Revision Date: May 17, 2020
Garth Johnson
Jack Benny Day By Day: The Quick Reference Calendar
Volume One: The Vaudeville Years – 1911 to 1932
Salisbury and Benny From Grand Opera To Ragtime Season One (1911)
In this section I try to answer some of the “origin story” questions, but unfortunately the answers remain a mystery including
- Leaving Waukegan - First Show - The Kublik Conflict
Salisbury and Benny From Grand Opera to Ragtime
Cora Folsom Salisbury and Benny Kubelsky were working in the orchestra pit of the Barrison Theater, in Waukegan, Illinois when it was sold and closed in 1911.
Barrison Theater and Carnegie Library, Waukegan Illinois [“Waukegan” (Arcadia Publishing 2000 ISBN 9780738508368) Waukegan Historical Society]
The Marx Brothers had just played the town with their act “Fun In Hi-Skool” in July and their mother/manager Mini had suggested Benny go on the road with them, but his parents said he could not. At seventeen, he was too young and impressionable for the travelling lifestyle.
Cora, needing work to take care of her ailing mother, and seeing the potential in the young violinist, managed to persuade Benny’s parents a few weeks later that she would look out for him, and being the same age as the Kubelsky’s they relented.
So it was with tears, reservations and anticipation about the future that seventeen year old Benny Kubelsky left Waukegan and began his career in show business.
The acts first stop, according to Benny, was Gary Indiana and he relates the story of leaving Waukegan for that first time in Irving Fein’s book, “Jack Benny an Intimate Biography.” That may be what Benny recalls as the first show away from home, but a bill and notice for August 19, 1911 in the Racine Daily Journal, Racine Wisconsin, advertising “Salisbury and Kribelsky” appearing at the Racine Theater is currently the earliest documented appearance of the act.
From Racine, they next went to Kenosha Wisconsin to open the regular season at the Bijou, August 28. Now billed as “Salisbury and Benny” they received an extensive write-up about the act in the Kenosha News.
In many accounts about his early vaudeville years, Benny tells how it was a dispute about his billing as Benny Kubelsky and its similarity to Jan Kubelik, a violinist from Czechoslovakia, fourteen years his senior and already a well known violinist and recording artist of international repute, that made him change his stage name for the first time to avoid legal difficulties.
The notice in the Kenosha News gives a glimpse into what the act was playing which included Cora’s compositions of “Lemons and Limes” and “Ghost Dance” as well as “Grand Opera” and Rag-time selections.
After about two months on the road, the act is beginning to get noticed and an advertisement by Cora’s music publisher, “Will Rossiter”, appears in the trade magazine “Variety.”
November 4,1911 Variety Magazine, Page 28
The advertisement and a succession of good reviews in the newspapers probably got the team their November booking in Storm Lake Iowa, an anecdote about this event can be found Fein’s book and tells of a novice theater manager and a venue that is not yet complete.
In 1957, in a television episode of The Jack Benny Program with Bob Hope as his guest, Benny does a sketch where he mentions playing Storm Lake. This resulted in many telegrams being sent to him at CBS by Storm Lake residents to which Benny wrote a personal response to the Mayor was printed in the Storm Lake Pilot-Tribune of March 14, 1957. 1911-01-00 - mag - variety - 021-1911-01.pdf 1911-01-02 - vau - s01 01a.jpg 1911-01-07 - cms - calendar - born - butterfly mcqueen January - nm0574335.html 1911-01-07 - mag - variety - vol xxi - no 05 - pg 20 - end of waukegan theater war.jpg Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1911-01-08 - cms - calendar - born - gypsy rose lee - nm0497346.html 1911-01-09 - vau - s01 02a.jpg 1911-01-16 - vau - s01 03a - usa - wisconsin - oshkosh - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 cora salisbury.jpg 1911-01-18 - cms - calendar - born - danny kaye - nm0001414.html 1911-01-21 - nws - oshkosh daily northwestern - pg 03 - merger of waukegan vaudeville houses.jpg 1911-01-23 - vau - s01 04a.jpg 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 1911-01-27 - cms - calendar - born - benay venuta - nm0893463.html 1911-01-30 - vau - s01 05a.jpg
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1911 1911-02-00 - mag - variety - 021-1911-02.pdf 1911-02-06 - cms - calendar - born - ronald reagan - nm0001654.html February 1911-02-06 - vau - s01 06a.jpg 1911-02-13 - vau - s01 07a.jpg 1911-02-20 - vau - s01 08a - usa - wisconsin - oshkosh - cora salisbury.jpg Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1911-02-25 - nws - oshkosh daily northwestern - pp 04 - minstrel show that succeeded.jpg 1911-02-25 - nwspgtn - oshkosh northwestern - pg 12 - 49694612-thumbnail.jpg 1911-02-27 - vau - s01 09a.jpg 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
1911 1911-03-00 - mag - variety - 022-1911-03.pdf 1911-03-06 - vau - s01 10a.jpg 1911-03-13 - vau - s01 11a.jpg March 1911-03-20 - vau - s01 12a.jpg 1911-03-27 - vau - s01 13a.jpg
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1911 1911-04-00 - mag - variety - 022-1911-04.pdf 1911-04-03 - vau - s01 14a.jpg 1911-04-10 - vau - s01 15a.jpg April 1911-04-17 - vau - s01 16a.jpg 1911-04-24 - vau - s01 17a.jpg
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1911 1911-05-00 - mag - variety - 022-1911-05.pdf 1911-05-01 - vau - s01 18a.jpg 1911-05-06 - cms - calendar - born - frank nelson - May nm0625372.html 1911-05-08 - vau - s01 19a.jpg 1911-05-11 - cms - calendar - born - phil silvers - nm0799014.html Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1911-05-15 - vau - s01 20a.jpg 1911-05-22 - vau - s01 21a.jpg 1911-05-27 - cms - calendar - born - vincent price - nm0001637.html 1911-05-29 - vau - s01 22a.jpg 1 2 3 4 5 6
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1911 1911-06-00 - mag - variety - 023-1911-06.pdf 1911-06-05 - vau - s01 23a.jpg
1911-06-12 - vau - s01 24a.jpg June 1911-06-19 - vau - s01 25a.jpg 1911-06-21 - cms - calendar - born - irving fein - nm0270650.html Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1911-06-24 - mag - variety - kubelik’s farewell 1911-06-26 - vau - s01 26a.jpg 1911-06-29 - cms - calendar - born - milt josefsberg - nm0430503.html 1 2 3
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1911 1911-07-00 - mag - variety - 023-1911-07.pdf 1911-07-00 - mag - variety - 023-1911-07 - pg 022 - bills - jul 03.txt July 1911-07-00 - mag - variety - 023-1911-07 - pg 046 - bills - jul 10.txt 1911-07-00 - mag - variety - 023-1911-07 - pg 078 - bills - jul 17.txt Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1911-07-00 - mag - variety - 023-1911-07 - pg 126 - bills - jul 24.txt 1911-07-00 - mag - variety - 023-1911-07 - pg 156 - bills - jul 31.txt 1911-07-03 - vau - s01 27a.jpg 1 1911-07-10 - vau - s01 28a - usa - illinois - waukegan - barrison.jpg 1911-07-13 - nws - waukegan sun - pg 00 - bill - barrison theater - marx bros co.jpg 1911-07-16 - cms - calendar - born - ginger rogers - nm0001677.html 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1911-07-17 - vau - s01 29a.jpg 1911-07-24 - vau - s01 30a.jpg 1911-07-31 - vau - s01 31a.jpg 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1911 1911-08-00 - mag - variety - 023-1911-08.pdf 1911-08-00 - mag - variety - 023-1911-08 - pg 016 - bills
- aug 07.txt August 1911-08-00 - mag - variety - 023-1911-08 - pg 054 - bills - aug 14.txt 1911-08-00 - mag - variety - 023-1911-08 - pg 082 - bills Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat - aug 21.txt 1911-08-00 - mag - variety - 023-1911-08 - pg 114 - bills - aug 28.txt 1911-08-05 - cms - calendar - born - spangler arlington 1 2 3 4 5 brugh aka robert taylor - nm0001791.html 1911-08-06 - cms - calendar - born - lucille ball - nm0000840.html 1911-08-07 - vau - s01 32a.jpg 1911-08-14 - vau - s01 33a.jpg 1911-08-19 - nws - racine daily journal - pg 08 - 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 theatrical - coming attractions - racine theatre.jpg 1911-08-21 - nws - racine daily journal - pg 02 - racine theatre - salisbury and kribelsky.jpg 1911-08-21 - vau - s01 34a - usa - wisconsin - racine - racine theater.jpg 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1911-08-21 - Wisconsin, Racine 1911-08-26 - nwsclip - kenosha evening news - pg 05 - bill - bijou - 3840 7875 225 89 1.jpg 1911-08-26 - Wisconsin, Kenosha 1911-08-28 - nws - kenosha news - pg 08 - bill - bijou.jpg 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 1911-08-28 - nws - kenosha news - pg 08 - opens tonight.jpg 1911-08-28 - vau - s01 35a - usa - wisconsin - kenosha - bijou.jpg 1911-08-30 - nws - kenosha news - pg 08 - bill - bijou.jpg 27 28 29 30 31
1911 1911-09-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-09.pdf 1911-09-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-09 - pg 025 - bills
- sep 04.txt September 1911-09-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-09 - pg 062 - bills - sep 11.txt 1911-09-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-09 - pg 094 - bills Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat - sep 18.txt 1911-09-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-09 - pg 135 - bills - sep 25.txt 1911-09-04 - vau - s01 36a.jpg 1 2 1911-09-11 - vau - s01 37a.jpg 1911-09-16 - cms - calendar - born - jerry wald - nm0907003.html 1911-09-18 - vau - s01 38a.jpg 1911-09-25 - vau - s01 39a.jpg 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
1911 1911-10-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-09 - pg 182 - bills - oct 02.txt
1911-10-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-10.pdf October 1911-10-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-10 - pg 014 - bills - oct 09.txt 1911-10-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-10 - pg 058 - bills Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat - oct 16.txt 1911-10-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-10 - pg 098 - bills - oct 23.txt 1911-10-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-10 - pg 136 - bills 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - oct 30.txt 1911-10-02 - vau - s01 40a.jpg 1911-10-09 - vau - s01 41a.jpg 1911-10-16 - vau - s01 42a - usa - minnesota - st paul - princess.jpg 1911-10-21 - mag - variety - vol xxiv - no 7 - pg 35 - 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 minnesota - st paul - princess.jpg 1911-10-23 - vau - s01 43a.jpg 1911-10-30 - nwspgtn - oelwein daily register - pg 04 - bill - orpheum.jpg 1911-10-30 - vau - s01 44a - usa - iowa - oelwein - 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 orpheum.jpg 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
1911 1911-11-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-11.pdf 1911-11-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-11 - pg 020 - bills
- nov 06.txt November 1911-11-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-11 - pg 028 - adv - a new act on small time.txt 1911-11-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-11 - pg 058 - bills Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat - nov 13.txt 1911-11-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-11 - pg 104 - bills - nov 20.txt 1911-11-00 - mag - variety - 024-1911-11 - pg 142 - bills 1 2 3 4 - nov 27.txt 1911-11-04 - mag - variety - vol xxiv - no 9 - pg 30 - adv - a new act on small time.jpg 1911-11-05 - cms - calendar - born - roy rogers - nm0001678.html 1911-11-06 - vau - s01 45a.jpg 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1911-11-16 - vau - s01 46b - usa - iowa - storm lake - world.jpg 1911-11-17 - nws - storm lake pilot tribune - pg 01 - grand opening at world theatre.jpg 1911-11-17 - nws - storm lake pilot tribune - pg 01 - 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 grand opening at world theatre.pdf 1911-11-20 - nws - muscatine journal - pg 04 - bill - family theater.jpg 1911-11-20 - vau - s01 47a - usa - iowa - muscatine - family.jpg 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1911-11-21 - nws - muscatine journal - pg 02 - provel stars in family bill.jpg 1911-11-21 - nws - muscatine news-tribune - pg 00 - salisbury and benny.jpg 1911-11-21 - nws - muscatine news-tribune - pg 07 - bill - family.jpg 26 27 28 29 30 1911-11-21 - nws - muscatine news-tribune - pg 07 - class a show at family.jpg 1911-11-22 - nws - muscatine journal - pg 04 - bill - family.jpg 1911-11-27 - vau - s01 48a.jpg 1911 1911-12-00 - mag - variety - 025-1911-12.pdf 1911-12-00 - mag - variety - 025-1911-12 - pg 014 - bills - dec 04.txt December 1911-12-00 - mag - variety - 025-1911-12 - pg 059 - bills - dec 11.txt 1911-12-00 - mag - variety - 025-1911-12 - pg 096 - bills - dec 18.txt Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1911-12-00 - mag - variety - 025-1911-12 - pg 096 - bills - dec 25.txt 1911-12-04 - vau - s01 49a - usa - iowa - fairfield - orpheum.jpg 1 2 1911-12-08 - mag - the player - vol v no 01.pdf 1911-12-08 - nwspgtn - fairfield daily journal - pg 03 - bill - orpheum.jpg 1911-12-10 - cms - calendar - born - chet huntley - nm0403142.html 1911-12-11 - vau - s01 50a - usa - kansas - leavenworth - 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 opheum.jpg 1911-12-14 - cms - calendar - born - spike jones - nm0005066.html 1911-12-14 - nwsclip - leavenworth times - pg 05 - salisbury and benny - 3238 4223 184 34.jpg 1911-12-14 - nws - leavenworth post - pg 03 - bill - orpheum - 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 column 1.jpg 1911-12-14 - nws - leavenworth post - pg 03 - picture - cora salisbury.jpg 1911-12-14 - nws - leavenworth post - pg 07 - bill - new orpheum.jpg 1911-12-14 - nws - leavenworth times - pg 00 - bill - 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 orpheum.jpg 1911-12-15 - mag - the player - vol v no 02.pdf 1911-12-15 - nws - leavenworth post - pg 07 - bill - orpheum.jpg 1911-12-15 - nws - leavenworth times - pg 05 - seven russells are headliners at orpheum.jpg 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1911-12-15 - nws - leavenworth times - pg 07 - bill - orpheum.jpg 1911-12-18 - vau - s01 51a.jpg 1911-12-22 - mag - the player - vol v no 03.pdf 1911-12-25 - vau - s01 52a.jpg 1911-12-29 - mag - the player - vol v no 04.pdf 31 1911 Cora Salisbury (Nee Folsom) (1868 -- 1915)
Cora Salisbury was born in Wisconsin in 1868 to James Harrison Folsom and his wife Eliza M. Knofsker.
In 1884 while the family was living in Winnebago, James was working in the local saw mill when he died in an accident. To make ends meet, Eliza started taking in boarders, mostly the theatrical types then appearing at the Grand Opera House.
Like many young people in the age before the Victrola, if you wanted to listen to popular music you had either find a band playing at one of the various halls or play it yourself, so Cora learned to play the piano and from 1887 to 1888 her name often appeared in the local paper as the featured performer.
Cora married newspaper editor Charles P. Salisbury on June 6, 1888, but unlike many young women of the time, this was not to be the end of her professional life. In fact, her husband left the newspaper and became the manager of the Grand Opera House and later the Great Northern Theater in Chicago.
When Charles and Cora moved to Buffalo, New York, Cora was a featured part of "The Music Hall Stock Company." And when relations between Cora and Charles became strained, Eliza and Cora moved to Washington D.C. where Eliza operated a boarding house and Cora sold toiletries and became more acquainted with her cousin, Frances Folsom Cleveland, wife of former President Grover Cleveland
During the 1901 Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, Cora Salisbury was reportedly in “The Temple Of Music” Hall when President William McKinley was fatally shot.
Cora and Charles legally divorced in November of 1903, and after her divorce, Cora was able to focus on music by teaching piano, composing, and gaining a growing reputation as a stage pianist.
About 1907 she created her own 'pianologue' act and took it on tour through Michigan, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana.
It is believed that Cora's first published composition was the waltz "Paula" in 1906. This was followed by "The Poodles Parade" in 1907 and "My Light Guitar" in 1908. "Lemons and Limes: A Sour Rag", and "Love's Embrace" followed in 1909. Her final composition "Ghost Dance", a novelette was published in 1911.
When not traveling on the vaudeville circuit, Cora could be found in Waukegan Illinois at the Barrison Theater where she worked with the house orchestra pit violin player Benjamin Kubelsky and when the Barrison Theatre was sold and closed in 1911, Cora managed to convince young Kubelsky's parents that he had a future in vaudeville and that he should travel with her in a single act. This was meant to be a strictly musical act without talk.
Soon after “Salisbury and Kubelsky: From Grand Opera to Ragtime” left Waukegan, Jan Kubelik, a noted violinist of the time, filed a grievance that Benny's name was too close to his, so as to avoid legal issues Benjamin Kubelsky took the stage name of Ben K. Benny, and was further billed as “The Fiddlin’ Kid.”
Touring with their act, now billed as Salisbury and Benny, they were, as Benny put it later, "killing audiences" around the Orpheum circuit being booked by "King" Lee Kraus. Among the pieces played in their shows included Cora's own compositions and popular songs like "Everybody's Doing It" by Irving Berlin, various renditions of the "Turkey Trot", the poignant classically-based song "The Rosary", and the old standard "Poet and Peasant Overture." At several points in a show Benny would exaggerate the difficulty of the music by moving the violin dramatically while keeping the pinky finger of his bow hand extended. As he later recalled, "I was an actor playing the role of a violinist." Over the two seasons they traveled, the act went through a number of slight changes, eventually infusing a little bit of clean comedy, but never any dialogue from Benny. October 1912, the pair played in Oshkosh where Cora was warmly welcomed during a week of a well documented homecoming.
About March 1913 Eliza had became ill and needed more frequent care, so Cora had to abandon the act and return to Waukegan and Benny was now in need of a new partner.
Now retired from the stage, Cora got married again on October 7, 1914, this time to Navy Warrant Officer George L. Aulmann. He was stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Waukegan, Illinois, but they were married in St. Joseph County, Indiana. Cora and her mother then resided with George in Waukegan across the street from the Barrison Theater.
Eliza died on November 11, 1915 and was buried in her beloved long time home town of Oshkosh. Cora's health quickly deteriorated after the loss of her mother and she remained in ill health for the next five months.
Cora went to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin for a stay in a sanitarium, during which she recovered somewhat but on April 9, 1916 was hospitalized for an attack of peritonitis. Appearing to be recovering, several days later she had a sudden turn and early in the morning of April 16 died minutes before George was able to get to the hospital from the Naval base. George was now a widower after a mere 18 months. He would move to California and remarry in the 1920s.
As per Cora's final wishes she was buried beside Eliza in Oshkosh.
1906 - "Paula" written by Cora Folsom Salisbury, published by Thiebes-Sterlin Music Co (St. Louis Missouri) in This is perhaps the first published piece of Cora Salisbury. In this photograph taken for an E-Bay auction you can note it is also autographed by Miss Salisbury TO THE SUBJECT OF THE PIECE, lower right corner of cover. Dedicated to Paula Edwardes an American stage performer in musical comedies.
1907 - Poodles Parade March and Two Step Written by Cora Folsom Salisbury published by Thiebes-Sterlin Music Co
July 2, 1909 - Oshkosh Daily Northwestern - Lost - Reward Offered for Reliable Information Leading to the recovery or Whereabouts of White Poodle Dog That Disappeared Saturday, June 26. Wore Collar With Name and Address on Tag. Mrs. J. H. Folsom, 32 Pleasant Avenue. Phone 865, After Saturday, July 8, Address Cora Salisbury, Barrison Theater, Waukegan, Ill.
1909 - Lemons And Limes (A Sour Rag) written by Cora Folsom Salisbury Published By Will Rossiter
Sheet Music MIDI
1911 - Ghost Dance (Dance Descriptive) written by Cora Folsom Salisbury Published By Will Rossiter (Copyright Renewed Aug 26, 1939)
Sheet Music MIDI
Ghost Dance was recorded in October 1927 by Truett And George and was also featured in the 1955 Hallowee'n episode of the Jack Benny radio program, where we hear The Sportsmen Quartet doing a Lucky Strike Commercial to the music.
The songs “My Light Guitar (Spanish intermezzo)” Words and Music by Cora Salisbury Copyright May 25, 1908 Will Rossiter and “Love’s Embrace” (Copyright Will Rossiter renewed May 31, 1940) are a rarity and to date, no copy of the sheet music has come to light.
“King” Lee Kraus
Lee Kraus was a vaudeville manager with the Western Vaudeville Managers Association. Of the many clients he directed was the act of Salisbury and Benny. The association stating sometime in 1912 and confirmed in the December 20 “Merry Xmas and A Happy New Year” advertisement in Variety. (pg 146.)
Kraus was based in Chicago's Opera House until 1919 when he moved east to New York and partnered with Arthur Horwitz.
In December 27, 1911 - Lee Krause partnered with Vera Peters formerly the private secretary of A. E. Meyers
Other acts directed by Kraus - 1911 - Elina Gardiner, Character Comedienne - 1911 - Lawrence Johnston, Ventrioquist - 1911 - Roxy P La Rocce - 1911 - The Rathskeller Trio, (Mitchell, Wills and Lewis) - 1911 - Nance Murray and Girls - 1911 - Gregoire and Elmina - 1911 - Ralph Connors
- 1912 - Adair and Hickey - 1912 – Zelaya
- 1913 - June 7, New York Clipper - Chicago's Theatrical Hospital - Lee Kraus elected Chairman, Harry Rose Elected Secretary. Doors will be open to anyone connected in the theatrical profession. The object is to raise 50,000
- 1913 - October 3, The Player - Advertised that they have over sixty acts working - 1913 - Blanche Gordon, Pantages Circuit - 1913 - Ireland & Carto, Jones, Linick & Schaefer - 1913 - Archer & Ingeraol, Western - 1913 - Albert Marks and Bessie Rosa - Pantages Circuit - 1913 - Edwin Ford - Jones, Linick & Schaefer Circuit
A picture of Kraus is on the cover of The Player, 20 December 1912.