Milestones

You

won't hear much talk on the network talk shows these days—not much real conversation to broaden the mind or upset the rigid format. In TV's robust youth it was different, in large part because of JACK PAAR, who died last week in Greenwich, Conn., at 85.

Though his tenure as host of The Tonight Show lasted only five years, from 1957 to '62, the former disc jockey and B-movie actor made late-night TV both a habit and an event. He was a hot wire in a cool medium. Many a coffee-break chat would begin with "Did you see what Paar did last night?" He visited Cuba to talk to Castro, and Berlin when the Wall went up; he drew fresh notions from politicians and film idols when such figures were not ubiquitous TV presences. More often, Paar made news by being himself—a softy quick to anger, quick to cry—and by keeping his audience guessing what mood Jack would be in tonight. One night, annoyed by the NBC censor's cutting of a mildly ribald anecdote, he walked off the show. And a month later, he walked back.

After quitting the show for good in 1962, he was host of a weekly hour in prime time that had some inspired guest pairings (Cassius Clay and Liberace) and was the first U.S. network program to feature a Beatles performance. But in May 1965, at 47, he said a last NBC farewell, picking up his trademark stool and walking into the mists of legend. Jack Paar a legend? We kid you not. He was so good that few talk shows since have been up to Paar.
—By Richard Corliss

DIED. DURAID ISA MOHAMMED, 27, pictured top, and YASSER KHATAB, 25, employees of CNN who were killed when their car was attacked; south of Baghdad. They were in a two-car convoy that was fired upon by a gunman shooting through the sunroof of a rust-colored Opel. "There is no doubt in my mind that if our security adviser had not returned fire, everyone in our vehicle would have been killed," said CNN correspondent Michael Holmes, who was traveling in the other car in the convoy.

DIED. LLOYD BUCHER, 76, former U.S. Navy commander of the U.S.S. Pueblo, whose crew was held captive by North Korea for 11 months in 1968; in San Diego. The Pueblo was in international waters off North Korea when it was attacked by North Korean torpedo boats. Bucher and his men spent nearly a year in harsh captivity, before a negotiated settlement brought them home. A Navy court later recommended that Bucher be court-martialed for surrendering the ship without firing a shot, but the Navy secretary overruled the decision, saying the crew had suffered enough.

DIED. SALVADOR LAUREL, 75, former Philippine Vice President who helped topple Ferdinand Marcos by deciding not to run for the presidency in 1986, which would have split the opposition challenge to the strongman; in San Francisco. Instead, Laurel, who came from a prominent political clan, became Corazon Aquino's running mate. After Marcos tried to rig the elections and was forced into exile, Laurel served as Aquino's Vice President from 1986-92.

DIED. ELROY ("CRAZYLEGS") HIRSCH, 80, Hall of Fame Los Angeles Rams' receiver who resurrected his career after a stint as a running back with the woeful Chicago Rockets; in Madison, Wisconsin. Hirsch, who gained his nickname from his ungainly running style, suffered three injury-plagued losing seasons with the Rockets. But at Los Angeles, Hirsch became one of American football's first great receivers, catching 10 touchdown passes during the team's 1951 championship season.

DIED. FANNY BLANKERS-KOEN, 85, the "Flying Housewife" who won four gold medals in the 1948 London Olympics, the most track-and-field victories by a woman in a single Olympic Games; in Amsterdam. Blankers-Koen, a 30-year-old mother of two and the oldest woman on the track, was dismissed as past her prime before the Games. But the Dutch runner stunned critics by winning the 100-m and 200-m sprints, the 80-m hurdles and the 4 x 100-m relay.

CONVICTED. ARMIN MEIWES, 42, a German computer repairman who killed and ate another man; of manslaughter; in Kassel, Germany. Meiwes was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison. The court rejected a life sentence for murder sought by the prosecutors, ruling that the victim, Bernd-Jürgen Brandes, 43, was a willing participant in his own death.

Numbers

33% Percentage of last week's e-mails estimated to have been triggered by the MyDoom.A computer virus

$250,000 Reward offered by Microsoft for clues leading to the conviction of the authors of the MyDoom.B strain targeting the software giant's website

40 million Number of e-mails written by Clinton staff members that are to be archived in his presidential library

2 Number of e-mails written by Bill Clinton himself during his time in office, one of which was a test to see whether he knew which button to press

220,695 Number of personal bankruptcies in Japan in the first 11 months of 2003, a nearly twentyfold increase since 1991

$1,250 Reserve price for a single hair of Beatle John Lennon to be auctioned in Spain

50 tons Weight of a dead sperm whale that exploded on a street in Tainan City, Taiwan, as it was being trucked to a research center. A gas buildup in its intestines caused the rupture

55,000 pounds Weight of nuclear and missile components shipped to the U.S. by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as part of his pledge to stop developing weapons of mass destruction