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P.S. Jack Paar

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Jack Paar, while almost forgotten today, was the originator of the talk
show as we know it today: the host of "The Tonight Show" before Johnny
Carson. Paar was one of the best monologists that ever lived and Carson
owed a great deal of the personality he created to Paar's innovations.
Paar was more cerebral in his interviews (although he was not above some
comical mugging on frequent occasions) and he was fascinating to listen
to in the now-lost art of conversation.
Paar quit "Tonight" in early 1962 and sadly, no videotapes of those early
shows exist as far as I know, to showcase the fascinating array of people
he surrounded himself with, such as Elsa Maxwell, "The Hostess with the
Mostess", the hypocondriact Oscar Levant, Jonathan Winters, and a host of
other great as well as unknown guests. I was a pre-teen in those years
and loved to listen and watch the shows which were done on such a low
budget that they wouldn't qualify for a local cable-access show today.
But color, fancy sets, and big budgets weren't the reason you loved to
watch Paar. It was the spontaneous and unscripted unpredictability of
the show as well as the captivating conversation that kept it fascinating.
The first four of Paar's books were basically ghosted by a friend of his
who was an editor of "Reader's Digest", and if you are not a fan of the
style of humor in that magazine (and I am not), then you may find the
stories interesting but the style in which they are composed somewhat
off-putting.
The last book, "P.S. Jack Paar" was written by Paar himself, and basically
recounts stories told in more (but not necessarily better) detail in the
first four books. Paar's personal style of writing mirrored his public
persona perfectly and I found this book the best of the bunch (and I have
read them all). There didn't seem to be a phony bone in Paar's body.
He was modest in his accomplishments and open and honest about his
failures and shortcomings.
For those of my generation (a child of the 50's), this will be a delightful walk down memory lane: a look at a world that no longer
exists. For younger readers, it is an entertaining read and perhaps
an introduction to an age, and an innovator, they might want to learn more about.