Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I was saddened to learn today of the passing of Tucson television pioneer Jack Jacobson. I knew him as a man (he was a member of my church when I was a youngster), but I loved him for his television character, "Dr. Scar" on K-GUN's Chiller Theater on Saturday nights. It was a weekly ritual in our house that I would sneak out to the living room to turn on the TV to watch Dr. Scar introduce some bad B-movie horror flick, only to have one of my parents come out to tell me to "get back in bed." Ah, fond memories of a misspent youth. I would see Mr. Jacobson on Sundays at church, with a knowing smile and a friendly wave.
From the Arizona Daily Star TV pioneer Jack Jacobson, Tucson's 'Dr. Scar,' dies at 87:
Tucson TV pioneer Jack Jacobson, perhaps best known for his weekly portrayal of KGUN-TV horror movie host “Dr. Scar” in the 1960s, died Monday. He was 87.
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Jacobson, a member of the Arizona Broadcasters Hall of Fame, began his career when he was 8 years old on the “Uncle Bob Pierce and Company” radio show in Rochester, N.Y. The year was 1929.
As a teen he worked as a comic in New York City night clubs before enlisting in the Army Air Corps in 1942.
But even World War II didn’t keep Jacobson from his true calling. He fought the Nazis with laughs as a comic in the Sky Blazers, a Combat Special Services entertainment unit.
Jacobson’s troupe toured North Africa, the Middle East and England and were among the first entertainers to land in Europe after the D-Day invasion. He would later recall that performances would sometimes be interrupted by enemy bombs.
“He knew how to perform in any situation,” Lindstrom said.
Jacobson was awarded the Bronze Star for his service during the war. “Introducing the Sky Blazers,” a book he wrote about his wartime experiences, will be published in June.
After returning to the U.S., Jacobson started a career in TV. In 1962 he was hired as program and promotion manager for KGUN-TV in Tucson.
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His signature character, the “kindly, lovable” Dr. Scar, gained a cult following hosting KGUN’s weekly horror-movie show, “Chiller.”
Jacobson would slather himself in stage makeup and ham it up, climbing out of coffins and telling dark jokes.
The Arizona Daily Star article inexplicably fails to mention that Jack Jacobson was the local host of the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) telethon for almost forty years, where he would occasionally do his Dr. Scar character. As described by his son, Steve Jacobson, in March 2005 E-gor's Chamber of TV Horror Hosts (h/t for the photo):
The guy that played Dr. Scar was Jack Jacobson. He was the program director at KGUN. He also did Science Fiction Theater on Sunday afternoon the same years that Chiller was on. He also was the host of the Jerry Lewis M.D.A telethon in Tucson and still co-hosts it now. He is always asked to do his Dr. Scar voice and laugh to this day. He also was on TV in Dayton Ohio in the 50's on a kid's show; his name was Nosey the Clown. That was on WHIO TV.
Jack Jacobson was a good and decent man who loved children and gave unselfishly to his community. The man may no longer be with us but his memory will live on in all who knew him and the many lives he touched over the years with his acts of kindness.