The Tex and Jinx Show

More examples of the ephemerality of fame in the broadcast media: the largely forgotten pair of John Reagan “Tex” McCrary Jr. (1910-2003) and Eugenia Lincoln “Jinx” Falkenburg (1919-2003). Tex and Jinx were talk show pioneers, well known public figures from the 1930s through the early 1960s, and the first real-life husband-wife team to host a tv talk show, 70 years before Joe and Mika.

Tex and Jinx were a charmed and privileged couple. Tex was a graduate of Exeter and Yale, chairman of the Yale Record, and member of Skull and Bones. Upon graduating in 1932 he was hired to be an editor at Hearst’s tabloid the New York Mirror. Two years later, he married Sarah Brisbane, daughter of his boss Arthur Brisbane. The pair divorced in 1939. He was a p.r. man for the U.S. Army Air Forces throughout World War Two, personally flying on bombing raids, escorting the press corps through historical pivot points ranging from the execution of Mussolini to the aftermath of Hiroshima.

Jinx Falkenburg was a fashion model and actress. Her father was an engineer for Westinghouse. On account of his career, Jinx was born in Spain, spent her early childhood in Santiago, Chile, and the latter part of her youth in Los Angeles, where she attended Hollywood High. Her fluency in Spanish would stand her in good stead careerwise as the U.S. entered its Latin-American Friendship phase during World War Two, with its concomitant craze for Latin music, dance, and movie settings. She was one of the top print models in the country starting in 1937, featuring on the covers of magazines, Times Square billboards (notably as Miss Rheingold), and of course 8 x 10 pin up photos for G.I.s.

Jinx’s career as an actress lasted about a decade, beginning with some Spanish-language films starting in the mid ’30s. She was a Goldwyn Girl in Eddie Cantor’s Strike Me Pink (1936) and had walk-on roles in the films Big Brown Eyes (1937), Stand-In (1937), Nothing Sacred (1937) and There Goes My Heart (1938). She then landed female lead parts in two B movie westerns: Song of the Buckeroo (1938) and The Lone Ranger Rides Again (1939). In 1940 she appeared on Broadway in the Al Jolson show Hold Onto Your Hats. She then returned to Hollywood for a more high profile five year period wherein she played leads, co-leads, and ensemble parts in the pictures: Two Latins from Manhattan (1941), Sing for Your Supper (1941), Sweetheart of the Fleet (1942), Lucky Legs (1942), Laugh Your Blues Away (1942), She Has What it Takes (1943), Two Senoritas from Chicago (1943), Nine Girls (1944), Cover Girl (1944), Tahiti Nights (1944), The Gay Senorita (1945), Meet Me on Broadway (1946) and Talk About a Lady (1946). Throughout these years, Jinx took an active role in Roosevelt’sLatin-American relations initiative, and also participated in U.S.O. tours.

I’m not sure if you’ve reached the top or the bottom when your image is reproduced on a diaper.

Meanwhile Tex and Jinx had met and fallen in love in 1940, although they weren’t married until after the war in 1945. In 1946 the pair debuted their daily radio show Hi, Jinx on WEAF radio in New York. Between the two of them, Tex and Jinx ticked off all the boxes for what makes for appealing broadcast programming. The combination of serious discussions of world affairs and celebrity interviews was a massive hit. The radio show went national as Meet Tex and Jinx, and they expanded almost immediately into the infant medium of television, anchoring the shows Bristol-Myers Tele-Varieties a.k.a Jinx and Tex at Home (1946-47), followed by Swift Home Service Club, The Tex and Jinx Show, Jinx Falkenburg’s Diary, et al, throughout the 1950s. Both card-carrying Republicans they were instrumental in the campaign to drafting General Eisenhower for President in 1952. The pair also appeared on entertainment programs like The Milton Berle Show,The Colgate Comedy Hour,Person to Person, et al. A regular gig as a TV pitch woman for the American Gas Association in the early to mid ’60s was Jinx’s last hurrah in show business.

The pair retired to Manhasset, Long Island, where they were instrumental in the establishment of North Shore Hospital. Jinx stayed active in celebrity tennis (in which she had been active all her life) and golf. They separated in 1980 (what’s that all about? He was 70, she was 61!) They remained close to the end, however. They died within a month of each other in 2003.

For more about show business historyconsult 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.