In the 1983-84 season, Ben Murphy could be seen on 'Lottery!', a "fantasy adventure" TV series about unsuspecting lucky winners of millions of dollars in lottery prizes from make-believe international sweepstakes. Ben played the banker handing out money to the unsuspecting lucky winners, some as much as $3,750,000 in one episode and in another episode as little as $2.5 million. Marshall Colt played an agent of the Internal Revenue Service (the tax department), responsible for checking the unsuspecting lucky lottery winners had fulfilled their State taxes obligation.
Rick Rosner of 'CHiPs' created 'Lottery!'. Ben told Sylvia Lawler of 'The Morning Call' in 1988, "'Lottery!' was the most fun I ever had doing a show, not the best for me acting-wise and not the best series either, but the most fun." Should he win the lottery, Ben told the press back in 1983, "I'd probably invest. I'm a saver by nature as opposed to a spendthrift. I've always lived below my means. I know a lot of people who spend whatever they make, but it's not my nature to be that way." Ben pointed out, "Money causes a lot of problems. The key is not to let it rule you, but to use it."
In 1985, Ben played the president of a New York department store on 'Berrenger's'. In one scene Andrea Marcovicci's character told Ben's, "You were unfaithful to me from the beginning. The only thing you ever were faithful to was Berrenger's. The damned store is your wife." Also starring Donna Dixon and Jack Scalia, 'Berrenger's' was reminiscent of 'Many Happy Returns' which went on air in the 1964-65 season and centered around the Krockmeyer's department store.
David Jacobs believed, "You try for something different, but what everybody wants is what they're used to, which we have a lot of already (at the time). I mean, I'm sure there's not room for another 'Dynasty' or 'Dallas.' For all I know, there's not room for 'Berrenger's' either. When 'Dallas' goes to Paris they'd be bumpkins. When 'Knots Landing' goes to Paris they'd be tourists. But when 'Dynasty' goes to Paris they'd have apartments there."
Back in 1989, Jack Scalia made known, "I'll celebrate 10 years of sobriety with Alcoholics Anonymous on September 27. If I'd been an actor in my boozing days, I wouldn't have lasted a week. I'd get so stoned I couldn't talk. I never had a drink to have a drink. I drank to get drunk. I did drugs to get high. What turned me around was a spiritual experience on a 12-story window sill in Munich, Germany. I was out on the ledge, I was doing a modeling assignment to pay for my rehab center. I was making 6 figures a year and there I was in Germany trying to get enough money to pay for rehab. In 3½ years, I'd spent almost $400,000 on drugs and booze. When I sobered up, I was $50,000 in debt. I paid it off while working as a model."
Born in 1950, Jack grew up on the mean streets of New York. "I grew up with 5 brothers and sisters. We all knew the rules of the streets. If one kid in the neighborhood had a kite, we all had it. Because if he didn't let us play with it, we broke it." Jack was the son of a cop, "I always knew that, somewhere down the line, I was going to get out. I knew that sports would be my ticket." He won a full athletic scholarship and decided to attend the Ottawa University in Kansas "because it was as far away as I could get."
In 1971, Jack was the No. 1 draft pick for the Montreal Expos professional baseball team and in 1972, he was promoted to AA Ball. Then during spring training Jack injured his shoulder. At that point, he realized his pitching days were over. All the players were called to the field, "I was at the other end of the locker room and hearing all their cleats go out, and then you hear the door close and then, completely alone, and all the thoughts and all the dreams, and I'm standing there, no tears, I’m looking, just numb. It was like, now what do I do with my life?"
Initially Jack worked in the construction industry and then at the Campbell's factory. "I used to stand in front of the machine and load 8000 pounds of hot liquid starch and hamburger patties into it. But it was a living, it got me off welfare. I was a happy camper, you can be sure of that." Jack maintained, "Sports had been my whole life since the age of 10 (around 1960). It was in my blood. When the Expos released me because I couldn't do what they were paying me to do, I felt real loneliness for the first time." Then "a friend suggested I should try modeling because he thought I could make a lot of money so I gave it a try. I worked out of San Francisco then Europe and finally with the Ford Agency in New York.
"(At first) I figured I was ready to take the Big Apple by storm, which was dead wrong. Agency after agency turned me down. It was suggested I go to Europe to get some experience, lose the chip on my shoulder and grow up a little. At the beginning I viewed modeling very superficially. It took me 4 years to learn what the business was about. You can get by on looks for a little while, but what helps the longevity of a career is the willingness to share yourself with people.
"In the last few years (say around 1978) male modeling has come into its own. People's outlook has changed, and the profession is no longer looked upon as feminine. I was very fortunate to come into it at the right time (around 1974, 1975). Few jobs are as glamorous, enjoyable and lucrative. When you're standing on a set and someone's pinning you for 45 minutes to get the clothes to look exactly right, I mean, you can only pick your nose for so long. But there are wonderful rewards. I mean, I had to work with girls like Christie Brinkley and Cheryl Tiegs and Renee Rousseau and Cristina Ferrare."
Jack told Pat Hilton, Stu Schrelberg and Howard Pearson, "It was 1978, I was drunk, my fiancée had dropped me, and I had physically or verbally abused most of my friends. My modeling career was going downhill because people were afraid to book me. It was, 'Will Jack show up late?' 'Will he show up in a violent rage?' The answer was usually yes. I was on a modeling assignment in Munich. I had drunk about 30 bottles of beer, and I don't know how I got from the bed in the hotel room to the open window, but I did. I was about 18 stories up.
"Right there and then the Lord stopped me and said, 'I want to give you a video-tape replay of what you've been doing to your life and the people around you'. I got the replay, and I didn't like very much what I saw. So he said, 'I'm giving you a chance. You can go on doing what you've been doing, and I guarantee you death. Or you can do something that will change your life around'. I was on the 12th-floor window ledge of my hotel room with the phone in my hand. Joey Hunter (of Ford Models) was on the other end.
"I said, 'Joey, if I don't go into a rehab program now, I'm going to step off this ledge and cash it 'in'. Joey said he’d call me back in a half-hour after he'd talked to the facilities, and I added, 'If it's later than a half-hour, don't bother – I won't be here.'" After Joey Hunter called back, Jack checked into a drug and alcohol treatment center, the St. Mary's Rehabilitation Center in Minneapolis and spent 5 weeks doing workouts, attending church, reading and relaxation.
"Right then I knew I was going to be OK. I've learned there's another way to live that's free from alcohol and drugs. I never drank to be social. I drank to get to oblivion. It didn't matter how much or little I used, every time I drank. I got drunk. If I took a half gram of coke, I became as asinine as if I had done 5 grams. I didn't have much to go to reach my insaneness, my paranoia, my self-doubt, my grandiosity. Addiction is a disease. Enough of a disease that it can destroy you spiritually, socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually. It's not like the flu. It's cunning; it's powerful; it's baffling. It's a progression. I stepped over the invisible tolerance line somewhere in my life. I talk about this because I feel that the Lord has me here for a specific reason."
Jack had stated, "Rock (Hudson) was my mentor. We only did 13 episodes (of 'The Devlin Connection' 1981-82), but we spent a year and a half together because of Rock's operation (open-heart surgery). I was on 5 series that never went beyond 13 shows until I did 'Dallas' (1987-88). He gave me 30 years of his experience as an actor while we have been on sets. He was unstinting with suggestions and help, 'Always take your time, on-screen and off. Pace yourself'.
"He gave me hints on how to handle myself in Hollywood, and he has been a big help at every turn. This was especially helpful when you realize the production was closed down for more than 5 months after his heart bypass. Oh yes, the studio paid us (the cast) during that time, but Rock was always contacting me to make sure I was doing all right. Not only that, but he made appointments with his own dentist for me and then drove me to the dentist for the first appointment. You have to realize I was new in Hollywood. It was helpful to have a 'mother hen' like Rock."
Jack rose to stardom posing for Eminence. The advertising campaign was such a hit, women reportedly tore his posters off the bus stops and others bid for the skimpy blue underwear. Of the initial criticism that Jack was a model who could not act, he told Trustman Senger of 'The Washington Post', "I just tell people, 'Whenever you want to do my job and you think you can do better than me, get up here and do it.
"But first you have to go before the network and read, and then you have to go before the producers and read, then go before both of them and read, then get cast in the part, shoot the pilot, and hope that they don't take you out of the pilot because maybe you're not doing the job you thought you could do. Then let the show get picked up for 13 and then hope you make it.' So I say, 'Be my guest'. You know, if the job were so easy, everybody would be doing it."
In 2001, Jack joined the cast of 'All My Children' playing the love interest of Erica Kane played by Susan Lucci. He told Candace Havens of 'Tribune Media Services', "It's not a bad gig if you can get it. I don't mind working hard. Daytime is a place where you won't last long if you can't keep up. I have a lot of great friends in this business who are fantastic actors, and I have a lot of respect for them and daytime. You are learning a movie script a day here and basically making a mini-movie a day. It's a tough pace, but I’m having a good time. And you don't find characters like Chris (Stamp) every day. I'm learning about him right along with the audience, and so far (as at June 2002) he's a stand-up guy."
Jack also mentioned to Sally Stone of 'King Features Syndicate' in 2003, "I'm half-Italian, the other half's Irish. But I think I got the best part of my Italian family's genes and that's the ability to appreciate and cook great food."
In 1971, Jack was the No. 1 draft pick for the Montreal Expos professional baseball team and in 1972, he was promoted to AA Ball. Then during spring training Jack injured his shoulder. At that point, he realized his pitching days were over. All the players were called to the field, "I was at the other end of the locker room and hearing all their cleats go out, and then you hear the door close and then, completely alone, and all the thoughts and all the dreams, and I'm standing there, no tears, I’m looking, just numb. It was like, now what do I do with my life?"
Initially Jack worked in the construction industry and then at the Campbell's factory. "I used to stand in front of the machine and load 8000 pounds of hot liquid starch and hamburger patties into it. But it was a living, it got me off welfare. I was a happy camper, you can be sure of that." Jack maintained, "Sports had been my whole life since the age of 10 (around 1960). It was in my blood. When the Expos released me because I couldn't do what they were paying me to do, I felt real loneliness for the first time." Then "a friend suggested I should try modeling because he thought I could make a lot of money so I gave it a try. I worked out of San Francisco then Europe and finally with the Ford Agency in New York.
"(At first) I figured I was ready to take the Big Apple by storm, which was dead wrong. Agency after agency turned me down. It was suggested I go to Europe to get some experience, lose the chip on my shoulder and grow up a little. At the beginning I viewed modeling very superficially. It took me 4 years to learn what the business was about. You can get by on looks for a little while, but what helps the longevity of a career is the willingness to share yourself with people.
"In the last few years (say around 1978) male modeling has come into its own. People's outlook has changed, and the profession is no longer looked upon as feminine. I was very fortunate to come into it at the right time (around 1974, 1975). Few jobs are as glamorous, enjoyable and lucrative. When you're standing on a set and someone's pinning you for 45 minutes to get the clothes to look exactly right, I mean, you can only pick your nose for so long. But there are wonderful rewards. I mean, I had to work with girls like Christie Brinkley and Cheryl Tiegs and Renee Rousseau and Cristina Ferrare."
Jack told Pat Hilton, Stu Schrelberg and Howard Pearson, "It was 1978, I was drunk, my fiancée had dropped me, and I had physically or verbally abused most of my friends. My modeling career was going downhill because people were afraid to book me. It was, 'Will Jack show up late?' 'Will he show up in a violent rage?' The answer was usually yes. I was on a modeling assignment in Munich. I had drunk about 30 bottles of beer, and I don't know how I got from the bed in the hotel room to the open window, but I did. I was about 18 stories up.
"Right there and then the Lord stopped me and said, 'I want to give you a video-tape replay of what you've been doing to your life and the people around you'. I got the replay, and I didn't like very much what I saw. So he said, 'I'm giving you a chance. You can go on doing what you've been doing, and I guarantee you death. Or you can do something that will change your life around'. I was on the 12th-floor window ledge of my hotel room with the phone in my hand. Joey Hunter (of Ford Models) was on the other end.
"I said, 'Joey, if I don't go into a rehab program now, I'm going to step off this ledge and cash it 'in'. Joey said he’d call me back in a half-hour after he'd talked to the facilities, and I added, 'If it's later than a half-hour, don't bother – I won't be here.'" After Joey Hunter called back, Jack checked into a drug and alcohol treatment center, the St. Mary's Rehabilitation Center in Minneapolis and spent 5 weeks doing workouts, attending church, reading and relaxation.
"Right then I knew I was going to be OK. I've learned there's another way to live that's free from alcohol and drugs. I never drank to be social. I drank to get to oblivion. It didn't matter how much or little I used, every time I drank. I got drunk. If I took a half gram of coke, I became as asinine as if I had done 5 grams. I didn't have much to go to reach my insaneness, my paranoia, my self-doubt, my grandiosity. Addiction is a disease. Enough of a disease that it can destroy you spiritually, socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually. It's not like the flu. It's cunning; it's powerful; it's baffling. It's a progression. I stepped over the invisible tolerance line somewhere in my life. I talk about this because I feel that the Lord has me here for a specific reason."
Jack had stated, "Rock (Hudson) was my mentor. We only did 13 episodes (of 'The Devlin Connection' 1981-82), but we spent a year and a half together because of Rock's operation (open-heart surgery). I was on 5 series that never went beyond 13 shows until I did 'Dallas' (1987-88). He gave me 30 years of his experience as an actor while we have been on sets. He was unstinting with suggestions and help, 'Always take your time, on-screen and off. Pace yourself'.
"He gave me hints on how to handle myself in Hollywood, and he has been a big help at every turn. This was especially helpful when you realize the production was closed down for more than 5 months after his heart bypass. Oh yes, the studio paid us (the cast) during that time, but Rock was always contacting me to make sure I was doing all right. Not only that, but he made appointments with his own dentist for me and then drove me to the dentist for the first appointment. You have to realize I was new in Hollywood. It was helpful to have a 'mother hen' like Rock."
Jack rose to stardom posing for Eminence. The advertising campaign was such a hit, women reportedly tore his posters off the bus stops and others bid for the skimpy blue underwear. Of the initial criticism that Jack was a model who could not act, he told Trustman Senger of 'The Washington Post', "I just tell people, 'Whenever you want to do my job and you think you can do better than me, get up here and do it.
"But first you have to go before the network and read, and then you have to go before the producers and read, then go before both of them and read, then get cast in the part, shoot the pilot, and hope that they don't take you out of the pilot because maybe you're not doing the job you thought you could do. Then let the show get picked up for 13 and then hope you make it.' So I say, 'Be my guest'. You know, if the job were so easy, everybody would be doing it."
In 2001, Jack joined the cast of 'All My Children' playing the love interest of Erica Kane played by Susan Lucci. He told Candace Havens of 'Tribune Media Services', "It's not a bad gig if you can get it. I don't mind working hard. Daytime is a place where you won't last long if you can't keep up. I have a lot of great friends in this business who are fantastic actors, and I have a lot of respect for them and daytime. You are learning a movie script a day here and basically making a mini-movie a day. It's a tough pace, but I’m having a good time. And you don't find characters like Chris (Stamp) every day. I'm learning about him right along with the audience, and so far (as at June 2002) he's a stand-up guy."
Jack also mentioned to Sally Stone of 'King Features Syndicate' in 2003, "I'm half-Italian, the other half's Irish. But I think I got the best part of my Italian family's genes and that's the ability to appreciate and cook great food."
