Hy Gardner

Hy Gardner (December 2, 1908 – June 17, 1989) was a New York-born entertainer, syndicated columnist, and television personality whose career spanned Broadway performance, print journalism, and broadcast media. A native of New York City, Gardner appeared on Broadway in 1937 in Pins and Needles.

Gardner had harbored ambitions of covering entertainment news from a young age, and in 1951 those ambitions were realized when the New York Herald Tribune hired him as a columnist. He remained with the paper until its closure in 1966, during which time the New York Times characterized his writing style as an "art form." In the early 1950s he launched Hy Gardner Calling, a radio program on which he interviewed celebrities. Television interviews followed beginning in 1954, with Gardner employing a split-screen format that Mickey Spillane later credited as predating Edward R. Murrow's use of the technique. Gardner also provided rocking chairs to his guests as a means of putting them at ease. As the split-screen format gave way to in-studio production, the program was retitled The Hy Gardner Show and continued until 1965.

Gardner served as an original celebrity panelist on the first incarnation of To Tell the Truth, alongside Ralph Bellamy, Polly Bergen, and Kitty Carlisle, with Bud Collyer as host. In 1957 he appeared on the program in clown makeup alongside guest challenger Paul Jung. He also contributed to Club Oasis, Spike Jones's short-lived NBC comedy and variety program, where he served as interviewer of guests. In 1963, Gardner played himself in the film The Girl Hunters, directed by and starring his friend Mickey Spillane, who had also incorporated Gardner into several of his Mike Hammer novels.

In 1953, Marilyn Boshnick joined Gardner's staff as his secretary, and the two married in 1958. Beginning in 1967, the couple collaborated on a joint gossip column called Glad You Asked That, which was subsequently syndicated. Following the Herald Tribune's closure in 1966, Gardner and his wife relocated from New York City to Miami. Celebrity Party debuted as a syndicated radio program during this period, and Gardner's interview work continued through the mid-1980s.

Gardner died of pneumonia on June 17, 1989, at North Shore Hospital in Miami at the age of 80.