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ir) A HAPPY & HEALTHY PASSOVER
Comedian Jack Eagle
Is Living His Dream
OPEN EASTER SUNDAY
RITA CHARLESTON
April 15, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Special to The Jewish News
at
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FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1990
TRAY CATERING
FOR ALL
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Eat less
saturated
fats.
WERE FIGHTING FOR
YOUR LIFE
American Heart
Association
t wasn't until he got the
role of Brother Dominic
in the Xerox commercials
that Brooklyn-born comedian
Jack Eagle finally made a big
name for himself in show
business.
"Oh, people still come up to
me and say, 'Are you you?' "
Eagle laughs, talking of the
kind of pseudo recognition
that has been his ever since
he first appeared on televi-
sion in 1975 hawking the
company's products. "But
that's just fine with me. I
never get upset if people still
don't know my name, only the
face. Why, I've gotten some of
my funniest material from
the things people say to me.
They don't realize just how
funny they are. Once a
woman and her husband
came up to me after a show
and the wife said, `My hus-
band and I enjoyed you very
much. Of course, we don't get
out too often.' Which means,
you're wonderful, but what do
we know?"
Eagle's show business
beginnings were initiated
back in the late 1940s when,
as a high school dropout, he
started playing his trumpet
and traveling with the big
bands.
"I was always the little fun-
ny guy," says the rotund,
5-feet 4-inch Eagle. "But I
never thought of doing any
standup until Buddy Hackett
brought me on stage one
night and let me tell a few
jokes. A few years later, some
guys in the band also en-
couraged me, and eventually
I teamed up with another ex-
trumpet player-turned-
comedian by the name of
Frankie Mann."
The two formed an act that
lasted for 10 years but was
not meant for stardom. After
a decade, the duo broke up
and Eagle went out on his
own.
As a soloist, Eagle played
such places as Grossinger's in
the Catskills and a slew of
fancy clubs in Miami Beach
and Las Vegas, but always as
the opening act, never the
star. It was while playing the
club circuit that he audi-
tioned for and eventually
landed the role of Brother
Dominic.
"They were looking for a lit-
tle cherubic type and they ob-
viously liked what they saw,"
he says. "The fact that the
monk was a Jew was never an
Jack Eagle:
A commercial success.
issue. Later, that became
more of a multi-faceted
publicity thing than anything
else. Everyone picked up on it,
but it was never a problem at
Xerox. I think they enjoyed
it."
In fact, it became
something everyone could en-
joy, Eagle insists. "I
remember sitting on the dais
at a banquet once for the Na-
tional Conference of Chris-
tians and Jews. One of the
heads of the organization, a
Catholic priest, said happily,
`Brother Dominic is very com-
fortable on this dais because
he can sit on either end of it
without any problem!' "
Since its initial run in 1975,
the commercial became an
immediate success. It won a
bunch of major awards, in-
cluding two Clios, the Emmys
of the advertising industry.
"The commercial literally
turned the advertising
business upside down," Eagle
recalls. "And we've continued
to do similar commericals up
until last year, but none were
as famous as the first.
However, they still continue
to use Brother Dominic as a
marketing tool for Xerox. I'm
still working for them after
15 years. Brother Dominic is
alive and well, just living in
another division of Xerox. To-
day I work for the engineer-
ing division. I have become
their poster boy."
Through the years, Eagle
has been seen in other highly
visible commercials as well.
"I was 'Mr Cholesterol' in the
Fleischmann margarine ads.
I used to pop in and out of the
refrigerator and bug
everybody at the dinner table.
I was the perfect face for
Gilette Trac II. I was in the
original Hertz commercial
with O.J. Simpson. And I was