Jay Jason

Jay Jason
Jay Jason
Birth name	Jonas Levy
Born	Rochester, New York, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up Catskills Mountains Night clubs
Nationality	American
Years active	1933–2000
Genres	Impersonations/Political satire Ventriloquest Improvisational comedy
Subject(s)	American politics International relations race relations Ethnic Jokes Jewish culture
Spouse	Lynn Jason (two children Diana Allen and Leonard A Jason)
Notable works and roles	Entertained for over 65 years in top night clubs across the US, and spent most of his career in the Catskills Mountains. Appeared on television shows including The Ed Sullivan show.

Jay Jason (1915-2001) was an American stand-up comedian who continuously performed in the show-business industry from 1933 to 2000.

Early life

Jason’s Jewish ancestors had come from Eastern Europe and Russia. His parents, Lina and Ben, ran boarding houses in Rochester, New York to support their family of six children. Jay's beginning interest in show business began when he would imitate the dialects of some of the residents from different countries who lived in their boarding houses. Born in Rochester, he attended the University of Rochester where he majored in languages. He traveled to Buffalo for amateur shows, and success in these comedy contests led him to pursue a career as an entertainer.

Early comedy career

Barely 19 years of age, he left the University of Rochester after two years for his first major club date. He changed his name from Jonas Levy to Jay Jason when he entered show business. He entertained at clubdates in the Midwest during the 1930s. During the war years, he entertained for the USO, and during one show, he performed in front of hundreds of Hollywood and night club personalities including Red Skelton and Mickey Rooney. After the war, he continued to entertain in the Midwest. In a 1950 Columbus, Ohio newspaper, an article by reporter Herb Christopher mentions that Jay Jason is "a rising star," and as “the current Palm Garden Headliner… (he) finds many calls for guest appearances, benefit performances. Local television guest shows also come all too easy…” There are many other media reports of Jason performing such as a 1951 article in the Toledo Blade, about Kasee's nightclub: “JAY JASON. This well known comedian, who has played many engagements in Toledo and has one of the largest night club followings…"

Later comedy career

Jason spent much of his later career in the Catskill Mountains (also known as the Borsch Belt) frequently playing at hotels such as the Granit, Concord, Kutsher's Hotel, the Nevele, The Laurels Hotel and Country Club, The Pines Resort, Raleigh, the Overlook, the Tamarack Lodge, Stevensville, the Windsor, and Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel. As mentioned by Grosswirth, "Jay's name will be familiar to those of you who used to frequent what was commonly referred to as 'The Borscht Belt'". In a Newsday magazine article in 1992, reporter Stuart Vincent mentioned that Jay “is the consummate Catskills comic... You’ve probably seen him if you’ve been to one of the Borscht Belt hotels in the Catskills with your temple, your church, your parents, your cousins. A funny man. A comic’s comic. An entertainer for 60 years—impressionist, singer, even has a few dance steps in him…he’s played the Las Vegas hotels and Manhattan night clubs, appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” three times.”

Jason's humor had self-deprecating aspects, and all subjects were grist for his comedy routines. Jason could impersonate hundreds of famous directors, entertainers, comedians and politicians including: Alfred Hitchcock, Jackie Mason, Jack Benny, Maurice Chevalier, Rudolph Valentino, Jimmy Stewart, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Arthur Godfrey, and Franklin Roosevelt, and he also did voice-overs for cartoon characters.

During Jason's career, he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, Mike Wallace's Nite Beat, as well as top night clubs across the country such as the Slate Brothers in Hollywood, the Fountainbleau in Miami Beach, the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas and the Latin Quarter (nightclub) in New York City. He also entertained in other countries such as when he performed on television in Australia. He also opened shows for entertainers such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. In the late 1980s, he appeared as the comedy star of Sugar Daddy, a show with music, comedy, illusion and costumes reminiscent of vaudeville. In Moore's book on comedians, he mentions that Jay Jason was one of the great comics he would watch at the Downingtown Inn.

Personal life

Jay married Lynn Peltz in 1947, and had two children named Diana and Leonard. After moving throughout the Midwest for much of his early career, with family life and the need for a more stable living situation for their children, in the mid 1950s, Jay and Lynn settled in Teaneck, NJ, which allowed Jason easy access to the Catskills Mountains. A number of comedians worked for Jason over time as a driver to the Borscht Belt hotels, including comedian Kramer who was used as the basis for the character from the American sitcom Seinfeld. His nephew, Sid Roth, host of a messianic vision radio and televsion show, also drove Jason up to the hotels in the Catskills, at one point in his career. He was well liked among entertainers, and this is illustrated by a newspaper story regarding the celebration of his son's bar mitzvah service in 1962: "The boy’s father is the current comedy star at the Latin Quarter in New York city. Many show business personalities attended the service including Jackie Mason, Phil Foster, Norman Dean, Lew Black, Davey Starr, Jack Kahane, Corbett Monica, Gene Baylos, Marilyn Maxwell, Tony Drake, Laura Lane, Tina Robin and Bea Kalmus." At his daughter Diana's wedding, comedians who attended included: Reginald Stanbach, Lou Menchell, Allan Tresser, Dusty Brooks, Al Bernie and Murray Waxman. Jason knew many of the leading comics and entertainers of the last part of the 20th century.