Jack Laird

Described by his peers as brilliant, eccentric, at times reclusive. Jack Laird was a technical mastermind. A prolific and versatile writer, throughout his career, he involved himself in all areas of the performing arts. Born and raised in a small California town on May 8, 1923, Laird's career in show business began at a young age when a film company came to his city, and casted Laird and his family in a silent film. From then on, he was hooked on show business. While a student at Pasadena Junior College, he had formed his dance band, his group would be made up of players who would later join the likes of Stan Kenton, Benny Goldman, and Les Brown, but the group broke up when Laird enlisted in the Army Air Force during World War II, he was assigned as a pilot in the Ninth Air Force, and served with the First Allied Airborne while stationed in Manchester, England. Upon his discharge from the Army, Laird had resumed civilian life in New York, where he enrolled at the Dramatic Workshop,