? re "Laugh-In" in Birmingham, AL

[Ultimajock]

...I'm positive this has been discussed here, but I'm short on time at the moment and need a restated answer. I've been watching the "Laugh-In" 25th Anniversary special on an old VHS, and one of the clips used has Arte Johnson's German Spy saying, "Very Interesting...but in Birmingham, they're running a test pattern." Exactly what is the detailed backstory to this one?...

 

[Stanislav]

...I'm positive this has been discussed here, but I'm short on time at the moment and need a restated answer. I've been watching the "Laugh-In" 25th Anniversary special on an old VHS, and one of the clips used has Arte Johnson's German Spy saying, "Very Interesting...but in Birmingham, they're running a test pattern." Exactly what is the detailed backstory to this one?...

Pretty sure I've read that "Laugh-In" wasn't cleared in B-ham for a time (or at all?), so it may have been a reference to that. Personally, I always got a kick out of Arte's German soldier often ending the show with a loving message to Lucy when the two shows were on head-to-head.

There's a much more cryptic reference that I recall. In one show, as Dan and Dick were saying their good nights, Dick ended with "...and goodnight, Officer Guthrie, wherever you are." I don't know what his reference was to, but when that show aired, I was in 6th Grade, and we had an English teacher, a Mrs. Guthrie, who was an ex-correctional officer/prison guard in a woman's prison. (At least that was the scuttlebutt -- even thought she had the look and demeanor of a guard from one of those Grade Z "lezbos in prison" movies, it might have just been concocted to let us know not to mess with her...) ;D Anyway, there was much buzz the next day, with some of the kids convinced that Dick was saying goodnight to our"Officer Guthrie."

 

[Charles1]

IIRC, "Laugh-In" was always cleared in Birmingham in pattern with the network on WAPI-13 (now WVTM). This was still in the days when Channel 13 was a dual affiliate of CBS and NBC, taking the best of both networks and leaving mainly scraps for WBMG-42 (now WIAT), WCFT-33 in Tuscaloosa, and WHMA-40 (now WJSU) in Anniston. I was only 8 or 9 at the time, so my memory isn't the clearest on this.

 

[Stanislav]

IIRC, "Laugh-In" was always cleared in Birmingham in pattern with the network on WAPI-13 (now WVTM). This was still in the days when Channel 13 was a dual affiliate of CBS and NBC, taking the best of both networks and leaving mainly scraps for WBMG-42 (now WIAT), WCFT-33 in Tuscaloosa, and WHMA-40 (now WJSU) in Anniston.

If that's the case, then it may well be that they were just making a general jibe at the fact that some southern stations didn't carry the show, and they just picked Birmingham as a recognizable southern city for the joke.

 

[LKellerIII]

"If that's the case, then it may well be that they were just making a general jibe at the fact that some southern stations didn't carry the show, and they just picked Birmingham as a recognizable southern city for the joke."

Or it could have been just a general gibe at the south for no other reason. In the 60s, following the segregationist and anti-civil rights activities in the southern states, it was not unusal to hear humor in the media that denigrated the south. It was especially true on shows that relied on contemporary or "hip" humor, and Laugh-In was certainly in that category.

It seems like the trend more or less stopped when a comedian (I think it may have been Johnny Carson) joked about flying over Mississippi, and having the urge to go to the bathroom. Letters were written, and a fuss was made. Perhaps the comedian (Carson?) had to apologize. The details are fuzzy in my memory.

 

[Stanislav]

It seems like the trend more or less stopped when a comedian (I think it may have been Johnny Carson) joked about flying over Mississippi, and having the urge to go to the bathroom. Letters were written, and a fuss was made. Perhaps the comedian (Carson?) had to apologize. The details are fuzzy in my memory.

It was Jerry Lewis, on his very short-lived ABC variety show.

 

[bpatrick]

I can't recall any Southern stations pre-empting
Laugh-In; Channel 4 in Greenville, SC did when it
first came on the air but picked it up in the fall of
'68. AFAIK, Laugh-In always aired in Birmingham
(I used to watch it there, anyway).

OTOH, I think some Southern CBS affiliates pre-
empted individual episodes of The Smothers Brothers
Comedy Hour (part of the problem between CBS and
the brothers was that the network wanted the tape
of the upcoming week's show so the affiliates could
decide whether or not to pre-empt, since some of the
material--like David Steinberg's "sermon"--might offend
the South).

 

[landtuna]

Or it could have been just a general gibe at the south for no other reason. In the 60s, following the segregationist and anti-civil rights activities in the southern states, it was not unusal to hear humor in the media that denigrated the south. It was especially true on shows that relied on contemporary or "hip" humor, and Laugh-In was certainly in that category.

I think I remember seeing a skit on Laugh-In that had a white female kissing a black male (I think it might have been Sammy Davis Jr.). After the kiss the male turns to the camera and says "there goes Mississippi!".

Seemed both funny and poignant at the time. But Schlatter's people were really good at pushing the envelope.

 

[Ultimajock]

It seems like the trend more or less stopped when a comedian (I think it may have been Johnny Carson) joked about flying over Mississippi, and having the urge to go to the bathroom. Letters were written, and a fuss was made. Perhaps the comedian (Carson?) had to apologize. The details are fuzzy in my memory.

It was Jerry Lewis, on his very short-lived ABC variety show.

...it was Jerry Lewis, but several years after the ABC show was dead and gone. It was during a monologue he delivered while pinch-hitting for Carson in 1969; http://youtube.com/watch?v=D3U3qTsSx9I has the kinescope of Lewis apologising for the gag the following night...

 

[Ultimajock]

Or it could have been just a general gibe at the south for no other reason. In the 60s, following the segregationist and anti-civil rights activities in the southern states, it was not unusal to hear humor in the media that denigrated the south. It was especially true on shows that relied on contemporary or "hip" humor, and Laugh-In was certainly in that category.

I think I remember seeing a skit on Laugh-In that had a white female kissing a black male (I think it might have been Sammy Davis Jr.). After the kiss the male turns to the camera and says "there goes Mississippi!".

Seemed both funny and poignant at the time. But Schlatter's people were really good at pushing the envelope.

...the kiss was planted by Goldie Hawn on Sammy Davis Jr.'s cheek. It's in the 25th Anniversary Special...there was also an incident on another show in which there was a similar display of affection between Petula Clark and Harry Belafonte, and that caused a flap as well...

...oh, and one other thing I've learned in the last few days -- George Schlatter was born in Birmingham, Alabama...

 

[LKellerIII]

"..there was also an incident on another show in which there was a similar display of affection between Petula Clark and Harry Belafonte, and that caused a flap as well..."

According to the citation on Wikipedia, Petula and Harry were singing a duet together on her TV special - an anti-war song yet. Harry inadvertently touched her arm. The representative from Chrysler (who was sponsoring the show) raised a fuss, worried that it would cause trouble with southern viewers. He insisted that the segment be re-taped with the two standing far apart. The producer refused, and the show aired with the arm touch intact. The show was critically acclaimed, and there was no ensuing controversy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petula_Clark