The 39 and Holding Club is
proud to announce and sponsor an official “39 and Holding Day”! Add
it to your calendar: February 14th!
Trust me, it was difficult to decide on just one day
of the calendar. After all, people are turning 40 every day of every
year! However …
Yep, I’m planning in advance, though there was/is of course, a slight delay in 2020-2021, as we all adjust our lives through the pandemic. So if you visit this page
before February 14, 2022, we’re not celebrating quite yet.
But that gives me--and you--time to come up with fun and special ways to celebrate “us,” and plenty of opportunity to add it to your calendar! Hopefully we’ll all be settled into
whatever our “new normal” lives have become, so we can concentrate on fun and party on.
If you have great ideas for celebrating the day, please feel free to share with me, and create your own 39 and Holding Day in your neighborhood! Let's chat.
Oh yes, I know it’s on Valentine’s
Day, usually reserved for couples in love. Why choose such a congested
celebratory day for all 39ers? There are two strategic reasons …
Of course, millions of 39ers are “love” babies, born
on February 14th. But even if we’re not one of them, we can
celebrate the day collectively, as born Forever Young in heart and mind, with Love
and Laughter!
People who think young—and even if you just turned 40, that
you are here, proves you do—have two things in common … Love and Laughter. Sharing them with
others is the best birthday gift ever, for yourself.
Where did this tongue-in-cheek, ubiquitous
saying originate?
If you recall and/or fell in love
with pioneering comedians, it should be no surprise that a most endearing and
energizing idiom—39 and Holding—is purportedly thanks to famous
funnyman, Jack
Benny. (*See the story below.) Early
on, I dubbed Mr. Benny the 39 and Holding Club’s
unofficial “grandpa.”
With that in mind, welcome to 39 and Holding DAY
and I hope you’ll join us in celebrating Love and Laughter on
this day every year!
The festivities begin on February 14, 2022.
That’s when we hope to finally gain official listing on web calendars as a special
observance, and in the minds of our followers.
TBD are the exact circumstances and nature of our
celebrations, virtual and possibly a local—San Diego, California/USA—party for
anyone wishing to join us. Get together (should be we’re past social distancing) in your
neighborhood and celebrate, too.
It doesn’t matter when your birthday is; if you turn
“39 and Holding” (your 40th birthday) in 2022 or having another one
… welcome!
Watch this page, our 39AHC Events page (coming sometime soon), and
our Twitter account @39HoldingClub,
for periodic updates. At the very least, we’ll be partying on Twitter (and maybe
Facebook—although, I’ve been boycotting them for a while). If things go
according to plan, we’ll manage a way to gather in San Diego.
In the meantime, enjoy the inspiration for our “39 and
Holding Day” of Love and Laughter and please feel free to contact me with
questions or comments …
Birthday’s Should be Fun!
*Jack Benny (Benjamin
Kubelsky), born on this day of parental Love—February 14, 1894—Mr.
Benny coined “39 and Holding” on his 40th birthday in
a moment of spontaneous Laughter.
As the Golden
Girls’ “Sophia Petrillo”** used to say, “Picture this …” It was February
14, 1934 and Mr. Benny was behind the microphone in the studio of his
popular self-titled radio show, named for his sponsor that year, “The Chevrolet
Program.” (**Estelle Getty; 1980s sitcom.)
For his birthday the year before, he’d enjoyed a rollicking
good time on-air, celebrating his 39th birthday with his
loyal listeners.
He leaned into the microphone and declared to his radio listeners,
We had so much fun last year, I think I’ll turn 39 again! Because there’s
nothing funny about 40. Every year after, he declared he was “39 and
Holding.”
It became one of his funniest and most-loved running gags
and reportedly, upon his death (December 26, 1974), having celebrated his 39th
birthday 41 times, some newspapers continued the joke with headlines such as "Jack
Benny Dies – At 39?”
He’d have loved it.
😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
