“You Don’t Know Jack,” a documentary by San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, will have its world premiere at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.

Screenings are scheduled for Sunday, March 13, at 2:30 p.m. and Wednesday, March 18, at 7 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinema, Post and Fillmore in Japantown. For ticket information, call (415) 865-1588 or visit www.asianamericanmedia.org.

The film tells the life story of comedian, actor and singer Jack Soo, one of the most prolific entertainers of his time.

His portrayal of Sgt. Nick Yemana in the popular 1970s sitcom “Barney Miller” set a new standard of hip, witty, deadpan humor, giving worldwide prominence to the Japanese American wise-cracking detective.

Bay Area Native

Soo was born as Goro Suzuki on Oct. 28, 1917, in Oakland. The son of George Suzuki, a tailor, and Haruko Shiozawa Suzuki, a dressmaker, he attended Oakland Technical High School and worked as a farm laborer and eventually as a contractor, buying melons in Turlock.

He decided that he wanted to be an entertainer – a highly unusual choice for a Nisei. He attended UC Berkeley, where he studied English, but by this time was already performing in nightclubs in San Francisco, introducing other acts and performing stand-up comedy.

In 1942, Soo and his family were interned at the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno and then the Topaz Relocation Center in Utah. Then in his mid-20s, he quickly earned a reputation as a popular entertainer among his fellow internees.

He later received authorization from the government to leave camp to work in military intelligence in Cleveland. After the war, he began working as a butcher in Ohio but continued to moonlight as an emcee and performer in nightclubs and venues throughout the Midwest and the East Coast.

Soo got his first big break in 1949 when he teamed up with Joey Bishop, playing the straight man for a year and a half.

Discovered by Gene Kelly

Soo began performing on the West Coast and was a popular act at Andy Wong’s Skyroom and Charlie Low’s Forbidden City in San Francisco, which featured Chinese American performers. It was at Forbidden City that he was discovered by Gene Kelly, who offered him the role of nightclub announcer Frankie Wing in the Rogers and Hammerstein Broadway production of “Flower Drum Song” in 1958.

Goro Suzuki adopted the stage name Jack Soo and moved to New York. After earning rave reviews for his portrayal of Frankie Wing, Soo was elevated to the leading role of nightclub owner Sammy Fong, and was chosen to play the same role in the film version of the musical, which was released in 1961.

The play and film made history as the first mainstream musical with an all Asian American cast. Soo sang his own songs and won accolades for his performances. He decided to settle in Hollywood, and despite a lack of roles for Asian Americans, managed to find work in films such as “Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed?” (1963), “Thoroughly Modern Millie” (1967), “The Oscar” (1968) and “The Green Berets.”

Soo was a regular in the 1964 series “Valentine’s Day” as chauffeur-gambler Rocky Sin, co-starring with Tony Franciosa, and also appeared in such shows as “Hawaii Five-O” (1970), “The Odd Couple” (1972), “Ironside” (1974), “MASH” (1972, 1975) and “Police Woman” (1975).

Career as a Singer, Comic

But his talent stretched far beyond the characters he created for film and TV. He began his career as a singer and was often referred to as the “Asian Bing Crosby.” He was one of the first non-African American artists signed to Motown records in 1965, and was the first male artist to record the classic “For Once in My Life.”

He was also one of the first Asian American stand-up comics to tour widely throughout the U.S., including the Midwest, New York and Las Vegas.

Soo was married to former model Jan Zdelar, whom he met in New York. They had three children, Jayne (who is interviewed in the film), James and Richard, and two grandchildren. His brother, Mike Suzuki, was an administrator for the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C.

At the height of his popularity, Soo died of cancer on Jan. 11, 1979. His death shocked the cast of “Barney Miller,” which was in its fifth season, and his co-stars stepped out of character in a tribute to Soo that aired in May 1979. At the end of the episode, Soo’s friends raised their coffee cups in a final toast to his memory.

Putting the Film Together

Adachi’s previous film, “The Slanted Screen,” examined Asian male stereotypes in Hollywood films and TV shows. It screened at various film festivals, including SFIAAFF, and was broadcast nationally on PBS. While many actors were interviewed for “The Slanted Screen,” making a film about an actor who is long gone was a challenge, Adachi told the Hokubei Mainichi.

He found clips of interviews that Soo did for various TV shows. “We have excerpts from his appearance on ‘The Jack Benny Show.’ He also was interviewed for ‘The Dinah Shore Show,’ which I have, but we didn’t end up including it in the film.”

Adachi added, “Many of the people who knew and/or worked with Jack are no longer living. Jack was born in 1917, and would have been 91 years old had he lived. But I interviewed over a dozen people who knew Jack or had worked with Jack, and even though Jack passed away 30 years ago, they all had very strong memories of him. He had that kind of impact on people.”

The documentary also features scenes from “Valentine’s Day” and “Barney Miller” as well as clips of Soo’s other film and TV appearances.

Although his day job keeps him busy — he was himself featured in a documentary, “Presumed Guilty: Tales of the Public Defenders” — Adachi said, “I worked on the film during my spare time. I started shooting in August 2008, and completed shooting in December.”

He stressed that it wasn’t a one-man show. “I have a great team, who I also worked with on ‘The Slanted Screen’: Alex Yeung, co-producer, Sean Dana, titles and design, and Michael Becker, music.”

“You Don’t Know Jack” is one of the films in the documentary competition at SFIAAFF.