Jerry Lester; Comedian, Host of 1st Late-Night TV Show

Comedian Jerry Lester, whose breezy style established the milieu for generations of late-night television hosts, has died in Florida.

Lester, host of the early 1950s TV show “Broadway Open House,” the forerunner of the “Tonight” shows, died Thursday at a Miami nursing home, said his wife, Alice. He was 85, she said, and had been retired for many years after Alzheimer’s disease made it impossible for him to continue performing.

Lester was a brassy entertainer in the tradition of Catskill comics who entertained three generations of vacationers in those New York mountains.

He had a smile that displayed what seemed an inordinate amount of teeth as he pranced about nightclub, and later TV, stages.

“Broadway Open House,” a vaudeville-style mixture of music and humor, ran for 15 months on NBC in 1950-51, becoming the first network late-night show.

Lester was host three nights a week, splitting the chores with comic Morey Amsterdam. Amsterdam went on to TV fame on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

One of the featured performers was a buxom blonde known only as “Dagmar” who reacted to Lester’s jokes with suffering stoicism.

NBC later refined the late-night concept, and “Tonight” premiered in 1954. Lester’s mugging at the camera, coupled with topical, corny humor became a prototype that Steve Allen, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson partly emulated.

Lester was also a regular on the 1950s game show “Pantomime Quiz,” and other variety shows such as “Saturday Night Dance Party” and “Cavalcade of Stars.”

Lester had worked regularly in the late 1930s with Bing Crosby, host of radio’s “Kraft Music Hall.” He also was part of Don Ameche’s weekly program for several years.

Before embarking on a broadcasting career, he had performed in nightclubs across the United States, Europe and Australia.

In the 1940s, he appeared on Broadway in “Beat the Band” and “Jackpot.”

After leaving network TV, he settled in Los Angeles and, in 1959, was named host of a 90-minute late-night comedy-music revue on KTTV Channel 11. On the show, he displayed the talents he developed as a young entertainer. Lester was a wire-walker, juggler, singer, magician and dancer and featured such Hollywood stars as Peter Lawford as his guests.

After that show went off the air, he made a few films and returned to the stage in a touring company of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

He performed off and on until 10 years ago. At a New Year’s Eve performance at a Miami hotel, he forgot his lines because of Alzheimer’s.

“It was terrible to see him struggle,” Mrs. Lester said tearfully. “I told him, ‘Darlin’, don’t ever get on stage again.’ ”

He didn’t.

Besides his wife, survivors include his brother, Buddy, also a comedian, three children from an earlier marriage, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.