Jack Pearl

File:Meet the Baron poster.jpg (1933)]]

Born in New York, Pearl debuted as an entertainer in School Days, Gus Edwards's vaudeville act.{{cite book |last1=Erickson |first1=Hal |title=From Radio to the Big Screen: Hollywood Films Featuring Broadcast Personalities and Programs |date=2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476615585 |pages=50–53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mCXOAwAAQBAJ&q=%22Jack+Perlman%22+radio&pg=PA50 |accessdate=7 July 2018 |language=en}}

He made the transition from vaudeville to broadcasting when he introduced his character Baron Munchausen on The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air in 1932. His creation was loosely based on the Baron Munchausen literary character. As the Baron, Pearl would tell far-fetched stories with a comic German accent. When the straight man (originally Ben Bard, but later Cliff Hall) expressed skepticism, the Baron replied with his familiar tagline and punchline: "Vass you dere, Sharlie?" ("Was you there, Charlie?"). This catch phrase soon became part of the national lexicon.

Typical of the dialogue:

:Hall: You seem to be effervescent tonight.

:Munchausen: Haff you effer seen me ven I effer vasn't?

Pearl played this character and others in Broadway musical revues of the 1920s and 1930s: 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).{{cite web |title=Jack Pearl |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/jack-pearl-55801 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |accessdate=7 July 2018 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20180707004016/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/jack-pearl-55801 |archivedate=7 July 2018 |url-status=live }}

In 1923, Pearl and Wilkie Bard appeared in early tests of the Lee DeForest sound-on-film process Phonofilm which are now in the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

Pearl's radio career included stints as the host of The Lucky Strike Hour (1932–34) and The Jack Pearl Show,{{r|rp|page1=170}} which ran from late 1936 through early 1937, sponsored by Raleigh and Kool Cigarettes.{{cite web|url=http://otrrpedia.net/getprogram.php?item=2877|title=The Jack Pearl Show|publisher=OTRRpedia|accessdate=6 April 2011|archive-date=August 23, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823212942/http://otrrpedia.net/getprogram.php?item=2877|url-status=dead}}

The success of his first radio series brought him to the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 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 Ben Bard and Jack Pearl (1926), a film of their vaudeville act made in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process, and Hollywood Party (1934).

With the cancellation of his second radio series, Pearl found himself struggling to find work. He continued in radio with shows like, Jack and Cliff (1948),{{r|rp|page1=166-167}} The Pet Milk Show (1950),{{r|rp|page1=269}} and The Baron and the Bee (1952), a quiz show,{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows|date=1999|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|isbn=978-0-7864-4513-4|page=33}} but he never recaptured his mid-1930s fame.

In 1934, a juvenile novel, Jack Pearl as Detective Baron Munchausen, was based on his radio scripts. On February 8, 1960, he received a star at 1680 Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio work.{{cite web |title=Jack Pearl |url=http://www.walkoffame.com/jack-pearl |website=Hollywood Walk of Fame |accessdate=7 July 2018 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707005544/http://www.walkoffame.com/jack-pearl |archivedate=7 July 2018}} Pearl died in New York in 1982.

He was an uncle to the agent and producer Bernie Brillstein.Frank Rose, The Agency: William Morris and the Hidden History of Show Business, 1995, New York: Harper, p. 261.

Pearl was married to Winifred Desborough.{{cite news |last1=Albert |first1=Dora |title=Why Jack Pearl Came Back |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21629460/jack_pearl/ |work=Detroit Free Press |date=March 7, 1937 |location=Michigan, Detroit |page=100|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 6, 2018}} {{Open access}}

{{Portal|Biography|New York City|Radio|Film}}

{{Commons category|Jack Pearl}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0669069}}
• [http://catalog.nypl.org/record=b11524064~S1 Jack Pearl Papers, 1899-1973], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
• [http://otrrpedia.net/getpersonF.php?PN=4868 OTRRpedia: Jack Pearl] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823212724/http://otrrpedia.net/getpersonF.php?PN=4868 |date=August 23, 2011 }}

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Category:1894 births

Category:1982 deaths

Category:Jewish American male actors

Category:American male radio actors

Category:Male actors from New York City

Category:American vaudeville performers

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:Burials at Mount Hebron Cemetery (New York City)

Category:20th-century American Jews

Category:Comedians from New York City

Category:American male comedians

Category:Jewish American comedians

Category:Jewish male comedians