Brown
28th January 2004, 08:07 AM
From CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/01/27/obit.paar.ap/index.html):Jack Paar, who held the nation's rapt attention as he pioneered late-night talk on "The Tonight Show," then told his viewers farewell when still in his prime, died Tuesday. He was 85. Jack Paar was on TV "before my time," and is largely unknown to today's television audience. And yet, some of the good things that television has to offer today (and there are a few good things) are due to Jack Paar.
Paar was something of a genius. He was arguably the best talk show host that television has ever seen. In some ways, he was better than his "Tonight" show successor, Johnny Carson. He could converse intelligently on almost any topic, and make it interesting. He was an outstanding storyteller and had excellent comic timing. On some occasions, his tales moved audiences to tears.
I have seen various specials and documentaries about Paar, and I have marveled at how good he was. But I first learned of Jack Paar from my father, who told me of Paar's famous censorship incident. From the CNN report:He could also be volatile, pettish and confounding. And never so much as in February 1960, when, making headlines, he emotionally told his thunderstruck audience that he was leaving his show. It was the night after a skittish NBC executive had judged obscene, and edited out, a story by Paar where the initials "W.C." were mistaken for "wayside chapel" instead of "water closet."
A month later, the network managed to lure Paar back. Returning on the night of March 7, he was greeted with generous applause as he stepped before the cameras. Then he began his monologue on a typically cheeky note: "As I was saying, before I was interrupted ... "
Paar was something of a genius. He was arguably the best talk show host that television has ever seen. In some ways, he was better than his "Tonight" show successor, Johnny Carson. He could converse intelligently on almost any topic, and make it interesting. He was an outstanding storyteller and had excellent comic timing. On some occasions, his tales moved audiences to tears.
I have seen various specials and documentaries about Paar, and I have marveled at how good he was. But I first learned of Jack Paar from my father, who told me of Paar's famous censorship incident. From the CNN report:He could also be volatile, pettish and confounding. And never so much as in February 1960, when, making headlines, he emotionally told his thunderstruck audience that he was leaving his show. It was the night after a skittish NBC executive had judged obscene, and edited out, a story by Paar where the initials "W.C." were mistaken for "wayside chapel" instead of "water closet."
A month later, the network managed to lure Paar back. Returning on the night of March 7, he was greeted with generous applause as he stepped before the cameras. Then he began his monologue on a typically cheeky note: "As I was saying, before I was interrupted ... "