The Medicine Man

When watching The Medicine Man with Jack Benny one has to keep in mind that at this stage of his career Benny had not yet hit on the lovable tightwad character in which his comedy was built around. He was just another old vaudeville performer trying to make it in Hollywood at a point when studios were signing them up because of some kind of stage training. Benny's career in film was never all that significant, his primary venue was radio and later television where the tightwad image was so ingrained in your mind, it was what you expected and knew how he would react in a given situation.

That is not The Medicine Man. In this film Benny is a barker for a medicine show, not a respectable profession. But for Betty Bronson and young Billy Butts, brother and sister, he represents a way to get out from a really horrible life with a cruel and repressive father.

Jack does not really cut it as a romantic figure. But that might have not been his fault. The inevitable complaint from performers is about typecasting in a particular role. What was a complaint for most was something Benny absolutely relied on later for his comedy to work. It worked so well that even looking back at films before his hit radio show, he just can't be seen in another part.

But he'd have preferred it that way.