When Ernst Lubitsch’s anti-Nazi comedy To Be or Not To Be (1942), starring Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, opened in Miami, Jack’s father went to see it, and when he saw Jack appear on the screen wearing a Nazi uniform, he left the theater in a fury. Late that night Jack, who heard what had happened, called to explain, but his father let loose a flood of abuse. Finally Jack interrupted, told him the movie was a satire, and explained that in the film he was only pretending to be a Nazi in order to rescue some people from the Nazis.
The following day Jack’s father went to see the movie again, loved it, and went to see it every day after that as long as it played in Miami. And he usually cried at the end too.
Source:
Boller, Paul F., and Ronald L. Davis. "Comedy." Hollywood Anecdotes. New York: Morrow, 1987. 261. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Mary Livingston Benny and Hilliard Marks, Jack Benny (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1978), pp. 134-35.
Further Reading:
Nationalsozialismus (National Socialism) / Nazism
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