Jack Lescoulie

Jack Lescoulie (November 17, 1912 – July 22, 1987) was an American radio and television announcer, host, and performer born in Sacramento, California, whose birth date is listed in at least one newspaper source as May 17, 1912. Both of his parents worked in vaudeville alongside their children, and Lescoulie gave his first public performance at age seven. While still in high school, he took his first media job at KGFJ in Los Angeles, where he was part of the station's coverage of the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. That same year, he led an orchestra that broadcast on KGFJ. Lescoulie holds a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to television.

His radio career spanned several decades and formats. From 1938 to 1940, he was featured on The Grouch Club, a program created by Nat Hiken — who later created The Phil Silvers Show and Car 54, Where Are You? — on which Lescoulie was billed as the "Grouchmaster," presiding over listeners airing complaints. At WNEW radio in New York City, he served as morning-drive partner to Gene Rayburn before handing that role to Dee Finch; the Lescoulie-Rayburn and Finch-Rayburn pairings are considered radio's first two-man morning teams. Lescoulie also hosted WNEW's overnight Milkman's Matinee program. During World War II, he worked as a war correspondent, flying aboard Air Force aircraft on bombing missions over Italy. In the fall of 1947, he became the overnight radio host on WOR, the Mutual Broadcasting System's New York affiliate. He appeared twice on the radio drama Quiet, Please — on April 12, 1948, portraying a mysterious newscaster in the fantasy episode "Twelve to Five," and on June 4, 1949, in the horror drama "Tanglefoot."

Lescoulie's television work began in the late 1940s. He hosted Fun and Fortune in 1949, one of the earliest TV game shows, which ran for a single episode. That same year he became the announcer on Jackie Gleason's Cavalcade of Stars, a role he held through 1952, and he served as the original network announcer for The Honeymooners from 1955 to 1956, continuing to announce for Gleason into the mid-1960s until Gleason transitioned exclusively to Johnny Olson. His longest and most prominent television association was with NBC's Today, where he worked from 1952 to 1967. His responsibilities on the program included announcing at the top and bottom of each hour, conducting interviews, reporting on sports, engaging with the crowd outside the studio, and acting as a comedic foil for host Dave Garroway. Garroway nicknamed him "The Saver" for his ability to enliven slow segments. Notable on-air moments included performing a scene from Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra with Jayne Mansfield in July 1956 and being struck in the face with a pie by Buster Keaton in April 1963. Lescoulie also traveled with Garroway on Today's overseas broadcasts, co-anchoring remote segments during a 1959 Paris trip and a 1960 Rome visit, during which he staged an apparently accidental fall into the Trevi Fountain.

From January 28 to June 21, 1957, Lescoulie served as host of The Tonight Show during a transitional period following Steve Allen's departure. NBC had retitled the program Tonight! America After Dark and restructured it as a news and interview format modeled on Today; Lescoulie and Al "Jazzbo" Collins each held the hosting role during this period. When Today shifted to pre-taped afternoon broadcasts beginning in 1958, Lescoulie remained with the show, but when NBC announced a return to live broadcasts in the summer of 1961 following Garroway's exit, Lescoulie resigned, citing the demanding hours. He subsequently hosted the NBC educational children's series 1, 2, 3 Go!, which was canceled on May 20, 1962. He returned to Today that summer and remained for five more years, departing permanently in 1967; the announcing role he originated was later filled by Joe Garagiola, Willard Scott, and Al Roker.

Between 1938 and 1950, Lescoulie appeared in a number of film roles, most of them uncredited. In the 1941 aviation drama Emergency Landing, he acted under the name Joe Hartman. He was also known for his voice impersonation of comedian Jack Benny, which he employed in five Warner Bros. cartoon shorts: Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur (1939), a Chuck Jones production in which he voiced a character named Casper Caveman; Slap-Happy Pappy (1940), directed by Bob Clampett, in which he voiced a rabbit named Jack Bunny; Malibu Beach Party (1940), directed by Friz Freleng, in which he again voiced Jack Bunny; Goofy Groceries (1941), another Clampett short featuring the Jack Bunny character; and Meet John Doughboy (1941), a Clampett short in which he voiced a caricature of Benny.

On the stage, Lescoulie appeared in the Broadway production Tapestry in Gray in 1935, as well as in the New York theatrical production Achilles Had a Heel that same year. Lescoulie died on July 22, 1987, at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had been receiving treatment for colon cancer.