Finding the Maxwell and Remembering Pat Paulsen

A conversation with Laura Leibowitz of the International Jack Benny Fan Club about the finding and purchasing of the Maxwell, and remembering Pat Paulsen on the 94th anniversary of his birth.

Episode Transcript

(00:11):
Why it's favorite radio either, Whyat Cox, Whyatt's favorite Radio? A
lot of you know me from USARadio's Classic Radio Theater. This is kind
of a mishmash program where I dolots of things that I don't do on
Classic Radio Theater and some that Ido. For example, on my local
radio program here in Nevada, Ihad an interview with Laura Leebowitz of the

(00:36):
International Jack Benny Fanclub. Guess whatshe's found? The Maxwell. Let's listen
to some of that interview I didwith her, as they're trying to raise
money to get the Maxwell. Personthat we feature regularly on Classic Radio Theater
is Jack Benny. And what isinteresting is that even though Jack Benny has

(00:58):
been gone since nineteen seven four,he still has a wonderful, wonderful following
today among those people Laura leebowit's withthe International Jack Benny Fanclub. They are
still around to this day. Jackbennydot Org is the website. And Laura

(01:18):
has found something and I should playit, but I don't have it handy.
And that is the wonderful mel Blankand the Maxwell. And Laura has
found a Maxwell that her research showswas actually used in some of Jack's routines.
Good morning Laura, Good morning Wyat, glad to be here. Tell

(01:42):
us about this this Maxwell you found, Well, this particular Maxwell came up
at a Hollywood auction of famous cars, cars from the Great Race Dusenberg that
was used in whatever and so forth. And I love well and at the

(02:05):
time, sorry, I love Doozies. They're beautiful cars. Oh golly.
Yeah. And I happened to bein Fort Wayne at the time, and
just like half an hour north ofthere is the Auburn Court Duisenberg Museum,
so yeah, it's there. They'regorgeous. He used to have a large
collection in Las Vegas and it wasjust incredible. Really. Yes, yeah,

(02:28):
I know that there's one of thehalls there that has that purports to
have Jack Benny's Maxwell. But I'vetried to quiz them on the provedance and
I haven't been able to get enoughinformation to be able to say one way
or the other, because I've hadmany people come to me over the years
it's like, hey, I foundJack Benny's Maxwell, and it turns out
to be something that he wrote ina parade one time, or they used

(02:52):
it as a publicity stunt to driveyou know, somebody in town owned to
Maxwell. Oh, let's drive itout to the airport and Jack, you
know, and then you'd have aphoto op with that. Well, this
one, because it was coming withso many other well documented cars of movie
and television fame, it has theprovidence and in fact you can it's a

(03:17):
nineteen twenty three Maxwell touring car,and you can pull up many different clips
of Jack either for Texaco or onhis regular show, and it's this car.
Not to say that it's the onlyMaxwell he was ever pictured in,
but this is the one that seemsto have gotten the most airplay as far

(03:38):
as I can see. So thatwas purchased by a fellow by the name
of Bill Goodwin, who oddly enoughowned a funeral parlor in Frankfurt, Indiana,
which fortunately was close enough to mein Fort Wayne at that time that
I was able to drive down andsee it in about nineteen eighty seven,
nineteen eighty eight, and I hadkept tabs on the car at Stay in

(04:00):
Bill's collection all those years, andthen earlier this year it came up at
auction. It sold for fifteen thousand, and then it came up at auction
in Tacoma and there was no reasonon it, and I said, oh
my god, I wow. Youknow, so I contacted them to make
sure it was the same car.It was. They had the title and

(04:23):
everything, and it was to Frankfurt, Indiana. Okay, same car,
yep, and was bidding online andI can't believe it, but I got
Jack Betty's Backshua. So now it'sa matter of getting all out real to
me, it's now. It's justa matter of getting it all together here

(04:44):
and getting it so that it canbe a part of the international Jack Betty
Fan Club exactly. Yep. Workingon that right now. And if you
go to Jackbenny dot org you canget a link to the GoFundMe. They're
trying to raise a new You've alreadygot a third of the money and you've
only been doing this, what forjust a few days. Yeah, I'm

(05:05):
very lucky. And a large numberof thirty nine dollars donations. I can't
imagine where that number came from,not at all. You know, it's
a thing, I guess so ohmy gosh. Some people will add a
zero, like, you know,give me three hundred and ninety dollars.
But I don't want to be greedy. Let's let everybody get to, you

(05:27):
know, help out. We havea GoFundMe page going with that. So
yeah, I'm just looking to beable to get up over the top so
that it covers the cost of theMaxwell, the virus premium, and the
transportation to get it down here.Then I have said, yeah, you've
got a couple of premiums here thatyou've got going on. If if people
donate what was the fifty bucks,they get to take a picture of the

(05:51):
Maxwell, and if it's fifty bucks, you get to stand next to it
and imitate Mel blancing. However youdo that. See I figured you didn't
have the clip, but I getthat little to Mel. It's it's as
close as I can get. Andif you do a hundred bucks you can

(06:15):
have your picture taken sitting in thecar. And if you donate a thousand
bucks, I'll let you drive itin my driveway, which is a long
driveway. But as long as youknow how to drive a stick shift,
well, they don't kill the clutchin it, please, Actually it does
drive on its own power. Iwas amazed when they drove up for auction.

(06:35):
Yeah. In fact, I saidto a friend of mine that I
was messaging with. I wonder ifthey're going to push it up or if
they're actually going to drive it up. And when I saw that it was
driving under its own power, It'slike, oh my god, it drives.
Damn Laura Lee. But what's theInternational Jack Benny Fanclub If you want
to participate in this, and Ihope you will. Jackbenny dot org wonderful

(07:00):
resource for all these great Jack Bennyshows that we play, and I steal
a lot of information from there.I'll tell you that, Laura, thanks
for spending some time with us thismorning. Okay, thank you so much.
By take care. Oh it wasa lot of fun talking to Laura

(07:31):
Leewoods. I hope you will goto the website Jackbenny dot org have the
opportunity to check out all the goodinformation. But you click on that box
at the top of the page,even if it's just twenty bucks or thirty
nine bucks, as Laura said,drop them a little money. Help them
get this maxwell down where it needsto be. Thanks for tuning in and

(07:57):
this is why it talks can bethe trees that fill the greens with rare

(09:13):
and magic fur on No, itisn't the trees. It's love in blue
all. Can it be a spring? That seems to be the stars ride
into this room on? No,it isn't the screen. It's love in

(09:37):
blue. My heart was a desertyou plad the seas and this is the
floor. This are a sweet booking? Is it all a dream? And
the joys that came to loss inthe bill? You knows nothing. It's

(10:07):
a loggery? Is it, Audrey? The joys of being and that came

(10:52):
to us in the l You knowit's an udery. It's love. From
nineteen thirty four the Paul Whiteman Orchestrawith Jack Bolton on the vocal and what
would become Jack Benny's theme song,Love and Bloom next month would be I

(11:16):
think it's the sixth day of July. Pat Paulson's birthday. I think you
might remember him. He ran forpresident a whole bunch of times. I
had the opportunity to talk with him. He passed in ninety seven, and
I had a chance to talk tohim in March of nineteen ninety six.
And here's a portion of that.Well, here's the interview that we did

(11:39):
with him promoting his season in Branson, Missouri, and I'll tell you a
funny story about that. And whenwe hear this twenty five minutes past the
hour, we thank you so muchfor making us a part of your day
this morning in America, twenty firstday of March, on your favorite station.
I'm Wyat Cox and I'm Dave Han. Good morning, and you're in
the middle of breakfast too. Isee coffee. You need to put the

(12:01):
coffee cup down because ut Patrick.Well, we have here on the line
with us a presidential candidate who ismaking his formal announcement today that he is,
in fact seeking the presidency of theUnited States. Wow, ladies and
gentlemen, making the first formal nationwideannounced. Clear off your mouth. Oh
sorry, she many Christmas, makingthe formal announcement. This is a presidential

(12:24):
candidate here, decorum, he's civilPat Paulson, Hello, sir. Well,
I'm just happy as a clam totalk to you. Guys. It
looks like a clam too. Well, we are now behave yourself. Sorry.
The formal announcement is that I'm makingmy headquarters in Brandon. Oh,
so you will be making your headquartersfor this election run in Branson, Missouri.

(12:45):
Right, I'm going to let thepeople come to me. So so
that's is that where you came upwith this slogan United we sit and no?
Actually, you know, I goton the ballot already in New Hampshire
and I came in second out oftwenty three running as a Democratic against Clinton,
and in fact I got three timesas many votes as Lynna and LaRue.
So I'm on my way. Sowow. Yeah, so you're actually

(13:07):
you're heading for it here. Yeah. Now you're running as a Democrat this
year, not uh huh. Iremember in the past you ran on the
ticket of the Stag Party, Isthat correct? The first was the well
that's the straight talk to American governmentparty. Yes, Quinny, when you
paid those letters, I see,yeah, but we didn't intend that to
be a joke. Yeah, misterPresident, I mean, mister Paulson,

(13:30):
this Dave hand I would be ofcourse honored to be on the same ticket
with you and to serve as yourvice president, and would look forward to
serving in your stead as president ifthe occasion should arise. Well, I
like that, mister President. Ithink any president requires some assassination insurance these
days. I think Dave would servethat role. Wonderfully, it would be
absolutely perfect for the role. Yeah, thank you, thank you, mister
President, I mean, mister Paulson. By the way, you were recently

(13:52):
quoted as saying something about the scumsucking pigs currently in the Congress and in
the White House. Could you elaborateon that just a little bit? Never
said that? Is that a badquote? Yeah, that's totally off.
Ba oh, I apologize, sir. What I'm concerned about now I want
to make sure you take us offthe air here for a second. Okay,
I'll tell you things that I don'twant the audience. Okay, okay,

(14:13):
I'm going to Branton. Also,I'm on a mission for the CIA.
Are you where there are foreign agentsin Brampton? Is that right of
this? Really? Well? Letme let me tell you about one a
Russian comic named Yakov Smirnov. I'veheard of that guy. Yeah, he
drinks. There's a there's a Japanesefiddler there named Yogi Yogi Bear or Shogi

(14:35):
or something. Yeah. Okay,what are they doing there? What's their
real intense? Well, there mustbe for an agent, there must be
something going on, you know.I think that's against the law. I
think so too, you know,and with the Communists starting to make a
little comeback in Russia, you gottabelieve that Yakov has said there for some
reason. And nobody knows where hegoes after his shows. Where does he

(14:58):
go? I don't know. Hemust have some radio crystal set or something
something something strange. By the way, you were supposed to be with us
an hour ago. I wondered ifmaybe you were perhaps dining at McDonald's as
the president does. Well, Ido. I am a simple, ordinary
common man, and I've always thoughtthat, Yeah, you don't agree so

(15:20):
fast. Well, see, he'sjust trying to be a good he's trying
to be a good vice presidential candidate. Doesn't that involve me? I'm a
good yes man, mister president.Yeah, you're going to have to do
everything I tell you to do.You're going to be like a barking seal.
Can I walk your dogs to yees? You'll be doing all of that.
Well, we only have one.We got a Yorkie. Well,
mister president, I mean, misterPaulson. How do you feel about the
re emergence of Ross Perot in thispresidential campaign season? Well, I don't

(15:43):
know. Has he re emerged.Yeh, I was flying yesterday, so
I don't know what well he's Therumors are ripe in Washington, d C.
And all across the country that he'she's out there, he's going to
make another stab at it. Whatdo you think about that? I think
he ought to go back to hisold job modeling for Mad magazine. Oh,
the Pat Paulson presidential campaign rolls on. He will be making his campaign

(16:03):
headquarters the Funnybone Comedy Theater in Branson, Missouri, from June one through election
Day in November. We hope youwill take the opportunity to go and see
him. Our time now half pastthe hour. Thanks for making us a
part of your day this morning inAmerica on your favorite radio station. Now,

(16:29):
at the time that Pat Paulson wasdoing this, he was setting up
to do his deal in Branson,Missouri. He was also appearing in Sarasota,
Florida at the same time. Hedid this interview at a comedy club
there. Now, I have totell you that we were on a radio
station in Sarasota, Florida. Wedid that one singular bit, that one

(16:55):
singular five minute hit on our show, and we blew up the phones at
the comedy club Paulson was appearing at. He blew up the phones at the
radio station because how could you useit? Because they loved the Yakov Smirnov
was a lovable character. He's stilla great character. But they he blew

(17:17):
up the phones at the comedy cluband we had to have Yakov on and
I would have had him on myshow, but they decided to put him
on another show that was on inSarasota and apologized because it's just I only
meant that as a joke, andyou know some people can't take a joke

(17:37):
anymore. Visit my web page ClassicRadio Dot Stream you can hear our classic
radio theater programs and we will probablyend up posting these shows up there as
well. Classic Radio Dot Stream.I'm Wyatt Cox. The opinions expressed on
this program are mine. They don'treflect the USA Radio Network management, sponsors

(18:00):
or anybody else, but they oughtto. Thanks so much for spending some
time with us on this special podcastof why It's Favorite Radio. Have yourself
a great day, won't you?Please?