July 29, 1957- March 30,1962. 

Joined in Progress, Sam Levinson substitutes for Jack Paar on The Tonight Show (one of ten times he hosted). His guests are Carmel Quinn who sings, Comic Dave Astor who does a stand-up routine, and Isaac Stern who chats and plays violin. 

*FOR THE RECORD, as archivists are aware, most of THE JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOW SERIES which were broadcast on NBC TV from July 29,  1957 thru March 30, 1962 (A final BEST OF PAAR rerun originally televised November 21, 1961...guest Jack Benny) were ERASED, DESTROYED OR WHEREABOUTS UNKNOWN. 

2" Quadruplex Video Tape was expensive ($400 for a one hour reel), weighting 26 pounds, requiring great storage space. Video Tape could easily be erased and was used for new program recordings...retained briefly for a re-run and then erased or discarded. Legend has it that even Jack Paar himself hired a junk man to come to his home garage and paid to have JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOW recordings discarded (reels of kinescopes and video tapes) that were now cluttering up his space. 

During this era in television history archiving television programming was not a primary concern or vision, and considered an arcane pursuit. 

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS retains in their archive only 4 program excerpts accounting for only one hour or material of JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOWS (November 14, 1958, December 23, 1959, October 19, 1959, and one 33&1/3rd audio disc promotional from 1957 presenting Jack Paar the new host  of the TONIGHT SHOW. 

THE PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA retains in their archive only 7 program excerpts accounting for only four and a quarter hours of material (July 29, 1957, November 1, 1957, November 7, 1958, November 10, 1958, November 14, 1958, July 22, 1959, December 21, 1959).

UCLA FILM & TV ARCHIVE retains in their archive only 8 program excerpts accounting for only seven hours of material (August 12, 1957, November 1, 1957, November 10, 1958, November 11, 1958, November 14, 1958, July 22, 1959, December 21, 1959).

For over 62 years Phil Gries, creator and owner of ARCHIVAL TLEVISION AUDIO, Inc. has continued to be a passionate television audio archive collector. TRULY UNIQUE TODAY AS AN INDEPENDENT TV AUDIO ARCHIVE. Currently, in 2021, to date, ATA has collated and archived over 20,000 TV Audio Air Checks representing 20,000 hours of sound...tens of thousands of broadcasts which represent the ONLY SURVIVING BROAADCAST RECORD OF A SPECIFIC TELEVISION SHOW (1946-1982). 

ARCHIVAL TELEVISION AUDIO, INC. retains over 70 complete and excerpt JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOW air checks (34 hours), including the complete Jack Paar's first anniversary telecast which was broadcast live from Havana Cuba (June 28, 1958). These originally recorded off the air pristine sound direct line 1/4" reel to reel audio tracks, recorded at the time of the original broadcasts, represent the only broadcast record of a "lost" visual telecast. ATA is the largest single repository (one collection), in the United Sates of Jack Paar Tonight Shows recordings. 

The combined archives of The Library of Congress, Paley Center for Media, and UCLA Film & Television only retain a composite total of 13 hours of representative JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOW broadcasts excerpts...none complete. 

For four years and eight months Jack Paar reigned supreme as host of the TONIGHT SHOW with a crew of regulars, but only two stayed with him for the entire run; announcer Hugh Downs and band leader Jose Melis, a former army buddy. Familiar faces who appeared many times with Jack included Dody Goodman, Betty Johnson, Elsa Maxwell, Alexander King, Genevieve, Jack Douglas; and wife Reiko, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hans Conreid, Peggy Cass, Cliff (Charley Weaver) Arquette, and Jonathan Winters.

 Hugh Downs substituted for Jack Paar 79 times, more than any other substitute host. There were 20 different substitute hosts for Paar over the period of the series run. Joey Bishop substituted for Paar 31 times. Arlene Francis, 30 times, Jonathan Winters, 26 times, Orson Bean, 21 times and Johnny Carson 15 times. All together there were 243 broadcasts which had substitute hosts filling in for Paar during Jack Paar's TONIGHT SHOW tenure. The title of the late night broadcast changed to THE JACK PAAR SHOW which took effect on February 3, 1958. The first video-taped broadcast aired on January 5, 1959. The final LIVE broadcast aired on July 3, 1959. "Best of Paar " Re-runs began on July 10,1959. Beginning July 20, 1959 Jack Paar began taking off Monday nights & guest hosts would substitute for him (approximately on alternate Mondays). The first color broadcast aired on September 19, 1960.
Theme music, "Everything is Coming Up Roses" was first used beginning in the Fall of 1959. 

Location broadcast telecasts of the program telecast away from the Hudson Theater in New York City occurred 14 times during this series run. 

Jan. 13-17, 1958                     Miami Beach, Florida
July 28, 1958                        Havana, Cuba           
Nov. 3-21, 1958                      Hollywood, California
March 2-20, 1959                     Hollywood, California
Nov. 10-12, 1959                  Nassau, Bahamas (Video Tape)
Nov. 30- Dec. 10, 1959               Hollywood, California
March 28-April 1, 1960            London, England (Video Tape)
Nov.9-11, 1960                    Hawaii (Video Tape) - b&w
Nov.14-24, 1960                     Hollywood, California
March 21-24, 1961                 London, England (Video Tape)
Sept. 12-14, 1961                 West Berlin (Video Tape)
Nov. 14-17, 1961                  Hollywood, California (Tape)
Nov. 21-24, 1961                  Hollywood, California (Tape)
March 13-16, 1962                 London, England (Video Tape)

OBSERVATION: Listening to the few extant audio air check COMPLETE JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOW broadcasts, as originally televised, AND RECORDED DIRECT LINE RESULTING IN  PRISTINE PLAYBACK SOUND,  retains the essence and specialty which Jack Paar was able to convey as host of his late night talk show. He set the standard for how the TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JACK PAAR format evolved, including introducing the standard monologue at the beginning of every show, which continues to evolve to this day...however, sans the whit, charm, warmth, ease, unpredictability, vulnerability, pace and controversy which Paar brought to TV audiences at night. Jack Paar was stellar, and he is sorely missed by most Baby Boomers who remember watching him in real time.

Mostly forgotten by todays' younger audiences Jack Paar needs to be re-evaluated at length to place him royally as one of the most, if not the most, important LATE NIGHT HOSTS IN THE HISTORY OF LATE NIGHT TELEVISION. 

Interestingly, current documentaries examining the history of Late Night television, including the current CNN 6 hours retrospective on the subject THE STORY OF LATE NIGHT (2021), relegates only 15 minutes of screen time to Jack Paar's contributions as one of many late night hosts.  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Guests Johnny Carson, Woody Allen, Dave Astor, Jack Carter and Mickey Rooney discuss the world of comedy with David Susskind.  This very rare "lost TV broadcast" was Woody Allen's first notable television appearance and was telecast nine months before Johnny Carson would become host of "The Tonight Show."  

NOTE: Originally recorded off the air by Phil Gries. Woody Allen who had been looking to obtain this "lost" broadcast for years was given a personal copy by Gries in January 1997 and soon after donated a copy to The Paley Center for Media (at that time named The  Museum of Television and Radio).
Jack Carter also received a copy of this broadcast from Gries who discussed in a letter his near fisticuff moments with Woody Allen during commercial breaks.