Background

Eugene Shalit was born on March 25, 1926. Shalit was born in a New York after eight days touched base in Newark, New Jersey, with his mom. In 1932, he went with his family when they moved to Morristown, New Jersey.

In Morristown High School, he wrote the school paper's humor segment called "The Broadcaster" and barely got away from being expelled. The contents of the paper were too controversial for some of the school’s administrators to handle.

Career

Gene was a regular guest on NBC's The Today Show from January 15, 1973 until his retirement on November 11, 2010. He is known for constant use of puns, his larger than usual handlebar mustache, fluffy hair and for wearing beautiful bowties.

Shalit has been associated with exploring expressions of the human experience since 1967 and has wrote for such publications such as Look magazine, Ladies' Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, TV Guide, Seventeen, Glamor, McCall's, and The New York Times.

From 1970 to 1982 he had a daily essay on NBC Radio called "Man About Anything". The segment was carried on a greater number of stations than any other NBC segment.