Jaunting With Jack, Romping With Remley

Jack Benny never restricted his appearances to radio, television or movies. Even before his concerts with symphony orchestras in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, he’d get a troupe together and appear in various cities. In a way, he was re-living his old vaudeville days.

One of them was during the summer of 1950. The Scranton Tribune mentioned he had a cast of 42 on that particular tour.

These weren’t publicity tours. Jack was raising money for charity.

Here are several stories. First up is from the Des Moines Register of May 18th. Before some of his appearances, a parade made its way down the street with Jack riding, inevitably, in a Maxwell someone in town had found.

Benny Flying Here To Ride in 1914 Maxwell
Jack Benny may be true to the horseless carriage for getting around town, but he's part of the air age when traveling.
Benny is scheduled to arrive in a chartered TWA Constellation at Des Moines airport around 11 a. m. today. He will make the trip here from Kansas City, at 300 miles an hour.
Accompanying Benny will be 40 members of his troupe, including some top Hollywood names, Phil Harris, the orchestra leader; Rochester, and shapely Vivian Blaine.
Two Performances.
Benny and the remainder of the cast will appear in two performances at 7:30 and 9:30 p. m. today at KRNT theater.
Immediately on arrival, comedians, musicians and dancers will be whisked to the statehouse to take part in the Jack Benny day parade, which will start promptly at 12:30 p. m.
[Route of parade omitted]
Four Benneys. [sic]
All participants then are expected to dash for the nearest cafe for the luncheon they haven't had.
Benny fans will have a chance to see four versions of the comedian—the real Benny—and three younger Bennys of 8, 12 and 21. The young impersonators are scheduled to play "Love in Bloom," reportedly Benny's favorite violin composition, as they tour the loop.
In keeping with his radio personality, Benny will scorch along the streets in a 1914 Maxwell. This Is Jack Benny at 39, which he humorously gives as his real, age, in contrast to those 55 years since his birth.
Curly-haired Harris, who likes to sing 'That's What I Like About the South," will trundle along in an even more vehicle, a 1912 Sears. The show troupe and orchestra will be in other cars.
Miss Blaine, former dance band singer; Rochester; Stuart Morgan dancers: Wiere brothers, a comedy team and the Peiro brothers, acrobats, will ride in separate cars.
[List of merchants riding in the parade omitted]
Amusing portions of the parade will include references to Benny's traditional thriftiness, Harris' aversion to water, and Rochester working for "peanuts" (although he drives his own Cadillac.)
Other units in the parade will include the Argonne post American Legion band, the State University of Iowa Highlanders—and a calliope.
A navy color guard and Mayor A. Chambers will lead the parade.
Nationwide Tour.
Benny's appearance here is part of a nationwide tour of major American cities. The group will go from Des Moines to St. Paul, Minn. On completion of the 21-city tour, Benny, Rochester and Harris will sail for England to appear at London's Palladium theater.
Oh, yes, the helpful Remley also will be here—he's a guitarist in Phil Harris's band. But the radio Remley is Elliott Lewis.

Next stop: Moline, Ill. The Daily Times of Davenport, Iowa, has the story on May 20.

Jack Benny and Gang Greeted by Throng of Fans
Arrive in Big Plane; in Parade This Afternoon
Jack Benny, top radio comedian, back to playing one-night stands, arrived in the quad-cities today and he didn't come in a Maxwell.
He arrived on the biggest plane ever to land at the Quad-city airport and threw a kiss to 2,000 fans gathered to greet him. He explained later that "it didn't cost me anything to do it and they love it."
A big parade was scheduled for this afternoon and Benny, Phil Harris, Rochester and Vivian Blaine, along with that somewhat ebullient character, Frankie Remley, will do a stage presentation at Wharton fieldhouse, Moline, tonight.
Benny was first out on the field the airport, but the girls set up a yell for Phil Harris. Rochester's popularity was also much in evidence.
Benny immediately took over Moline and acted as his own press-agent for his show.
"We've got the best act have ever been in," he said "and I'm not kidding."
Benny, snappily attired, was pleased with the thousands who greeted him at the airport. "All nice people," he said.
Shortly after settling in the LeClaire hotel, Benny and his cast went to the fieldhouse where Benny supervised several changes in the seating arrangements and on the stage.
When told the seats were no more than ten feet from the stage he was pleased. "That's the way I like it, more intimate," he said.
Benny winds up his tour in the east. He, Rochester and Harris will then depart for London, England, for a weekend engagement in the Palladium theater.
His wife, Mary Livingston, who Benny says "can just about beat him in golf," did not make the trip.
Benny said he is grooming his 16-year-old daughter to follow in his footsteps. "She appeared in my show several weeks ago and likes it as much as I do."
Rochester, Benny explained wasn't feeling too good. He sprained his right ankle in the first presentation of the program and uses a cane to hobble along. Frankie Remley, Harris' guitar player, was anxious to visit a cousin, Diane, in the quad-cities.
His efforts to trace her were unsuccessful this afternoon.
One of those who greeted Benny was Walter Thorngren, exalted ruler of the Moline Elks. Part of the proceeds tonight are to go to the Elks Crippled Children's clinic, according to G. LaVerne Flambo, the promoter.

Indianapolis was on the schedule as well. Jack got some advance (and, as it turned out, national) publicity by “entering” his Maxwell in the Indy 500. The focus of the story in the Indianapolis News was native son Phil Harris. This story from May 25th leaves me with the impression Phil was as casual in real life than he was on the air.

Phil Harris Greeted by Linton Delegation
It was one big happy Harris family reunion at the Speedway yesterday when folks who came up from Linton greeted their boy, Phil.
The stars of the Jack Benny show made their appearance on the apron promptly at 4 p.m. The genial, long-suffering "Jackson," Rochester, petite blond Vivian Blaine and the heralded Maxwell appeared on schedule, accompanied by Wilbur Shaw and Tony Hulman to launch the afternoon's routine.
All hands were on deck but Phil Harris. Shouts of "Phil, Phil," echoed down gasoline row as those in charge tried to get the big, good-natured former Hoosier into his proper role.
But Phil reverted to type. He was pleasantly stymied along the fence, greeting the home folks and in no hurry to get on with proceedings at all. There was no budging him until he'd passed considerable time of day with the delegation from Linton. He was laughing and shaking hands and kissing his old friends over the fence that keeps the curious out of the pit areas.
Asked the identity of the pretty gray-haired woman on whom he bestowed the first resounding cousinly kiss, he said "Why, that was Mrs. Jug Harris. The Harrises are all over Linton where I come from. I've got lots of folks down there. Two hundred and fifty of them came up for the show tonight. I love 'em, every one."
His last visit to Linton was several years ago. "We were in Chicago," said he, "and naturally I wanted Alice (Alice Faye, his famous wile who, like Harris, expertly sells a song) to meet the Harrises."
Asked how he spotted his old friends in the crowd at the Speedway, he replied with jaunty Harris gusto: "Why, I can see a Linton person a mile away. They were the first people I saw. Couldn't miss 'em."
The dandy Southern accent with which he reels off "That's what I like about the South" isn't entirely Southern Indiana. He lived in Memphis, Tenn., a while when he was a kid and it colored his diction.
The coal fields of Linton still hold tender memory for him. It's home and to borrow a fast spiel: "Ain't no town, ain't no city, awful small, but awful pretty. . .”
Harris arrived in town with a guy named Benny, who arrived in town with a guy named Rochester. Benny left town today after proving that you don't have to be a show horse or a hockey player or be able to ice skate with the grace of a Sonja Henie to fill the Coliseum at the Fairground.
You just need to be Jack Benny, which is precisely what the comedian was for better than 2 hours last night on a stage at the west end of the huge building. And that was all right with the audience of nearly 9,000.
It was the same Benny who steps into millions of homes each Sunday night. He was the same right down to the gags about his penuriousness, his receding hairline, his ineffectual manner with glamour girls, his impotence in the face of the hearty, blustery -personality of Harris.
Benny's gags also touched on Fred Allen (unfavorably), television (he approves), income tax (he disapproves) and sundry other matters.
For the audience, perhaps the most amusing stretch was the "love scene" played by Benny and Vivian Blaine, the show's glamorous singer. The point was that Benny pretended he was Clark Gable and there sat Gable and his wife within a few feet of the stage. The screen lover, here to make a picture about the 500-Mile Race, seemed to relish the burlesque of his romantic technique.
Gable's entrance, just before the show started, provoked a minor demonstration, with nearly all those seated in the arena, men and women alike, jumping to their feet to catch a glimpse of the Gables.



When these stories were written, the Maxwell hadn’t been made for 25 years. While finding a 25-year-old car today might not seem difficult, this was an era where pre-war cars were turned into scrap metal for war materials, and people wanted fresh, new post-war cars, not something that looked ridiculously out of date. Considering this, how easy was it to dig up a Maxwell for Jack to parade around in? This story from page one of the May 23, 1950 Kokomo Tribune will give you an answer.

Sellers Brothers To Oblige Benny with 2 Maxwell Autos
BY GEORGE E. WELDEN
Tribune Staff Writer
When Jack Benny arrives with his gang at Indianapolis Wednesday—he will drive a Maxwell belonging to Tom and Don Sellers of Kokomo.
Tom and Don, accompanied by their sister, Mrs. Harry Stewart, will follow the Benny driven Maxwell in another from the Sellers stable.
The two spruced up Maxwells were taken to Indianapolis Tuesday by truck. The Sellers family will leave Wednesday morning to be on hand to greet the famous radio and movie star.
Time of arrival of the Benny entourage was not revealed.
Tom said Wednesday that Benny would meet the Sellers' two Maxwells at a street intersection near the downtown business section.
With Benny under the wheel, and Rochester at his side, the Maxwell will be driven around the Circle and to a hotel. The Sellers family will follow in the other Maxwell, "in case something should happen," Tom said.
According to Tom, he was asked by an Indianapolis group to bring the two Maxwells down for the radio star's arrival. Benny long has "driven" a Maxwell "over the air waves" and many quips about the ancient model car have been made a stock part of his radio show.
As far as is known, there are only three Maxwells in the state—that are in good running order—and two of these belong to the Sellers family. The other, Tom said, is being readied in Indianapolis for Benny to drive around the 500-mile Indianapolis Speedway Wednesday afternoon.
Benny and his gang are on a 21-day tour and will present a show in the Coliseum at the Fairgrounds Wednesday night.
Mrs. Alice Sellers and Harry Stewart will accompany the others to Indianapolis.

By the way, the photo at the top refers to hiding dishes. If you don’t know, the reference is to a Benny radio show in April when Jack explained to Rochester he “gave 50 cents to a bum,” and Rochester was in such shock, he dropped the dishes he was carrying. The Benny writers turned it into a running gag where the dishes would fall on their own whenever the act of charity was mentioned.

In real life, Jack’s tour stopped in Buffalo to help the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, then Carnegie Hall where he and Fred Allen traded words at a benefit for the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund (tickets: $1.80 to $6.00).

Meanwhile, an Associated Press story in late May 27 reported that University of California regents had accepted $1000 from Jack for surgical research at the UCLA Medical Centre. Even when he wasn’t there, Jack Benny was helping good causes.