"Biggest Blow"

Few fat men are as restless and tireless as Vincent ("Ben") Bendix. Mercurial but cold-eyed, many-sided in interest but direct in purpose, convivial but shrewd, he burst into the automotive industry nearly 30 years ago with the first practical self-starter. Today few U. S. automobiles drive the roads, few airplanes fly the skies, that do not have his gadgets in them: Bendix starters, radios, brakes, Stromberg as well as Zenith carburetors, Scintilla magnetos.

The man who still heads the companies that sell the world these many devices ought to be a multimillionaire, but last week three creditors filed suit to put him in bankruptcy. For, outside of manufacturing, Ben Bendix, now 58, has had reverses since 1929. Among them:

> He bought the turreted Potter Palmer house which occupies nearly a block on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive, hung it with Rembrandts and Christys (Howard Chandler), dubbed it the Bendix Galleries and lost it after paying $1,250,000 on its $3,000,000 purchase price.

> His wife divorced him in 1932 and obtained a settlement, reputedly about $2,000,000.

> He personally guaranteed several whacking big bond issues for Chicago real-estate projects in which he was interested.

Last week three Chicago holders of one of these issues (for $1,400,000) filed a petition against Ben Bendix in South Bend, Ind. (home of Bendix Aviation Corp.) asserting that his debts amounted to $3,000,000, his assets about $500,000. Said Bendix, sadly: "This is the biggest blow of my life."

Meanwhile, Bendix, recently re-elected president of Bendix Aviation Corp., which "last year netted $156,047, is looking forward to a better showing this year with things booming in the flying business. Of its stockholders, General Motors is the largest, holds 23.8% of its shares. What Ben Bendix's holdings amount to, the three plaintiffs hope to find out. Most of his friends, who are used to seeing him find a way out of difficulties, still doubted that Bendix would have to go through bankruptcy.

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