Al Schwartz

Allen "Al" Schwartz (born January 3, 1932) is an American television producer who has produced a variety of shows in association with Dick Clark. He is best known for producing award shows such as the American Music Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. Shows that he co-produced were nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards three times and for a Primetime Emmy Award once.

Early life Schwartz was born January 3, 1932, in Chicago, Illinois, where he attended Lowell Grammar School and Roosevelt High School. After graduating from Wright Junior College in 1951, he attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison. At the University of Wisconsin, Schwartz was a student in the first television class created at the university, president of the Entertainers Guild, served on the Executive Board of The Haresfoot Club, and appeared in Haresfoot show productions.

Career After graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1953 with a B.S. degree, Schwartz was hired in July by the then-new WKOW-TV, an ABC-affiliated television station in Madison, Wisconsin. At the station, he hosted two daily television shows: "Al's Pals," a children's show in the afternoon, and "Club 27," a late night show featuring University and professional talent.

Schwartz was drafted into the United States Army in 1954 as a private and served until 1956. He was assigned to special services Armed Forces Far East to variety shows for officer and non-commissioned officer clubs. In 1955, he was designated as a liaison to Ed Sullivan, an American entertainment writer and television host. Part of his service involved introducing Sullivan to military and Japanese talent on Sullivan's trip to Tokyo that year.

After his tour of duty in the army, Schwartz resumed his television career by joining WBBM-TV, a CBS owned-and-operated television station located in Chicago, Illinois. Initially hired in as a stage manager, Schwartz advanced through positions such as associate director, director, and producer. He was the stage manager for the historic first debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy in 1960. Together they produced shows such as NBC's Dick Clark's Good Ol Days, My Three Sons, Thanksgiving Reunion with The Partridge Family (1977). Schwartz went on to create The Man in the Santa Claus Suit, a 1979 TV-Movie starring dancer Fred Astaire as Santa Claus. Their productions of the Soap Opera Digest Awards were nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program in 1988, 1989, and 1990. Schwartz's production of the 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Special Class Program in 2007.

Through the Academy Awards, Schwartz traveled around the world producing special Academy Awards segments in Tokyo, Paris, London, New York, Calcutta, Sri Lanka, and at the NASA White Sands Test Facility in White Sands, New Mexico. In 2013, Schwartz produced Masters of Illusion, a magic-based television series for Associated Television International.

In 2004, he was named to the board of directors of the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago.