European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 12, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Paar an expert at talk but done to Call it a talk showy William Grimes the new York times from 1957 to l%2. Jack Paar ruled late night television As Host of the tonight show. Coaxed out of Placid retirement in Greenwich conn., to give a seminar at the museum of television and radio in mid Manhattan he showed Why. It was an evening of to archaeology As Paar showed highlights from his show and reminisced about favorite guests like Jonathan Winters the French actress Genevieve Dody Goodman. Robert f. Kennedy and Richard m. Nixon and pronounced anathema upon Phil Donahue a a disgrace and his morning show Peers a Sleazy quo praised Johnny Carson Quot i should never have Given the tonight show to him i should have rented it or married him and admitted that he no longer stayed up late enough to watch tonight. What Paar did not do is Clear up the Central mystery of his career Why he suddenly left his show when it was being watched by 7 million americans every night and was so successful that Abc renamed it the Jack Paar show. It was the first question thrown out from the audience and Paar confessed Quot the never really had a Good answer to when pressed he throw up his hands and said a Well i guess 1 did a pretty amazing thing there but Well just have to put up with Paar actually quit the show twice the first time in i960 after Abc edited out a joke that included the term a water Paar showed a clip of his famous Farewell. Teary eyed and angry he looked into the camera and said As a stunned Hugh Downs his announcer looked on a i am leaving the tonight show. There must he a better Way of making a living than three weeks later he was Back in front of the cameras. Without missing heat he said Quot As i was saying before Kwas interrupted. A Paar could have resurrected the line in his seminar talk. Alter tin initial Case of nerves he slipped easily into the relaxed slightly feline manner that fascinated viewers weeknights from 11 15 to 1 . His face still has the Peck sniffin glow that makes him seem like an evangelist with a few dark secrets. His hands moved wildly in the Jack Benny manner. Nothing it seems has changed although Paar now wears glasses. He and his wife of 45 years. Miriam Are still married. He still talks a lot about his daughter Randy who is now a lawyer w Ith a 6-year-old son and who sat in the audience. He still has a deft Way with the droll Story a Talent he deprecated with the remark that a a in be been doomed All my life to the Small it had been he admitted a Long time since he stood in the spotlight. Quot most people think i be been in the witness Protection program Quot he said. In fact he continued he had undergone a number of operations for various ailments including implanting an artificial knee that set off Security alarms at a recent presidential reception whereupon secret service agents ordered him to remove his pants. Now in reasonably Good health he said he spends a lot of Tunc painting. Occasionally. Lie kinds him Salt dealing w Ith a strange kind of nos Talgia for his program which lie reminded the audience he took Over it my i Ernie Steve alien. Quot when arc Vou coining Back a Quot a fan asked him Iccy Nelv. On being told the Ian replied. Quot Deal Iod. To think i la never hear you sing in introducing highlights from his programs. Paar said Quot i hate the word talk show it makes it seem As if All i did was invent a but the unfolding eve id acc made it Clear that Good talk was the foundation of Paat s Success along with an ability to coax and sometimes coerce. Colourful stories out of guests who. In television s earlier Davs. Did not always seem to know what exactly they were supposed to do. That gift was a key to survival for the show was produced on the cheap. Paar had three writers a weekly budget of about $50. 1 10 and a lot of air time to fill. Long before David . Paar had an anarchic Streak that inspired him to pair guests like and Cassius Clay or la tie Mansfield and Zsa Zsa Gabor or to get in the ring with a professional wrestler or to shuffle the Cue cards in the Middle of a Robert Goulut Judy Garland duet. Perhaps Best of All. He knew when to get out of the Way and yield the stage to talents like Jonathan Winters who in a memorable clip minced on the stage with a horned goal hat on his head and a Branch in his hand announcing that he was the spirit of Spring. If Paar seemed to be in his element on late night television it was an illusion. With a look of pain he explained again and again that he Felt v uncomfortable standing before an audience and that his fundamental shyness had made ins in Job a torment of sorts. Nervousness he said caused him to Pace mumble to himself and Wash his hands compulsively. His opening monologue which lie memorized by writing it Ovici and Ovici in longhand was a nightly ordeal. On one occasion he said the Model Sun Par Ker buttonhole him before the show and poured out the Story of her recent divorce. When the Cut Tain went up. Paar found he had forgotten his monologue. A i could t think of anything to say Quot he recalled Quot so i simply looked at the audience and said a in be been Quot in fact said Paar Quot i am an old fashioned kind of Guy. 1 have never been to the Betty Ford clinic i never once grabbed my Crotch. In a even careful when i reach for my Jack Paar right interviews Richard Nixon in 1962 on the former vice presidents views from Cuba to the John Birch society to his feeling about the a a muzzling of military brass. January 1? 1992 sunday a
