Jack Benny's Maxwell
Jack Benny, the popular radio and television entertainer of the mid-20th Century, was famous for his comic persona's frugal habits. The character's stinginess was epitomized by ownership of a 1923 Maxwell.

Jack Benny behind the wheel of a 1911 AB Runabout in Fargo, ND, 1961.

 

Benny never owned a Maxwell.

The illusion of the sputtering, barely operating, banging, clanging, missing mess of a jalopy was created by the vocal talents of Mel Blanc. Blanc is also famous as the voice of every classic Warner Bros. cartoon character including Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.

 

 

 

 

 

Harry Jennings, Photographer

Institute for Regional Studies, NDSU Libraries, Fargo (Folio 78.H1-B33)