Jerry Springer is an American talk show host, best known for his tabloid talk show, The Jerry Springer Show. He is also a former mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Background
Ethnicity:
His parents, Margo and Richard Springer, were Polish Jews who escaped from Germany during the Holocaust.
Born February 13, 1944, Jerry Springer is a London-born American talk show host. His parents, Margo and Richard Springer, were Polish Jews who escaped from Germany during the Holocaust. Springer's birth came shortly after the family's emigration and, by the time Springer was five years old, his family had moved again—this time to the Queens area of New York City. For Springer and his family, America represented a place where people could live without persecution.
Education
He was a Boy Scout.
Springer's college years took him south to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he earned his bachelor's degree in political science at Tulane University in 1965. He then received his law degree from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. Shortly after earning his Juris Doctor in 1968, Springer met New York Senator Robert Kennedy at a dinner party.
Career
Political Career
Springer signed on with the Kennedy's presidential campaign. Kennedy's assassination occurred on June 5, 1968, only a few months after Springer began helping the candidate on the campaign trail. The incident took an emotional toll on Springer, who felt compelled to continue Kennedy's political vision.
The next year, Springer took a job with the law firm Frost & Jacobs in Cincinnati, Ohio. While at the firm, the 25-year-old Springer spearheaded the movement in Ohio to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, which culminated in his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony supporting ratification of the 26th Amendment to the Constitution. He then ran for Congress in Ohio in 1970, nearly beating the entrenched Republican incumbent, Donald Clancy. In 1971, he won a seat on the Cincinnati City Council and served five terms before becoming mayor at the age of 33, with the largest plurality in the city's history. Springer served two terms as mayor of Cincinnati.
'The Jerry Springer Show'
After an unsuccessful bid for governor of Ohio in 1982, Springer was courted by several networks, ultimately signing with the Cincinnati NBC affiliate WLWT. As their anchor and managing editor, Springer took WLWT to first place in the news rankings. It was his nightly commentaries, the precursor to his now legendary "Final Thought," that landed him seven Emmys. Springer was voted television's best anchor for five consecutive years by readers of Cincinnati Magazine.
Springer's success on the network led to his own WLWT talk show, which debuted on September 30, 1991. The first season of The Jerry Springer Show aired originally as a politically charged talk show, with episode topics including the social effects of rock 'n' roll, gun control, and homelessness. It also featured high-profile guests such as Jesse Jackson and Oliver North. To improve the ratings, the network brought in a new producer for the 1994 season, and the show began targeting a younger audience. Shortly thereafter, the show moved filming to Chicago, prompting Springer to leave Cincinnati. The new version of Springer's talk show garnered huge ratings, and lots of attention. By 1998—the same year that Barbara Walters named Springer one of the world's "10 Most Fascinating People"—The Jerry Springer Show was reaching more than 6.7 million viewers, and had become an inspiration for dozens of imitators, including the award-winning British musical, Jerry Springer: The Opera in 2003.
In 2007, NBC-Universal announced it would carry The Jerry Springer Show through its 2010 season. The show was renewed again in the fall of 2010, picked up by NBC-Universal through the 2013-14 season. The year 2012 marked Springer's 22nd season.
Recent Work
In addition to his success in the TV talk-show circuit, Springer became a morning radio talk-show host. His progressive Springer On The Radio show hit the airwaves on January 17, 2005. Broadcast in 85 markets, including many Air America affiliates, the show would last for two years.
In 2006, Springer showcased his dancing ability as a contestant on the program Dancing With The Stars, finishing in the top five. In 2009, Springer traveled to London to star in the role of Billy Flynn in the West End production of the play Chicago. His performance earned him critical acclaim, and landed him a reprisal of the role on Broadway in August of 2009. Additionally, he starred for a week in a production of the Rocky Horror Show Live.
A man of diverse talents, Springer stepped into the studio to record a country music CD; written his memoirs in the book Ringmaster (1998); and has had his own late-night variety show in both England and South Africa. He also hosted NBC's hit series America's Got Talent for the 2007 and 2008 seasons, and hosted the live show on the Las Vegas strip. Additionally, he twice served as the master of ceremonies for the Miss World Pageant and, in the summer of 2008, hosted the Miss Universe Pageant.
In 2006, Springer garnered new media attention, this time for his footwork, when he performed as a contestant on season 3 of the hit series Dancing with the Stars.
Today, because of his lasting popularity, Springer is a favorite guest speaker at college campuses throughout the United States. He has also graced the cover of Rolling Stone, Esquire and New York Magazine throughout his career.
Religion
Many of Springer’s relatives were killed by Nazi’s, in and out of concentration camps. His grandmother was gassed in a truck in Poland. It’s safe to say that the trials and tribulations of the Jewish people hold a special place in Springer’s heart–and he is a spiritual man. However, his spiritualism isn’t just about being Jewish. Springer expresses certain things that point to a faith-holding agnostics.
He said:
"But I also believe in God, because someone created this wonderful thing that I experience every day. And under any moral code you say thank you. My parents happened to be Jewish so I use Jewish traditions to thank whoever is responsible for it. If I was born to Catholic parents, I would use the Catholic tradition. So I’m not saying Jews have the answer more than Catholics. I don’t know. I don’t know what it’s going to be like after we die."
Politics
Before becoming the talk show host that we all love (or hate), Springer was a semi-successful politician. He ran for the governor of Ohio (and lost) and lost an election for an Ohio seat in the U.S. Congress, but was a member of the Cincinnati city council and later appointed to the mayor of that city. He’s always run as a Democrat and described himself as liberal.
Springer’s charisma as a politician was evident. He resigned his post as a city councilman after it became clear that he had purchased a prostitute. But after an honest confession, he won his seat back the next year.3
Springer hosted a talk-radio show for a year in Cincinnati, which was a very liberal show and was even syndicated into various other Midwest cities.4 His famous daytime talk show, The Jerry Springer Show, showed a liberal sort-of patience and tolerance to a wide range of beliefs and viewpoints from transgendered moms to those with feet fetishes.
Springer is an Obama supporter and has even said Obama’s less-than-sympathetic views towards Israel won’t affect the Jewish vote for 2012 president. He has said:
"Overall, American Jews tend to be more progressive, more liberal, so [Obama] will probably still get the vote…I am very happy as an American Jew, and I have family in Israel, I am very happy to support Obama."
Views
Quotations:
"We are all born as empty vessels which can be shaped by moral values."
"All of us, whether or not we're celebrities, every one ought to spend part of their life making someone else's life better."
"I treat politics kind of like my religion. It's something I believe in, but I don't want to have to make a living at it, because if you make a living at it, you somehow become dishonest."
"I play a crazy talk-show host, but that's not me. It's like an actor playing a role."
Personality
"No one would have picked me out in high school and said, 'This guy is going to be in show business.' I don't have any of the talents you would normally associate with show business", - Jerry Springer.
Quotes from others about the person
Jennifer L. Pozner, author of "Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV.
"You can't blame a talk show for an entirely different genre that has a similar tone," Pozner said. "What you can say is that Jerry Springer was often accused of setting up guests, having actors pose as real people and that sort of thing in an attempt to convince the Springer audience that what they were seeing were real people acting in crazy and buffoonish ways and that is similar to reality TV."