Posted Byjerry4opry on December 27, 2003 at 06:58:31:
In Reply to: Jack and "Real Life" Humor posted byGerry O. on December 26, 2003 at 07:34:40:
: : An interesting theory, and not one I'd considered previously. Jack's mother does seem to have been a pretty strong woman (the few photographs of her look pretty intimidating), and I am told that Jack's father had very little sense of humor (except for his son's work, of course). I have often been interested how Jack, with such a finely -honed understanding of comedy, timing, editing, and all things connected to it came out of a house that was definitely not full of laughter.
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: Something to consider is that Jack looked at comedy as a business....He wasn't one of those comedians who was always "on" in real life.
: It's often been noted that while guys like George Burns, Groucho Marx and George Jessel would be flinging one-liners and generally cutting up at parties and Hillcrest lunches, Jack was usually a quiet spectator. He was a GREAT audience, and would laugh himself breathless at a good gag told by someone else, but from all reports he seems to have been a bit more serious and low-key as compared to his Friar's Club counterparts.
: I'm not saying that Jack didn't have a good sense of humor....He DID, but he just seemed to be a lot more reserved in real life than many other comedians from his era.
: like Bob Newhart, who has described himself as low-key and not the life of the party, Jack i'd imagine was the guy at the party who'd keep to himself unless someone called on him for something...the total opposite of the "party-crashing" character that caused so much misery for the Colman's through the years!