July 29, 1957- March 30,1962.
For four years and eight months Jack Paar reigned supreme as host of the Tonight Show with a crew of regulars, but only two stayed with him for the entire run; announcer Hugh Downs and band leader Jose Melies, a former army buddy. Familiar faces who appeared many times with Jack included Dody Goodman, Betty Johnson, Elsa Maxwell, Alexander King, Genevieve, Jack Douglas; and wife Reiko, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hans Conried, Peggy Cass, Cliff (Charley Weaver) Arquette, and Johnathan Winters. Hugh Downs substituted for Jack Paar 79 times, more than any other substitute host there were 20 different performers over the period of the series run. Joey Bishop substituted for Paar 31 times. Arlene Francis, 30 times, Jonathan Winters, 26 times, Orson Bean, 21 times, and Johnny Carson 15 times. Altogether there were 243 broadcasts that had substitute hosts filling in for Paar during Jack Paar's TONIGHT SHOW tenure. The title of the late-night broadcast changed to THE JACK PAAR SHOW which took effect on February 3, 1958. The first videotaped broadcast aired on January 5, 1959. "Best of Paar " Re-runs began on July 10, 1959. The first color broadcast aired on September 19, 1960.
*FOR THE RECORD, as archivists are aware, most of THE JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOW SERIES which were broadcast on NBC TV from July 29, 1957 thru March 30, 1962 (A final BEST OF PAAR rerun originally televised November 21, 1961...guest Jack Benny)were ERASED, DESTROYED OR WHEREABOUTS UNKNOWN.
2" Quadruplex Video Tape was expensive ($600 for a new brand name one hour reel), weighting 13 pounds, requiring great storage space. Video Tape could easily be erased and was used for new program recordings...retained briefly for a re-run and then erased or discarded. Legend has it that even Jack Paar himself hired a junk man to come to his home garage and paid to have JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOW recordings discarded (reels of kinescopes and video tapes) that were now cluttering up his space.
During this era in television history archiving television programming was not a primary concern or vision, and considered an arcane pursuit.
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS retains in their archive only 4 program excerpts accounting for only one hour or material of JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOWS (November 14, 1958, December 23, 1959, October 19, 1959, and one 33&1/3rd audio disc promotional from 1957 presenting Jack Paar the new host of the TONIGHT SHOW.
THE PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA retains in their archive only 7 program excerpts accounting for only four and a quarter hours of material (July 29, 1957, November 1, 1957, November 7, 1958, November 10, 1958, November 14, 1958, July 22, 1959, December 21, 1959).
UCLA FILM & TV ARCHIVE retains in their archive only 8 program excerpts accounting for only seven hours of material (August 12, 1957, November 1, 1957, November 10, 1958, November 11, 1958, November 14, 1958, July 22, 1959, December 21, 1959).
For 65 years Phil Gries, creator and owner of ARCHIVAL TLEVISION AUDIO, Inc. has continued to be a passionate television audio archive collector. TRULY UNIQUE TODAY AS AN INDEPENDENT TV AUDIO ARCHIVE. Currently, in 2024, to date, ATA has collated and archived over 22,000 TV Audio Air Checks representing 20,000 hours of sound...tens of thousands of broadcasts which represent the ONLY SURVIVING BROADCAST RECORD OF A SPECIFIC TELEVISION SHOW (1946-1982).
ARCHIVAL TELEVISION AUDIO, INC. retains over 149 complete and excerpt JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOW air checks (over 100 hours), including the complete Jack Paar's first anniversary telecast which was broadcast live from Havana Cuba (June 28, 1958). These originally recorded off the air pristine sound direct line 1/4" reel to reel audio tracks, recorded at the time of the original broadcasts, represent the only broadcast record of a "lost" visual telecast. ATA is the largest single repository (one collection), in the United Sates of Jack Paar Tonight Shows recordings.
The combined archives of The Library of Congress, Paley Center for Media, and UCLA Film & Television only retain a composite total of 13 hours of representative JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOW broadcasts excerpts...none complete.
NOTE:
Joined in progress. Guests: comic David Burns, and Benny Goodman, who gives his opinion on Jazz and Rock 'n' Roll music.