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 was a former Democratic mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, news anchor, and musician.

Early life

Springer was born in Highgate tube station in London, England, while the station was in use as a shelter from German bombing during World War II and grew up on Chandos Road, East Finchley. His parents, Margot (née Kallmann; 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). His maternal grandmother Marie Kallmann, who was left behind, died in the gas trucks of Chelmno extermination camp. His paternal grandmother, Selma Springer, died at the Theresienstadt concentration camp. In January 1949, Springer emigrated with his parents to the United States, settling in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York and attended Forest Hills High School. 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 1956 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 adviser 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". The check subsequently bounced due to lack of funds in the account. 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 an undergraduate at Tulane University, on WTUL New Orleans FM, a progressive format independent radio station. It continued 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 catchphrase 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. For five years, he was the most popular one in the city, garnering ten local Emmy Awards for his nightly commentaries, which were frequently satirized by Cincinnati radio personality Gary Burbank. Those commentaries would eventually become his "Final Thought" on "The Jerry Springer Show." Springer would remain commentator at WLWT until January 1993. He resided in Loveland, Ohio, during this time.

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

Hosting

The Jerry Springer Show

The Jerry Springer Show debuted on September 30, 1991. It was developed by WLWT to mimic the format and look of fellow talk show Donahue, all the way down to Jerry's haircut and glasses, making him look like Phil Donahue (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 The Oprah Winfrey Show 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." Ultimately, the estate of Ms. Campbell-Panitz dropped all monetary claims against The Jerry Springer Show and the show agreed to waive its claims for malicious prosecution against the personal representative of the estate of Ms. Campbell-Panitz and his counsel.

In 2005, a UK version was shown on ITV1 titled 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.

Other

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 has also hosted the live stage show version of The Price is Right.

Since April 19, 2010, Springer has also hosted a dating game show called Baggage, which airs on GSN. In July 2012 he hosted Price is Right Live! in Vancouver's Boulevard Casino.

Acting career

Springer portrayed his own talk show host character in the 1998 movie Ringmaster, using the name 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 quipped, "I can only think of one title a year."

In 1996, 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 titled "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 No. 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 the men's bowling night and eventually taking over 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 Theresa Griegson and Kristin 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 also in the Wayans Bros.as a cameo.

Springer also Starred opposite Dolph Lundgren in the 2004 film The Defender.

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 traveled 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. He wept openly when he learned of how they died.

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 Andrew Marr Show talking about politics and his upcoming projects.

Other projects

In 1995, Springer recorded the album Dr. Talk for Fiddle Fish Records, which 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 and the West End in London 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". The songs "Jerry Springer" by "Weird Al" Yankovic, "Mr Springer" by Fascinating Aïda, "Jerry Rules in the Land of the Free" by the Dutch punk band De Heideroosjes and "Mr. Unfaithful" by the Swedish art-rock band A.C.T were inspired by him. On Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 album, Kanye West says "I am never sprung, but I spring her (Springer), Jerry" in the song "Hate".

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