LATE SHOW NEWS #152 May 5, 1997 by Aaron Barnhart [Note: A version of this article appeared in The Kansas City Star.] A THOUSAND NIGHTS ["Jack Paar: As I Was Saying ..." 9 p.m. ET Wednesday on PBS] More than a generation after he signed off the air for good, Jack Paar, the man who created the modern late-night talk show and then, just like that, took his leave, has returned to television to issue one of his occasional reminders to the American public of who he was and why we should remember him. But "Jack Paar: As I Was Saying ...," a new PBS special airing Wednesday, is clearly aimed at those who already consider Paar a living legend. That leaves the rest of us still wondering: What was it about this 105-minute nightly session of clever conversation and light comedy that had the nation strangely riveted to their TV sets? Was it to see the new generation of performers Paar was responsible for introducing, from Bill Cosby to Woody Allen to Liza Minnelli to Jonathan Winters? Was it for the parade of regulars who will be forever associated with his show, from the cherubic Genevieve to the cornpone Charley Weaver to the scandalous gossiper Elsa Maxwell? Or was it, as one columnist wrote at the time, to see if this would be the night Jack finally had a nervous breakdown on the air? In truth, it was none of these. From 1957 to 1962 Paar simply did more from his televised platform than any other broadcaster has before or since. This high school dropout dared to create a show that was literate and socially progressive and endlessly fascinating to watch -- no mean feat with viewers threatening to go to sleep at any moment. As decisively as John F. Kennedy defined American politics in those years, so Paar helped define that time in American culture. "Camelot," after all, was not merely an emblem of JFK's latter-day democratic monarchy; it was also a popular Broadway musical of that era, in which social ideals, commerce and entertainment converged -- just as they did on "The Jack Paar Show." Nor did these two men simply overlap on some generic timeline of America. Sen. and Mrs. Kennedy appeared on Paar's show, and on the eve of the 1960 election, Paar had campaign manager Bobby Kennedy on the program to tell "in three minutes" why he thought his older brother should be elected president. RFK proceeded to deliver an infomercial that ran twice that length and was arguably as important a TV moment as the Kennedy-Nixon debates. Not long after the election (which JFK won by 118,000 votes, or a fraction of the people tuned into Paar that night), the family patriarch, former ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, wrote Paar a note of congratulations. "If we had had five more Jack Paars in the United States ... we wouldn't have had to wait almost 24 hours before we knew we were elected," the note said. James Reston of The New York Times said during the 1960 presidential campaign that there were now two litmus tests for each candidate: "Who can stand up to Nikita Khrushchev. And who can sit down with Jack Paar." And then, just like that, they were both gone -- one tragically, one by his own choosing. Burned out and wanting more time with his family, Paar receded from the public eye, having been in it such a relatively brief time. (Jay Leno has now been host of "The Tonight Show" longer than Paar was.) If the Kennedy era lasted, in Arthur Schlesinger's memorable phrase, "a thousand days," we had Paar for but a thousand nights. And although this new special (part of PBS' "American Masters" series) tries to argue that Paar's reign ended when it needed to, the truth is that both men left behind unfinished business. The '60s would have turned out very differently if they had stayed to guide us through. *** Jack Paar was on the cusp of 40 when "The Tonight Show" was offered to him. It had been dying on the vine since the last permanent host, Steve Allen, left to concentrate on his Sunday night variety series. Propped up by a succession of rent-a-hosts, "Tonight" was close to cancellation; fewer than half of all NBC affiliates were still carrying it. Paar was also seemingly on his last leg, at least in show business. He had made a name for himself while serving in World War II as part of the Army's traveling entertainment corps. From there he went to California, working in radio, the movies and daytime television, but for more than a decade, nothing seemed to work out. "Hollywood was like Guadalcanal with houses," he later wrote. "It had palm trees and strange natives, and there was lots of fighting going on." Paar was losing the battle, and he knew it. Then from New York came the call from NBC. Paar answered. On July 29, 1957, the new host signed "The Tonight Show" on the air and within weeks had made it the most talkative and talked-about program on television. Each show started with a monologue -- not the machine-gun delivery of punch lines we commonly associate with a host's opening remarks, but full-length stories, punctuated with asides and throwaway lines that were often as funny as the story's payoff. If some of the stories were a little hard to believe, Paar would issue his standard preface: "You've got to believe me -- every word -- because if you don't, why then we've got nothing." Then it was on to the interviews, which Paar, incredibly, did without notes. He literally flew blind into the night, trusting his ear for the lively anecdote and his own talent as an ad libber. Guests were booked strictly on their ability to hold forth with Paar. An unheard-of comedian named Betty White made six dozen appearances on the show. Paar, an unabashed Anglophile, loaded his program with British guests like Robert Morley and Peter Ustinov, whom he considered to be better-read and better-spoken than Americans. "What separated Jack from other talk-show hosts before and since was his total involvement in the moment," White wrote in a memoir. "When Jack asked a question he would actually listen to the answer." Even performers who came on as characters, including Cliff Arquette's Charley Weaver and Pat Harrington Jr.'s Guido Panzini, were valued as much for their off-the-cuff remarks as their prepared material. Paar and his director, Hal Gurnee -- who later went on to become the director and resident creative genius at "Late Night with David Letterman" -- invented the stage and many of the camera shots that would become staples of the late-night genre. But unlike Johnny Carson, who was not as versatile as Paar but knew how to gird himself for the long haul, Paar couldn't pace himself. He was emotionally invested in each broadcast. His body English, which became especially evident when he worked without a desk, was either excited or agitated but never calm. Finally he could take it no more: In late 1961 Paar announced he was leaving. In a memoir timed to his departure, he wrote, "Looking back over the seemingly endless conversations at midnight, I can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of relief that the ordeal is nearly over. The end is in sight at last, a release from days of living on my nerve ends and nights of sheer terror, going out before an audience of millions of viewers armed with nothing but a few notes. "There never was a moment when I wasn't scared to death." *** Adding still greater poignancy to this "American Masters" remembrance is the realization that, all told, less than 50 hours of footage from Paar's Camelot years -- a fleeting glimpse, really -- remain for posterity. I had given up hope that one of those few preserved moments was the time when Paar walked off the set in 1960, in anger over a joke that NBC had foolishly replaced with a news report. But, mirabile dictu, it is here, as is his triumphant return a month later, after NBC's chairman and president had tendered their personal apologies. His first words were, "As I was saying before I was interrupted ..." Some have blamed NBC for destroying Paar's legacy, for wiping out all of the old kinescopes of programs that it ignorantly decided would have little or no residual value. But as Paar admitted to Esquire's Peter Kaplan in 1983, he kept copies of every "Tonight Show" he ever did -- only to dispose of this priceless archive years later when he moved from Bronxville, N.Y., to his current home in Connecticut. "I threw out all the shows," Paar said. "A junkman came and picked up three times a week. He could hardly lift them." As a result, Paar's legacy has been largely preserved by a few enthusiasts and in the mind of the man himself. Which is what makes this program so unsatisfying: Airing on a network that relies increasingly on shows that move viewers to shell out cash, it is equal parts biography and hagiography. For instance, it omits any mention of Paar's support of Fidel Castro -- which continues to this day -- and puts only a positive spin on his on-air feuds with columnists Dorothy Kilgallen and Walter Winchell. Paar is credited with singlehandedly toppling the feared Winchell in an exchange that began on "The Tonight Show." When rival columnist Maxwell called Winchell a "fading star," Paar joined in, saying his column was "written by a fly." Paar's sidekick, Hugh Downs, is quoted as saying that Winchell was "effectively destroyed" by the feud. But "W.W." was already receding from the public view. Just two months earlier, his TV show had been canceled; soon the same fate would befall his radio program. Paar, triumphant on the one medium Winchell would not conquer, appeared to be rubbing the old man's nose in the dirt. No such treatment here for Paar, however, whose failed attempt at a comeback in 1973 is not mentioned at all in this program. Paar did one week out of the month on ABC in a time-sharing arrangement with Dick Cavett. Of that debacle he later said, "I had lost interest in television." In time, he would go further, echoing that oft-heard complaint that television -- which even in his prime he called "the unhappy medium" -- would never be as good as when he was on it. "I don't think the sophistication and the wit is what it once was," he told TV critics in a preview of the "American Masters" special in January. "Do you know anyone as good as Alexander King or Hans Conreid or Robert Morley or David Niven?" Paar is being disingenuous. What, then, of Garrison Keillor -- a radio presence, to be sure, but a broadcaster nonetheless? He's a brilliant monologist and storyteller, in the tradition of Paar, who also left at the top of his game (and just as his "Prairie Home Companion" was to migrate from radio to TV). Unlike Paar, Keillor came back and took his show in a different direction, with more Prohibition-era music and Progressive-era politics. Seeing Keillor again hit his stride, mixing the old with the new, one wonders if Paar, had he kept to the nightly grind, might not have allowed himself to become an industry fossil, working the cruise circuit and waxing nostalgic instead of involving himself -- and Americans -- in the affairs of the day. When Conan O'Brien first signed on the air in 1993, his producer invoked the name of Paar and said, "To bring conversation back would be the original move now." Amen to that. Tom Heald's THIS NIGHT IN HISTORY Mo 5/5: In 1986, Even though he's been subbing for Steve Jordan off and on since March 10, 1986, drummer Anton Fig is officially introduced to the audience of "Late Night With David Letterman" as the newest member of "The World's Most Dangerous Band." Tu 5/6: In 1992, Bonnie Hunt appears for the first time on "Late Night With David Letterman" to promote the movie "Beethoven." She surprises Letterman with her fast wit and humor; two Worldwide Pants sitcoms result -- "The Building" and "The Bonnie Hunt Show" (aka "Bonnie"). We 5/7: In 1986, Cybill Shepherd's dress arrived at the studios of "Late Night With David Letterman," a week before her scheduled visit, so Letterman had used it as a bit. Not to be outdone, when Shepherd arrives tonight, she ignores the dress and comes on wearing a towel. "It seemed appropriate. It was a designer towel," Shepherd later tells People Magazine. Th 5/8 : In 1926, seconds after leaving the birth canal, everybody's favorite talk show guest Don Rickles, slaps his mother. Fr 5/9 In 1990, Sinead O'Connor announces that she'll refuse to appear on "Saturday Night Live" with guest host Andrew Dice Clay. After all, "the Diceman" might do something *offensive*, like say, tear up a picture of the Pope. Sa 5/10 : In 1936, the overmodulated Gary Owens is born. Owens was the orignal voice behind the Cartoon Network's late night host with the most Space Ghost, and also the narrator for SG's original cartoon which also featured Johnny Carson as "Dino Boy." Su 5/11: In 1988, While the writer's strike rages on, Johnny Carson writes his own material and goes back on the air with a new "Tonight Show" for the first time in 2 months. [Thanks to David Tanny, who's another year older and deeper in debt. Special thanks to Donz5, who's wearing only a towel at the moment.] Tom Heald now hosts Late Show Online's "Cabin Boy Connection" on America Online. You can also connect the fancy lad at . THE LINEUPS (with Sue Trowbridge) [My PowerBook is down (again) so these are incomplete lineups. Reader Mail and Breaking Late News will also return next week, God willing. -- AB] LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS Mo 5/5 Bruce Willis, Elizabeth Hurley, Maxwell Tu 5/6 John Goodman, Kathleen Quinlan, Hanson We 5/7 Mike Myers, Danny Aiello, crossbow expert Ross Hartzell Th 5/8 Billy Crystal, Kristen Johnston, The Bee Gees THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO, NBC Mo 5/5 Jonathan Winters, Sharon Lawrence, Lance Burton Tu 5/6 Robin Williams and Billy Crystal We 5/7 Dana Carvey, Armand Assante, bullring champion Terry Don West Th 5/8 Noah Wyle, Rebecca Romijn, Cyndi Lauper Fr 5/9 Sinbad, Martha Stewart Mo 5/12 John Lithgow, Australian tap sensation Tap Dogs Tu 5/13 Jason Alexander, Joe Cavallo, Milla Jovovich We 5/14 Teri Hatcher, bug expert Linda Mason Th 5/15 Fran Drescher, Depeche Mode LATE LATE SHOW WITH TOM SNYDER, CBS Mo 5/5 Peter Maas Tu 5/6 Michele Lee We 5/7 Penelope Ann Miller, Letitia Baldridge Th 5/8 Kate Mulgrew, Huey Lewis and the News Fr 5/9 Queen Latifah LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, NBC Mo 5/5 Jim Fowler, Andrew Golota, Robert Loggia (R 7/12/96) Tu 5/6 Lea Thompson, Black Street We 5/7 Judd Nelson, Jerry Van Dyke, crocodile hunter Steve Irwin Th 5/8 Mike Myers, Jerry O'Connell, Alison Krauss and Union Station Fr 5/9 Billy Crystal, Lisa Rhina, Wolfgang Puck Mo 5/12 Kevin Bacon, Bonnie Hunt, J.R. Havlan (R 7/12/96) LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN RERUNS, CNBC Mo 5/5 Cindy Crawford, Julia Sweeney, Chris Isaak (R 11/24/96) Tu 5/6 Rob Lowe, Ed McMahon, Frank McCourt (R 4/8/97) We 5/7 Joan Lunden, Louis CK, Dweezil & Ahmet Zappa (R 4/9/97) Th 5/8 David Bowie, Justine Bateman (R 4/10/97) Fr 5/9 John Waters, Stephanie Seymour, The Why Store (R 4/11/97) LATER, NBC Lineups TBA CHARLIE ROSE, PBS Mo 5/5 Kiefer Sutherland Tu 5/6 Ridley Scott, Pete Hamill We 5/7 Jon Krakauer, Colette Avital Th 5/8 Dr. Andrew Weil, Bill Gross POLITICALLY INCORRECT WITH BILL MAHER, ABC Mo 5/5 Jason Alexander, Robin Leach, Poe, Lisa Schiffren Tu 5/6 Jeff Foxworthy, Letitia Baldridge, Michael Moore We 5/7 Larry Gelbart, Sharon Lawrence, Robert Reich, Ann Coulter Th 5/8 Christa Miller, Andrew Sullivan, Scott Thompson, Floyd Brown Fr 5/9 Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen HOWARD STERN, E! Mo 5/5 William Shatner/Delta Search, Duff and Steve Jones Tu 5/6 Stut. John @ News Emmys. David Lee Roth, Pt. 1 We 5/7 Wilt Chamberlain, David Lee Roth, Pt. 2 Th 5/8 The Bacon Brothers, John Tesh Fr 5/9 Hermaphrodite, The Hairless Guy Sa 5/10 Rumplemintz Quiz, Guy Who Phone Pranked Howard Mo 5/12 Stacy vs. Julie, Pt. 1, Mackenzie Phillips DIE HARALD SCHMIDT SHOW, SAT.1 Di 6/5 Rolf Zacher, Katja Flint Mi 7/5 Ingrid Steeger, Giovanni di Lorenzo Fr 9/5 Christiane Paul, Howard Carpendale Also on late nights: NIGHTLINE, ABC CHARLES GRODIN, CNBC CARSON'S COMEDY CLASSICS, Family Channel MAD TV, Fox SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, NBC SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, Comedy Central WORLD NEWS NOW, ABC UP TO THE MINUTE, CBS ====================================================== AARON BARNHART IN THE KANSAS CITY STAR (soon to be a Knight-Ridder newspaper) How to find my articles in the Star archive: (1) Go to . (2) Under the "Additional search criteria" heading, type Aaron Barnhart in the "AUTHOR" entry blank. (3) Click the Search button. Entire contents Copyright 1997 by Aaron Barnhart. All rights reserved. Distributed by e-mail and BBS to over 10,000 readers weekly. Late Show News is made possible with the generous assistance of ECHO, New York City's premiere online service. Send news for and comments about this newsletter to aaron@tvbarn.com