23rd Street, New York, New York, in 1912; he also lived at the Gramercy Court, East 22nd Street, and at 536 Madison Avenue, New York, New York. He spent his boyhood summers in Nyack, New York. He was a member of the Algonquin Hotel’s Round Table. Educated at Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University, where he was editor of the Lampoon, Benchley early showed his comic bent. As a writer he became famous for his inspired nonsense, and his short pieces in newspaper columns and magazines like The New Yorker, on which he was dramatic critic from 1929-1940, which were collected in book form. He first appeared on the professional stage in 1923, doing a monologue entitled “The Treasurer’s Report,” and “Other Aspects of Community Singing,” which was an instant hit, and in 1929 he began to be seen in movie shorts and revues. His specialty was the portrayal of a confused and ordinary little man who laughed at his own misfortunes. One of his films called “How to Sleep” won an award for the best movie short of 1936. After 1937 he was a popular master of ceremonies on radio broadcasts. He lived from 1920 to 1945 at 2 Lywood Road, Scarsdale, New York. He was the father of novelist Nathaniel Benchley and grandfather of novelist Peter Benchley.