Jack Wasserman

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Jack Wasserman (1927-1977) was a nightlife and celebrity columnist for the Vancouver Sun newspaper from 1949 on. He also had a radio program on the talk-radio station CJOR (1968).

His column was read by almost everyone in the province. Largely made of short items strung together, he would put the names of celebrities in boldface, often reporting things overheard backstage or at political rallies. Whatever was in the headlines of the day, Jack would have some inside information on the story.

When printers at the Vancouver Sun declared a strike, Jack anticipated a long work stoppage, so he approached his friend Jim Pattison, owner of radio station CJOR. It was agreed that Wasserman would go on the air with a three hour talk show weekday mornings from 9 am until 12 noon. His competition would be radio veteran Jack Webster.

Wasserman was able to bring on many big-name celebrities through his connections with local promoters and nightclub owners. Guests included Nina Simone, Richard Pryor, Dusty Springfield, Eric Burdon, and many others, including politicians such as Tommy Douglas. His ratings, however, could not beat those of rival Webster, and in a couple of years Wasserman returned to the Sun and his column until he died. He briefly had a show named Wasserman's World on CKNW (1970).

Wasserman's society and celebrity columns and occasional political analyses wrote up the often-lurid details of the wild heyday, glitter, and sleaziness of the Vancouver nightlife and society whirl in the 1950s and 1960s, when famous dinnerclubs such as The Cave and Isy's attracted big names from around the world.

Quoting from one his columns:

Vancouver erupted as the vaudeville capital of Canada, rivaling and finally outstripping Montreal in the East and San Francisco in the south as one of the few places where the brightest stars of the nightclub era could be glimpsed from behind a post, through a smoke-filled room, over the heads of $20 tippers at ringside. Only in Las Vegas and Miami Beach, in season, were more superstars available in nightclubs.

So profound was Wasserman's role in Vancouver's nightlife that the key blocks of Hornby Street, where much of the action was, has since been officially dubbed "Wasserman's Beat".