Joseph Wapner
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Joseph Albert Wapner (November 15, 1919 – February 26, 2017) was an American judge and television personality. He is best known as the first presiding judge of the reality court show ''
The People's Court ''The People's Court'' is an American Court show#Arbitration-based reality court show, arbitration-based reality court show, featuring an arbitrator handling small claims court, small claims disputes in a simulation, simulated courtroom set. W ...
''. The show's first run in syndication, with Judge Wapner presiding as judge, continued from 1981 to 1993, for 12 seasons and 2,484 episodes. Although the show's second run was presided over by multiple judges, Wapner was the sole judge to preside during the show's first incarnation. His tenure on the program made him the first jurist of arbitration-based reality court shows, which evolved into the most popular trend in the judicial genre and continues to be to the present.


Early life

Joseph Albert Wapner was born on November 15, 1919, in Los Angeles, California, to Jewish parents who had immigrated there; his father, attorney Joseph Max Wapner (1898–1992), was from
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
, while his mother, Fannie (''née'' Friedman) (1901-1990), was from
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. Wapner had a younger sister named Irene. Wapner attended
Hollywood High School Hollywood High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and West Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. His ...
and once dated actress
Lana Turner Julia Jean "Lana" Turner ( ; February 8, 1921June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over a career spanning nearly five decades, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized personal life. ...
while in high school. Wapner was a graduate of the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
(1941) and the USC Law School (1948), serving in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in between. Wapner was awarded the
Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...
and the
Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...
while serving in the South Pacific in
Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...
. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army as a
lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...
. While at U.S.C. Wapner was initiated into the Tau Gamma chapter of the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity.


Career


Legal career

Wapner was an attorney in private practice for ten years. Appointed by
Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Pat Brown Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he ...
to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1959,Okamoto, Sherri M.
Wapner: From Jurist to TV Star to the Man on the Root Beer Bottle
Metropolitan News-Enterprise, July 17, 2009, page 3
Wapner served two years before being elevated to the
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...
Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...
, where he served for 18 years before retiring. While serving on the Superior Court bench, Wapner served as presiding judge in 1969 and 1970. Wapner was also president of the California Judges Association in 1975 and 1976 and retired from the court on November 16, 1979.


''The People's Court''

Wapner was the first judge to preside over the
court show A court show (also known as a judge show, legal/courtroom program, courtroom series, or judicial show) is a broadcast programming genre comprising legal dramas and reality legal programming. Court shows present content mainly in the form of legal ...
''
The People's Court ''The People's Court'' is an American Court show#Arbitration-based reality court show, arbitration-based reality court show, featuring an arbitrator handling small claims court, small claims disputes in a simulation, simulated courtroom set. W ...
.'' His tenure on the program lasted from 1981 to 1993, making for 2,340 half-hour episodes. On the series, he conducted a binding
arbitration Arbitration is a formal method of dispute resolution involving a third party neutral who makes a binding decision. The third party neutral (the 'arbitrator', 'arbiter' or 'arbitral tribunal') renders the decision in the form of an 'arbitrati ...
that was set up to resemble a
small claims court Small-claims courts have limited jurisdiction to hear civil cases between private litigants. Courts authorized to try small claims may also have other judicial functions, and go by different names in different jurisdictions. For example, it ma ...
by pitting parties, without lawyers, against each other. The legacy of the show's high popularity has led to various other similar syndicated courtroom shows, such as ''
Judge Judy ''Judge Judy'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudicated real-life small-claims disputes within a simulated court ...
'' and ''
Hot Bench ''Hot Bench'' is an American nontraditional panel-based court show that debuted in first-run syndication on September 15, 2014. The series was conceptualized and produced for CBS Media Ventures by Judith Sheindlin of ''Judge Judy'' fame, alon ...
'', among others. After 12 seasons on ''The People's Court'', Wapner was not invited back to the series in 1993, when the ratings had dropped to an all-time low. After a four-year hiatus, beginning in 1993, ''The People's Court'' returned to the air in 1997, and aired until July 2023.
Ed Koch Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989. Koch was a lifelong Democrat who ...
, former mayor of
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, served as judge from September 1997 until June 1999; Jerry Sheindlin from September 1999 until March 2001; and Marilyn Milian from March 2001 until July 2023. Wapner stated that he was told years later that the producers did not want to hurt his feelings; however, he noted that this is precisely what the show did. Wapner also said he was not notified when the producers revamped the series. He declined to offer opinions on the ''People's Court'' judges who succeeded him, as he never watched the revamped program. On November 12, 2009, Wapner received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...
. He and Judith Sheindlin of the television court show ''Judge Judy'' were the only two television jurists who have received the honor as of 2009. Wapner was publicly critical of Sheindlin's courtroom adjudicating approach. On November 13, 2009, in honor of his 90th birthday on November 15, Wapner made a one-time-only return to the court show, acting as a guest judge, presiding over a case in the Marilyn Milian era of ''The People's Court''. Until the summer of 2013, Wapner also held the title of longest-reigning arbiter over ''The People's Court''. However, by completion of the court show's 2012–2013 season, Milian captured this title from him and became the longest-reigning judge in the series. Milian remained on the show until its cancellation in July 2023.


Other media appearances and endeavors

Five years after presiding over ''The People's Court'', Wapner returned to television as a judge in spin-off nontraditional courtroom series '' Judge Wapner's Animal Court'', lasting for two seasons (1998–1999 and 1999–2000) on
Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...
. Wapner authored a book, ''A View from the Bench'' (1987, Simon and Schuster, ). On the back cover, Alice Cooper's 1983 album "DaDa" has "Special Thanks to Judge Joseph A. Wapner". On June 27, 1986, Wapner appeared on the ''
Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show, originating in the American Media, United States. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest inte ...
'' to hear a case of
David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, and auto racing team owner. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ''Late N ...
vs.
Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, and writer best known as the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson is a cultural phenomenon and w ...
over alleged damage to the headlight of Letterman's pickup truck when Carson had the truck towed to the studio. Wapner ruled in favor of Letterman, granting him $24.95. In 1995 he appeared as an alternate-universe version of himself as Commissar of a "People's Court" in a Soviet-controlled California in an early episode of '' Sliders''.


Endorsements

During 1999–2000, Wapner served as the national spokesperson for Singer Asset Finance Company, LLC, a specialty finance company, appearing in national television commercials and print ads. Since around 2010, the soda company
Rocket Fizz Rocket Fizz is an American franchise chain of novelty bottled soft drinks and candy stores. The company markets a diverse variety of candies and produces its own soda pop line offering unique flavors. Its flagship store, which opened in 2009, ...
has marketed a beverage, Judge Wapner Cream Soda, featuring the slogan, "I sentence you to drink my cream soda."


Personal life, final years and death

Wapner was active in Jewish causes, including sitting on the board of a Jewish school. He was married to Mildred “Mickey” Wapner (née Nebenzahl) for 71 years, from 1946 until his death in 2017. Their daughter Sarah died from
heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...
in May 2015 at age 56. They also had two sons who became attorneys: David Miron-Wapner and Frederick Nathan Wapner, the latter of whom was a prosecutor and L.A. district attorney who also became a judge (including with the Los Angeles County Superior Court). Wapner also had four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Wapner died from
respiratory failure Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a r ...
on February 26, 2017, at his home in Los Angeles. He was 97 years old. He is interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wapner, Joseph 1919 births 2017 deaths 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American Jews American people of Romanian-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent American writers of Russian descent Burials at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery California state court judges Deaths from respiratory failure American lawyers Jewish American military personnel Lawyers from Los Angeles Military personnel from California Respiratory disease deaths in California Superior court judges in the United States Tau Epsilon Phi Television judges United States Army officers United States Army personnel of World War II USC Gould School of Law alumni Writers from Los Angeles