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Sunday, June 27, 2010
Jack Benny and Pres. Harry Truman in the photo, Jack Benny, Mel Blanc and Johnny Carson talking about the Maxwell
Drving a 1908 Maxwell, because as a long running joke Jack Benny was playing a miserly guy who wouldn't waste a cent on anything better than a 1923 Maxwell.
Jack Benny appears onscreen driving a Maxwell in the film It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
An antique 1923 Maxwell automobile owned by Jack Benny, the "Cheapest Man in the World" was used as a running gag on both radio (first appeared in 1937) and later on his TV comedy series THE JACK BENNY SHOW/CBS/1950-64. Jack insisted that he could always get a few more miles out of his beat up jalopy. But for all of his tinkering, the car usually drove for about 15 minutes at which time the radiator boiled over, forcing Jack to wait for the engine to cool down before moving along. Jack bought the car second-hand from a dealer called the Smiling Pilgrim.
Once Jack saw his servant Rochester (Eddie Anderson) daintily sponging down the car. "For Heaven sake, Jack yelled "Why don't you use the garden hose on it?" Rochester answered, "Don't you remember the last time I used the hose on it, Boss? The fender fell off!"
from http://www.tvacres.com/autos_antique_jackbenny.htm
In 1907 Maxwell constructed the largest automobile factory in the world, it was in New Castle Indiana, and about 1910-1914 the Maxwell automobile was considered one of the top 3 auto companies in America