1. Jack Harold Paar was an American talk show host, writer, radio and television comedian, and film actor.
34 Facts About Jack Paar
1. 2.
Jack Paar was the second host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962.
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Jack Harold Paar was born on May 1,1918, in Canton, Ohio, the son of Lillian M and Howard Paar.
4.
Jack Paar moved with his family to Jackson, Michigan, about 40 miles south of Lansing.
5.
Jack Paar contracted tuberculosis when he was 14 and left school at 16.
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Jack Paar went on to work as a humorous disc jockey at other Midwest stations, including WJR in Detroit, WIRE in Indianapolis, WGAR in Cleveland, and WBEN in Buffalo.
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Jack Paar, he recalled doing utility duty at WGAR in 1938 when Orson Welles broadcast his famous simulated alien invasion, The War of the Worlds, over the CBS network and its WGAR affiliate.
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In 1943, Jack Paar was drafted into the US Army during World War II, which interrupted his tenure as host of WBEN's morning show The Sun Greeter's Club.
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Jack Paar was a clever, wisecracking master of ceremonies; he narrowly escaped being disciplined when he impersonated senior officers, especially Col.
10.
Jack Paar worked in radio as a fill-in on The Breakfast Club show and appeared as a host of Take It or Leave It, a show with a top prize of $64.
11.
Jack Paar was enough of a hit on Benny's show that Benny's sponsor, the American Tobacco Company, decided to keep him on the air, moving him to ABC for the fall season.
12.
Jack Paar signed as a contract player for Howard Hughes' RKO studio in the immediate postwar period, appearing as the emcee in Variety Time, a low-budget compilation of vaudeville sketches.
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Jack Paar projected a pleasant personality on film, and RKO called him back to emcee another filmed vaudeville show, Footlight Varieties.
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Jack Paar appeared in the 1950 film Walk Softly, Stranger, starring Joseph Cotten.
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Jack Paar returned to radio in 1950, hosting The $64 Question for one season, then quitting in a wage dispute after the show's sponsor pulled out and NBC insisted everyone involved take a pay cut.
16.
Jack Paar got his first taste of television in the early 1950s, appearing as a comic on The Ed Sullivan Show, and hosting two game shows, Up To Jack Paar and Bank on the Stars, before hosting The Morning Show on CBS.
17.
When network censors excised a joke about a "water closet" from the show's February 10,1960, broadcast tape before airtime without warning, Jack Paar received national attention by walking off the program the following evening in protest, leaving announcer Hugh Downs to finish the show.
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Jack Paar did not return until three weeks later after the network had apologized and permitted him to tell the joke.
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Jack Paar found the everyday routine of planning a 105-minute program difficult to sustain for more than five years, and his weariness caused him to end his tenure as host.
20.
Jack Paar's final show aired on March 29,1962, during which he derided his enemies in the press, notably gossip columnists Walter Winchell and Dorothy Kilgallen.
21.
Jack Paar agreed, deciding on a variation of his late-night format and titling the show The Jack Paar Program.
22.
Jack Paar showed film clips of the Beatles performing three months before their famous live appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
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Jack Paar's prime-time show aired for three years and featured a wide variety of celebrity guests.
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The final segment of the series, broadcast on June 25,1965, featured Jack Paar sitting alone on a stool recounting a discussion that he had with his daughter about his departure.
25.
Jack Paar left the show in part so that he could have a larger role at a local television station he had purchased in 1963, WMTW in Poland Spring, Maine, as his NBC contract prevented him from appearing on his own station; Paar would sell WMTW in 1967.
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Jack Paar has appeared in occasional specials for NBC until 1970.
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Jack Paar stayed on the show, which was in direct competition with The Tonight Show, for one year before quitting, dissatisfied with the Wide World of Entertainment rotation scheme.
28.
Jack Paar later expressed discomfort with developments in television media and once said that he had trouble interviewing people dressed in "overalls," a reference to young rock acts.
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Jack Paar participated in the 1987 TV retrospective show This Is Your Life honoring Betty White.
30.
In 1984, Paar emerged from retirement again for the Museum of Broadcasting's "Tribute to Jack Paar", making two live appearances in New York.
31.
Jack Paar was married twice to his first wife, Irene Gubbins.
32.
Jack Paar then married his second wife, Miriam Wagner, in 1943, and they remained together until his death.
33.
Jack Paar underwent triple-bypass heart surgery in 1998 and suffered a stroke in 2003.
34.
Jack Paar's body was cremated and his ashes were returned to his family.