Sunshine Boys with Jack Benny and Red Skelton

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          When a movie was going to be made of Neil Simon's Play "The Sunshine Boys", Red Skelton and Jack Benny were cast as the leads. Since the characters were aging vaudevillians the casting seemed perfect as both actors had started in Vaudeville. However, Skelton backed out and Benny had health issues, in fact he died a short time later. Benny had recommended his friend George Burns for his part and he filled it well. The movie started a renaissance for Burns, the film roles kept coming, including the classic Oh, God! with Burns in the title role. In an interview promoting The Sunshine Boys George joked that the last time he made a movie was 36 years before and "they must have liked me because they brought me back." I can only imagine if Jack Benny had lived longer and played the role, he would joke that they finally gave him another chance after his flop The Horn Blows at Midnight.

     Here is the make-up test of Benny and Matthau for The Sunshine Boys:

Make-up test footage of Jack Benny and Walter Matthau for "The Sunshine Boys"

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