If they would have lived.....

[anotherguyTN]

Ernie Kovacs was mentioned earlier in this thread. I've been watching some videos of his shows, and I already knew that he was a heavy cigar smoker. I can't help but wonder if he hadn't died in auto accident if he would he would have still died young because of his smoking habit.

 

[MHB]

If Wolfman Jack would have still lived..he might have reconsidered his broadcast career which he retired from. He wanted to be home with his wife and died in her arms so the story goes.

Wolfman would have been great doing a sydnicated oldies program. Little Walter and Cool Bobby B (among others) have their programs but Wolf would have them both beat if he were still around today...Oldies stations it seems needs a shot in the arm nowadays so giving my sons(and down the road..grandkids good Lord willin')a rockin' education in rockabilly,doo-wop,early R&B,Chicago blues,Motown and British invasion might do them good. Rock and R&B needs to be fun again! Radio Disney is proving that.

In fact, he does have a syndicated oldies show:

http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,2098.0.html

It's really him.

 

[WMC2006]

WODS/Oldies 103.3//Boston runs a Wolfman Jack show Sunday nights from 11pm (immediately following The Lost 45's with Barry Scott) and it runs to (I think) 1 am. Probably the same thing you are talking about. Wolfman references quite often during the show the old "Midnight Special" tv show from the 70s/80s.

Oldies 103 does not, however, list Wolfman on their website as a Weekender. ;D

 

[bk77]

Ernie Kovacs was mentioned earlier in this thread. I've been watching some videos of his shows, and I already knew that he was a heavy cigar smoker. I can't help but wonder if he hadn't died in auto accident if he would he would have still died young because of his smoking habit.

True Kovacs was a heavy cigar smoker but did he inhale? True smoking is bad regardless if one inhales or not but by inhaling one does increase the odds of getting lung cancer. Over the years I knew many who smoked cigars and many old timers have told me they do not inhale and many of those are still healthy. However on the flip side, many younger cigar smokers I knew did inhale and many of them are paying the price today.

Of course its no secret that Luciile Ball was a heavy smoker but she always claimed that she never did inhale and actually gave up cigarettes totally some years before her death. But with that being said its not hard to hear from people that she died in 1989 of "lung cancer", actually Lucy died when her aorta burst, I dont believe it was related to smoking. Andy Kaufman died from lung cancer back in 84 and he never did touch cigarettes.

Had Kovacs would had lived longer I believe he would have been a far bigger star than what he is remembered for today.
Maybe he would have gone through the sitcom route or doing shows at clubs, perhaps by force since Kovacs did have his
share on money woes just before his death. I seem to recall he had some serious issues with the IRS.

Lucy, well if she had lived, since she would be well into her 90s now, I really doubt she would be doing much of anything at all today.

Kaufman I believe would be far less remembered today had he not died so young. Even back in the 80s, I remember back then hearing from many people who were tired of his weirdness ( The "Fridays" incident, the wrestling stuff, and wasnt h booted off of SNL by the viewers? ). I have read that even his fellow co-workers on Taxi didnt even like the man and wanted him to go away.

Looking at some of the clips of Andy that are on You Tube, its hard not to know he had emotional problems. I think that would have sooner or later have gotten the best of him. Of course had he got help, would have he been successful? Maybe, but then again we will never know.

 

[anotherguyTN]

I really don't know if Kovacs inhaled or not, but cigar and pipe smoking without inhaling (along with various forms of chewing or smokeless tobacco) is supposed to lead to cancer of the mouth.

I used to jokingly tell friends that I could come closer to believing that Andy Kaufman was still alive rather than Elvis.

 

[Mark Giardina]

It would have been interesting to see what path George Reeves career would have taken had he not died in 1959.

From what I've read, Reeves was scheduled to start filming more "Superman" series and he was interested in a career as a director.

I think that with the nostalgia craze of the 60s, Reeves would have ended up featured on another series. He was a good actor; unfortunately never given the chance to remove himself from the role of Superman.

Just curious but how many of you think he killed himself or was murdered?