Word: talents
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Talent Scout Tom O'Malley calls to announce that old Prizefighter-Clown Maxie Rosenbloom will be available for the night's show. "Tell Rosenbloom to be himself," Jack warns. "No prepared jokes." The warning is hardly necessary. Responsible for signing most of the guests on Paar's show, O'Malley is well aware of the rules of the game. Forbidden are "Lindy" comedians-the brash, Berle-type gagsters given to dialect jokes and continuous excitement. Says Paar: "I'm not interested in comedians named Joey or Jackie-no rock 'n' roll, no jazz...
...Jack hurries into the rear door of the Hudson Theater on West 44th Street and climbs upstairs to his dressing room. En route, he is cornered by Chris Carroll, an old Army buddy now serving as feature editor of the show (i.e., the procurer of oddball talent-pickpockets, performing chimpanzees, professional wrestlers). "You want Paul Anderson on the show?" Carroll aks hopefully. "Strongest man in the world. Hold you up over his head." Paar nods. Inside his dressing room, he sits down and studies a mimeographed "status report" of talent bookings; peremptorily he scrawls "O.K.," "No" or "Investigate" after each...
Balloon Breaker. To last through this kind of performance five nights a week takes a talent spawned by radio, toughened by Hollywood and burnished by the demands of an unforgiving clutch of television cameras. No comedian in the U.S. can boast a more abundant supply of the necessary skills than Jack Paar. He has been practicing them almost all his life...
...necessary for Paar to live at the top of his emotions, because to such a large extent in his work, feeling takes the place of a specific talent. He is no actor, singer or dancer. He is a gifted comedian, but not in the Lindy stand-up-and-knock-'em-dead sense. His comedy is low pressure and has to be, if it is to be tolerated on a nightly 1¾-hr. show. "Nine hours a week," says one awed performer of Paar's stint. "My God, that isn't overexposure, it's practically nudism...
...night-time living room, of providing just enough surprises to keep the audience from falling asleep but not so many shocks as to jolt them really wide awake. He has developed a knack for picking good guest performers, has made his show one of the prized showcases for new talent. The program can be dull and pointless but, as Paar himself says, "there's nothing like it." He adds with a wry smile, "I'm so lovable, I have a love affair with this whole continent...