Almanac: Jack Paar
And now a page from our "Sunday Morning" Almanac: March 29, 1962, 53 years ago today ... the end of a late-night TV era.
For that was the night Jack Paar retired as the host of "The Tonight Show" on NBC.
Paar had become the host in 1957 and had quickly re-shaped it in his own unique image. He talked to political guests, such as John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
And he welcomed countless celebrities, such as Zsa Zsa Gabor, Salvador Dali, and Liberace.
Jack Paar's trademark vow of truthful storytelling ("I kid you not") became a catch-phrase. But there was no kidding around in February of 1960, when NBC edited a relatively inoffensive bathroom joke out of Paar's pre-taped show:
"I'm leaving 'The Tonight Show.' There must be a better way of making a living than this."
Paar's walkout triggered a media sensation, and an eventual apology by the top NBC brass.
Just three weeks later, Paar returned to a standing ovation from his studio audience:
"As I was saying before I was interrupted, I believe my last words were, 'There must be a better way of making a living than this.' Well, I have looked ... and there isn't."
Two years later, Jack Paar retired from "The Tonight Show" for good.
And though he did go on to host a weekly primetime show for a time, he never regained the heights that he occupied on "The Tonight Show."
Jack Paar died in 2004 at the age of 85, but in many ways the late-night TV hosts of our own time still perform in his shadow.