Okay, see that person up there? That's Jack Benny…at about the age he was when he would have done a cameo appearance in Casablanca if he did a cameo appearance in Casablanca. But I've decided to be unconvinced that Jack Benny did a cameo appearance in Casablanca. I studied the scene where he is alleged to be lurking and, yes, there are one or two frames there where an extra who's smoking a cigarette does look somewhat like Mr. Benny…but then the guy turns and you can see it's not him. Here — take a look for yourself. You may want to view this full screen…
So I say that ain't him. Still, there is this ad, issued at the time, which challenges moviegoers to spot where in the movie Jack Benny can be seen. And some folks have also found newspaper articles of the day which claim he was in the film, not as that cigarette-smoking guy but as a waiter. Here's one of them…
Chicago Sun, February 21, 1943, p. 32, c. 2:
Jack Benny Background for BogartJack Benny is in Chicago and he will do his broadcast tonight from a local studio. He is also to be seen, unheralded, in the picture "Casablanca" which has been moved to the Garrick Theater for a third week's run in the Loop.
Benny went stage-hopping at the Burbank studio recently and visited the "Casablanca" set at the time Michael Curtiz was directing a café scene featuring Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart. There were about 50 extras seated at the small tables and a number of waiters scurrying about.
There's where you'll see Benny, among the waiters. He borrowed a white coat from one of them and appears in the background all during the scene.
It is also worth noting that in all his appearances, including the time he parodied Casablanca on his own show, Jack Benny never mentioned a cameo in the movie. You'd think he would have mentioned it on some talk show or somewhere. So what's the deal here? Obviously, there are several possibilities…
- Benny is in the movie but he's dressed as a waiter in some other place that no one has identified. This is tough to believe because it was apparently possible to spot him in a movie theater when the film was first released. Casablanca has been screened and seen an awful lot since then without (apparently) anyone saying, "Hey! There's Jack Benny!"
- Benny was at one point in the movie but his scene was cut and the folks who made up the press kit didn't know it or maybe he was cut at the last minute after the press kit was produced. Also not likely. If that had happened, you can almost bet the contents of Jack's vault that he'd have mined that fact for laughs, saying things like, "Warner Brothers cut me out of Casablanca, one of the greatest movies ever made! I begged them to cut me out of The Horn Blows at Midnight but would they do that?"
- Benny was never in the movie and someone at Warners decided that as a sales gimmick, they'd put out that ad and maybe people would go see the film, perhaps repeatedly, to try and spot Jack Benny. This doesn't seem all that likely to me because they'd have had to tell theater owners that it was a hoax and most of them would have feared it would engender ill will from patrons who felt duped.
- Benny was never in the movie but someone at Warners misheard something or was misinformed so they put out press releases and arranged the little contest ad, thinking he was in there. This also doesn't sound likely to me but it sounds more likely than any of the other unlikely possibilities.
…and that's all I can come up with. In any event, I've decided that until and unless someone shows me a still or a couple of consecutive frames that look like Jack Benny in Casablanca, I'm going to assume Jack Benny was not in Casablanca. Won't you join me in this assumption?