How did Jack get his house?

[haverpopper]

How did the cheapest man in Hollywood, the man who drives a broken-down Maxwell and stays in the cheapest motels when he goes on vacation, end up with an apparently luxurious house in Beverly Hills -- a house (even a mansion?) nice enough to be next door to the wealthy and elegant Colmans? I know there are explanations for Jack having Rochester (didn't he win his contract from Amos and Andy or something like that?) but I don't remember them ever addressing how he ended up with such a nice house. Any thoughts?

[LLeff]

How did the cheapest man in Hollywood, the man who drives a broken-down Maxwell and stays in the cheapest motels when he goes on vacation, end up with an apparently luxurious house in Beverly Hills -- a house (even a mansion?) nice enough to be next door to the wealthy and elegant Colmans? I know there are explanations for Jack having Rochester (didn't he win his contract from Amos and Andy or something like that?) but I don't remember them ever addressing how he ended up with such a nice house. Any thoughts?

They probably dropped this continuity from time to time, but if you go back to the 30s episodes, he built it (which, in reality, he did...or more accurately, had it built). The episode where a pre-YESSSS Frank Nelson shows them around is repeated very, very closely when Jack is later building a home in Palm Springs (which is completely forgotten in subsequent Palm Springs episodes as Jack goes back to his auto-court tendencies).

[Gerry O.]

The "fictitious" Jack probably splurged on his large Beverly Hills home because he thought that it was necessary for him to live there.

Jack's character was always trying to make points with movie stars and be a part of the Hollywood "Inner Circle"....and to do that, he would have to live among them. He could get away with driving a beat-up old car and playing old records on an ancient Victrola, but he needed to live among celebrities in impressive surroundings that were comparable to theirs in order to be accepted and included in various social functions....which of course, he never was, even though he lived on the same street as many famous Hollywood stars.....

...and don't forget, Jack subsidized the cost of his home by taking in laundry, charging people for the use of his swimming pool and having pay phones and various vending machines placed throughout his house!

[Maxwell]

...and don't forget, Jack subsidized the cost of his home by taking in laundry, charging people for the use of his swimming pool and having pay phones and various vending machines placed throughout his house!

Not to mention (from TV) the quarter slot to open the bedroom window for burglars trying to escape the booby traps.

[bboswell]

The "fictitious" Jack probably splurged on his large Beverly Hills home because he thought that it was necessary for him to live there.

Or perhaps he bought it during the time period where he was "Generous Jack the Plunger!" (one of his guest appearances on the Burns & Allen show)