Jerry Springer

For other uses, see Jerry Springer (disambiguation).

Jerry Springer
Jerry Springer while giving a speech at Emory University.
56th Mayor of Cincinnati
In office 1977–1978
Preceded by	Jim Luken
Succeeded by	Bobbie L. Sterne
Personal details
Born	Gerald Norman Springer (1944-02-13) February 13, 1944 Highgate, London, England
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Micki Velton (1973–present)
Alma mater	Tulane University, Northwestern University
Occupation	Former politician, talk show host, game show host
Website	jerryspringertv.com

Gerald Norman "Jerry" Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-born American television presenter, best known as host of the tabloid talk show The Jerry Springer Show since its debut in 1991. He is a former Democratic mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, a former newsreader and a musician.

Early life

Springer was born at Highgate tube station in London, England while the station was in use as a shelter from German bombing during World War II. His parents, Margo (a bank clerk) and Richard Springer (owner of a shoe shop), were Jewish refugees who escaped from Landsberg an der Warthe, Germany (now Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland). In January 1949, Springer emigrated with his parents to the United States, settling in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York. He and his sister Evelyn were raised in a small four-room apartment. One of his earliest memories about current events was when he was 12 and watching the Democratic convention on television where he saw, and was impressed by John F. Kennedy. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Tulane University in 1965, majoring in political science. He earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Northwestern University in 1968.

Springer became a political campaign aide to Robert F. Kennedy. After Kennedy's assassination, he joined the Cincinnati law firm of Frost & Jacobs, now Frost Brown Todd.

Political career

In 1970, Springer ran for Congress. He failed to unseat incumbent Republican Donald D. Clancy, but garnered an impressive 45% of the vote in a traditionally Republican district. He had previously spearheaded the effort to lower the voting age, including testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of ratification of the 26th Amendment.

Springer was elected to the Cincinnati city council in 1971. He resigned in 1974 after admitting to hiring a prostitute. The episode was uncovered when a police raid on a Fort Wright, Kentucky "massage parlor" unearthed a check Springer had written for its "services". Springer came clean at a press conference. Long-time Cincinnati newsman Al Schottelkotte pronounced Springer's career over, but Springer's honesty helped him win back his seat in 1975 by a landslide. In a post-election interview, Schottelkotte good-naturedly reminded Springer that he had declared Springer's career over. Springer told the newsman, "I'm glad that you were wrong." In 1977, he was chosen to serve one year as mayor by the City Council.

In 1982, Springer sought the Democratic nomination for governor of Ohio. TV commercials for Springer's campaign referenced his use of a check to pay a prostitute, saying that he was not afraid of the truth "even if it hurts". He failed to win the Democratic party's nomination -- finishing a distant third behind former Lieutenant Governor Richard F. Celeste and Ohio Attorney General William J. Brown, and his political career was put on hold. Springer considered running for the United States Senate in 2003, but backed down due to negative associations with The Jerry Springer Show.

Politics to journalism

Springer's broadcast career started while he was still mayor of Cincinnati, with album-oriented rock radio station WEBN FM, which was noted for its laid-back and irreverent radio format. The station featured commentaries by Springer under the banner "The Springer Memorandum." The popularity of these commentaries launched his broadcasting career.

Springer was hired as a political reporter and commentator on Cincinnati's NBC affiliate, WLWT, which had, at the time, the lowest-rated news program. Later, having been named primary news anchor and Managing Editor, he needed a broadcast "catch phrase" in the model of other great newsmen. With the help of some others at WLWT, he created his signature line: "Take care of yourself, and each other." Within two years he was Cincinnati's number one news anchor, along with partner Norma Rashid, and for five years, the most popular one in the city, garnering ten local Emmy Awards for his nightly commentaries. It was a position he held until January 1993.

Springer's commentaries on WLWT were frequently satirized by Cincinnati radio personality Gary Burbank.

In 1997, the Chicago-based NBC-owned station WMAQ hired Springer to serve as a news commentator. However, this proved to be unpopular among viewers, as it resulted in the resignation of Ron Magers and long-time news anchor Carol Marin. After performing only two commentaries, Springer resigned as commentator.

The Jerry Springer Show

Main article: The Jerry Springer Show

The Jerry Springer Show debuted on September 30, 1991. It was developed by WLWT-TV to replace its Phil Donahue Show (coincidentally, Springer's style was similar to Phil Donahue, and both were produced by Multimedia Entertainment). It started as a politically-oriented talk show, a longer version of Springer's commentaries. Guests included Oliver North and Jesse Jackson, and topics included homelessness and gun politics.

In early 1994, Springer and his new producer, Richard Dominick, revamped the show's format in order to garner higher ratings. The show became more and more successful as it became more and more lowbrow, with an emphasis on infidelity. Its guests were typically lower class, minimally-educated, blue collar people confronted on a television stage by a spouse or family member's adultery, homosexuality, prostitution, transvestism, hate group membership, or other controversial situations. These confrontations often led to shouting, profanities, chair-throwing, fist-fights, pulling of hair by fighting women, and removal of clothing. Female guests also receive 'Jerry Beads' for exposing their breasts to the studio audience, in the style of Mardi Gras revelers. The show garnered huge ratings, and lots of attention. By 1998, it was beating Oprah Winfrey in many cities, and was reaching more than 6.7 million viewers. (Waxman, 1998)

On July 10, 2002, the sons of guest Nancy Campbell-Panitz - who was murdered by her ex-husband after they appeared on a May 2000 episode with his girlfriend - filed suit in Sarasota County against Springer, his producers, and his distributor, claiming he created "a mood that led to murder."

In 2005, a UK version was shown on ITV1 entitled The Springer Show. It beat its talk-show rival Trisha Goddard five to one in the ratings, despite it being a subdued and more tongue-in-cheek version of the U.S. show.

The VH1 "celebreality" series The Springer Hustle, which took a look at how The Jerry Springer Show is produced, premiered in April 2007.

Hosting

Springer hosted America's Got Talent on NBC in the U.S. for two seasons, replacing Regis Philbin, before leaving to concentrate on other projects.

From January 17, 2005 to December 5, 2006, Springer hosted Springer on the Radio, a liberal talk show on Cincinnati's WCKY-AM. He did the show from the Clear Channel studios in Kenwood on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and in Chicago (where his television show tapes) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Air America Radio syndicated the program for most of the show's run.

In the UK, Springer has hosted The Wright Stuff and 2001's Greed on the UK's Five network as well as 2007's Nothing But the Truth, the UK version of Nada más que la verdad. He also had a late-night talk show. On April 16, 2006, Springer was the guest host for the opening show for the third series of The Friday Night Project for Channel 4 and guest hosted Have I Got News for You on December 12, 2008. Springer has also co-presented UK daytime programme This Morning on ITV. In 2009, Springer appeared as a guest on the long running British game show Countdown and hosted Miss Universe 2008. He was also the guest host for WWE Raw on February 15, 2010 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.

Springer currently hosts a dating game show called Baggage. It premiered on GSN on April 19, 2010.

Acting

Springer portrayed his own talk show host character in the 1998 movie Ringmaster, though his character's name is Jerry Farrelly. Ringmaster offers a behind-the-scenes look at would-be guests who apply to a Springer-like show. The same year, Springer also released an unrelated autobiography named Ringmaster; he claimed "I can only think of one title a year."

In 1997, he appeared on an episode of the ninth season of Roseanne and on The X-Files episode "The Post-Modern Prometheus". In 1998, he voiced a cartoon version of himself in the Halloween episode of The Simpsons entitled "Starship Poopers." In 1999, he appeared in the episode Mrs. Kraft of the third season of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch with his talk show. In 2004 he was the president of United States of America in a straight to DVD "c" movie "The Defender" directed by Dolph Lundgren. In 2007, he appeared on episode #1301 of MADtv as himself.

Jerry Springer made a cameo appearance in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me as himself during an episode of his show featuring Dr. Evil and his estranged son Scott Evil.

In 1999, he was in an episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

Springer appeared in an episode of Married... with Children as The Masculine Feminist, in which he was for women getting a bowling night at a bowling alley. Al Bundy and his friends tie Springer to a chair and take over his show with a stripper who jumps up and down for the crowd's delight. He was in several episodes of George Lopez as Benny Lopez' ex-boyfriend Wayne and made a July 2007 guest appearance on Days of our Lives as "Pete," a high roller in Las Vegas who helped Nick Fallon win $50,000. On October 19, 2007, Springer made a cameo appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien as a "random" audience member. In June 2009 he appeared in Chicago at the Cambridge Theatre London as Billy Flynn for a short period of time, starring alongside Aoife Mulholland and Leigh Zimmerman.

Springer has been a guest in the following shows: the UK daytime programme The Paul O'Grady Show on Channel 4 on November 12, 2007, Question Time on June 19, 2008, Saturday Kitchen on June 21, 2008 along with chef Sophie Griegson and Arthur Potts Dawson, Verdict with Dan Abrams in June 2008, two appearances on Whose Line Is It Anyway? in 2003 (from the same taping), The Jason Ellis Show on June 20, 2008 and Desert Island Discs on November 1, 2009.

He was interviewed by satirist Chris Morris in his surreal radio series Blue Jam (Series 2, Episode 6). On January 23, 2004, Springer was featured in an episode of This American Life titled "Leaving the Fold".

Springer appeared in an episode of BBC One's Television Series Who Do You Think You Are? on August 27, 2008 In the episode he travelled to Poland, where he discovered that his maternal grandmother had been sent to Chelmno extermination camp by the Nazis and killed. His paternal grandmother died at Theresienstadt concentration camp in what is now the Czech Republic.

Springer appeared on the Chris Moyles Show in April 2009, along with Davina McCall and Alan Carr. On May 31, 2009, Springer was a guest on the The Andrew Marr Show talking about politics and his upcoming projects.

Springer appeared on 4 music in the United Kingdom, counting down 50 great American musicians.

Other projects

In the mid-1990s, Springer recorded Dr. Talk, an album that mostly consisted of country music covers.

In late 2006, Springer was a contestant on the third season of Dancing with the Stars, with his professional dance partner, Kym Johnson. He wanted to appear on the show so he could learn the waltz for the wedding of his daughter, Katie. Springer and Johnson were eliminated in the seventh week of competition.

On May 16, 2008, Springer delivered the Northwestern University School of Law commencement address. Although many students had criticized the University's choice of speaker, he received a standing ovation from about half the audience and reviews of his speech were generally positive. In a March 2009 interview on Anytime with Bob Kushell, Springer said that in his speech he talked about "the ethical judgments we all have to make in whatever business we go [into].

Springer is the executive producer of The Steve Wilkos Show, which is hosted by Steve Wilkos, the long-time head of security on his own talk show.

In popular culture

A musical by Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas, Jerry Springer: The Opera, is based on his show. It first became popular at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2002. It has since played at the Royal National Theatre in London, and London's West End before embarking on a UK Tour in 2006. It has recently opened in Chicago, in the US, and will be moving onto regional productions throughout the United States. It was also screened on BBC 2 Television, causing some controversy. The televised version is now available on DVD.

Springer and his television program are mentioned in Mark Knopfler's song "Devil Baby" and "The Joke" by the Belgian Zen Metal band Tim's Favourite. He inspired the songs "Jerry Springer" by "Weird Al" Yankovic, "Mr Springer" by Fascinating Aïdaand "Jerry Rules in the Land of the Free" by the Dutch punk band De Heideroosjes.

Bibliography

• Rebecca Johnson and Kathleen Powers, "Jerry Springer under Siege", Good Housekeeping, September 1998, pp. 114–119.
• John Kieswetter. "Springer ready to take radio show national". The Cincinnati Enquirer. March 21, 2005. D1.
• Allison J. Waldman, "American Pie: The In-Your-Face Success of 'The Jerry Springer Show'", TelevisionWeek, May 8, 2006, p. 31.
• Sharon Waxman. "King of the Trash Heap; Jerry Springer Digs the Dirt On Television". Washington Post, January 20, 1998, p. D1.

External links

• Springer on the Radio
• Jerry Springer - the Opera
• Profile: Jerry Springer
• Campaign ad from Governor race
• Jerry Springer at IMDb
• "Leaving the Fold", This American Life, January 23, 2004. "[P]roducer Alex Blumberg tells the true story of Jerry Springer's life before he was a talk show host."
• Text from Springer's address at Northwestern Law Convocation