Jack Pearl: The Golden Age of Comedy

Jack Pearl: The Golden Age of Comedy

Jack Pearl AKA Jack Perlman was born on October 29, 1894 on the Lower East Side of New York. There is no information available about Jack’s family life. Jack left school at the age of 12 and began running errands for a music publisher.  Jack made his first stage appearance, in Gus Edwards's vaudeville act called ''School Days.''   Burlesque and vaudeville followed ''School Days.'' In 1919, the Shubert’s bought Mr. Pearl's contract for $13,000 and Jack was soon appearing regularly on Broadway.

Jack appeared in eighteen Broadway musical revues during the 1920s and 1930s. His shows included: The Dancing Girl (1923), Topics of 1923 (1923–1924), A Night in Paris (1926), Artists and Models (1927–1928), Pleasure Bound (1929), International Review (1930), Ziegfeld Follies of 1931, Pardon My English (1933) and All for All (1943).

Jack eventually transitioned from vaudeville to broadcasting. His first radio experience was in 1931, when he appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show." That program was credited with launching the radio careers of famous individuals such as Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan and Ziegfeld himself. 

 Jack first got his start portraying Baron Munchhausen when the show's principal comedian, a German comic named Danny Murphy, became ill. Jack got Mr. Murphy’s role and he adopted Mr. Murphy’s German dialect. Jack was so successful in this role that he specialized in stage German for the rest of his career. During his first radio series, Jack utilized satire in the hugely popular adventure tales of Baron Munchhausen on “The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air” show in 1932. Jack toured the country entertaining crowds with his Baron performance.  

Jack started using a particular phrase when portraying the Baron and telling German accented tales. During his skit, whenever the straight man (Ben Bard/ Cliff Hall) expressed skepticism, the Baron replied with his familiar punchline: "Vas you dere, Sharlie?" ("Was you there, Charlie?"). This catch phrase soon became a household phrase and part of the national lexicon. Jack recalled how this phrase became widely known: ''When Lucky Strike was looking for something different to sponsor,'' Mr. Pearl recounted later, referring to the cigarette company, ''Billy K. Wells, my gag writer, submitted the Baron and Charlie parody, and in a short time 'Vas you dere, Sharlie?' became a national byword.'' When the Baron's tall tales and wild exploits were the cause of skepticism by the straight man, the Baron would pause and utter this catchy response.  During every broadcast, the Munchausen character continued to captivate radio audiences when he conversed with the straight man in his accent: Hall: “You seem to be effervescent tonight.” Munchausen: “Haff you effer seen me ven I effer vasn't?”  

The success of Jack’s first radio series brought him to the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Jack was invited to Hollywood. He starred as his character in one feature film, Meet the Baron (1933) with Jimmy Durante, Edna May Oliver, ZaSu Pitts and the Three Stooges. He also appears in the film, Ben Bard and Jack Pearl (1926), which showcases their vaudeville act which was made in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process. Jack also starred in Hollywood Party (1934) with Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy and Jimmy Durante.

Most of Jack’s fans were from his weekly radio shows and he was thought to be one of the highest paid comedians on radio during the 1930s and 1940s. ''This business of being funny is nothing to laugh at,'' Mr. Pearl once said. Yet Jack Pearl mastered that business and, in the 1930's and 40's, was regarded as one of the funniest men in the nation.  Pearl's radio career included stints as the host of The Lucky Strike Hour (1932–34) and The Jack Pearl Show, which ran from late 1936 through early 1937.

Pearl suffered disappointments along the way, such as the cancellation of his second radio series. After losing this radio show, Jack found himself struggling to find work. He continued in radio with shows such as Jack and Cliff (1948), The Pet Milk Show (1950), The Baron and the Bee (1952), and a quiz show. However, Jack never recaptured his mid-1930s fame.

During World War II, Mr. Pearl worked in shows that toured military bases. After the war, Jack made occasional guest appearances and as well as several two-man engagements.

On February 8, 1960, Jack Pearl received a star at 1680 Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio work.

Jack said in an interview in 1978, that he wanted to take his character, the Baron, from radio to television. However, due to the structure of the skits, the switch did not work.

Jack Pearl died on December 25, 1982 at Doctor’s Hospital in Manhattan. He was 88 years old and had been living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.  Pearl was survived by his wife, Winifred Desborough. They had no children. Jack is buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in New York.

~Blog by Renee Meyers