Indelible Imprint Even Though Jack Paar Hosted A Talk Show For Less Than Five Years, He Still Left His Mark

Hard to believe, maybe, but there was a time when television wasn’t infested with talk shows. To many folks, only one really mattered, “The Tonight Show” on NBC, hosted by Jack Paar.

Before Jay Leno, the present host, came aboard, there was Johnny Carson. Before Carson, there was Paar, whose tenure lasted from 1957 to 1962. Part of that time, the program was called simply “The Jack Paar Show.”

On Wednesday, PBS’ “American Masters” series will air “Jack Paar: As I Was Saying …”

The program’s an attempt to explain to a generation that never saw him why this man, who hosted less than five years (compared to Johnny Carson’s 30-year record), left such an indelible imprint.

Paar, 78, sees the profile that way. “That’s the one thing I look forward to,” he said last week from his home in Connecticut. “I’ve spent 15 years anonymously. I’ve had to answer people who say, ‘Didn’t you used to be somebody?’ One girl thought I was famous because my name is a clue in crossword puzzles.”

For fans of his witty, intelligent show, filling in the blanks won’t be necessary, but they, too, get a treat: clips from kinescopes of live performances that haven’t been seen since their original telecasts.

In fact, this program may be mainly for them. Even with this profile, it’s possible that today’s viewers may never grasp the impact that Jack Paar had on his time, or why his admirers became caught up in his power struggles with NBC and with his passions.

In February he was honored at a gala at the Museum of Television & Radio in New York that marked the 40th year since he hosted “Tonight.” Speaking to Paar and approximately 850 admirers were his former sidekick and announcer Hugh Downs, comedian Phyllis Diller, pianist/writer Marvin Hamlisch and talk-show host Conan O’Brien, who is too young to have seen Paar’s show live.

Not bad, Paar reflected, for a high-school dropout from Jackson, Mich. “I’ve had a wonderful life. I went to the 10th grade, and I ended up friends of the Nixons and Kennedys and Lord Beaverbrook. I’ve been everywhere except the Suez Canal, and I want to go there.”

Originally a radio announcer, Paar was a GI comedian on the Special Services circuit during World War II. When he returned to radio, he subbed for Jack Benny and other comedians before landing his own show. From 1948 to 1951, Paar switched to movies, making five altogether. Then he moved to CBS-TV to do game shows and a variety show.

In 1951, NBC began “Tonight,” hosted by Steve Allen. When Allen left in January 1957, the show was retitled “Tonight! America After Dark.” Other hosts were tried, but the effort was not successful, and network executives decided in July to give the reins to Paar.

The format - then an hour and 45 minutes - turned out to be perfect for Paar, who was a good conversationalist and enjoyed conducting interviews. He liked to travel and took the show to several foreign locales including Berlin, where he telecast from the Brandenburg Gate less than a month after the Berlin Wall had been erected; Africa, where he talked with Albert Schweitzer; and Cuba, where he interviewed Fidel Castro.

Paar became known for his top-drawer guests, from presidents and politicians to legends of the entertainment world. This week’s profile includes footage of his talking with a number of guests including Richard Burton, Judy Garland, Jack Benny, John F. Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, Robert F. Kennedy (in his first public appearance after his brother’s assassination) and Richard Nixon, who plays the piano.

Paar talks with the Rev. Billy Graham and another late-night talk-show host, David Letterman. Debbie Reynolds crawls under a desk with him; Elsa Maxwell, New York’s party chatelaine, tells gossipy stories; and Garland sings and cavorts with Robert Goulet. Liberace shows up to play background music while a young boxer recites his own poem, “The Legend of Cassius Clay.” And Kermit the Frog - well, you’ll just have to see that one.

Sharing the late hours with Paar was an ensemble that included pianist Jose Melis, Cliff Arquette, chanteuse Genevieve, whose French accent enchanted Paar; and comedian Jonathan Winters, who in this clip becomes the fey Voice of Spring.

An outspoken man, Paar was often caught up emotionally in his guests’ stories and occasionally cried on the air. He feuded with New York gossip columnists Dorothy Kilgallen and Walter Winchell and variety-show host Ed Sullivan over how much to pay the show’s guests.

Paar said he didn’t ask for “The Tonight Show” to be renamed. That was a network decision, he said. “It was done against my wishes. I was not told until after the fact. I was given a press release where (NBC President David) Sarnoff said something about ‘there comes a time when the star of the show should be above the title,’ but it was too late.”

A sentimental man, he often spoke on-air about his wife, Miriam, a Hershey heiress, and their young daughter Randy, who is now a lawyer and mother of his grandson Andy, 12. Last week, still a fretting father, Paar worried about Randy’s safety in England, where she had flown to pursue a lawsuit against Lloyd’s of London, he said.

Possibly because of Paar’s mercurial personality and the sparks that occasionally flew between him and his guests, the network decided the show should be taped earlier in the evening so it could be reviewed.

In February 1960, NBC censors declared that a joke Paar had told was in bad taste and removed it. (The joke - about a misunderstanding over a water closet - wouldn’t raise an eyebrow today.) Angry, he choked up when he announced on the air he was leaving - and did, for a month. A clip of that telecast is included as well as his real departure, in March 1962.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: AN AMERICAN MASTER “American Masters” series will air “Jack Paar: As I Was Saying …” at 8 p.m., Wednesday on Spokane’s KSPS-Channel 7.