Dorothy Kilgallen vs. Jack Paar-"Worst of Enemies"

-Those of us who have learned about Dorothy Kilgallen through reruns of "What's My Line?" and who learned about Jack Paar's time as the pre-Johnny Carson host of "The Tonight Show" through clip show nostalgia specials scarcely have any way of knowing how the two of them had a public feud that could only be mildly described as hatred. This video shows how the two of them went from sitting next to each other on a "What's My Line?" in 1954 (before Paar became "Tonight" host) exchanging smiles and pleasantries and then through clippings and surviving audio material shows the depth of hatred that erupted by 1960 and continued for the next several years (and which only diminished once Paar ceased to be a TV performer in 1965, not long before Dorothy's death).
-Several source items were used to put this together that can be seen/heard in their unedited context elsewhere on YT.
-"What's My Line?" July 11, 1954. • What's My Line? - Will...
-"What's My Line?" January 24, 1960. • What's My Line? - Jack...
-Jack Paar Walks Off The Tonight Show, February 12, 1960. • Video
-Jack Paar Returns to the Tonight Show, March 7, 1960. • Video
-Jack Paar's Final Tonight Show, March 29, 1962. • Jack Paar's Last Tonig...
-I have also for the first time synched the superior audio that exists of the walk-off to the only two kinescope clips of this event that have ever been aired on television. While sound is on those clips, the audio is much superior here. It is likely more of the video exists, but it has never been seen publicly. Paar only allowed the two brief clips to be shown in a 1987 retrospective that sought to avoid controversy (hence the reason why the clips aired don't contain any of his remarks you hear about Kilgallen and the reporters he hates)
-I take no sides as to who was in the right in this acrimonious feud of mutual hatred between two people who at one time were both giants in the world of television in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In some respects, its better to have discovered their respective work with the detached hindsight that exists today so both can be appreciated for the work they did (Dorothy in making "What's My Line?" a success on television for 17 years; Paar in changing the face of late-night television and making it a national phenomenon) and not for the passions of the moment that are today lost on a new generation that didn't live through these times.
NOTE-I would like to note one potential error of fact I allude to at 0:55 when I suggest that part of the reason behind the outbreak of the feud was that Dorothy may have made some remark about Paar's daughter. Such an incident did happen with another woman columnist, Harriet Van Horne of the New York World-Telegram but it's not clear that Dorothy wrote anything of a similar nature.

[@WhatsMyLine]

A fantastic overview of a little-remembered story!

[@epaddon]

Thanks. It is amazing how forgotten it is. Paar's autobios and retrospectives tend to focus more on his feud with Walter Winchell which admittedly was on a higher level than his one with Kilgallen. I think part of the reason why the Kilgallen feud became forgotten was because Dorothy herself, in the years before WML reruns gave her new exposure, was a mostly forgotten figure so the Paar retrospectives probably figured it was too complicated explaining the nature of the feud and its significance. And also, I've gotten the impression that Paar chose not to slam her after her death. I've never come across any interviews or remarks he made about her in the years after her death (though he would talk about Winchell a lot; by then more with amusement than anger). If I were to give Paar the benefit of the doubt, he might have realized it would have been bad form to rip her after the tragic nature of her death, and the fact that she left behind young children without a mother.

[@davidfitzgerald4683]

Paar was a class act .I respect the man

[@TheStuport]

@@epaddon-- I'd suspect that since we are talking very early Television that most of the people who were alive and witnessed this "feud" are no longer alive...so no real surprise that it is not remembered.

[@epaddon]

The point is that it was mostly forgotten within just two decades after it happened and that even those who write as experts about Paar tend not to talk about it. Paar when he would do interviews would still talk a lot about his feud with Walter Winchell, but never Kilgallen who would only be mentioned by others when talking about Paar's feuds mostly as an afterthought.

[@beeenn649]

Kilgallen was a drug addict that died from an overdose of drugs. Enough said

[@you2449]

"There must be a better way of making a living." "Well. I checked... and it turns out there ISN'T."

[@leonardohummel8658]

Jack Paar was VERY neurotic and compulsive, but he was a brilliant wit and story-teller. he also had some great conversations and shows. I think it can be said that he both LOVED AND HATED the spotlight. - this is true of many comics and celebrities.

[@legalfictionnaturalfact3969]

ok dude

[@cksu1186]

Bulsht!!!

[@bethbartlett5692]

He was, and it is a trait of the business, "insecurity". I was married into Entertainment, they all share an odd level of insecurity.

[@stevenyourke7901]

Face it. Jack was a nut. But he was talented. And he was never dull.

[@NoOne-kr4jc]

He was able to influence Dick Cavett to make interviews on his shows actual conversations to make others feel at home. Paar was great at that. I don't know of any talk show before that did that. I'd like to see more Paar episodes.

[@harrytpk]

I grew up watching Dorothy Kilgallen and Jack Paar, I never knew there was this animosity between the two. Interesting video!

[@JaxAunt]

Thanks for putting this together!

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Even when the adults acted like children in those days, they were head and shoulders above the treacle that passes for talk/entertainment today.

[@joe-vz6hx]

sorry, no. this petty spiteful nonsense is the kind of thing I'd expect from the childish ilk of today and reminds us that it wasn't all good back then or all bad today. call a spade a spade.

[@lindadechiazza2924]

Treacle ? Is that a yummy english food?

[@tonybmusic1166]

@@lindadechiazza2924 I had to look it up.

[@justicegusting2476]

@@lindadechiazza2924 Fish and Chips franchise, I believe. Arthur Treacles fish and chips.

[@annettefournier9655]

Treacher fish and chips.​@@justicegusting2476

[@brandoncastro2441]

R.I.P. Dorothy kilgallen.

[@iVenge]

brandon castro the chinless wonder

[@tenpercentfordabigguy8550]

@@iVenge Ivenge the classless wonder

[@iVenge]

Trevor Pery Hey sis, don’t shoot the messenger... that’s what Frank Sinatra called her.

[@mcmlxii4419]

@@iVenge I'm a little surprised that this video would be of interest to a 10-year-old kid.

[@rickbrowning7059]

Frank also called joan Collins the British open. And johnny Mathis the African Queen. Frank could be a rotten rascal.

[@johnbutler9619]

Well done! In the days before "social media", who knew how to create buzz? Dorothy and Jack. The juxtaposition of columns with clips says it all.

[@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043]

John Butler • And wasn’t Hedda Hopper making ripples around the same time?

[@Lampshade51]

The first "What's My Line" appearance shown with Kilgallen was before Jack was a big star. After he became a hit on "The Tonight Show", he became petulant and full of himself. Paar could be very witty, but he was clearly a disturbed man.

[@brainsareus]

Paar was a neurotic piece of work, but he had a certain integrity..

[@sealy3]

Yes Paar's integrity was liking communist over his own people!?!? He also had an integrity to the love of money over his own ethics. Or he would not have returned to NBC. Regardless of her "chin", Dorothy was correct. But alas Paar out lived Dorothy. Truth is a dangerous commodity in a world of lies! RIP. Dorothy!

[@lukedaxon5713]

Strange isn't it? Almost all the past gets forgotten, even the very recent past, and all we are usually left with is a boiled down set of cliches, anecdotes and familiar tales. So much is left out. That's why it's so interesting to be reminded of something like this.

[@dianem6951]

Luke Daxon We are left with the most advanced technology where these things can be researched. However, thankfully, the prosperity of our country has led to a mass of our population is far to lazy, and ignorant to do any real research. These ‘educated’ college students follow orders, they don’t research. That requires real work. Spoiled children are never required to work.

[@Acadian.FrenchFry]

And this is exactly why we repeat history again and again.

[@cattycorner8]

@Luke Daxon Very insightful comment and soooo true.

[@CoxJoxSox]

Jack Paar always struck me as emotionally volatile

[@johnerwin9024]

My dad, confirmed this. Said Paar would sometimes 'cry' on television over small things-

[@20alphabet]

Strategically volatile.

[@DDumbrille]

With one of THE WORST hairpieces in history...

[@michaelnelson1128]

2nd only to your mothers lol😅​@@DDumbrille

[@annettefournier9655]

Yes but he was authentically emotionally volatile. He said what he meant and believed in. No smoke and mirrors.

[@JWCinPDX]

I remember the few times I was allowed to stay up late enough to watch Jack Paar. Even as a kid I thought he was quite the ass. All I know of Dorothy Killgallen (neither of the papers in my town ran her column) is that she always seemed quite pleasant on "What's My Line."

[@Tmanaz480]

Well, pleasantness was a requirement in that era, especially for women.

[@harpoon_bakery162]

she was vicious, you are kidding i hope

[@SymphonyBrahms]

She could be very cruel and vicious in her newspaper column.

[@kennethwallace1225]

Parr used his show to diss Dorothy- because he was too chicken - shit to confront her face to face- she would have ate his lunch- Dorothy was right - as she usually was about not only him- but most statements she made

[@geekay1349]

got to admit, Paar made TV interesting in those years

[@jp0308]

I give you a thumbs up because, yes, Paar made, with his intellect and misguided political ideology, made national TV interesting considering the hyper political trend of the time but with hindsight he was off base!

[@arcanondrum6543]

​@@jp0308 ... I wonder what you and Jack would say today about China. Our corporations are there, employing workers, handing out technology...

[@pkmntrainerrose8515]

I'm reading Betty White's book "Here We Go Again" and she mentions that "Jack and Dorothy Kilgallen had had a real fallung out about something," (probably his views on Castro) "and it reached the boiling point when Dorothy took a shot in her daily newspaper column - not at Jack, but at Randy. Dorothy wrote that it was too bad that the child was overweight. Jack went ballistic. That night he had no dufficulty putting the monologue together, and he came out loaded to bear. White with anger, he proceeded to tell Dorothy off, concluding with, 'And let me say this, Miss Kilgallen - you have no chin!'" As a father, he was well within his right to defend his child, who accirding to Better, was about 14 at the time. Did he have to say it on live television? Probably not, but their feud was already public with Dorothy's column, so it's only fair that he say something publicly too. If anyone knows where i can find that clip, i would love to see that

[@epaddon]

I think Betty made the same mistake I made initially when putting this together. I found no evidence that Dorothy ever made a crack about Randy Paar's appearance in her column. Apparently that was *another* columnist, Harriet Van Horne who had made some kind of remark that Paar got upset over. Paar had so many feuds in that period that I think for some people it became easy to get mixed up over who said what.

[@patrickdowling529]

Randy was in my sister’s 8th grade class at Bronxville (we lived right around the corner from the Paars), and yes, she was indeed chubby. Part of her weight may have been due to lack of exercise. Not once in the 4 years we lived next to them did she walk to school even though it was only a quarter of a mile away. Always picked up and dropped off by car. Sad.

[@akrenwinkle]

@@patrickdowling529 They had P.E. in school those days. Also, is the distance of walking to school always an accurate measure of fitness? It's just probable she ate more than she moved around, a common thing. Randy met a very unusual, unfortunate death. You can look it up if you're so inclined.

[@patrickdowling529]

@@akrenwinkle I’m well aware of Randy’s unfortunate demise in the NYC subway station. They say it was an accident but I have my doubts, especially since she had just gone through a divorce after 30+ years of marriage.

[@akrenwinkle]

@@patrickdowling529 I remember it was at Grand Central. Speculation was that she had fainted from a stroke, aneurysm, heart attack, take your pick, but there was no follow-up I'm aware of. I believe it was an accident because she hit her head on the tracks; she didn't jump in front of a train.

[@cgeubanks]

Wow, I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same!!

[@IPlayOneOnT.V.]

How in the world did Jack Paar think he was going to talk about Nikita Khruschchev and Fidel Castro in positive terms in America, in the early '60s, and get beyond that point unscathed? He's not very bright.

[@cookingprof]

Mr Parr BELIEVED that the United States was a country that followed the rule of law. People like Miss Kilgallen & Senator Joseph McCarthy thought their personal positions superseded the United States Constitution & the Bill of Rights. Miss Kilgallen insisted that the First Amendments rights applied to her but NOT Mr. Parr.

[@secondstring]

@@cookingprof - Hardly. There's a big difference between honesty reporting about and criticizing someone's beliefs with whom you disagree and rejecting their Constitutional right to express them. You will never find anywhere where Kilgallen expressed that Paar had no right to his opinions or the right to make them public. Warped thinking on your part.

[@brackslaughter155]

@@cookingprof Her nationally syndicated column was a combination of news, gossip and opinion. In it, she was often disagreeing politically with public figures. Were she anti-First Amendment, she would not have testified for the defense at Lenny Bruce's obscenity trial which she did in 1964.

[@pickingwilddaisies945]

cookingprof 6:40 Dorothy’s reply to you would have been “You could recite the Constitution to a jackass for 24 Hours A Day 365 Days A Year and He would still be a JACKASS”

[@janets9179]

Always potrayed as a villian, but Joe Mccarthy was a ww2 hero and was right about the communists. We had Russian spies in the government. Venona papers confirmed it as did Elizabeth bentley, Whittaker chambers, and many other ex-communists. Most people only know half of the story.

[@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043]

Wow. Just wow. I had no idea such animosity between Paar and Kilgallen was played to the public eye and ear. Neither one personally escaped culpability, imho. But we’re in a fallen, human condition with jealousies, envies, and all-around bad feelings toward much of our fellow man. As always, I include myself in such an observation. The conversations I have with myself are probably the most self-deprecating of all. (Well, duh!) I suppose these two went to their respective graves with the feud still going on? What a shame for two people I admire, though posthumously through these KZbin postings, very much.

[@jimjam51075]

Jack Paar made the mistake of getting into a war of words with someone who was paid to stir up feuds. If Johnny Carson had a feud, it played behind the scenes and we would never hear about it except in rumor. Jack's job was to entertain and appear unflappable in front of the camera. You're right, he just wasn't built like Johnny and let this all get to him. Jack was in the unfortunate situation of being the cautionary tale that every TV presenter since then could examine and avoid. If Jack Paar had a "Jack Paar" to look to for what not to do, I wonder if he would have made the same mistakes.

[@AmWestColl]

Dorothy Kilgallen was a great investigative reporter. She is missed !

[@zarabada6125]

She may have been a great "investigative reporter" but she was a really awful woman. Her colleagues from "What's My Line?" stopped having personal conversations with her or in front of her after things they said ended up in print. If you have no respect for the concept of, "off the record," then you will stop being liked or trusted. The more I learn of her, the lonelier her life seems in her final years. She alienated or became estranged from people she used to be friends with as she saw no boundary between her work and her personal life.

[@cookingprof]

Investigate reporters have columns are printed in newspapers like; "The Washington Post", "The New York Times", "The Wall Street Journal"etc. I can't find the she was a columnist for ANY of these newspapers. Why is there NO record that she would contact the MOST RESPECTED name in television journalism...Walter Cronkite? True investigative reporters NEVER give up on a story.

[@Picnicl]

@@zarabada6125 All geniuses are lonely when not with people sympathetic to their genius, Zarabada.

[@zarabada6125]

@@Picnicl She was a gossip columnist. She may have been very good at her job but you are being a little generous with the word "genius."

[@Student____2025__1]

@@zarabada6125 Part of it was political, I think. She was more of an anti-communist than the others, and that contributed to a bit of division between them. And as for the printing of gossip, yeah, I can see why they would have been irritated, but she didn’t print anything awful. They were all socialites and gossiped among themselves, but I guess they didn’t like it being done to them. I say they should have lightened up. There was a slight bite to DK’s writing, but nothing overly malicious or nasty.

[@wiedep]

Paar was a taut piano string that would snap an anyone who bruised his ego.

[@markbrolin1157]

Who else does that sound like?

[@m.e.d.7997]

Found him utterly unappealing.

[@louabbott7631]

@@markbrolin1157 Every progressive politically correct socialist (aka the Democratic Party).

[@bridgetlyons876]

Carolina....had to get nasty. Sorry you’re still mad.

[@gerrydooley951]

@@louabbott7631 you're an ignorant dumb shit

[@KiddBloo86]

Where's my popcorn- it was just getting good.

[@misterwhitman4368]

Dear Epadon, Thank you so very much for doing such grand research!

[@user-vo2kp5jg8v]

Jack Paar really had a ego problem. I'll never forget how bitter he was talking about how Elvis Presley complimented Judy Garland (they were in a car together) and not him. It was so childish.

[@akrenwinkle]

It was a silly story he made up about Elvis's car and his (Paar's) car idling next to each other. Those familiar with Paar know he had a casual relationship with the truth. He and Garland were acquaintances, certainly not friends who hung out.

[@arcanondrum6543]

Maybe Jack was telling a joke but it fell flat?

[@Impailer67]

Dorothy Killgallen= professional .im a retired construction worker biker lynard skynard wiskey chuggin thug, but i just love me some Dorothy. she has universal appeal i reckon..

[@Impailer67]

@Hank3four never made it as a cop ,Indian chief ,fireman or gay guy. just a Fella with an appreciation for a wonderful lady ,named Dorothy . what does hank 3four mean?

[@stevenattanasso2003]

@@Impailer67 He deleted His comment ..... I'm pretty old .... I tried out for "What's My Line" as a "Vibrator Repairman" but it turned out that both Dorothy and Arlene knew what My face looked like .....

[@Impailer67]

@@stevenattanasso2003 the electric vibrator was in action from about 1910. it was a medical device meant to cure female "hysteria" so even Mary Pickford or Eleanore Roosevelt would have knew your line ..hehe

[@stevenattanasso2003]

@@Impailer67 I used to troubleshoot hearing aids many years ago .... Some of them would come back under warranty in disgusting condition .... We used to laugh thinking of the guys that "fixed" vibrators .....

[@Impailer67]

@@stevenattanasso2003 i did some aftermath work for several apt management companies , humans are pretty nasty creatures..aftermath work is the worst, but good old timey sex toy repair would be right up there ,,,

[@magnapack]

Parr was truly a legend in his own mind.

[@PrenticeBoy1688]

Paar, but yeah.

[@mickeyray3793]

Yeah I remember when Paar was on the tonight show. But he was an egocentric prima Donna. Always walking out and pulling crap you couldn't imagine Carson or Leno doin. When I was a little bitty 6 year old Steve Allen started it and even as a kid I recognized the insane delightful wit of Steve Allen.

[@kekoa1843]

Exactly!

[@kekoa1843]

@@mickeyray3793we most both be ab the same age! I could understand Steve Allen’s humor even at that young age, too.

[@jimdrake-writer]

Those of us who never missed "The Tonight Show" during Paar's reign as host will remember his verbatim reference to Dorothy Kilgallen as "this senile, chinless woman." He had two similar meltdowns (apart from his walking off the show) involving other well-known newspaper columnists: Walter Winchell (a former child-star member of Gus Edwards’ “School Days” troupe who became a newspaper columnist and radio personality but whose career essentially ended when television displaced radio) and Ed Sullivan, whose years as a newspaper columnist covering Broadway and the entertainment industry were gradually forgotten as his Sunday evening variety program became a long-running hit on network television.

[@waynej2608]

Winchell was a real soulless bastard.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

Ed Sullivan was a bastard.

[@michaelstewart6414]

I wonder if anyone looked into the Jack Paar/Dorothy Kilgallen fued after Dorothy was murdered.

[@nicholasandrian5580]

That had to do with her solo interview with Jack Ruby.

[@moemcgovern7345]

I can’t imagine anyone better for the Tonight Show than Johnny Carson.

[@qzorn4440]

Johnny Carson was so cool. 😎

[@stevengolden9009]

Jack Paar had his own style. He was a great storyteller and you never knew what Paar was going to say or do and he could be controversial. Back then it made for great television. When Carson hosted, he just wanted to make people laugh.

[@arcanondrum6543]

​@@stevengolden9009 Well, I never saw Paar but Johnny was talented; sing, dance, skits, he did a great job with interviews and if a similar fued erupted, Johnny would land a few zingers and move on. I recall that some played out longer but I don't recall which. Remarkably little about his many marriages however.

[@kathyh4804]

I never this about this feud... great job putting this video together!

[@tomtriffid]

Jack Parr was the most notable primadonna of the 1950s.

[@kulturekritik9665]

. . . right up there with Dorothy Kilgallen.

[@hetmanjz]

Was this "Jack Parr" person you're talking about on par with Jack Paar as a talk-show host? I'll have to look him up.

[@photo161]

Anyone who remembers him from back in the day, his heyday, remembers him as a terrible drama queen, a ludicrously overemotional diva, and grandstanding prima donna absolute. It was in the days when TV was still trying to figure out what it was, and it finally concluded that as far as Paar was concerned, too much was, yes, too much.

[@rodneybill1221]

At least they didn't hide behind a keyboard when it came time to dole out hatred and criticisms. Now you have social media bullies who, if met in an alley somewhere probably couldn't handle a real confrontation between they and their created enemy.

[@katylake212]

I had no idea about this, and the bit about William F. Buckley! Fascinating stuff...thank you for posting it.

[@merricat3025]

I can read but not as fast as you allow us to read.

[@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043]

Merri Cat • Me either, but PAUSE has rescued me many times!😊

[@pianoman551000]

Use the PAUSE BUTTON!!!!

[@thudthud5423]

Pause button is helpful.

[@rvpstudioscanada3991]

I had to stop the video SEVERAL TIMES in order to read what was going on.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

Hit the pause button.

[@Ody-up6kg]

Jack Paar was born 60 years before his time. He would fit in perfectly with today ego-centric celebrities.

[@sandraoss326]

kilgallen must have written a lot of bad stuff about people because a lot of people hated her

[@nicholasandrian5580]

Sinatra said, "I hear D.K. is shopping around for a new chin."

[@SymphonyBrahms]

She did. She was a mean spirited person.

[@kingtriplebbb5347]

Ms. Dorothy we miss you so much 😍 don't worry we gonna find out 1 day what really happened to you 🕵️

[@VBN59Z]

WHen you do, we will also find out who killed Marilyn Monroe

[@anewcreation8458]

Yes! Author, Mark Shaw is wanting DNA from Dorothy and Patasky, if he gets permission to exhume her. It ain't over yet folks!

[@misskim2058]

Mob. Hit.

[@JfK--OBJECTivE]

@@SymphonyBrahms naive assumption.

[@gina.1]

@@VBN59Z Check out Mark Shaw's book. Wrote amazing books about Kilgallen and Monroe and connected the two.

[@alloftheclassics]

He proved her wrong, he did walk off for good. And didn't really ever come back. Dorothy would print something even if she knew it to be false if it sounded good. Even John Daly had a skirmish with her. He told her what she printed about him was straight up false....but it looked true and sounded good.

[@billgish3424]

Paar was a big baby.

[@priscillahodson3566]

Litlebredvpills

[@BuckyBrown-lt4ry]

And not very talented or funny.

[@ohmeowzer1]

Bill Gish yes Dorothy was spot on

[@rvpstudioscanada3991]

Opinions are like assholes... EVERYONE’s GOT ONE.

[@robertsvorinich890]

Paar had onions In that political climate He publicly stated his views which rubbed powerful people the wrong way. Jack RIP

[@user-si2nx4zl3b]

Jack Paar was one of the greatest tonight show hosts he was witty. And had wonderful guests on his shows and everyone should read his books!

[@NoOne-kr4jc]

RIP Jack but it's most important to recognize Kilgallen because she was doing her duty, and she died under mysterious circumstances like Marilyn Monroe. She probably had evidence to flip the Kennedy thing around.

[@andyoushouldfeelbad]

Jack was neurotic and sentimental, but a gentleman above all else. I loved him so much.

[@drummersagainstitk]

Thank you for your great post! I've watched every thing posted on KZbin with Jack Paar as a side interest. In my old age, he was brash but an assh---e "Par Excellance" (pun intended). Like most TV hosts they believe that their "thoughts" are important, riveting, profound etc. I think Dorothy just wanted to shoot a hole into the milquetoast he was IMO. Woman are compelled by many factors to do just that like the size of salary contacts.

[@Landrew1208]

Ringo or Moon? 😊

[@FanboyFilms]

Very well compiled, I like the use of the newspaper articles to fill out the story. My only complaint would be that some of the text is up for too short a time to read it all, especially when someone is talking at the same time. That's a minor complaint though as KZbin is equipped with a pause button. :) Do you mind if I use your superior audio version of the Paar farewell in a video I'm working on about the Tonight Show?

[@epaddon]

Thanks! No problem on that, just please remember to link back to the original source when you post your video, which I'll look forward to.

[@noelnewlon]

I'm 100% on Dorothy's side!!!

[@cookingprof]

Mr Parr BELIEVED that the United States was a country that followed the rule of law. People like Miss Kilgallen & Senator Joseph McCarthy thought their personal positions superseded the United States Constitution & the Bill of Rights. Miss Kilgallen insisted that the First Amendments rights applied to her but NOT Mr. Parr.

[@TimsNew77]

@@cookingprof So glad you said it!

[@danieljackowitz2343]

@@TimsNew77, you'll be glad to know he said it twice!

[@michaelchristopherson123]

I'm kind of 50-50!😕😄

[@catnc1]

cookingprof po

[@willardarmbruster8111]

I liked them both.

[@paddle_shift]

I knew it! Jiminy Glick was Jack Paar!

[@EifertD]

I remember as a child (my parents would have company and I'd sneak and stay up to watch) when Jack Paar made his emotional exit (pretend tears). Even then I thought it was ridiculous and unprofessional. He was looking for sympathy. I'm not sure who was right or wrong in the feud but making fun of Dorothy's chin was hitting below the belt........Also I remember Jack Paar interviewing Bobby Kennedy. Paar was bowing and scraping at Bobby's feet like he was the Pope. It was sickening to watch and I would think Bobby was uncomfortable but understood that Paar was an emotional guy.

[@angerjane]

The Chinless Wonder liked to hit below the belt. Until she was murdered. Read Lee Israel's book.

[@CharlesCoderre-yv1cu]

@@angerjane Dorothy's chin was below many belts

[@TheBatugan77]

@@CharlesCoderre-yv1cu WHOA! 😮😧😲

[@themermaidstale5008]

He kissed Arlene, but shook Dorothy’s hand.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

Lots of people did that. Dorothy had a reputation as a killer shark. Because she was a killer shark.

[@helenhamblin1468]

Dorothy didn't need Jack's kiss. How petty could that get to even mention Jack's insignificant kiss.

[@sandrap6321]

Jack Paar will only be remembered as the guy who kept the seat warm for Johnny Carson. He was a legend in his own mind, coddled by NBC for too long, easily replaced.

[@cattycorner8]

He was a fantastic host

[@jonburrows8602]

@@cattycorner8 Paar was an emotional unstable lunatic. Carson brought cool to the Tonight Show.

[@cattycorner8]

@@jonburrows8602 I did not realize that. I thought Parr was funny on purpose.

[@TheBatugan77]

@@cattycorner8 wrong

[@TheBatugan77]

@@cattycorner8 wrong

[@dumpwokegarbage1497]

God bless your soul Dorothy Kilgallen. You are deeply missed.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

By the Fachists.

[@katylake212]

@@SymphonyBrahms "Faschists"? LOL. You must be a leftist. (Dictionaries are racist.)

[@angerjane]

Lauren Bacall despised Kilgallen primarily for breaking and incorrectly reporting the Bogie terminal cancer story.

[@johnscanlan6337]

What do you mean? Bogie did have terminal cancer!

[@angerjane]

@@johnscanlan6337 search Bacall on Kilgallen

Well I guess since Bogie died of terminal cancer..........SHE WAS RIGHT

[@EifertD]

@@angerjane Are you saying even though Bogart was terminally ill, the fact that Kilgallen exposed it or reported it in an insensitive way upset Bacall?

[@angerjane]

@@EifertD precisement.

[@H.L.-fj6zd]

As a young boy our family enjoyed Jack Paar, … including visiting Albert Schweitzer, my hero, at his compound in Gabon in Central Africa and Mary Martin, my favorite Peter Pan, at her ranch near Anápolis, Goiás, Brazil.

[@rjsweda]

nice compilation thanks

[@gabe-po9yi]

So what if Dorothy thought Mrs. Kruschev's outfits were drab. What business was it of Jack Paar's.

[@CharlesCoderre-yv1cu]

as much as Kilgallen's opinion of Mrs K's dress

[@Landrew1208]

I call it a fake controversy. There's more than meets the eye with this. I'd elaborate, but my pot stickers are getting cold.

[@JohnRinNoHo]

One of my uncles who was doing 10 years at San Quentin at the same time that Dr. Finch was there, told me that one of the inmates dropped a bucket filled with water from an upper level and nailed Dr. Finch right in the head.

[@tomfisher9089]

Wow! Thanx for sharing.

[@wallyt2017]

I didn't know Paar was such a jerk

[@timcarr6401]

Steveb1164, you should have used the past tense. He's no longer living.

[@waynej2608]

He wasn't a jerk. He was bright and witty. And, he's entitled to his own views.

[@whoceceliae1874]

Other videos about DK mourn that despite being an exception as a woman in a man's world, she is no longer remembered. Well, it's because she never brought any other person along with her. I think she was a queen bee.

[@j.p.pelzman7481]

True story, Mikey? Seriously, fascinating stuff. Thanks for sharing.

[@StephanieM772]

I loved Paar. I remember watching his weekly, post-Tonight Show program as a kid and loving it. He always had fascinating guests and he was a great conversationalist. Was he neurotic, overly sensitive, and a narcissist? No doubt. Was the whole Killgallen thing regrettable? Totally. But damn if he didn’t create compelling TV.

[@1953childstar]

He was an odd, homophobic "Closet Case"… Constantly made vicious remarks abut gay people in a very bleak time when society found it acceptable. He was quite a "Drama Queen", and very narcissistic.. When he was older, he was addicted to face lifts ( I will say they were very well done )..

[@buddyrichable1]

I used to love his show. He was the first to show the Beatles. He introduced Bill Cosby and had Peter Ustinov as a regular guest. Famous people ( at the time) seemed to open up on the show and it was always interesting.

[@mickeyray3793]

I was only a little kid but my parents let me stay up late so i was a 6-year old Jack Paar fan. I remember when he visited Africa and showed all his "home movies" from Africa. They could do highly personal and original stuff back then that you could never do today due to network micro-management. Always the prima-donna, Paar was always walking out and pulling whatever drama queen antics he could get away with. But he could get away with it because in the fifties you were lucky if you could get more than 2 stations on your TV.

[@81laurenjean]

Parr and Sinatra were such delicate little babies.

[@H.L.-fj6zd]

Paar showed film clips of the Beatles performing (November 15, 1963) three months before their famous live appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show(February 9, 1964)

[@postal_the_clown]

I was just kid when all this happened, so it all probably went over my head. I just remember that I thought Paar was boring and Dorothy was a little scary. The only thing I really remember from Paar's show was when he showed clips from the Cavern of the Beatles.

[@johndalton3180]

Thank you so much for putting together this wonderful mini-documentary about the feud between Dolly Mae and Jack Paar. I think if you watch the entire 1960 MG segment, you can note that Paar is purposely vague and obstinate when Dorothy is questioning him. Maybe not quite enough to say definitively, but I picked up on it when I first saw it years ago. Jack Paar was a complex figure. Very smart and funny, sometimes rash and childish. Always interesting to watch and listen to.

[@epaddon]

Thanks, that's an interesting point re: Paar's attitude in his MG segment. Certainly by then tensions already existed between the two because Dorothy was a Hearst columnist and Paar loathed everyone who was part of that chain though it really seemed to explode more just days after the MG appearance.

[@johndalton3180]

Dorothy is an endlessly fascinating figure to me. As is Paar on some level. They don't make 'em like that anymore! Though, I have to say, I hate his insane politics, but Glenn Beck's delivery and persona really reminded me of quite a bit of Paar's when Beck had his daily TV show.

[@tomshales8294]

If you’re interested , check out Dick Cavett’s astute assessment of Paar elsewhere on YT. Cavett idolized and, later, worked for Paar.

[@robertlandonijr2481]

MG? what is that ?

[@epaddon]

"Mystery Guest" when referring to What's My Line material.

[@brackslaughter155]

Paar was very thin skinned and unpredictable. Dick Cavett who wrote for him has interesting insights in a youtube posted interview.

[@salleebagno4390]

Dorothy Kilgallen had no problem speaking her mind which I greatly admire.

[@Student____2025__1]

I might have been annoyed about being talked about in DK’s column too, but Paar totally overreacted IMO. He ensured that she would write about him even more. Would have been better to just laugh it off.

[@carltriangolo1384]

I loved Jack Parr But he could be a little too sensitive at times.

[@deborahstancil4041]

I have a feeling the Jack Paar was a narcissist

[@scotnick59]

Me too.

[@aileen694]

@@scotnick59 And a petulant one, too.

[@JfK--OBJECTivE]

and a Communist.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

And Dorothy Kilgallen was a vicious, nasty, right wing McCarthyite.

[@knockywigglesworth1909]

Dorothy was one screwed up lady. She had insecurities, was married to a closet gay man, had a long term affair, drank/ used drugs excessively on occasion and was sadly a very unhappy person. Oh, also like many showbiz/gossip columnists could be very vindictive & mean spirited. She got lucky at an early age but fame & sorrow ate her alive & ruined her happiness. Truly sad life for such an otherwise smart lady.

[@onori4370]

WTF are you saying

[@Ratigan2]

source?

[@The15secondsOfame]

Paar whimpering that he wasn’t included in Dorothy’s column, SNOWFLAKE.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

The problem was that she included him in her column and said nasty, vicious things about him. She was a nasty, vicious person.

[@WintersWar]

It's startling paar let that stuff get to him. reducing him to tears and resignation. I think there were deeper issues there. pressure, fear of failing. I noticed in one of the headlines, 1962 buckley and paar had an interview. who's show?

[@epaddon]

That was on the Paar Tonight Show in its waning period. It's a very complicated story but that appearance was the initial genesis of the feud between Buckley and Gore Vidal that culminated with their on-camera blow-up at each other during ABC's coverage of the 1968 Democratic Convention.

[@WintersWar]

@@epaddon bitter rivals WFB and GV. It was inevitable that would come to a head at some point. I have my own politics as we all do, but I could eagerly listen to both of them lay out their side of things.

[@michaelwalsh1035]

I didn't care for either of these guttersnipes. Paar used his show to cr@p on those he didn't agree with politically, and tried to squelch any response. In the case of Buckley, Paar invited him on and the appearance was non-controversial. But after the Buckley appearance, Paar brought on guests for a week taking shots at Buckley. Finally, Buckley demanded he be allowed to respond and Paar finally relented and wilted when Buckley appeared and crucified Paar. As to Kilgallen, she was also a snake in the grass. She used her column for all sorts of score settling. Her fake Catholic posturing was quite obnoxious. Although I'd be closer to her politics, I'd prefer to deal with Paar, at least you could see his treachery up front.

[@feralcatbrothers]

To quote Mr. Spock: "Fascinating".

[@carltriangolo1384]

Kilgallen was an outrageous person who had a certain amount of power with her silly column.

[@kenhenderson1762]

Dorothy had nothing negative to say about Paar until Paar went to Cuba to interview Castro. The Hearst papers were hugely anti-Communist and had Castro pegged as a Communist from the time he took power. So their editorials slammed Paar and Kilgallen (who worked for Hearst) followed suit.

[@nancysrios]

He was showing his immaturity. A true geek!

[@karencarter8292]

These are some of the predecessors of what we have to endure now. Does this glimpse of the recent past explain the present ?

[@gm12551]

Dorothy Kilgallen was nothing but a chatty Cathy that ended her life way too early. I’m sure Jack had the last laugh. Then cried about it.

[@ideamaker]

The truth is that Jack Paar was secretly in love with Dorothy Kilgallen except, it was an immature love, the kind you'd find between children, where the boy would be pulling on the girl's pigtails. It's sad that he was never man enough to admit his true feelings. On the other hand, Dorothy truly hated him, after all, if you had some immature jackass constantly using his position on a nightly TV show to broadcast nationally hurtful things about you, wouldn't you hate him too?

[@kekoa1843]

Back then, a male of notoriety publicly insulting a woman’s looks was cruel & unusual & revealed much more about the inhumanity of the accuser.

[@Galantski]

It would interesting to know whether Paar made any public statement about Kilgallen on the occasion of her untimely death and, if so, whether he was took the high road or used the occasion to subtly malign her one last time.

[@tomfisher9089]

Perhaps HE killed her.

[@digginyourscene4058]

You can pause on the newspaper shots. Just saying. Tap on the screen and you get an unobstructed view.

[@catman3552]

I heard there was a feud between Jack and Betty Hutton. Anyone out there know what was behind that? I read her book "backstage you can have" and I don't remember any mention of it.

[@JenJessup1]

Wow! DG really flirted w disaster. Those were such dangerous times and a few heads rolled for it, including hers.

[@DayGloClam]

Hugh Downs wasn’t happy when Paar walked off the show and left him holding the bag.

[@moboutmen]

Jack Parr was the Prototype of Johnny Carson.

[@jonburrows8602]

No he wasn't. Paar was an emotionally unstable neurotic. Carson was the epitome of cool.

[@moboutmen]

@@jonburrows8602 your opinion noted

[@H.L.-fj6zd]

(Parr introducing his favorite comedian] If you were to ask me the funniest 25 people I've ever known, I'd say, "Here they are--Jonathan Winters".

[@greglarry11]

Thank god for pause.

[@b.p4958]

This is why Jack paar was popular because he was controversial and said things that was unexpected

[@mitchmuldu854]

He went so far left he fell off the edge to his demise

[@SymphonyBrahms]

She went so far right that she overdosed and drank herself to death.

[@MrAitraining]

What a self absorbed, self centered guy. Not the type to interview OTHER people

[@deanm375]

Just the fact that he supported Castro is enough to tell me he is an unamerican douche bag.

[@EifertD]

I was just a kid then but you are so right.

[@helenhamblin1468]

He quit his medication , took up his thumb , then asked for help from his mommy.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

She took her medication, drank some booze, and kicked the bucket.

[@Thombene77]

Paar liking Castro and Khruschev tells me everything I need to know about him.

[@browningautomatic2393]

GREAT VIDEO ! FRIDAY 5/24/24 MAY 24, 2024

[@marklynn7618]

Kilgallen loved to attack people in her column. She would give you good press if you brought her three dirty stories on other people. All the while she is cheating on her husband for decades with a known bisexual Johnny Ray. Kilgallen's attack on Kruschev's wife was "The grisliness of her attire amounts almost to a demonstration of piety... It would be difficult to find clothes comparable to hers in the waiting room of a New York employment agency for domestic help; in this decadent capitalistic republic, applicants for jobs as launderesses, chambermaids, and cooks usually are far more a la mode than Russia's first lady." She was a snob that looked down her big nose and small chin at other people.

[@MelanieMaguire]

Absolutely. That bitchy spiteful remark about a visiting foreign leader's wife was low and cruel. Shameful. She called JFK a friend, but published a story about Marilyn Monroe having an affair with Bobby Kennedy. She got her job through her father and was an awful journalist - she wrote scathing pieces about well-known people which were just nasty gossip. I don't understand why she seems to have a big following of people today who think she was great. She just strikes me as a spiteful woman, with no class, who got where she was by her family connections and was encouraged to write gutterpress articles by Hearst because they were so popular with the unwashed, rabid masses. A bully in print. She also appears to have had a problem with alcohol and drugs, her marriage was a lie of convenience. I'm not sure what there is to admire.

[@lewisner]

I was born in 1959 and grew up with the idea that there was nothing more pathetic than a man who either attacked a woman physically or attacked her appearance.

[@willmilton2922]

Carson was jerk in his own way,Steve Allan was the best host and nicest guy.

[@harpoon_bakery162]

carson was a legend. allen was a nube, parr thought he was smarter than he was. leno was obnoxious, and the rest are irrelevant.

[@willmpet]

I never witnessed Steve Allen, I'm sure he was good. But I came to care about Paar greatly.

[@timcarr6401]

William, Allen was wonderful and quite funny. He was super intelligent too. I have several of his books. But I don't like how he treated Elvis on his show.

[@Student____2025__1]

@@harpoon_bakery162 Allen was the best. A shame more footage of his TS hosting isn’t available.

[@Nowhereoh]

@@Student____2025__1 I remember his jazz piano playing. HIs comedy sidekicks Don Knotts, Don Adams & Tom Posten. He had Frank Zappa on playing music on a bike. Jack Kerouac. He was really the hip guy compared to square Carson. Letterman copied all of Allen's comedy. Merv Griffin & Mike Douglas also had better shows than the over rated Carson. Johnny hated rock. Mike had John Lennon, Sly Stone as week long guests. Merv had really hipper jazz musicians in NYC & L.A. show bands. Downbeat mag all star bands.

[@DaCoach68]

I'm old enough to remember Jack Paar. Most of the public, including me, thought that Paar was an effete, disingenuous, wannabe martyr. How does Paar justify that Kilgallen correctly called his teary walkout fake, when three weeks later, Paar proves her right? Jack Paar was a gifted host, he just wanted more and more attention. He reminds me of a much more intelligent and classy DJT.