My Saber is Bent

Jack Paar, America’s midnight maverick, has become the most talked-about, most controversial personality in television by speaking out frankly and frequently—and letting the ratings fall where they may. As a result he has been denounced in Washington, attacked in the press, investigated by the Harris committee and sued by Jimmy Hoffa. Yet, withal, he has hobnobbed with presidents and premiers, corralled sponsors and honors galore, discovered more fine new talent than anyone in television history and written a best seller.

Much blood has gone over the dam since Mr. Paar’s best-selling I KID YOU NOT. Since then he has found his fun, feuds and frustrations in far-flung corners of the globe. He fought a bull in Spain, outraged Hawaii and created an international furor in Berlin. All this he ascribes to the inscrutable working of Paar’s Law, which formulates the hypothesis that when Paar comes, can trouble be far behind?

Here he gives a colorful account of his travels and travails, including his experiences with President Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Willy Brandt and assorted other famous friends and enemies.

We give you then the victim of Paar’s Law; a man who seems to possess two left feet; the electronic Jack the Giant Killer who—after years of tilting with windmills and windbags—stands with saber bent but head unbowed.