The
House That Jack Built:
My Life As A Trailblazer in Broadcasting and Entertainment
By Hal Jackson with James Haskins
Hal
Jacksonstill on the air todayas a veritable tornado,
zipping his way through American broadcasting for well over 60
years. After getting his start as a teenage sportswriter in Washington,
DC, Jackson dipped his fingers into promotion, play-by-play announcing,
basketball team ownership and community organizing before landing
in radio, where his show, "The House That Jack Built,"
lasted for a solid quarter century on various stations. Breaking
racial barriers seems like his favorite hobby; he's got a whirlwind
of firsts under his belt, including being the first black network
radio announcer, inductee into The Radio Hall of Fame, first host
of an interracial network television show and first promoter of
a black teen beauty pageant. The man is like a pop-culture Zelig;
the photo pages of his new autobiography (Amistad Press), named
after his radio program, show him grinning beside every major
African-American entertainment personality of the 20th century,
from Quicny Jones to Michael Jackson. The bookwritten with
collaborator James Haskinsis a fascinating story on its
own merits, but it lacks the soul you might expect from such an
entertainment personality. Few personal anecdotes (and you know
there must be some great ones) populate the text, either from
his private life or from the dozens of music personalities he
worked with. Instead, the book reads like a laundry list of milestones
without any injection of warmth or color. And one wonders why
a man whose laurel-laden career was based on being articulate
and persuasive chose to use a ghostwriter. Luckily, considering
his eventful life, Jackson's laundry list stands up decently on
its own.
Alison
Fensterstock
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