/ Andrea James / 2:16 pm Sat Aug 21, 2010

RIP, Jack Horkheimer, "Star Gazer" and TV astronomer

Jack Horkheimer, enthusiastically quirky host of the astronomy show currently called Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer, has died. The show started on local Florida PBS stations in 1976 as Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler. The name was changed in 1997, allegedly in response to connotations of the term "hustler." The episode below demonstrates a number of the show's charming themes, including Jack sitting on the rings of Saturn and his somewhat Rip Taylor-esque delivery.

His work probably got a lot of young people interested in astronomy through his accessible and entertaining explanations. Sic itur ad astra, Jack!

Miami Herald obituary

Miami Science Museum's YouTube channel of the show

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  2. It may be cold comfort to those who loved him, but IIRC the Pythagoreans of ancient Greece, and perhaps other pagans too, held that, although we do not enjoy any type of personal immortality, our spirit becomes one with the stars and heavens when we die.

    Such would perhaps be an apt fate, IMHO, for the spirit of one who loved to contemplate those stars, and those heavens.

    R.I.P.

  3. For the rest of my life, whenever I hear Debussy’s first arabesque, I will always think of the stars.

    Thanks for that, Jack Horkheimer. RIP

  6. I didn’t really watch his show until later in my life, and could not believe what I was missing. What a dynamic person- the portrait of someone who absolutely loves what they are doing. I’ll miss him too.

  8. Sad news, I haven’t seen his bit for a while on Mississippi PBS and I don’t know if he’d stopped doing the series of MS PBS quit showing it. He was quite a character and I’ll miss him. I hope someone will pick up the mantle and carry on Star Gazer.

    Is Rip Taylor still with us and available?

    “Keep looking up!”

  9. Star Hustler! Star *Hustler*, youth…

    I will miss Jack. He brought us the night’s sky and the greatest show of all, the universe, on PBS, right after Doctor Who.
    Keep looking up, Jack!

  10. Here’s a 25-year-old clip from when it was Star Hustler:

    “Some people hustle pool, some people hustle cars. Then there’s that man you’ve heard about, the one who hustles stars.”

  13. As I remember, Star Hustler used to air on my PBS station right before the station signed off for the night. That 1985 segment brought it all back. Thank you, Andrea.

  14. Astronomy has a page with a link to a PDF of a 2006 article on Jack Horkheimer. One detail: after graduating from high school, he toured the country playing piano and organ (jazz) in night clubs. Who knew?

  15. I wrote to Jack Horkheimer when Hayley’s Comet was coming around in 1986. I haven’t thought about this show in a very long time, but this makes me sad. He was a hugely influential force in my childhood interests.

  16. When I was a kid, on summer nights I would stay up late to watch Doctor Who on my local PBS. Just before Doctor who came on there was the Star Hustler, with his awesome delivery and wonderful music. Tonight, it’s hot and muggy here in Chicago and man, I just got bushwhacked by nostalgia. Safe travels Mr. Horkheimer, you helped make astronomy awesome for me.

    Seriously this…

    Leading into this

    Nerd Nirvana.

  17. Oh, man. I heard about this on the radio but couldn’t connect the name to the face. Thanks, Boing Boing :( for clearing it up. I remember watching him when I was a kid.

  18. I’ll never forget the day I met Jack at the Miami Museum of Science summer camp. Many of us having grown up watching him on our local PBS channel were pretty star-struck. On the last day of camp we all put on a skit and I got to play Jack. This really hits close to home. South Florida just lost a real Hero. But as Jack always said, “keep looking up”

  19. I love all that he did to interest people in backyard astronomy, but what I’ll always remember Jack Horkheimer for is one of the silliest math goofs of all time, when in one show he said, “if you look low in the southeast after sunset, you’ll see three stars that almost form a triangle…”

  20. I was watching Jack every Sunday night for decades. I always enjoyed his enthusiasm and presentation and would even learn some stuff along the way.
    Yes, Rip Taylor is as rude and alive as ever. I see him quite often at ‘Jan’s’ on Beverly a couple of blocks east of La Cienega.

  21. I grew up in Miami and met Horkheimer on several occasions and he was EXACTLY like you would hope he would be. Thank you and RIP

  22. So many times, I recall that music (Debussy, I know now) coming on and Jack telling me all about the heavens I could hardly see from S. Florida. He absolutely taught me to be mindful of the heavens, and it’s been a longtime fascination of mine to watch the stars. RIP Jack, you will certainly be missed.

  23. I rolled my eyes a bit at his presentation, but afterwards I usually went outside and looked at whatever he had talked about!

    RIP, Jack, well done!

  24. Oh, man, I watched Jack do his thing for years growing up in Tampa. Like everyone says, to this day I am reminded of him, when I hear the opening title music. When my neighbors son got a telescope for xMas coupla years back, I pointed him to that youtube collection. His eyes lit up like saturns rings. Met him once, too, at Museum of Science & Industry in Tampa. I was Probably 28 yrs old, & as giddy as the 9yr olds.

    R. I. P. Jack you were pure science (and a little magic!!)

  26. Wow I faintly remember this from visiting my grandpa on sanibel island in FL in the 80’s, they also had a awesome sunday horror film matinee host. Think mst3k but serious

    Does anyone have a link to the music? is it ray lynch? or wendy carlos?

  27. He was already one with the stars. When I had a TV, I would always stay up late weekends just to watch him.

    He contributed so much to so many just by following his passion and being descent to all people. He is the kind of person who leaves something with everyone who meets him, therefore the present tense.

  28. For anyone wondering, the wonderful music used in this segment is Isao Tomita’s recording of Arabesque from his album of Debussy performed on Moog synths called Snowflakes Are Dancing.

  30. As I understand it, the renaming of the segment had nothing to do with the connotations of the term “hustler.” That was the first explanation given to me and I thought it was weak sauce indeed. It was later that I read an interview where it was explained that search engines killed “Star Hustler.” It’s strangely funny that his death pushed every Hustler Magazine related result to the second page of Google.

  32. @ anon #9 – I’m with you! For a long time, Dr. Who just didn’t seem complete without the Star Hustler coming after. Neat guy – I’m glad he had the chance to share with the world.

  33. Watched it all the way up here in Canada.. which meant occasionally he talked about stuff I could not, in fact, see. Still, I’ll never hear synthetic Debussy or see Orion but think of him. The Star Hustler when I was young meant the weekend was over in my house, and time for bed.

  35. Despite some youthful fascination, I’ve never been much of a star-gazer: I can find Orion–’nuff said. Despite a lifetime of PBS being a fixture in my home, none of my affiliates carried it until I moved to ATL firmly in adulthood.

    That said, when I hear that music, I’m all about me some Horkheimer–strictly on an entertainment level. Not to say I didn’t have the fullest respect for his knowledge and the show that he put together; but, damn, the RELISH with which he delivered his lines, the kooky mis-en-scene of the whole thing. This cat was off the hook. I’ve never watched his show without cackling with laughter at least once.

    This was a man with a lust for life. I thank him–posthumously–for sharing it with me.

    Keep looking up!

  37. Ha, very well put, Django. Goes for me too. After a youthful dalliance, subscribing to The Griffith Observer and looking for transits from the garage roof with an old pair of navy binoculars, I pretty much gave it up. When Horkheimer came along later I wasn’t about to get back into gazing, but it sure was fun to hear him go on and on. Clued me in to some interesting celestial events as well. Farewell Jack. Back to the stardust.

  38. Farewell, Jack. While I always knew what the Arabesque was (and even played it on the piano), it has always been known to me as the Star Hustler piece. I’ll keep looking up.

  40. This saddens me… growing up it remember watching Doctor Who followed by Jack Horkheimer on Saturday nights.

    Bummer

  41. I don’t know how many songs they will accept, but NASA is asking the public to vote for the last shuttles’ wake-up calls-so I was the first one to nominate the the theme song to “The Star Hustler”, in honor of Jack Horkheimer, who just passed away (into the Universe.) The Star Hustler theme is “Arabesque” by Debussy. I think he deserves such an honor for inspiring so many to pick up a te…lescope, or just go outside & ‘look up’ at the stars and planets and for those who went on to be scientists and astronomers. Esp. when we really need his kind of enthusiasm to jettison more of America’s kids into science !
    Pass it on !

  42. Jack’s clear expositions on astronomy always fascinated me. Prior to finding his show I purchased the music on a tape by the Japanese artist, Tomita, a collection called “Snowflakes Dancing.” I found the soundtrack as pleasing as the presentation.

  43. RIP Star Hustler. I’ll always remember when looking at the Great Bear/Big Dipper to follow the ‘handle’ and ‘Arc to Arcturas’ then ‘speed on to Spica’. . .

  44. For all I know the guy was a saint. But I couldn’t stand to watch more than a few seconds of his show. It was just kind of embarrassing. It made me miss Carl Sagan that much more.

  45. Alas, now when I fall asleep in front of the TV, who will wake me?

    R.I.P. Jack Horkheimer, I for one will keep looking up.

  46. I grew up watching this guy, and I’ve always wondered what happened to him. That cooky theme music and that gravelly voice. Wow, to think that he’s gone is sad… Keep looking up, I will.

    1. Perhaps they memorize the position of the spectral emission lines instead, and then use those to characterize their observations, rather than use the subjective descriptions of apparent color.

  48. Growing up in the Bay Area I could always count on weekend nights of The Prisoner, Blake’s 7, Doctor Who, and Jack Horkheimer. As an adult I’m deeply into astronomy. I’m sure Mr. Horkheimer had a thing or two to do with that.

  49. I loved when he would zip up his Members Only jacket to teleport himself to another part of the set.

  50. He will be missed by myself, and a whole bunch of the Boing crowd. What is going to be magical to the next generation? We need future scientists and critical thinkers to become aware of their gifts through things like Jack’s spots about the solar system. Although I love good food and cooking shows, they do not replicate the WOW! that Jack generated. I miss Aasimov too.

  51. I loved this guy! I watched Star Hustler almost every night (mainly because I never slept in High School). He had a corny delivery but he was one of those people that was so excited about science that he wanted to share it with everyone. Where did all of those people go?

  52. I saw this comment on another blog:

    “I used to watch his few minute show just before going to bed, just before PBS would go off the air at night. It was like the opposite of an alarm clock: telling me it was OK to go to sleep now and have blissful dreams.”

    That’s how I feel too. I feel really sad about this but Horkheimer said, “Remember, to keep… looking… up!” I’ve decided to look for the Summer Triangle, each Labor Day in memory of Jack Horkheimer.

  54. When I was working as a planetarian in West Palm Beach, I had the pleasure of meeting him. He was quite a character, and his enthusiasm for the subject was genuine. Keep in mind that south Florida has a tremendous problem with light pollution. In order to see a fairly decent night sky you had to go out into the Glades or north of Palm Beach County (indeed, you often now need to go north and west, north of Lake Okeechobee, to find a good sky). Many of the objects he pointed out on his show were still accessible from suburban skies, and that was his strength; don’t go for the prosaic, keep it simple, fun and know your audience.
    Ad astra, Jack.

  55. For me, the first thing I think of on hearing the Doctor Who theme has generally been the Star Hustler. I loved Jack’s shows and tuned in for those almost as much as I did the Doctor. :)

    Fly far, Star Hustler.

  56. Oh, Noo- such terrible news! He was such a jolly guy! He presented his love of astronomy with infectiously giddy enthusiasm. You’d think- “Wow, this guy is kinda nuts,”- but then he’d show you something new and cool about the night sky you never knew before that was currently happening- and throw in tidbits about mythology and other facts about the stars. His was a very informative program! I loved catching his “Star Hustler” segment that would show late at night on PBS. I live in the city so not a lot of stargazing to be done. For me, Jack’s TV spot was a nice reminder of the stars. I always got a kick when he would sit on Saturn’s rings, or stroll along a sun beam and vanish. Now he has disappeared into that ray of light one last time. Remember, Star Gazers- “Keep Looking Up!”

  57. This is sad news. I remember watching Jack’s programs in 8th grade Earth Science class. He will be missed.

  58. Who do we right about getting a moon crater or a comet named after Jack? That would be a fitting tribute.

  59. If we can downgrade Pluto to a subplanetoid, I think we can rename some constellations. Let’s turn Pegasus into the Horkheimer.

  61. I have also watched JH for many years- perhaps not regularly, but often enough to admire his enthusiasm, the outlandish graphics, and consistently upbeat manner in explaining a corner of the night sky.

    I had no idea this quite remarkable man had died just a few days ago. I was just trying to google his name for more information, when I came across the news of his passing. I have watched him “hustle stars” many nights with my son, and, if nothing else, his presentations increased our “star vocabulary” several times.

    I find it especially remarkable that someone with a degree in drama could explain complex astronomical jargon and phenomena with such command. Professional astronomers might know the science of planets and stars better, but here was someone who connected our universe with both myths and facts, and was equally at ease doing both. Only a scrupulously honest human being who took delight in knowledge and the wonders of our world, could so enjoy the unfathomable world out there, without biases, without dogma, without malice.

    In his enthusiasm for the mysteries and beauty of the Universe, JH paralleled Rabindranath Tagore, the poet-philosopher, who likewise maintained an unbridled enthusiasm for scientific truth, in so far as it also revealed the multi-faceted beauty of nature and creation.

    Jack Horkheimer, the joyous star-gazer, will be missed much in this tiny corner of the sky.

    Monish Chatterjee

  62. Jack!!! I saw it! Your LAST show described the ELUSIVE ‘False Dawn’ of Omar Kayan. Took 3 nights of waking up at 3am and driving an hour+ into the Arizona desert. BUT on day 3, I pulled over and… there it was! Just as Jack stated. wow.

    During the 10 minutes observing I witnessed a small meteor shower, complete with one that was so close to the ground that when it popped, the ENTIRE dark night was illuminated similar to a search light! Jack was for once looking down on me to ensure I keep looking up.

    But the False Dawn WAS awesome however.
    Thanks Jack

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