Ted Mack

Amateur-show impresario and host, bandleader and clarinetist/saxophonist with Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Red Nichols, Jack Teagarden and Ben Pollock and his own group, the "Edward Maguiness Band". While the latter was appearing in San Pedro, California, his band's name was shortened to the "Ted Mack Band" by the theatre manager who said there wasn't enough room on the marquee for all the original letters. The only child of a railroad brakeman and a teacher, he credited his pianist mother (who died when Ted was 16) for his musical inspiration. Ted became a talent scout in 1935 for the Original Amateur Hour and first assistant to Edward Bowes who had taken it over soon after its 1934 inception. Mack took over the program when Bowes died in 1946 and began televising it over the 'DuMont Television Network'. It finally left the airwaves in 1970 after introducing about 10,000 amateurs, about half of which went on to professional careers, among them Vera-Ellen, Paul Winchell, Jerry Vale, Mimi Benzell, Pat Boone, Robert Merrill and Frank Sinatra. Neither Elvis Presley (who was auditioned in 1953) nor Tiny Tim were accepted for the broadcasts. Ted Mack lived in Irvington, New York and died one day after admission to the Phelps Memorial Hospital in North Tarrytown, New York.