Strange Wills
Benny: made arrangements to have one rose delivered to his wife everyday
Jack Benny wanted to get the right things to the right people at the right time. Jack and Sayde Marks (better known as Mary Livingstone, the character she played on his radio show) had been married 48 years when he died on the day after Christmas 1974. Their marriage was far from ideal. According to one source, she was sharp-tongued, demanding and vain. He was a philanderer. After he died, she claimed that his signature gesture of holding one hand to the side of his face came from trying to hide scratches she inflicted after he took a phone call from a female admirer. But he loved her and was devoted to her. The day after Benny's funeral, a florist delivered a single long-stemmed red rose to her. She received another the next day. And the day after that and the day after that. Some stories say she called the florist and demanded to know where they were coming from. More likely is that she just read his will. In his will, Jack set aside money to get a rose to her every day for the rest of her life. She lived another 9 years with that daily reminder of her husband's love.
Bratt: left 330,000 pounds with the condition his wife would smoke 5 cigars a day
Samuel Bratt used his will simply to get even. His wife never allowed him to smoke his favorite cigars. When he died in 1960, the embittered Bratt returned the favor. He left her £330,000. To get it, however, she had to smoke five cigars a day
John Bowman : Left 50,000
John Bowman, a tanner from Vermont, died in 1891. He left a $50,000 trust fund to preserve his 21-room mansion and mausoleum. He was so sure that he, his wife and their two daughters would return from the grave that he ordered servants prepare and serve dinner every night – just in case the Bowmans had a touch of hunger when they made their grand appearance. They served dinner every night until 1950. That’s when the money ran out.
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham was a British philosopher and social reformer. When he died in 1832, he gave his entire estate to the London Hospital on the condition that his remains were to be preserved and allowed to preside over its board meetings. Surprisingly, the hospital agreed to the demands of his will. Dr. Southwood Smith dissected the body (to teach anatomy) and then reassembled the bones into a skeleton which was outfitted with Bentham’s clothes and put on a glass-fronted wooden cabinet seated in a chair. According to the University College London, at the centenary and sesquicentenary of the college, the good Mr. Bentham was brought out to the College Committee meeting. “He sat at one end of the table, the Provost at the other, and the minutes record ‘Jeremiah Bentham, present but not voting.’” According to the university, it is a myth that Bentham casts the deciding vote in case of a tie.
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