Jack Lait was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 journalist.

Life

Born Jacquin Leonard Lait in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, he became renowned during his fifty year career in journalism as one of the leading newspapermen of the first half of the 20th century. He wrote a syndicated column called All in the Family for two decades, was the editor of the New York Daily Mirror

New York Daily Mirror

The New York Daily Mirror was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the Evening Journal and New York American, later consolidated into the New York Journal...

 and Sunday Mirror, and ended his career working for the Hearst Corporation

Hearst Corporation

The Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...

. During his tenure as editor, the New York Daily Mirror gained the second highest circulation of any U.S. newspaper. In 1963, nine years after Lait's death, it ceased publication following a strike, and was absorbed into the then top-selling paper the New York Daily News

New York Daily News

The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....

.

With Lee Mortimer

Lee Mortimer

Lee Mortimer was an American newspaper columnist, radio commentator, crime lecturer, night club show producer, and author. He was born Mortimer Lieberman in Chicago, but was best known by the pen name he adopted as a young newspaper editor...

, Lait wrote New York Confidential, Chicago Confidential, and Washington Confidential in 1951, which became a bestseller.

Lait and Mortimer's books inspired the movies New York Confidential

New York Confidential (film)

New York Confidential is a 1955 crime film starring Broderick Crawford and Richard Conte as New York gangsters. It is based on the 1948 book New York: Confidential! by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer.-Plot:...

 (1955), a Challenge Productions/Warner Bros.

Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

 film directed by Russell Rouse, with a script written by Clarence Greene and Russell Rouse, and Chicago Confidential (1957), a Robert E. Kent Productions/United Artists

United Artists

United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....

 film directed by Sidney Salkow with a script written by Clarence Greene, Russell Rouse, and Bernard Gordon. There was also a television series, New York Confidential, which lasted one season.

Lait died of a circulatory ailment in Beverly Hills, California

Beverly Hills, California

Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...

 at the age of 71.

Plays

• The Hook-up, May 7, 1935 - May 1935
• Rufus LeMaire's Affairs, [Original, Musical, Revue] March 28, 1927 - May 1927
• Spice of 1922, [Original, Musical, Revue] July 6, 1922 - Sep 9, 1922
• One of Us, September 9, 1918 - Sep 1918
• Help Wanted, February 11, 1914 - May 1914

Books

• Beef, Iron, and Wine – Garden City, Doubleday, Page & Co 1916
• Put on the Spot" – NY: Grosset & Dunlap (1930) (basis of 1931 film "Bad Company")
• Our Will Rogers – NY, Greenberg 1935
• New York Confidential, The Lowdown on Its Bright Life (with Lee Mortimer) – Chicago: Ziff-Davis, 1948
• Washington Confidential (with Mortimer – Crown Publishers 1951
• Chicago Confidential (with Mortimer) – Crown 1951
• U.S.A. Confidential
  U.S.A. Confidential
  U.S.A. Confidential is a 1952 book written by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer . Its theme crime and corruption, this book is remarkable for early mentions of many who would become infamous, among them Benny Binion and Jimmy Fratianno....
  
  (with Mortimer) – Crown 1952

External links