WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.720 Welcome to today's deep dive and you know imagine 00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:07.019 for a second being officially voted the undisputed 00:00:07.019 --> 00:00:11.480 star of tomorrow by like Every prominent critic 00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:13.939 in your industry right, which is just an incredible 00:00:13.939 --> 00:00:16.160 peak to read. Oh, absolutely I mean you have 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:19.359 your own national platform. You're working alongside 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:22.160 the biggest celebrities on the planet and then 00:00:22.940 --> 00:00:26.079 less than seven years later, the primary medium 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:28.539 that built your entire career essentially just 00:00:28.539 --> 00:00:30.859 ceases to exist. Yeah, the ground just completely 00:00:30.859 --> 00:00:33.579 falls out from under you. Exactly. It's the ultimate 00:00:33.579 --> 00:00:35.659 nightmare scenario for any professional. Oh, 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:37.280 without a doubt. I mean, you played by all the 00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:39.740 rules, you mastered your craft, you climbed to 00:00:39.740 --> 00:00:42.380 the absolute pinnacle of your field, and then, 00:00:42.380 --> 00:00:44.259 well, the universe decides to change the game 00:00:44.259 --> 00:00:46.539 board overnight. Yeah. And that is exactly what 00:00:46.539 --> 00:00:48.920 happened to a 20th century entertainer named 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:51.979 Smiling Jack Smith. And our mission for our deep 00:00:51.979 --> 00:00:54.579 dive today, it isn't just to walk through some 00:00:54.579 --> 00:00:56.420 historical biography. Right. We're looking at 00:00:56.420 --> 00:00:58.719 something much bigger. Yeah. We are looking at 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:01.280 a master class in professional survival. because 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:04.099 we want to figure out how does someone stay relevant 00:01:04.099 --> 00:01:08.019 from 1933 all the way to 1991? Well the entire 00:01:08.019 --> 00:01:10.920 landscape of media completely reinvents itself 00:01:10.920 --> 00:01:13.620 like multiple times over. Right because that 00:01:13.620 --> 00:01:16.700 level of longevity I mean It doesn't happen by 00:01:16.700 --> 00:01:18.680 accident. No, definitely not. When you think 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:22.219 about the sheer amount of technological and cultural 00:01:22.219 --> 00:01:24.900 achieval between the early 1930s and the early 00:01:24.900 --> 00:01:27.140 1990s, surviving in the entertainment industry 00:01:27.140 --> 00:01:31.260 is practically a statistical anomaly. To actually 00:01:31.260 --> 00:01:33.819 thrive across those decades, it requires this 00:01:33.819 --> 00:01:36.219 fundamental unwiring of how we normally think 00:01:36.219 --> 00:01:39.579 about our careers and our identities. Okay, let's 00:01:39.579 --> 00:01:41.819 unpack this by looking at how he built his initial 00:01:41.819 --> 00:01:44.439 empire. So we're talking about a guy born John 00:01:44.439 --> 00:01:46.709 Wardsmith, in Seattle, Washington. Great, in 00:01:46.709 --> 00:01:50.670 1913. Yep, 1913. And by 1933, he steps into the 00:01:50.670 --> 00:01:53.230 industry as part of a singing trio. They were 00:01:53.230 --> 00:01:55.049 called the Three Ambassadors. A great start, 00:01:55.129 --> 00:01:57.590 but really just the beginning. Exactly. The real 00:01:57.590 --> 00:01:59.709 breakthrough happens in 1939 when he goes solo. 00:02:00.189 --> 00:02:02.049 And the historical records describe his voice 00:02:02.049 --> 00:02:04.569 in this very, very specific way. Right. They 00:02:04.569 --> 00:02:07.269 called it a strong baritone with a tenor lilt. 00:02:07.510 --> 00:02:10.030 A strong baritone with a tenor lilt. Which, I 00:02:10.030 --> 00:02:12.990 mean, why is it so special? Well, it's an incredibly 00:02:12.990 --> 00:02:15.530 potent combination if we break down the actual 00:02:15.530 --> 00:02:18.069 acoustics of broadcasting. Because a baritone 00:02:18.069 --> 00:02:21.550 gives you that rich, grounding chest resonance, 00:02:21.750 --> 00:02:24.349 right? OK. It commands authority. It fills the 00:02:24.349 --> 00:02:28.240 room. But a pure baritone can sometimes sound 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:31.180 a bit heavy or, you know, overly serious. Maybe 00:02:31.180 --> 00:02:33.840 a little intimidating. Exactly. So adding a tenor 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:36.110 little, which is that. slight upward inflection 00:02:36.110 --> 00:02:39.150 into the head voice, it adds this vulnerability 00:02:39.150 --> 00:02:41.430 and lightness to the sound. Oh, that's interesting. 00:02:41.590 --> 00:02:44.669 Yeah, it physically bypasses the listener's skepticism. 00:02:45.069 --> 00:02:47.789 So it isn't intimidating at all. It's just immediately 00:02:47.789 --> 00:02:50.090 inviting. And he didn't just rely on the frequency 00:02:50.090 --> 00:02:52.229 of his voice either. He branded the physical 00:02:52.229 --> 00:02:54.530 feeling of it. Yes, he did. He was officially 00:02:54.530 --> 00:02:57.810 billed as the singer with a smile in his voice. 00:02:58.509 --> 00:03:01.129 And honestly, looking at that tactic. It feels 00:03:01.129 --> 00:03:03.270 incredibly modern to me. How do you mean? Well, 00:03:03.270 --> 00:03:05.590 it reminds me of today's digital audio space, 00:03:05.590 --> 00:03:09.030 right? Where an independent creator or a podcaster 00:03:09.030 --> 00:03:12.310 cultivates a highly specific intimate aesthetic. 00:03:12.430 --> 00:03:14.710 Oh, sure. Like they use a specific microphone 00:03:14.710 --> 00:03:16.330 technique to make you feel like you're sitting 00:03:16.330 --> 00:03:18.930 right next to them in a small room. But Smith 00:03:18.930 --> 00:03:22.469 was engineering that exact feeling in 1939. It's 00:03:22.469 --> 00:03:25.210 true. I just think it is brilliant to take a 00:03:25.210 --> 00:03:29.080 physical visual expression like a smile. and 00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:31.860 brand it onto a completely audio -only medium. 00:03:32.039 --> 00:03:34.240 It really is a masterstroke of psychological 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:36.759 branding, and to understand why that was so effective, 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:38.699 I mean, we really have to put ourselves in the 00:03:38.699 --> 00:03:40.900 living rooms of the early 1940s. Okay, paint 00:03:40.900 --> 00:03:43.539 the picture for us. Well, radio was the ultimate 00:03:43.539 --> 00:03:45.819 theater of the mind. People were gathering around 00:03:45.819 --> 00:03:49.219 these large, wooden console radios, which they 00:03:49.219 --> 00:03:51.280 were essentially treated as fireplaces back then. 00:03:51.300 --> 00:03:53.539 Oh, wow, right, just staring at the radio. Yeah, 00:03:53.819 --> 00:03:56.020 disembodied voices were pouring into their private 00:03:56.020 --> 00:04:00.289 domestic spaces. So by actively, physically smiling 00:04:00.289 --> 00:04:03.870 while singing, Smith was doing something profound. 00:04:04.449 --> 00:04:06.629 He was intentionally manipulating the formants 00:04:06.629 --> 00:04:09.569 of his voice. What does that mean? Manipulating 00:04:09.569 --> 00:04:12.930 the formants? So when you smile, you physically 00:04:12.930 --> 00:04:15.090 widen your mouth, right? And you shorten your 00:04:15.090 --> 00:04:18.470 vocal tract. And that subtly shifts the acoustic 00:04:18.470 --> 00:04:20.589 resonance of the vowels you're producing. Really? 00:04:20.829 --> 00:04:23.899 Just from smiling? Yeah. And humans are actually 00:04:23.899 --> 00:04:26.779 biologically wired to detect those microscopic 00:04:26.779 --> 00:04:30.600 shifts in pitch and tone. That is wild. So even 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:34.259 if a listener couldn't see him, their brain subconsciously 00:04:34.259 --> 00:04:36.819 registered the acoustic signature of a human 00:04:36.819 --> 00:04:40.079 smile. It triggers an immediate sense of safety. 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:43.579 Wow. So he was engineering a parasocial bond. 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:46.139 Precisely. Like a one -sided relationship where 00:04:46.139 --> 00:04:48.040 the audience feels like they genuinely know him? 00:04:48.379 --> 00:04:51.100 Exactly. Because radio lacks visual cues, you 00:04:51.100 --> 00:04:53.360 really had to over -communicate warmth to cut 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:55.620 through the static, you know, and the distance. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:57.680 Right. You can't rely on facial expression. Right. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:00.000 So that smile in his voice wasn't just some clever 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:02.899 tagline. It was an emotional bridge. It generated 00:05:02.899 --> 00:05:05.860 a deep structural level of trust with his audience. 00:05:05.980 --> 00:05:07.899 And that trust is going to be vital later on. 00:05:08.139 --> 00:05:09.899 Absolutely. It ended up being the very thing 00:05:09.899 --> 00:05:12.730 that saved his career decades later. Well, and 00:05:12.730 --> 00:05:15.170 in the short term, that trust translated into 00:05:15.170 --> 00:05:17.129 massive success. I mean, he started singing with 00:05:17.129 --> 00:05:19.170 the Phil Harris Orchestra, recording tracks like, 00:05:19.410 --> 00:05:22.389 Here It Is Only Monday. Great track. And then 00:05:22.389 --> 00:05:26.310 in 1945, he just hits the stratosphere. He establishes 00:05:26.310 --> 00:05:28.689 his own national radio program, The Jack Smith 00:05:28.689 --> 00:05:32.279 Show. And the guest list on that show was unreal. 00:05:32.579 --> 00:05:34.939 Oh, it was the absolute heavy hitters of the 00:05:34.939 --> 00:05:37.660 era. He's bringing on Diana Shore, Margaret Whiting, 00:05:37.879 --> 00:05:41.300 John Ceres Sr., Ginny Sims. I mean, he is driving 00:05:41.300 --> 00:05:43.519 the cultural conversation. He had completely 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:46.240 captured the zeitgeist of mid -century America. 00:05:46.300 --> 00:05:48.220 Which culminates in this incredible moment in 00:05:48.220 --> 00:05:51.420 1945. There's this poll of radio critics conducted 00:05:51.420 --> 00:05:53.860 by Motion Picture Daily, and they officially 00:05:53.860 --> 00:05:56.939 vote Jack Smith Radio's most promising star of 00:05:56.939 --> 00:05:59.370 tomorrow. Star of tomorrow. I mean... That phrase 00:05:59.370 --> 00:06:01.670 carries so much weight. It really does. It tells 00:06:01.670 --> 00:06:03.509 an artist that the industry has basically mapped 00:06:03.509 --> 00:06:05.829 out their entire future. It implies that the 00:06:05.829 --> 00:06:08.149 rules are set, the ladder is sturdy, and all 00:06:08.149 --> 00:06:09.810 you have to do is just keep climbing. And he 00:06:09.810 --> 00:06:12.149 does keep climbing. He naturally starts parlaying 00:06:12.149 --> 00:06:15.670 that massive radio fame into the visual medium 00:06:15.670 --> 00:06:18.949 of film. Right, which was the logical next step. 00:06:19.170 --> 00:06:22.209 Exactly. So he makes a guest appearance as himself. 00:06:22.410 --> 00:06:26.149 Singer Jack Smith and the 1949 musical film Make 00:06:26.149 --> 00:06:29.550 Believe Ballroom. A great cameo. And then he 00:06:29.550 --> 00:06:32.269 secures the second lead role opposite Doris Day 00:06:32.269 --> 00:06:36.050 in the 1951 Warner Bros. film on Moonlight Bay. 00:06:36.250 --> 00:06:39.250 Oh, that's a huge deal. Massive. He's playing 00:06:39.250 --> 00:06:41.860 a character named Hubert Wakely. He is acting 00:06:41.860 --> 00:06:43.939 opposite one of the biggest stars in the world 00:06:43.939 --> 00:06:46.759 for a major studio. So he's conquered audio, 00:06:47.100 --> 00:06:49.600 and now he's conquering visual media. He is at 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:51.399 the absolute peak of the mountain at this point, 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:53.240 and he has every reason to believe he's just 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:55.040 gonna stay there for the rest of his life. And 00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:59.009 then 1952 happens. Ah, yes. The turning point. 00:06:59.350 --> 00:07:01.730 Television arrives in American homes in this 00:07:01.730 --> 00:07:05.149 massive, culturally disruptive wave. And broadcast 00:07:05.149 --> 00:07:07.889 data from that year shows radio audiences just 00:07:07.889 --> 00:07:10.110 absolutely plummeting. It was a freefall. And 00:07:10.110 --> 00:07:13.129 in the fallout, Jack Smith completely loses his 00:07:13.129 --> 00:07:15.629 radio show. The platform that made him the star 00:07:15.629 --> 00:07:18.430 of tomorrow just vanishes. Overnight. But I actually 00:07:18.430 --> 00:07:19.910 have to push back on this narrative a little 00:07:19.910 --> 00:07:22.850 bit. Because looking at the timeline, it just 00:07:22.850 --> 00:07:25.230 doesn't entirely make sense to me. Man. Well, 00:07:25.329 --> 00:07:28.589 if television was booming in 1952 and Jack Smith 00:07:28.589 --> 00:07:31.009 had already proven he was handsome enough, you 00:07:31.009 --> 00:07:33.009 know, and charismatic enough to act opposite 00:07:33.009 --> 00:07:35.889 Doris Day in a major film. Right. Why didn't 00:07:35.889 --> 00:07:37.829 the network just point a television camera at 00:07:37.829 --> 00:07:41.209 him while he did his radio show? Why did he completely 00:07:41.209 --> 00:07:43.389 lose his platform? It seems like they threw the 00:07:43.389 --> 00:07:45.610 baby out with the bathwater. How do you not just 00:07:45.610 --> 00:07:47.769 give up? Well, what's fascinating here is that 00:07:47.769 --> 00:07:50.410 your question highlights the exact misunderstanding 00:07:50.410 --> 00:07:52.930 most people have about technological disruption. 00:07:53.089 --> 00:07:56.620 OK, laid on me. We tend to think that a new medium 00:07:56.620 --> 00:07:59.220 is just the old medium with a new feature added 00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:01.180 on. Like people thought early television was 00:08:01.180 --> 00:08:03.779 just radio with pictures. Right. That seems logical. 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:06.480 But it wasn't. The entire grammar of the medium 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:09.339 was fundamentally different. Meaning like the 00:08:09.339 --> 00:08:12.139 physical production of it. Exactly. Think about 00:08:12.139 --> 00:08:15.139 a radio studio. Jack Smith could stand comfortably 00:08:15.139 --> 00:08:18.000 behind a large ribbon microphone wearing basically 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:19.759 whatever he wanted. Probably pretty relaxed. 00:08:20.180 --> 00:08:22.899 Very relaxed. holding his script pages right 00:08:22.899 --> 00:08:24.920 in his hand, reading his lines, and focusing 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:27.420 purely on the acoustic delivery of that smile. 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:32.179 Early television studios, by contrast, were just... 00:08:32.090 --> 00:08:34.909 chaotic, intimidating environments. Oh, I bet. 00:08:35.169 --> 00:08:38.210 You have blindingly hot tungsten lights. You 00:08:38.210 --> 00:08:40.529 had these massive, loud cameras being pushed 00:08:40.529 --> 00:08:43.009 around on pedestals. Right. And you had to memorize 00:08:43.009 --> 00:08:44.570 your lines because you couldn't hold a script 00:08:44.570 --> 00:08:47.309 anymore. Plus, you had to hit highly specific 00:08:47.309 --> 00:08:49.490 tape marks on the floor so you wouldn't walk 00:08:49.490 --> 00:08:52.669 out of focus. Ah. So the skill that made you 00:08:52.669 --> 00:08:54.830 brilliant in an intimate radio booth doesn't 00:08:54.830 --> 00:08:57.909 automatically translate to surviving this chaotic, 00:08:58.190 --> 00:09:00.970 blinding television set. Precisely. And the networks 00:09:00.970 --> 00:09:03.019 were scrambling. They really didn't know how 00:09:03.019 --> 00:09:05.480 to adapt radio formats to visual formats yet. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:08.000 So their first instinct was just to cancel the 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:10.179 radio programs and start completely from scratch 00:09:10.179 --> 00:09:13.460 with new television concepts. Wow. It's the classic 00:09:13.460 --> 00:09:16.940 innovator's dilemma. And it is so vital to connect 00:09:16.940 --> 00:09:19.620 this dynamic to your own life right now as a 00:09:19.620 --> 00:09:21.639 listener. Yeah, think about your own career. 00:09:21.940 --> 00:09:24.480 Right. Think about the industry you work in today. 00:09:24.809 --> 00:09:27.789 Think about the core software or the primary 00:09:27.789 --> 00:09:30.690 platform that you use to deliver your expertise. 00:09:30.809 --> 00:09:32.789 Like artificial intelligence sweeping through 00:09:32.789 --> 00:09:36.370 right now. Exactly like AI today. If your platform 00:09:36.370 --> 00:09:39.570 disappeared tomorrow, replaced by something entirely 00:09:39.570 --> 00:09:42.429 foreign, would your underlying skills translate? 00:09:42.970 --> 00:09:45.389 Or are your skills entirely dependent on the 00:09:45.389 --> 00:09:48.730 old machinery? Man, that is a terrifying thought. 00:09:49.210 --> 00:09:51.570 Because when that happens, I feel like the natural 00:09:51.570 --> 00:09:53.809 human instinct is to get defensive. Oh, totally. 00:09:54.169 --> 00:09:56.370 You see it all the time when a new platform emerges. 00:09:56.450 --> 00:09:58.389 People just dig their heels in and say, well, 00:09:58.509 --> 00:10:01.110 the old way had more soul. This new thing is 00:10:01.110 --> 00:10:03.950 just a cheap fad. Because it feels like a betrayal. 00:10:04.370 --> 00:10:06.210 You mastered the rules and the rules changed 00:10:06.210 --> 00:10:09.330 without your permission. But the absolute brilliance 00:10:09.330 --> 00:10:12.529 of Jack Smith in 1952 is that he didn't waste 00:10:12.529 --> 00:10:15.070 a single ounce of energy being bitter about the 00:10:15.070 --> 00:10:17.159 death of radio. He didn't just complain about 00:10:17.159 --> 00:10:19.820 the kids and their new TV. No. He looked at the 00:10:19.820 --> 00:10:22.860 television screen and realized, hey, the machinery 00:10:22.860 --> 00:10:26.120 has changed, but human psychology hasn't. The 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:28.440 audience still wants a trusted guide. That's 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:31.840 good. So he recognized the shift. He completely 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:34.360 detached his ego from the title of radio star, 00:10:34.379 --> 00:10:37.100 and he pivoted. Though I think it is really worth 00:10:37.100 --> 00:10:40.059 noting that the pivot was not a magical overnight 00:10:40.059 --> 00:10:43.200 success. Not at all. And I think that is a crucial 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:45.799 detail for anyone navigating a career transition. 00:10:46.659 --> 00:10:49.899 Because in 1953, which is just a year after losing 00:10:49.899 --> 00:10:52.820 his massive radio platform, he actually lands 00:10:52.820 --> 00:10:55.720 a gig hosting an NBC game show called Place the 00:10:55.720 --> 00:10:57.840 Face. Right, which is a completely different 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:00.639 format from his singing program. Completely different. 00:11:00.820 --> 00:11:03.019 And he doesn't even last. He ends up getting 00:11:03.019 --> 00:11:05.120 replaced by Jack Bailey, who then later gets 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:08.549 replaced by Bill Cullen. Right. So his very first 00:11:08.549 --> 00:11:11.029 attempt to conquer this new visual medium comes 00:11:11.029 --> 00:11:13.570 with a very public stumble. He essentially gets 00:11:13.570 --> 00:11:16.190 fired from his first big TV pivot. Which is the 00:11:16.190 --> 00:11:18.850 harsh reality of adaptability, you know? Pivoting 00:11:18.850 --> 00:11:22.129 requires a massive tolerance for failure. Yeah, 00:11:22.129 --> 00:11:24.269 you have to be okay with messing up. Exactly. 00:11:24.389 --> 00:11:27.049 You have to be willing to endure that awkward, 00:11:27.230 --> 00:11:30.350 messy phase of learning the new rules in real 00:11:30.350 --> 00:11:32.330 time. You just have to be willing to be bad at 00:11:32.330 --> 00:11:34.529 the new thing before you can be good at it. But 00:11:34.529 --> 00:11:37.289 he kept that smile. And he kept it. iterating. 00:11:37.649 --> 00:11:40.529 And then in 1958, he finally cracks the code. 00:11:40.789 --> 00:11:43.309 Yes, he does. He finds his true television home 00:11:43.309 --> 00:11:46.090 as the host of a show called You Asked For It. 00:11:46.149 --> 00:11:49.269 And here's the staggering part to me. He stayed 00:11:49.269 --> 00:11:51.330 with that show, serving in various capacities 00:11:51.330 --> 00:11:54.289 and roles for over three decades, all the way 00:11:54.289 --> 00:11:58.539 until 1991. That is just wild. I mean, from losing 00:11:58.539 --> 00:12:02.200 his entire career in 1952 to hosting a television 00:12:02.200 --> 00:12:05.759 show until the early 90s. It is an almost unbelievable 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:08.960 second act. And it loops perfectly back to that 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:11.059 mechanism we discussed earlier, that parasocial 00:12:11.059 --> 00:12:13.480 trust. Okay, tie that together for us. Oh, why 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:15.879 did Jack Smith ultimately succeed as a television 00:12:15.879 --> 00:12:18.549 host? because he already had a master's degree 00:12:18.549 --> 00:12:20.970 in projecting warmth and intimacy. Right. So 00:12:20.970 --> 00:12:23.129 the chaos of the hot lights and the massive cameras 00:12:23.129 --> 00:12:25.710 eventually faded into the background and he tapped 00:12:25.710 --> 00:12:27.909 back into that fundamental ability to make the 00:12:27.909 --> 00:12:31.129 audience feel safe. He took that invisible emotional 00:12:31.129 --> 00:12:33.629 bridge he built in the 1940s and he simply drove 00:12:33.629 --> 00:12:36.909 a camera across it in the 1950s. Wow. But here's 00:12:36.909 --> 00:12:38.649 where it gets really interesting though. Oh yeah. 00:12:38.730 --> 00:12:40.990 Because by leaning so completely into this new 00:12:40.990 --> 00:12:44.009 role as a trusted television broadcaster, he 00:12:44.009 --> 00:12:46.490 ends up cementing himself in pop culture in a 00:12:46.490 --> 00:12:48.629 way he never could have imagined back when he 00:12:48.629 --> 00:12:51.980 was just a radio crooner. Definitely. So let's 00:12:51.980 --> 00:12:55.019 fast forward a bit to 1975. Jack Smith is booked 00:12:55.019 --> 00:12:57.240 for an appearance on Happy Days. Which was a 00:12:57.240 --> 00:13:00.039 massive culture -defining television show at 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:02.820 the time. Oh, huge. But he isn't just in any 00:13:02.820 --> 00:13:05.799 episode. He is in the legendary Fearless Fonzarelli 00:13:05.799 --> 00:13:09.480 episode. Oh, the famous jump. Yes. This is the 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:12.450 two -parter. where Fonzie leaps over 14 garbage 00:13:12.450 --> 00:13:14.850 cans on his motorcycle in the parking lot of 00:13:14.850 --> 00:13:17.389 Arnold's drive -in. And Jack Smith plays himself. 00:13:17.429 --> 00:13:20.269 So good. He is hosting a fictionalized version 00:13:20.269 --> 00:13:22.669 of his real show, calling it You Wanted to See 00:13:22.669 --> 00:13:25.309 It. And he is the official broadcaster bearing 00:13:25.309 --> 00:13:27.669 witness to Fonzie's stunt. I mean, that casting 00:13:27.669 --> 00:13:29.929 choice is absolutely brilliant. Think about the 00:13:29.929 --> 00:13:32.129 mechanics of why that works so well. You have 00:13:32.129 --> 00:13:36.320 a hit. 1970s television show that relies entirely 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:39.799 on this idealized nostalgic vision of the 1950s. 00:13:39.860 --> 00:13:42.379 So when the creators of Happy Days need a character 00:13:42.379 --> 00:13:45.220 to represent the ultimate unquestionable authority 00:13:45.220 --> 00:13:48.759 of authentic 1950s television, they don't hire 00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:51.679 an actor. They hire the actual guy who survived 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:55.440 the 1950s medium shift. He became the literal 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:58.580 physical avatar for the television era that once 00:13:58.580 --> 00:14:00.909 disrupted his own life. Which is incredible. 00:14:01.169 --> 00:14:02.710 And if we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:14:02.970 --> 00:14:05.629 it reveals the ultimate lesson of his entire 00:14:05.629 --> 00:14:09.850 1933 to 1991 run. Which is what? True career 00:14:09.850 --> 00:14:12.330 longevity isn't about finding the perfect niche 00:14:12.330 --> 00:14:15.269 and aggressively defending it forever. The idea 00:14:15.269 --> 00:14:18.429 that success is this static, unchanging destination 00:14:18.429 --> 00:14:20.389 is just a myth. Right, the world is going to 00:14:20.389 --> 00:14:23.169 change. Always. True longevity requires being 00:14:23.169 --> 00:14:25.350 fiercely unattached to your job title. You have 00:14:25.350 --> 00:14:27.330 to develop what we might call medium agnostic 00:14:27.330 --> 00:14:29.750 talent. Medium agnostic talent. I like that a 00:14:29.750 --> 00:14:31.950 lot. So the core value isn't the platform. The 00:14:31.950 --> 00:14:34.330 core value is you. Exactly. You have to be willing 00:14:34.330 --> 00:14:36.509 to be the intimate radio singer when the world 00:14:36.509 --> 00:14:38.769 wants a crooner. You have to be the romantic 00:14:38.769 --> 00:14:41.169 actor opposite Doris Day when Hollywood wants 00:14:41.169 --> 00:14:43.750 a musical. You have to be the energetic game 00:14:43.750 --> 00:14:45.830 show host when the living room screen first lights 00:14:45.830 --> 00:14:48.370 up. And you have to be the authoritative, nostalgic 00:14:48.370 --> 00:14:50.850 anchor when the culture looks backward. And Jack 00:14:50.850 --> 00:14:53.570 Smith never hesitated to put on the next hat. 00:14:53.690 --> 00:14:55.789 He really didn't. And he kept putting them on. 00:14:56.129 --> 00:14:58.090 I mean, beyond Happy Days, he kept showing up 00:14:58.090 --> 00:15:01.269 in feature films utilizing that exact same authoritative 00:15:01.269 --> 00:15:05.240 aura. Right. In 1971, he is cast in the Disney 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:08.299 comedy Odyssey. The barefoot executive is a character 00:15:08.299 --> 00:15:11.279 named Clathworthy. Yes. And then his final film 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:15.799 role comes in 1984 in Cannonball Run 2. And his 00:15:15.799 --> 00:15:18.659 role... He plays an announcer. Of course he does. 00:15:18.940 --> 00:15:21.639 Directors of 70s and 80s comedies specifically 00:15:21.639 --> 00:15:24.399 wanted him because his specific vocal cadence 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:27.299 completely bypassed the audience's skepticism. 00:15:27.379 --> 00:15:29.759 When he spoke he sounded exactly like the establishment. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:31.639 Well yeah because he had spent a half century 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:33.600 proving to the American public that he was a 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:36.200 foundational pillar of the broadcasting establishment. 00:15:36.360 --> 00:15:38.179 I mean he had earned that acoustic authority 00:15:38.179 --> 00:15:42.019 over decades. He really did. And he lived a remarkably 00:15:42.019 --> 00:15:45.759 full life alongside that career too. He was married 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:49.600 to his wife, Victoria Stewart, for 66 years. 00:15:49.820 --> 00:15:53.059 Wow! Yeah, from 1936 until she passed away in 00:15:53.059 --> 00:15:56.440 2002. And he ultimately passed away from leukemia 00:15:56.440 --> 00:16:00.360 in June 2006 at the age of 92 in Westlake Village, 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:03.519 California. An amazing run. So when you zoom 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:05.879 out and look at that timeline, he survived the 00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:08.000 death of Vaudeville, the golden age of radio, 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:11.299 the birth of television, and the massive cultural 00:16:11.299 --> 00:16:14.139 shifts of the 70s and 80s. It completely reframes 00:16:14.139 --> 00:16:16.279 how we should view disruption, doesn't it? It 00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:18.700 really does. The people who survive aren't necessarily 00:16:18.700 --> 00:16:20.600 the ones who fight the hardest to maintain the 00:16:20.600 --> 00:16:22.940 status quo. They are the ones who recognize that 00:16:22.940 --> 00:16:25.000 the medium is just a delivery system for their 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:27.600 core value. Right. So as we wrap up this deep 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:29.399 dive, that's the exact thought I want to leave 00:16:29.399 --> 00:16:31.879 you with today. We are currently living through 00:16:31.879 --> 00:16:35.399 a period of dizzying, almost relentless technological 00:16:35.399 --> 00:16:37.440 shifts. Every single day, it feels like. Yeah, 00:16:37.500 --> 00:16:39.399 the tools we use to do our jobs are changing 00:16:39.399 --> 00:16:42.299 by the month. So when the radio show of your 00:16:42.299 --> 00:16:44.860 own professional life inevitably gets canceled 00:16:44.860 --> 00:16:47.759 by the television of a new era, how are you going 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:50.440 to react? A great question. Will you waste your 00:16:50.440 --> 00:16:52.360 energy on feeling that the old way was superior? 00:16:52.899 --> 00:16:54.980 Or will you find the new camera, look straight 00:16:54.980 --> 00:16:57.639 into the lens, and find a way to keep a smile 00:16:57.639 --> 00:16:59.960 on your voice? I mean, that is the ultimate test 00:16:59.960 --> 00:17:02.820 of adaptability right there. And before we close 00:17:02.820 --> 00:17:06.839 out, there is one strangely poetic detail from 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:10.180 his history that completely recontextualizes 00:17:10.180 --> 00:17:12.900 that idea of destiny. Ooh, okay, what is it? 00:17:13.140 --> 00:17:15.359 Well, we spent this entire time analyzing how 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:18.400 he constantly pivoted, right? From crooner to 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:21.660 TV host to pop culture icon. But if you look 00:17:21.660 --> 00:17:24.440 all the way back to 1933... Wait, 1933, that's 00:17:24.440 --> 00:17:26.740 the exact same year he started singing with the 00:17:26.740 --> 00:17:30.099 three ambassadors. Yes. In 1933, long before 00:17:30.099 --> 00:17:32.339 the motion picture daily poll, long before he 00:17:32.339 --> 00:17:34.670 had a smile on his voice, he managed to get a 00:17:34.670 --> 00:17:37.269 tiny uncredited role in the original monster 00:17:37.269 --> 00:17:39.390 classic, King Kong. Are you serious? I had no 00:17:39.390 --> 00:17:41.490 idea he was in King Kong. He was. And you know 00:17:41.490 --> 00:17:44.150 what his role in that film was? He played a reporter. 00:17:44.390 --> 00:17:47.630 You are kidding. I'm not! Decades before he would 00:17:47.630 --> 00:17:50.450 ever step foot on a television set, decades before 00:17:50.450 --> 00:17:52.730 he would serve as the real -life broadcaster 00:17:52.730 --> 00:17:56.509 documenting Fonzie jumping 14 garbage cans, his 00:17:56.509 --> 00:17:59.609 very first moment captured on film was playing 00:17:59.609 --> 00:18:02.720 a media man. holding a microphone, observing 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:06.259 the action. Oh wow. It really raises this fascinating 00:18:06.259 --> 00:18:09.480 philosophical question. In a career defined entirely 00:18:09.480 --> 00:18:12.359 by constant change and massive reinvention, was 00:18:12.359 --> 00:18:15.019 he subtly telling us exactly who he was going 00:18:15.019 --> 00:18:17.910 to be right from the very start? Man. It turns 00:18:17.910 --> 00:18:19.970 out maybe the ladder wasn't collapsing after 00:18:19.970 --> 00:18:21.930 all. Maybe he was just building a broadcasting 00:18:21.930 --> 00:18:24.369 tower the entire time. Exactly. Well, thank you 00:18:24.369 --> 00:18:26.450 so much for joining us on this deep dive into 00:18:26.450 --> 00:18:29.150 the life, the mechanics, and the legacy of Smile 00:18:29.150 --> 00:18:31.269 and Jack Smith. We hope it gave you some tangible 00:18:31.269 --> 00:18:33.769 tools to navigate whatever disruption comes next 00:18:33.769 --> 00:18:36.269 in your own world. Take care, and we will catch 00:18:36.269 --> 00:18:36.849 you on the next one.