Jack Douglas (born Douglas Linley Crickard, July 17, 1908 - January 31, 1989) was an American comedy writer who wrote for radio and television while additionally writing a series of humor books.

Radio

On radio, he was a writer for

Red Skelton Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program '' The Red Skelton Show''. He has stars ...

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...

and the situation comedy, '' Tommy Riggs and Betty Lou'' (1938–46), in which Riggs switched back and forth from his natural baritone to the voice of a seven-year-old girl.

Television

Continuing to write for Skelton and Hope as he moved into television, Douglas also wrote for Jimmy Durante, Bing Crosby,

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

, Johnny Carson, ''

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1952, to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it ...

'', ''

The Jack Paar Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', ''

The George Gobel Show George Leslie Goebel (May 20, 1919 – February 24, 1991) was an American humorist, actor, and comedian. He was best known as the star of his own weekly comedy variety television series, ''The George Gobel Show'', broadcasting from 1954 to 195 ...

'' and ''

Laugh-In ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (often simply referred to as ''Laugh-In'') is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBC television network, hosted by comedians Dan ...

''. The producer of ''Laugh-In'', George Schlatter, said, "He saw the world from a different angle than the rest of us. He was not only funny, he was nice." Douglas won an Emmy Award in 1954 for best-written comedy material. He was best known for his frequent guest appearances on Jack Paar's shows of the late 1950s and early 1960s. On one such appearance, when Douglas was well established as a Paar guest, he was chastised by Paar for holding a stack of file cards with his jokes while talking with Paar. When Paar returned to television in 1973 and was confronted by unexpected low ratings, he engaged Douglas to contribute monologue material by mail. One week, there was no mail from Douglas; but his next package contained a note: "Sorry I didn't send anything last week. I forgot you were on." Douglas and his third wife Reiko (nee Hashimoto), a Japanese-born singer and comedian, were regular guests on shows hosted by

Merv Griffin Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 he hosted his own t ...

, Dick Cavett and Johnny Carson. Reiko died of cancer on September 9, 2013 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

at age 77.

Humor books

By 1959, Douglas' appearances with Paar gave him a huge audience for his humorous memoirs, published by Dutton and Putnam with many mass market paperback editions by Pocket Books and others. ''My Brother Was an Only Child'', adapted from a book he privately printed in 1947 and sent to 400 of his friends, stayed on the bestseller lists for months in 1959. Some of his books, including ''Shut Up and Eat Your Snowshoes'' (1970), were set in

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...

, where Jack and Reiko Douglas lived for several years after purchasing a wilderness lodge on Bird Lake near

Killarney Provincial Park Killarney Provincial Park is a provincial park in central Ontario, Canada. The park contains just one campground at the George Lake entrance as it is primarily a wilderness park. There are few facilities to allow visitors a chance to experience ...

in 1968. The town Chinookville in his Northern Ontario books is based on the Ontario city Sudbury. The book ''The Neighbors Are Scaring My Wolf'' (1968) was based on his experiences living in

New Canaan, Connecticut New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. About an hour from Manhattan by train, the town is considered part of Connecticut's Gold Coast. The town is bound ...

, while '' Benedict Arnold Slept Here'' (1975) recalled the misadventures of the couple while operating their own inn.

, in his 2003 film ''

Anything Else ''Anything Else'' is a 2003 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen, produced by Letty Aronson, and starring Jason Biggs, Christina Ricci, Allen, Stockard Channing, Danny DeVito, Jimmy Fallon, Erica Leerhsen and KaDee St ...

'' (as his character David Dobel), references one of Douglas' books, ''Never Trust A Naked Bus Driver''. Dobel recalls, "Years ago, Falk, a very wonderful comedy writer, wrote a very funny book with a deep, a really deep and meaningful title. It was called 'Never Trust a Naked Bus Driver.' Now, you would be amazed how many people do exactly that — and worse."

Books by Jack Douglas

* ''No Navel to Guide Him'' (1947) * ''My Brother Was an Only Child'' (1959) * ''Never Trust a Naked Bus Driver'' (1960) * ''A Funny Thing Happened to Me on My Way to the Grave'' (1962) * ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Hashimoto'' (1964) * ''The Neighbors Are Scaring My Wolf'' (1968) * ''Shut Up and Eat Your Snowshoes'' (1970) * ''What Do You Hear from Walden Pond?'' (1971) * ''The Jewish-Japanese Sex and Cook Book and How to Raise Wolves'' (1972) * ''Benedict Arnold Slept Here'' (1975) * ''Going Nuts in Brazil'' (1977) * ''Rubber Duck'' (1979)

References

External links

Jack Douglas papers
at Syracuse University Special Collections Research Center
"Toynbee Doob's Pal" ''Time'' (June 15, 1959)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Jack 1908 births 1989 deaths American humorists Primetime Emmy Award winners People from Lynbrook, New York People from New Canaan, Connecticut