Mack, Jess
setName: label: See more items in
content: Henry A. "Buddy" Graf and George Cahill Vaudeville and Burlesque Collections
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Jess Mack was born May 14,1905. He was a booking agent and comedy writer. The Jess Mack Papers at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas document the professional life of burlesque agent and comedy writer Jess Mack from 1916 to 1988 in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition to contracts, correspondence, engagements, and newspaper articles, the collection contains five boxes of jokes, scripts
and scenes used in various burlesque productions. Other material includes photographs of entertainers and burlesque stars, joke booklets, and issues of Mack's magazine, Cavalcade of Burlesque, dating from
1951 to 1954. 

"Jess Mack, born in Baltimore, Maryland on May 14, 1905, was an actor for 30 years, and a producer, comedy writer, and agent for 35 years in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mack wrote for comedians including Phil Silvers, Rags Ragland, Red Buttons, Charlie Kemper, Phyllis Diller, and Rip Taylor. He also wrote comedy lines and sketches for Abbott and Costello, Jackie Gleason, George White's Scandals and Minsky's Follies. Mack was also the writer and publisher of the Cavalcade of Burlesque magazine. As an agent, Mack represented a number of prominent striptease dancers. "  "Mack first appeared in a comedy act in Las Vegas in 1944 with Charles Kemper at the El Rancho Vegas Hotel and Casino. He made two trips to the South Pacific with the United Service Organizations (1945 and 1946). Mack continued to work and travel until 1969 when he moved to Las Vegas permanently and opened the Jess Mack Theatrical Agency. His 35 years as an agent culminated on June 24, 1990 when the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) presented him with the Outstanding Achievement Award for being the first franchised SAG agent in Las Vegas, Nevada." He died 
October 29, 1990.

Additional archival collection at University of Pittsburgh  "Ralph G. Allen Burlesque Collection"

Guide to the Ralph G. Allen Burlesque Collection, 1905-1962 CTC.1972.02 | Digital Pitt.


A related archival collection is available at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas  https://www.library.unlv.edu/speccol/finding-aids/MS-00022.pdf
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1937-1969, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1484, Series 24
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This series contains scripts and materials written, performed, or used by Jess Mack. Materials are arranged alphabetically by title.