Dutch postcard by Takken / 't Sticht, no. 3332. Photo: Europa / Columbia. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
The nice guy with a heart of gold
John Elmer Carson was born in 1910 in Carman, Manitoba, Canada. He was the younger son of Edward L. Carson, who worked in insurance, and Elsa Carson (née Brunke). Carson's elder brother was actor Robert Carson. The boys were born in Canada but raised in Milwaukee. At Carleton College (Northfield, Minnesota), he acquired a taste for acting.
During a performance, he tripped and took half the set with him. Dave Willock, a college friend, thought it was so funny he persuaded Carson to team with him in a Vaudeville act, Willock and Carson, and a new career was born. While touring in Vaudeville, Jack met his first wife, dancer Betty Alice Lindy. They later performed together in a song-and-dance act ('Lindy and Carson') for a year on the Orpheum Theatre circuit. They married in 1938 but divorced a year later.
As Vaudeville declined due to increased competition from radio and cinema, Carson sought work in Hollywood. He started at RKO as an extra. His first major acting role came alongside Humphrey Bogart in the romantic comedy Stand-In (Tay Garnett, 1937). After a few years, he developed into a popular character actor who appeared in numerous comedies, musicals, and a few Westerns. Not happy with the direction his career was heading, Jack Carson moved to Warner Brothers in 1941, where the quality of his supporting roles improved. It also did not hurt to be in films that starred James Cagney, such as The Strawberry Blonde (Raoul Walsh, 1941) with Olivia De Havilland and Rita Hayworth and The Bride Came C.O.D. (William Keighley, 1941) with Bette Davis.
After three years, he starred with Jane Wyman in the crime comedy Make Your Own Bed (Peter Godfrey, 1944) and, again, in The Doughgirls (James V. Kern, 1944). Carson would play the nice guy with a heart of gold who was still nice when he was angry. He would take the double take and the quizzical look to a higher level, but he could also act in dramas. He provided a good portrayal of Albert in The Hard Way (Vincent Sherman, 1943), starring Ida Lupino and was acclaimed for his performance in Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 1945) as the perpetually scheming Wally Fay opposite Joan Crawford in the title role.
Vintage postcard, no. 5006.
Dutch postcard, no. 3427. Photo: Warner Bros.
Everybody Loves Jack
Jack Carson teamed up with his old friend, Dennis Morgan, for 11 popular 'Two Guys' films in the tradition of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. He often embodied good-natured and witty, but not overly intelligent or serious characters. In Arsenic and Old Lace (Frank Capra, 1944), for example, he played an inexperienced policeman who concentrates mainly on writing a play while murderous events unfold around him.
Carson would become popular as a wisecracking comedian on the radio with 'Everybody Loves Jack' (1943-1947). It broke audience records regularly when it was on the air. Hollywood stars lined up to do guest spots on the show. During the 1940s, Carson would often disappear from Hollywood for weeks at a time. Only his wife knew where he went, and she (Kay St. Germain Wells) would tell no one. Years later, Carson revealed the secret: he had joined the Clyde Beatty circus as a clown and was travelling with their show. Audiences never knew it was him. "They loved me and my routines," he said.
Jack Carson's success on the radio led him to television work in the 1950s, where he was one of 4 rotating hosts on Four Star Revue (1950), until 1951, when he left the show and the title was changed to All Star Revue. Carson hosted and performed on The Colgate Comedy Hour (1952-1955. He also helped host The U.S. Royal Showcase (1952). He would appear on several TV shows during the 1950s, and one of his most remembered was an episode of The Twilight Zone (1959). He played a somewhat shady used-car salesman who came into possession of an old Model-A Ford that was 'haunted': whoever owned it had to tell the truth, whether he wanted to or not.
In the cinema, Carson starred in the slapstick comedy, The Good Humor Man (Lloyd Bacon, 1950), co-starring his future wife, Lola Albright. Although his film career slowed in the 1950s, he appeared in some prestige pictures, such as A Star Is Born (George Cukor, 1954) as Judy Garland's unscrupulous agent, The Tarnished Angels (Douglas Sirk, 1957) with Rock Hudson and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Richard Brooks, 1958) as Paul Newman's brother.
He collapsed in August 1962 while in rehearsal for the play 'Critic's Choice.' An early diagnosis deemed it a stomach 'disorder', but two months later, cancer was discovered while he was undergoing an unrelated operation. Jack Carson died of stomach and liver cancer in 1963 in Encino, California. He was entombed in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. Carson and Elizabeth Lindy married in 1938 and divorced in 1939. He was married to Kay St. Germain from 1941 to 1950. He and Lola Albright were married from 1952 to 1958. Carson was married from 1961 until his death to Sandra Jolley, former wife of actor Forrest Tucker and daughter of actor I. Stanford Jolley. Carson had a romantic relationship with Doris Day in 1950–1951, but she left him for Marty Melcher, who became her third husband.
Vintage postcard. Photo: Warner Bros.
Dutch postcard. Photo: Warner Bros.
Sources: Tony Fontana (IMDb), Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.
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