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A highly vocal partner in Benny's shows is Mary Livingstone, his wife. A onetime stocking clerk in the May Co. in Los Angeles, Miss Livingstone, nee Sadie Marks, often depresses her fellow workers by the firmness she exhibits in advancing her convictions. So naturally, on the air, Benny plays a boastful but timorous character, who is a butt for everybody's gibes. He is badgered by Tenor Dennis Day, by Orchestra Leader Phil Harris, by Announcer Don Wilson, by Miss Livingstone—and by his valet Rochester. The Bennys have been married since 1927, have a six-year-old adopted daughter named Joan Naomi. Benny calls his wife "Doll"; she calls him "Dollface."
The bedroom where Benny works with his writers contains a four-poster bed, set in the midst of microphones, a recording machine, filing cabinets, a typewriter and a desk. Scattered about are innumerable pads and pencils. Like all the rooms in Benny's house, his bedroom is equipped with a radio and a public-address-system outlet.
Only fly in Benny's rich ointment last week was his difficulty in collaborating with Fred Allen in the radio promotion of Love Thy Neighbor. Allen is now a rival of Eddie Cantor, who is handled by the same agency that handles Benny. If Benny should team up with Allen on a show, it would obviously do Cantor no good. Consequently the agency would dearly love to squelch the feud it once promoted.