Jack Narz

Template:Infobox actor television John William (Jack) Narz, Jr. (November 13, 1922 – October 15, 2008) was an American television announcer and game show host. He was the brother of Tom Kennedy and the former brother-in-law of Bill Cullen. In his career, Narz hosted several game shows, including Concentration, Beat the Clock, Now You See It and Dotto. He also hosted part of one episode of Password Plus when normal host Kennedy decided to be a contestant.

Early career

Narz was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for missions in the China-Burma area as a fighter pilot during World War II. After the war, he went to broadcasting school in Los Angeles and was later hired as an announcer on radio station KXO; additionally, he did radio commercials for local businesses.

In the initial (1951) episode of Adventures of Superman, he narrated at key points in the backstory of the title character. At the conclusion of the opening episode of Superman, Narz's voiceover asked viewers to "Join us every week for the adventures of Superman!" Narz was paid $150 for the voice work and received annual royalty payments of $1.98. He also made appearances in local Los Angeles television and served as the announcer on one of TV's first nationally-broadcast children's shows, Space Patrol.

Narz first achieved television fame in 1952, when he was the on-camera announcer and narrator of the sitcom Life with Elizabeth starring Betty White. In 1955, as he did on radio, Narz served as the announcer-sidekick of bandleader Bob Crosby on the former's daytime TV show. That same year, he also worked as announcer on "Place The Face," a game show hosted by Bill Cullen. By the end of 1957, his career would have Narz move his family from southern California to the suburbs of New York City.

In January 1958, he got his own game show, presiding over CBS's Dotto. Within a very brief time, Dotto became quite popular, running five days a week on CBS and, beginning in the summer of 1958, weekly in prime time on NBC, with Narz hosting both versions.

Dotto was soon discovered to be fixed, after a notebook with answers was found on the desk of Marie Winn, one of the show's winners, and that notebook was passed on to CBS executives by the standby contestant who had found it. CBS canceled the daytime version in August and NBC followed with cancellation of the nighttime version of the show. It was the first popular quiz show to be canceled as a result. Narz was subpoenaed and took a polygraph test that showed that he was not connected to the fraud.

After Dotto

He was back on the air within a short period of time after Dotto's cancellation, hosting its replacement Top Dollar (succeeding its first host, Warren Hull, as part of an arrangement made with CBS and the ad agency representing the Colgate-Palmolive Company and General Mills, with whom Narz was under contract at the time). In 1960, he guest-hosted for a month on The Price Is Right, while regular host Bill Cullen took a vacation. Later that year, he was the host of Video Village, but asked producers to let him leave the show due to personal reasons. After relocating back to Los Angeles, he hosted Seven Keys, which started as a local show, but then moved to ABC (1961-1964). It later returned as a local show in L.A. until sometime in 1965. This was followed by a 13-week run on a new NBC game show entitled I'll Bet. In 1969, Narz began hosting the syndicated revival of Beat the Clock, doing so until 1972 when the show's announcer, Gene Wood, replaced him.

In 1973, Narz started hosting Concentration. Airing in syndication until 1978, it was his longest-lasting job as host. He also emceed Now You See It on CBS (1974-1975). In 1979-80, he worked for a season as announcer and associate producer for the CBS revival of Beat the Clock. Narz also was used as a sub-announcer for Gene Wood on the NBC version of Card Sharks.

'Brother' Act

While the Narz brothers (Tom Kennedy is the stage name of Jim Narz) have forged successful individual careers as broadcasters, they did make occasional joint appearances. Jack Narz appeared on Tom Kennedy's You Don't Say during its NBC run, and the syndicated It's Your Bet. Narz also appeared on the Password Plus panel while Kennedy was hosting and switched places with his brother to host for half an episode. Tom Kennedy appeared on Jack Narz's Beat the Clock.

Like his brother, Narz appeared on To Tell the Truth as a celebrity panelist.

In 2005, Jack Narz and Tom Kennedy were co-recipients of the Bill Cullen Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Game Show Congress.

In May 2007, Jack Narz and Tom Kennedy were given the Diamond Circle Award by the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters at a celebrity luncheon honoring Leonard Maltin.

Personal life

Narz's first wife was Mary Lou Roemheld, daughter of Oscar-winning composer Heinz Roemheld and the sister of Bill Cullen's wife, Ann (hence the brother-in-law relationship Narz had with Cullen in the 1950s). They had four children together. After their divorce, he married Dolores "Doe" Vaichsner, a flight attendant for TWA and American Airlines.

Death

Narz died of complications following two strokes on October 15, 2008 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

His son Mike released a statement on TVWeek after Jack's death.

See also

• List of famous Louisvillians

External links

• Jack Narz at IMDb

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