List of Robert Benchley collections and film appearances

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Robert Benchley The Woolen Mitten Situation (1926)

Humorist Robert Benchley (1889–1945) produced over 600 essays,[1] initially compiled over twelve volumes, during his writing career.[2] He was also featured in a number of films, including 48 short treatments that he mostly wrote or co-wrote, and numerous feature films.[3]

The following is a list of those compilations and appearances.

Books[]

Benchley produced twelve compilation books of his work for the various publications he wrote and freelanced for, and numerous posthumous compilations of his work have been produced since his death. Unless otherwise indicated, all volumes featuring illustrations were drawn by Gluyas Williams.[4]

Collections During His Lifetime[]

  • Of All Things - Henry Holt & Company, 1921. 234p. - 22 essays by Robert Benchley published in Vanity Fair, The New York Tribune, Collier's Weekly, Life, and .[4]
  • Love Conquers All - Henry Holt & Company, 1922. 310p. - 63 essays published in Life, The New York World, The New York Tribune, The Detroit Athletic Club News, and .[4]
  • Pluck And Luck - Henry Holt & Company, 1925. 295 p. - 50 essays published in Life, The Detroit Athletic Club News, The Bookman, College Humor, and .
  • The Early Worm - Henry Holt & Company, 1927. 263p. - 47 essays published in Life, The Detroit Athletic Club News, The New Yorker, College Humor, and .[4]
  • 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, or David Copperfield - Henry Holt & Company, 1928. 233p. - 40 essays by Robert Benchley published in The Bookman, The Detroit Athletic Club News, The Forum, Life, The New Yorker, and The Yale Review.[4]
  • The Treasurer's Report & Other Aspects of Community Singing - Harper and Brothers, 1930.
  • No Poems, Or Around the World Backwards and Sideways - Harper and Brothers, 1932. 330p. - 45 essays.[4]
  • From Bed to Worse, or Comforting Thoughts about the Bison - Harper and Brothers, 1934. 286p. - 60 essays.[4]
  • My Ten Years in a Quandary, and How They Grew - Harper and Brothers, 1936. 361p - 105 essays.[4]
  • After 1903 - What? - Harper and Brothers, 1938.
  • Inside Benchley - Harper and Brothers, 1942. 316p. - 50 previously published essays.[4]
  • Benchley Beside Himself - Harper and Brothers, 1943. 304p. - 47 previously published essays. Williams illustrations and still photos from Benchley's short films.[4]

Book Prefaces, Introductions, and Forewords[]

  • Ellison Hoover Cartoons From Life - Simon & Schuster, 1925.
  • Justin Stafford Lucien Esty Ask Me Another! The Question Book - Viking Press, 1927.
  • Gluyas Williams The Gluyas Williams Book - Doubleday, Doran, 1929.
  • Peter Arno Peter Arno's Hullabaloo - Horace Liveright, 1930.
  • The Fourth New Yorker Album - Doubleday, Doran, 1931.
  • Dwight Fiske (and Dawn Powell) Without Music - The Chatham Press, 1933.
  • S. J. Perelman Strictly From Hunger - Random House, 1937.
  • Gluyas Williams Fellow Citizens - Doubleday, Doran, 1940.
  • Morton Thompson Joe, The Wounded Tennis Player - Doubleday, Doran, 1945.

Posthumous[]

  • Benchley--Or Else - Harper and Brothers, 1947. 273p - 71 essays, six of which were originally published in The New Yorker.[4]
  • Chips off the Old Benchley - Harper and Brothers, 1949. 360p. - Collection of 77 essays compiled by Gertrude Benchley, Robert's wife. Many of the illustrations were previously unpublished in book form.[4]
  • The "Reel" Benchley - , 1950. 96p - No Williams illustrations, instead consisting of stills and scripts from many of Benchley's short films.[4]
  • The Benchley Roundup - Harper and Brothers, 1954. 288p- A collection of essays, written between 1915 and 1945, edited by Nathaniel Benchley
  • Benchley Lost and Found: Thirty-Nine Prodigal Pieces - Dover Publications, 1970. 183p.
  • The Benchley Omnibus - University of Chicago Press, 1983. 353p - Edited by Nathaniel Benchley.
  • The Best of Robert Benchley - Avenel Books, 1983. 353p.
  • Benchley at the Theatre: Dramatic Criticism, 1920-1940 by Robert Benchley - , 1985. - Edited by Charles Getchell, the volume contains 84 of Benchley's theatrical reviews written for Life and The New Yorker over his career.[4]
  • Robert Benchley's Wayward Press: The Complete Collection of his The New Yorker Columns written as Guy Fawkes (S.L. Harrison, ed.) - , 2008. 341p - Collection of all Wayward Press columns, with a Prologue by Nat Benchley.
  • The Athletic Benchley-105 Exercises from The Detroit Athletic Club News - , 2010. ISBN 978-0914303022

Film and television[]

Benchley filmed for Fox Film Corporation, Universal Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures, and then primarily for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount Pictures. Toward the end of his career, he did freelance acting around Hollywood. The films are listed by release date, not by production date.

Short films[]

  • The Treasurer's Report (1928, Fox Film Corporation) as Treasurer
  • The Sex Life of the Polyp (1928, Fox) as Lecturer
  • (1928, Fox) as Himself
  • (1929, Fox) as Himself
  • (1929, Fox) as Lecturer
  • (1929, Fox) as Lecturer
  • (1933, Universal Pictures) as Himself
  • (1935, RKO Radio Pictures) as Joe Doakes
  • How to Sleep (1935, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer - Written and acted by Benchley, the short was based on a study on sleep and won the Academy Award in 1935 for Best Short Film, Benchley played narrator and sleeper)[5] as Lecturer
  • How to Behave (1936, MGM) as Himself
  • How to Train a Dog (1936, MGM) as Lecturer / Dog Owner
  • (1936, MGM) as Himself
  • How to Be a Detective (1936, MGM) as Lecturer
  • (1937, MGM) as Joe Doakes
  • (1937, MGM) as Lecturer
  • A Night at the Movies (1937, MGM - Written and acted by Benchley, this short was his most well-received since How to Sleep. About a man going to the movies,[6] the short was nominated for an Academy Award) as Husband[7]
  • (1938, MGM) as Joe Doakes
  • (1938, MGM) as Robert Benchley
  • (1938, MGM) as Doakes
  • (1938, MGM) as Lecturer Father
  • (1938, MGM) as Zoology professor
  • (1938, MGM) as Lecturer
  • (1938, MGM) as Football Fan
  • Opening Day (1938, MGM) as City Treasurer Benchley
  • (1938, MGM) as Psychoanalyst / Mr. Ostegraf
  • (1939, MGM) as Joseph A. Doakes
  • (1939, MGM) as Lecturer / Joe
  • Dark Magic (1939, MGM) as Joseph A. Doakes
  • (1939, MGM) as Joe Doakes
  • How to Eat (1939, MGM) as Lecturer / Joe Doakes
  • (1939, MGM) as Joe Doakes
  • (1939, MGM) as Lecturer / Joseph H. Doakes
  • (1940, MGM - Also known as That Inferior Feeling) as Joseph H. 'Joe' Doake
  • (1940, MGM) as Joe Doakes
  • (1940, Paramount Pictures - Written by and starring Benchley) as Joe Doakes
  • (1941, Paramount - Written by and starring Benchley) as Joseph Doakes
  • (1941, Paramount - Written by and starring Benchley) as Sgt. Benchley / Joe Doakes
  • (1941, Paramount - Written by and starring Benchley) as Joe Doakes
  • (1941, Paramount - Written by and starring Benchley) as The Husband
  • (1941, Paramount - Written by and starring Benchley) as Mr. Benchley
  • The Witness (1941, Paramount - Written by and starring Benchley) as Joe Doakes
  • (1941, Paramount - Written by and starring Benchley) as Lecturer / Joe Doakes
  • (1942, Paramount - Written by and starring Benchley) as Joe Doakes
  • (1943, MGM - Starring Benchley) as Joseph A. Doakes
  • (1943, MGM - Written by and starring Benchley) as Answer Man / Newscaster
  • (1944, MGM - Written by and starring Benchley) as Joseph A. Doakes
  • (1944, MGM - Written by and starring Benchley - his last short film for MGM) as Joseph A. Doakes
  • (1945, Paramount - Written by and starring Benchley) as Frederick Stumplefinger, Father
  • Hollywood Victory Caravan (1945, Paramount and the United States Treasury Department - Starring Benchley, a film version of the touring show) as Himself
  • (1945, United States Navy - Written by and starring Benchley) as Joe Doakes

Feature films[]

Television[]

  • Light's Diamond Jubilee (1954) TV special broadcast on all 4 TV networks, archive footage (from How to Raise a Baby)

Further reading[]

  • Gordon Ernst, Robert Benchley: An Annotated Bibliography. (Greenwood Press, 1995).

Works cited[]

  • Billy Altman, Laughter's Gentle Soul: The Life of Robert Benchley. (New York City: W. W. Norton, 1997. ISBN 0-393-03833-5).
  • Robert Benchley at IMDb. URL accessed 6 May 2007.
  • The Robert Benchley Society: The Annotated Bibliography of Robert Benchley Writings. David Trumbull, URL accessed 20 May 2007.
  • Norris W. Yates, Robert Benchley. (New York City, Twayne Publishers, 1968.).

References[]

  1. ^ Yates, 58-59.
  2. ^ Altman, 363.
  3. ^ Altman, 364-367.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n The Robert Benchley Society.
  5. ^ Altman, 295-298.
  6. ^ Altman, 321–325.
  7. ^ Nat Benchley.
  8. ^ a b Altman, 327-328.

External links[]

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