In the 1940’s, Jack Benny’s radio program had a recurring character - a cowboy star named “Rodney Dangerfield” who Jack competed with for the affections of his girlfriend, “Gladys Abisco”. Both of these people were obviously fictional characters (jokes included Rodney’s western movie titles such as “Hopalong Shapiro” and him autographing a picture by shooting a hole in it). Rodney ususally showed in the program at New Year’s parties where he stole the spotlight (and the girl) from Jack.
Then comes the comedian Rodney Dangerfield. Here is a quote from the Internet Movie Database “Mini Biography” of Rodney:
“Rodney Dangerfield was born in Babylon New York in 1921. His birth name was Jacob Cohen. Jacob Cohen began writing jokes at the age of 15, and started performing before he was 20. He took his act to the road for ten years, his stage name was Jack Roy. While working as a struggling comedian Rodney Dangerfield worked as a singing waiter. His first run at comedy was to no avail. Rodney Dangerfield married Joyce Indig, in 1949 and had two children: Brian and Melanie. During the 1950s Rodney was an aluminum siding salesman, living in New Jersey. The comedian made another attempt at stand up comedy, this time as Rodney Dangerfield.”
So did the comedian take his name from the Jack Benny Show character or are the names a coincedence?