Q: What was the story about Jack Benny being caught for smuggling?
A: Here is the story based on George Burns’ recounting of it. In 1938, George Burns and Gracie Allen were having dinner with a man named Albert Chapereau and his wife at “21.” His wife was sporting a very wide diamond bracelet. As a small child, Gracie had pulled a boiling pot off the stove, and it had left permanent burn marks on her arm. Because of this, she always wore long-sleeve blouses. On seeing this diamond bracelet, George realized that wearing that, Gracie could go out with a shorter-sleeve dress and hide her scar. Chapereau offered to sell George the bracelet for $2000, and George accepted.
George told Jack about the purchase. Mary then asked Jack to buy her a diamond pin from Chapereau, and Jack did so for $350. Shortly thereafter, Chapereau’s German maid informed the Customs Bureau of his smuggling activities, as she was angry over some anti-Nazi remarks he had made. Two of the goods were traced to George and Jack, and they were charged with possession of smuggled property. George pled guilty to the charge, and received a fine of $15,000 and a one-year-and-one-day suspended sentence. Jack pled innocent to the charge but was found guilty, and received a fine of $10,000 and a one-year-and-one-day suspended sentence.
http://www.jackbenny.org/faq.htm#A10
This explanation raises more questions for me. Burns and Benny bought the trinkets at a New York nightclub. Did they know it was smuggled? If Benny bought the pin for $350 and it was appraised at $2,131 then it must have been hot as well as smuggled. Was there no investigation about that? Did the German housemaid/informant work for Chaperau or Mrs. Justice Lauer?