info
Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Randy Paar, Talk-Show Host’s Daughter and Guest, Dies at 63
323 views
Skip to first unread message
Diner
Jun 5, 2012, 12:41:53 PM6/5/12
to
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/05/arts/television/randy-paar-talk-show-hosts-daughter-and-guest-dies-at-63.html
Randy Paar, Talk-Show Host’s Daughter and Guest, Dies at 63
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Published: June 5, 2012
Randy Paar, who is remembered by many 1950s and ’60s television viewers as the cute, precocious girl whom her father, the late-night talk-show host Jack Paar, introduced to a national audience in his monologues and home movies, died on Saturday after falling off a platform at Grand Central Terminal. A successful lawyer in Manhattan, she was 63.
Her death was being investigated by the police, the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the city’s medical examiner.
Robin Cohen, a friend and colleague at the law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman, said Ms. Paar was found on Track 26 just before 8 a.m. last Wednesday. She appeared to have fallen backward onto the track and hit her head, Ms. Cohen said. Taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, Ms. Paar died there three days later. Ms. Cohen said investigators told her that Ms. Paar may have had a stroke or seizure before tumbling onto the track.
Jack Paar, who succeeded Steve Allen in 1957 as the second host of “The Tonight Show” on NBC (it was later retitled “The Jack Paar Show”), brought a quirky personality to late-night television. He kept little of his personal life from viewers, and that included his wife, Miriam, and his daughter, Randy. He had Randy on the show frequently, spoke of her when she wasn’t there and showed home movies of her antics. On one show he discoursed about her adjustment to a training bra.
When he left the “The Tonight Show” in 1962 after five volatile years — he famously quit on the air in 1960 after NBC had censored a toilet joke, only to return a month later with the line “As I was saying before I was interrupted ...” — Mr. Paar said he wanted to spend more time with his wife and daughter.
Randy Paar was also linked to the Beatles’ historic first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964, when Mr. Sullivan said the Beatles had dedicated the songs they performed to Johnny Carson, the columnist Earl Wilson and Randy.
The back story was that Mr. Sullivan had been angry because, under union rules, he had to pay performers more than Mr. Paar did on “The Jack Paar Program,” his weekly prime-time show. Ms. Paar had met the Beatles on a trip to England, and had suggested that her father use his new program to plug the Beatles’ coming appearance on the Sullivan show. He did, the feud ended and Randy Paar became the answer to a music-history trivia question.
As a bonus, Ms. Paar received three free tickets. She told The New York Times in 1994 that she had used one for herself and two for Julie and Tricia Nixon, the daughters of the future president Richard M. Nixon.
Randy Paar was born in Los Angeles on March 2, 1949, and grew up in Bronxville, N.Y. When she knew she was going to Harvard, she requested a roommate who did not know anything about her family. She was paired with a foreign student. She earned degrees from Harvard and New York University Law School.
During law school she worked at the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan. In 1975-76, she clerked for the Manhattan federal judge Lloyd F. McMahon.
In private legal practice Ms. Paar specialized in representing businesses suing insurance companies to get more money to cover damages claims. In one well-known case she represented W. R. Grace in recovering insurance money for asbestos and environmental claims. She won a number of national legal awards and earned a reputation as a persuasive litigator, never losing a case in court, Ms. Cohen said.
“It was sort of in her blood to be a performer and to be extremely talented on her feet,” she added.
Ms. Paar’s marriage to Stephen Wells ended in divorce this year. She is survived by her son, Andrew.
Her friends said she was passionate about animals and animal rights. Her cousin Dr. H. James Schroll recalled accompanying her to her grandparents’ farm in Pennsylvania when they were children. When Ms. Paar’s mother wasn’t looking, he said, they somehow crammed a calf into the back of the Paar station wagon. It mooed shortly after they set off for New York, and that was the end of that.
© 2012 The New York Times Company
Randy Paar, Talk-Show Host’s Daughter and Guest, Dies at 63
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Published: June 5, 2012
Randy Paar, who is remembered by many 1950s and ’60s television viewers as the cute, precocious girl whom her father, the late-night talk-show host Jack Paar, introduced to a national audience in his monologues and home movies, died on Saturday after falling off a platform at Grand Central Terminal. A successful lawyer in Manhattan, she was 63.
Her death was being investigated by the police, the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the city’s medical examiner.
Robin Cohen, a friend and colleague at the law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman, said Ms. Paar was found on Track 26 just before 8 a.m. last Wednesday. She appeared to have fallen backward onto the track and hit her head, Ms. Cohen said. Taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, Ms. Paar died there three days later. Ms. Cohen said investigators told her that Ms. Paar may have had a stroke or seizure before tumbling onto the track.
Jack Paar, who succeeded Steve Allen in 1957 as the second host of “The Tonight Show” on NBC (it was later retitled “The Jack Paar Show”), brought a quirky personality to late-night television. He kept little of his personal life from viewers, and that included his wife, Miriam, and his daughter, Randy. He had Randy on the show frequently, spoke of her when she wasn’t there and showed home movies of her antics. On one show he discoursed about her adjustment to a training bra.
When he left the “The Tonight Show” in 1962 after five volatile years — he famously quit on the air in 1960 after NBC had censored a toilet joke, only to return a month later with the line “As I was saying before I was interrupted ...” — Mr. Paar said he wanted to spend more time with his wife and daughter.
Randy Paar was also linked to the Beatles’ historic first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964, when Mr. Sullivan said the Beatles had dedicated the songs they performed to Johnny Carson, the columnist Earl Wilson and Randy.
The back story was that Mr. Sullivan had been angry because, under union rules, he had to pay performers more than Mr. Paar did on “The Jack Paar Program,” his weekly prime-time show. Ms. Paar had met the Beatles on a trip to England, and had suggested that her father use his new program to plug the Beatles’ coming appearance on the Sullivan show. He did, the feud ended and Randy Paar became the answer to a music-history trivia question.
As a bonus, Ms. Paar received three free tickets. She told The New York Times in 1994 that she had used one for herself and two for Julie and Tricia Nixon, the daughters of the future president Richard M. Nixon.
Randy Paar was born in Los Angeles on March 2, 1949, and grew up in Bronxville, N.Y. When she knew she was going to Harvard, she requested a roommate who did not know anything about her family. She was paired with a foreign student. She earned degrees from Harvard and New York University Law School.
During law school she worked at the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan. In 1975-76, she clerked for the Manhattan federal judge Lloyd F. McMahon.
In private legal practice Ms. Paar specialized in representing businesses suing insurance companies to get more money to cover damages claims. In one well-known case she represented W. R. Grace in recovering insurance money for asbestos and environmental claims. She won a number of national legal awards and earned a reputation as a persuasive litigator, never losing a case in court, Ms. Cohen said.
“It was sort of in her blood to be a performer and to be extremely talented on her feet,” she added.
Ms. Paar’s marriage to Stephen Wells ended in divorce this year. She is survived by her son, Andrew.
Her friends said she was passionate about animals and animal rights. Her cousin Dr. H. James Schroll recalled accompanying her to her grandparents’ farm in Pennsylvania when they were children. When Ms. Paar’s mother wasn’t looking, he said, they somehow crammed a calf into the back of the Paar station wagon. It mooed shortly after they set off for New York, and that was the end of that.
© 2012 The New York Times Company
Brad Ferguson
Jun 5, 2012, 1:57:03 PM6/5/12
to
In article <054e944f-380a-42e2...@googlegroups.com>,
his show because Paar's Tonight Show (not his primetime show) could pay
them union scale -- maybe $325, while Sullivan had to pay $2000 or more
for the same acts performing the same routines.
Paar and Sullivan agreed to appear together on Paar's Tonight Show to
discuss the matter. This led to Life magazine putting together an
anticipatory feature that had Paar and Sullivan marionettes
fist-fighting on the Tonight Show set. However, the magazine appeared
on the stands and in mailboxes just as Sullivan said he'd changed his
mind and wouldn't be appearing on Paar's show after all. I remember
that Sullivan came off very badly for having chickened out. This all
happened in early 1961, a year before Paar left the Tonight Show and a
year and a half before The Jack Paar Program debuted in the fall of
1962.
The dependable folks at Old Life Magazines have a pic of the cover I'm
talking about:
<http://goo.gl/4ogcl>
Diner <bway...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The back story was that Mr. Sullivan had been angry because, under union
> rules, he had to pay performers more than Mr. Paar did on ³The Jack Paar
> Program,² his weekly prime-time show.
This isn't right. Sullivan objected to having to pay more for acts on
> The back story was that Mr. Sullivan had been angry because, under union
> rules, he had to pay performers more than Mr. Paar did on ³The Jack Paar
> Program,² his weekly prime-time show.
his show because Paar's Tonight Show (not his primetime show) could pay
them union scale -- maybe $325, while Sullivan had to pay $2000 or more
for the same acts performing the same routines.
Paar and Sullivan agreed to appear together on Paar's Tonight Show to
discuss the matter. This led to Life magazine putting together an
anticipatory feature that had Paar and Sullivan marionettes
fist-fighting on the Tonight Show set. However, the magazine appeared
on the stands and in mailboxes just as Sullivan said he'd changed his
mind and wouldn't be appearing on Paar's show after all. I remember
that Sullivan came off very badly for having chickened out. This all
happened in early 1961, a year before Paar left the Tonight Show and a
year and a half before The Jack Paar Program debuted in the fall of
1962.
The dependable folks at Old Life Magazines have a pic of the cover I'm
talking about:
<http://goo.gl/4ogcl>
Diner
Jun 6, 2012, 8:46:20 AM6/6/12
to
On Tuesday, June 5, 2012 12:41:53 PM UTC-4, Diner wrote:
> Ms. Paar’s marriage to Stephen Wells ended in divorce this year. She is survived by her son, Andrew.
Isn't she also survived by her mother, Miriam? I thought Miriam was still alive, and I can't find anything online that refers to her death.
> Ms. Paar’s marriage to Stephen Wells ended in divorce this year. She is survived by her son, Andrew.
-Tim
Brad Ferguson
Jun 6, 2012, 9:04:21 AM6/6/12
to
In article <6deca4af-1df9-4251...@googlegroups.com>,
Jack and Miriam Paar lived in Greenwich, Connecticut. SSDI says
there's a Miriam Paar who died on 16 May 2006 in Fairfield, Connecticut
at the age of 87.
Digging deeper, the archives log of the CBS Radio News Weekend Roundup
for 26 May 2006 mentions that "Commentator Charles Grodin talks about
the death of Miriam Paar, the wife of Jack Paar."
there's a Miriam Paar who died on 16 May 2006 in Fairfield, Connecticut
at the age of 87.
Digging deeper, the archives log of the CBS Radio News Weekend Roundup
for 26 May 2006 mentions that "Commentator Charles Grodin talks about
the death of Miriam Paar, the wife of Jack Paar."
Diner
Jun 6, 2012, 9:22:51 AM6/6/12
to
On Wednesday, June 6, 2012 9:04:21 AM UTC-4, Brad Ferguson wrote:
> In article <6deca4af-1df9-4251...@googlegroups.com>,
> Diner <bway...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Tuesday, June 5, 2012 12:41:53 PM UTC-4, Diner wrote:
> >
> > > Ms. Paar�s marriage to Stephen Wells ended in divorce this year. She is
> In article <6deca4af-1df9-4251...@googlegroups.com>,
> Diner <bway...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Tuesday, June 5, 2012 12:41:53 PM UTC-4, Diner wrote:
> >
> > > survived by her son, Andrew.
> >
> >
> > Isn't she also survived by her mother, Miriam? I thought Miriam was still
> > alive, and I can't find anything online that refers to her death.
>
>
> Jack and Miriam Paar lived in Greenwich, Connecticut. SSDI says
> there's a Miriam Paar who died on 16 May 2006 in Fairfield, Connecticut
> at the age of 87.
>
> Digging deeper, the archives log of the CBS Radio News Weekend Roundup
> for 26 May 2006 mentions that "Commentator Charles Grodin talks about
> the death of Miriam Paar, the wife of Jack Paar."
Thank you.
> >
> >
> > Isn't she also survived by her mother, Miriam? I thought Miriam was still
> > alive, and I can't find anything online that refers to her death.
>
>
> Jack and Miriam Paar lived in Greenwich, Connecticut. SSDI says
> there's a Miriam Paar who died on 16 May 2006 in Fairfield, Connecticut
> at the age of 87.
>
> Digging deeper, the archives log of the CBS Radio News Weekend Roundup
> for 26 May 2006 mentions that "Commentator Charles Grodin talks about
> the death of Miriam Paar, the wife of Jack Paar."
-Tim
marcus
Jun 6, 2012, 10:06:30 AM6/6/12
to
On Jun 6, 9:04 am, Brad Ferguson <thirt...@frXOXed.net> wrote:
> In article <6deca4af-1df9-4251...@googlegroups.com>,
>
> In article <6deca4af-1df9-4251...@googlegroups.com>,
>
I remember well, the whole thing with her getting tickets to see The
Beatles on the Sullivan show.
0 new messages