Paar signed as a contract player for Howard Hughes' RKO Pictures studio in the immediate postwar period, appearing as the emcee in the movie Variety Time (1948), a compilation of vaudeville sketches. A profile of Paar by the Museum of Broadcast Communications suggests that Paar later emulated Benny's mannerisms. Paar later refused American Tobacco's suggestion that he come up with a weekly running gag or gimmick, saying he "wanted to get away from that kind of old-hat comedy, the kind being practiced by Jack Benny and Fred Allen." The show was then terminated, earning Paar the enduring image of "a spoiled kid".
Paar was enough of a hit on Benny's show that Benny's sponsor, the American Tobacco Company, decided to keep him on the air, moving him to ABC for the fall season.
performances, suggested that Paar serve as his 1947 summer replacement. He got his big break when Jack Benny, who had been impressed by Paar's U.S.O. He opted not to return to WBEN at war's end, instead seeking opportunities in network radio and film.Īfter World War II, Paar worked in radio as a fill-in on The Breakfast Club show and appeared as a host of Take It or Leave It, a show with a top prize of $64. Paar was a clever, wisecracking master of ceremonies whose impersonations of officers nearly got him into trouble. in the South Pacific to entertain the troops. Paar was drafted into the Army in 1943 during World War II, interrupting his tenure as host of WBEN's morning show The Sun Greeter's Club. Attempting to calm possibly panicked listeners, Paar announced, "The world is not coming to an end. Jack Paar, he recalled doing utility duty at WGAR in 1938 when Orson Welles broadcast his famous simulated alien invasion, The War of the Worlds, over the CBS network (and its WGAR affiliate). He first worked near home as a radio announcer at WIBM in Jackson, Michigan, and later as a humorous disc jockey at Midwest stations, including WJR in Detroit, WIRE in Indianapolis, WGAR in Cleveland, and WBEN in Buffalo. He contracted tuberculosis when he was 14 and left school at 16. As a child, he developed a stutter, which he learned to manage. He moved with his family to Jackson, Michigan, about 40 miles (64 km) south of Lansing, as a child. Paar was born in 1918 in Canton, Ohio, the son of Lillian M.