Jack Carter

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 97-98. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387.

He was an actor and director, known for History of the World: Part I (1981), Alligator (1980) and Amazing Stories (1985). He was married to Roxanne Wander, Paula Stewart and Joan Mann.

He was given a shot at hosting "The Texaco Star Theater" in the summer of 1948. Although it's known today as The Milton Berle Show (1948), NBC decided to test emcees throughout that summer. Jack rotated with Henny Youngman, Georgie Price, Harry Richman, Morey Amsterdam, and Peter Donald. After audience testing, Berle landed the permanent title in September, 1948 and the rest is history.

Made his Broadway debut in 1947 as the replacement for Jules Munshin in the musical revue "Call Me Mister," and continued to perform on stage. That included a stint replacing Phil Silvers during the 1951-52 Broadway run of the musical comedy "Top Banana" and appearing in the 1956-57 Broadway musical comedy "Mr. Wonderful," starring Sammy Davis Jr. Over the years he also appeared in regional productions of "Guys and Dolls," "Sugar" and "Mr Wonderful," as well as playing Fagin in a touring company production of "Oliver." It was as a stand-up comedian, though, that Carter was best known. In his 1981 book "Funny People," comedian Steve Allen wrote that Carter "possesses a wildly inventive creativity, whether on-or-off stage." Whether it was a shouted insult, a woman with an unusual dress or a slow response by a lighting technician, Allen wrote, "Jack Carter can take it, add a whiff of magic dust to it, and make audiences roar with laughter." The vast majority of comedians are thrown by the unexpected, Allen added, but "Carter makes capital of the unexpected, particularly if it seems to put him at a disadvantage. He is magnificent grouser, a brilliant complainer, a wizard of 'Why me?'" The grousing extended off stage as well. "Had I done a one-man show I'd have maintained my greatness," Carter complained in a 1992 interview with the "Los Angeles Times". "I can sing and dance--everything. But they only see you as brash." No one, he said, "is more bitter than I am. I get it before I even show up. 'He's not an actor' or 'He's vicious.' 'Cheap' is the big one. When they wanna get you they say, 'He's got the first dollar he ever made.'" Later in the same interview, Carter groused, "In the past 10 years I've neglected my life. I should have gotten out of [show business] long ago. I appreciate success, but I'm not built to play the game. My wife tells me, 'You're so angry! You're like an animal".

In show business circles, the gruff-voiced Carter was known as a comedian's comedian. He had an aggressive, keep-them-laughing stage persona that seemed not to diminish with age. During television's pioneer days in the late 1940s, Carter--the brash stand-up comic who was considered one of America's "rising young comedians"--became a familiar face on TV variety shows into the '50s and '60s. While touring in the comedy showcase "Legends of the Catskills" with fellow comics Freddie Roman and Gabe Kaplan in 2000, Carter warmed up the crowd by belting out "Just In Time." Then he launched into a series of celebrity impersonations and riffs on such topics as competitive Jewish mothers and dealing with old age ("I told her to act her age, so she died"). In the 1986 book "The Stars of Stand-up Comedy: A Biographical Encyclopedia," author Ronald Lande Smith described the versatile Carter's style as "slick, fast, and furious." "A single gag is boosted by mimicry and emphasized with one of a dozen facial or physical takes . . . The style came from burlesque and marched to Vegas to a rim shot drum beat," Smith wrote. Carter's routine was snappy, irreverent and often veered into sexism. "Eighty percent of the money is spent by women," Carter observed on stage in the 1950s. "The other 20% is spent by men--on women!" "If you like to spend your vacation in out-of-the-way places where few people go, let your wife read the map," he said in the 1970s. "Canada ran out of silicone and the girls up there are using Hamburger Helper," he said in the 1980s. No matter what the joke, Smith wrote, "Carter can sell it with all the skill and savvy of a pro boxer making the most of every jab." During his long career, however, Carter was more than just a stand-up comic. As an actor, he had small parts in several dozen (mostly forgettable) movies. But he fared better with guest spots on television series including Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and Caroline in the City (1995).

Jack Carter was born on June 24, 1922 in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA as Jack Chakrin.