Rage: You’ve had a remarkable career in addition to this role. You basically started out in the the show, I fill the theatre.
show The Lieutenant.
EC: Gosh, that was 1959. I came to L.A. in 1956. I had a scholarship to NBC. They Rage: That’s fantastic.
had a talent program at that time. I was there for a year and got drafted and went EC: As an actor, I did an episode of Frasier and Kelsey Grammer said, “You know.
into the army. I’m the biggest fan of Jack Benny ever. If you watch Frasier and watch my character
and watch the ticks that I do, I did it by studying Jack Benny.” He said, “My attitude,
Rage: During the Korean War? my behavior, my timing… all from Jack Benny who was the master of timing and
EC: No, Korea was kind of quieting down at that time. There were still troops delivery.”
in Korea. In fact, my good buddy Jamie Farr (the actor who played Klinger on
M*A*S*H) who became my dearest friend in the world and still is, he was stationed Rage: Jack Benny’s delivery is just remarkable.
in Korea. Because I had been in theatre, I was fortunate enough and had been at EC: Exactly. Benny used silence. Most comedians hate silence because that
NBC, they assigned me to Armed Forces Radio. From there, I went into the motion means either they are not talking or the audience isn’t laughing.
picture department and wrote and directed two training films for the Army.
Rage: You are also the voice of Jiminy Cricket. You took over the voice role in 1973.
Rage: What was Hollywood like at that time? EC: That’s right. It’s been thirty-five years and Bill, it never ends. Every month I’m
EC: First of all, the city was just magic. They had just finished building the first in the studio with sing-a-long tapes, instructional tapes, safety films, educational
soundstage (for television) in Burbank. On Sunset and Vine, the radio stations had strips… now we’re doing computer games. Recently Disney called me when I was
been converted into television. Dinah Shore was doing her show out of there, in Chicago and they said, “We’re re-releasing Pinocchio in High Defination DVD
Gordon McCrea did his musical, George Gobal just started to do his show there. but we want to add a couple of bonus features for Jiminy to do as after that we
Groucho Marx was doing You Bet Your Life. have to start editing and get this thing done.”
Rage: Ahhh… a magic time. Rage: That’s so exciting. Finally will you favor me with a few words from Jiminy Cricket?
EC: Eddie Fisher was doing a 15-minute show called Coke Time with Eddie Fisher EC: (as Jiminy) Now remember Pinoch, always tell the truth. Because if you lie,
and another 15-minute show that joined him was The Pat Boone Show. I came out your nose is gonna grow and grow!
of the artist’s entrance one day and had only been in Hollywood for two weeks. Rage: (laughter) What a pleasure Eddie. Thank you.
There was a gaggle of young teenage girls with autograph books in their hands.
They were so high on adrenaline because they had just gotten Dinah’s autograph
and Gordon’s and Eddie Fisher’s autograph. They were just bubbly and jumping
all over the place. So, this girl ran over to me and thrust her autograph book in my
hand and said, “Are you anybody?” I said, “I just got to Hollywood a few weeks ago.
I’m just getting started.” She took the book back and she said, “I’ll get you when
you’re finished!”
Rage: If someone had NO IDEA who Jack Benny was, how would you describe him?
EC: Probably one of the 10 greatest comedians in the history of American en-
tertainment. Going from Vaudeville into radio and television and so forth. He was
bigger than just a big star. He became an American institution and icon because
what he did, Bill, no one else did. He was unlike any other comedian. He had the
ability and created his character so patently as the cheapskate, the ultimate
penny-pinching miser to the point and his egotistical braggadocio kind of guy
that you could see through was nothing but a façade. It was like Dean Martin be-
ing drunk all the time. You know he couldn’t drink that much because he wouldn’t
be able to work!
Can you imagine in today’s day and age? He was on radio every week for
twenty-three years. Then went into television and did a weekly television show
for ten more years.
Rage: There is not that long-lasting quality anymore.
EC: No. There’s not. The number one comedy show in the history of radio was
The Jack Benny Show. So, as a result of that, even though for most young people
today, naturally he is not somebody who is on the tip of their tongue but gener-
ally speaking, having been on radio and television every week for 33 consecutive
years, which is unheard of today. If a TV show stays on the air for seven years, it’s
called a hit. He left behind so many generations of people and he left such an
indelible image of his character behind that even still today no matter where I do Jiminy Cricket
DECEMBER 2008 | RAGE monthly 35
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