Preface: This is my first article for the new Max Benjamin blog. It’s a true story about how the company started and why it has been so important for us to succeed.
Max Benjamin
My story begins with my father Elliott Nonas, an advertising maverick who wrote ads for NBC back in the 50s live, during the only 4 hours a day that you could watch television. An advertising man, who was well educated, dressed well, spoke ill of no one (well most of the time) and knew how to enjoy life with the little time he had available. Being one of the original Madmen, my father made a point of maximizing his free time, and making sure that there was always a martini close by. In the 1950s he invented and patented Joe’s Place, a fashionable portable suitcase-like bar that held several bottles of booze, ice, glasses, shakers and bar tools.
He enjoyed entertaining and his invention was just that; Portable entertainment. He would bring it to the beach house, over to friends and impress them with how cool and inventive it was. Needless to say, it sold throughout the country at major department and specialty stores like Hammacher Schlemmer, Bloomingdales, I Magnin, and B Altmans.
I always admired my father’s ability to pull great ideas out of the air. Moreover I admired his youthful persona and his uncanny ability to look 15 years younger than any of his peers even at age 90. So when he tried to bring back the original travel bar “Joe’s Place” from a 50 +year hiatus at 89 years old, I was blown away! His idea to reintroduce this classic luxury piece into today’s market place was right on target. Unfortunately he passed before he was able to realize its renewed success. His unrealized passion, became my quest to complete his dream and with the help of my cousin Keith Hochstin, we set out to fulfill that dream but on a much larger scale. Named after my grandfather, Max Benjamin LLC is our company. A tribute to my father, who always lived life to the fullest and who lived the philosophy “Feel Good, Live Well”