The Art Fleming Centennial

Born 100 years ago today: announcer, quiz show host, news anchor, and actor Art Fleming (Arthur Fleming Fazzin, 1925-1995).

It was Fleming’s bad fortune to have his most notable accomplishment be eclipsed by changing times. Not to blow your minds, young ‘uns, but until I was on the eve of my 20th year, Art Fleming was known to the world as the only host there had ever been of of Jeopardy! He was the show’s original host, from 1964 to 1975, with an attempted comeback 1978-79. He also played himself as Jeopardy! host in the movies American Raspberry a.k.a. Prime Time (1977) and Airplane II: The Movie (1982) and the video for the Weird Al song “I Lost on Jeopardy” (1984). Only then came the changing of the guard. Fleming’s young friend Alex Trebek took over as host of a new, revamped version in 1984 and that is when the show became something of a pop culture phenomenon, forever identifying the show with Trebek, who hosted the program until his death in 2020. But that’s another story. This is Fleming’s.

Our subject was the son of a popular Austrian dance team, William and Marie Fazzin, who moved to the States to perform in night clubs and vaudeville. The family lived in the Bronx (a good day to give the borough a shout-out: Bronx Week starts on May 6). Fleming studied at Colgate and Cornell, then served as a Navy bomber pilot during World War Two. After the war, he broke into radio as an announcer, working at local stations around the country until he began to get some traction nationally. Among other things he was a spokesman for Winston cigarettes.

Fleming’s first TV gig was as the announcer on Stump the Stars (1947). In 1953, hosted a tantalizing sounding variety program called The Vaudeville Show. He also acted. His most notable TV acting credits were his regular roles on The Californians (1958-59) and International Detective (1959-61). In 1964 Merv Griffin, having seen Fleming host the local news on WNBC in New York, as well as some of his appearances in TV commercials, hired him as host of Jeopardy! Yes! Merv created Jeopardy! The show has always been popular. In Fleming’s day, it was however one of MANY quiz shows per se that were on the air (specifically, a game show where you have to answer informational questions). By Trebek’s time, they were much rarer, and as a consequence the program seemed much more unique and original than it had in the past. And audiences fell for Trebek’s mustache and understated Canadian wit.

As an actor you can also see Fleming in the TV movie of Arthur Hailey’sThe Money Changers (1976), the bio-pic MacArthur (1977) and an episode of Starsky and Hutch. After leaving Jeopardy! he hosted a daily local radio talk show in St. Louis. From 1990 until his death he hosted the nationally syndicated nostalgia program When Radio Was.

For more on show biz history,consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, And please stay tuned for my upcomingElectric Vaudeville: A Century of Radio and TV Variety.