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THE TONIGHT SHOW: 1962-1972. WHAT STILL EXISTS?

wbhist said:
searadiofreak said:
BTW, 1969 was the year, must have been a guest visit to LA, as the show didn't move there officially 'till '72.
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Within Carson's first year of officially moving to LA in '72, he made about two return guest visits to NY, the first time for three weeks' worth of shows on Nov. 13-Dec. 1, 1972, and then another set in May of 1973, before 6B at 30 Rock was gutted and transformed into the set for WNBC's NewsCenter4. I surmise one of those shows of the first set had Buddy Rich demonstrating his karate skills; the second trip definitely brought us a segment with a foot reader that either was on Carson's Comedy Classics, or a frequent fixture of Carson's anniversary specials in later years.
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Reelz TV (Ch. 238 on DirecTV) has "Carson's Comedy Classics" at noon and 7 PM (ET), and last night it had the Buddy Rich karate bit. Behind Carson's backdrop was a New York night scene, and I thought that,
along with the clothes Carson and Rich were wearing, it might be in the 1970-72 era; since I don't know, and no one gives the date of its original airing (unlike, say, Mary Lou Metzger, who tells you the year that a particular week's "Lawrence Welk Show" originally aired), I'd have to take your word, since I think you're in the ballpark.

The Hope/Dino/Gobel bit is memorable for Gobel's observation: Did you ever get the feeling the whole world's a tuxedo and you're a pair of brown shoes?
 
bpatrick said:
wbhist said:
Within Carson's first year of officially moving to LA in '72, he made about two return guest visits to NY, the first time for three weeks' worth of shows on Nov. 13-Dec. 1, 1972, and then another set in May of 1973, before 6B at 30 Rock was gutted and transformed into the set for WNBC's NewsCenter4. I surmise one of those shows of the first set had Buddy Rich demonstrating his karate skills; the second trip definitely brought us a segment with a foot reader that either was on Carson's Comedy Classics, or a frequent fixture of Carson's anniversary specials in later years.
Click to expand...

Reelz TV (Ch. 238 on DirecTV) has "Carson's Comedy Classics" at noon and 7 PM (ET), and last night it had the Buddy Rich karate bit. Behind Carson's backdrop was a New York night scene, and I thought that,
along with the clothes Carson and Rich were wearing, it might be in the 1970-72 era; since I don't know, and no one gives the date of its original airing (unlike, say, Mary Lou Metzger, who tells you the year that a particular week's "Lawrence Welk Show" originally aired), I'd have to take your word, since I think you're in the ballpark.

The Hope/Dino/Gobel bit is memorable for Gobel's observation: Did you ever get the feeling the whole world's a tuxedo and you're a pair of brown shoes?
Click to expand...
Actually, the New York night backdrop took effect in the 1971-72 season; one of the earliest was a show from Oct. 5, 1971, with Charlie Callas as a guest, as per:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N4C5rCyTas

According to IMDb, Mr. Rich did indeed appear within the late 1972 set of New York Tonight Shows, on Nov. 29, 1972. However, someone noted that this particular bit where he did the karate demonstration originated from within the second set of New York shows, on May 11, 1973. (The "foot reader" bit was from May 10, 1973.)

The other factor was Carson's somewhat longer, greyer hair on that segment with Mr. Rich, than from that segment with Mr. Callas, not just the wardrobe.
 
Tim L said:
Stanislav said:
Hell, by that time he'd been stone-faced, taciturn Joe Friday for, what, a couple decades of radio and TV? Just came naturally to him, whereas Johnny had to fight the urge to break up (I can't imagine doing that sketch and NOT losing it at some point...)
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And Jack Webb, as serious as he was in playing Joe Friday, never seemed to have a problem with parody of himself or Dragnet. Stan Freberg had two of his biggest comedy hits..St. George and The Dragonet in 1953 and Christmas Dragnet in 1958 based on Dragnet parodies.
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...and Webb's first network radio show of any sort was a comedy on ABC -- two surviving episodes are at http://www.archive.org/download/Singles_And_Doubles_Singles_H-K/46-04-10_xxx_Jack_Webb_Show_-_Razor_Master_Detective.mp3 and http://www.archive.org/download/Singles_And_Doubles_Singles_H-K/46-04-17_xxx_Jack_Webb_Show_-_Story_Of_Howdyville.mp3 ...
 
mleach said:
Maybe not the actual tapes but what about the films of their appearances? I believe the old "This is Your Life" program.did such practice. Those who appeared got a copy of the kinescope for their personal use.
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...in at least one instance, I know the guest got a colour kinescope of the appearance. A few years back, WWOR/9 Secaucus/New York put together a tribute program to Dr. Frank Field, their then-weekend weathercaster, who had been the chief meteorologist for WNBC-TV/4 when The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was originating from 30 Rock and, naturally, Dr. Field became the butt of some of Carson's monologue jokes. There were also a couple of times when Carson stuck around 30 Rock after the Tonight taping to make a gag appearance on WNBC's 11:00 newscast during Dr. Field's segment; in the WWOR program, colour kinnies of both types of appearances were included, and IIRC the program's narration identified Dr. Field's personal collection as the source of those kinnies. There was also a colour kinnie of the morning version of The Dick Cavett Show on which Joanne Carson, Johnny's then-spouse, appeared that pops up as an extra on one of the Cavett DVD sets. So these lead me to believe they were, if not common, at least frequent offers to guests of most of the network talk shows of the period, if not also the syndicated ones...
 
Ultimajock said:
...in at least one instance, I know the guest got a colour kinescope of the appearance. A few years back, WWOR/9 Secaucus/New York put together a tribute program to Dr. Frank Field, their then-weekend weathercaster, who had been the chief meteorologist for WNBC-TV/4 when The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was originating from 30 Rock and, naturally, Dr. Field became the butt of some of Carson's monologue jokes. There were also a couple of times when Carson stuck around 30 Rock after the Tonight taping to make a gag appearance on WNBC's 11:00 newscast during Dr. Field's segment; in the WWOR program, colour kinnies of both types of appearances were included, and IIRC the program's narration identified Dr. Field's personal collection as the source of those kinnies. There was also a colour kinnie of the morning version of The Dick Cavett Show on which Joanne Carson, Johnny's then-spouse, appeared that pops up as an extra on one of the Cavett DVD sets. So these lead me to believe they were, if not common, at least frequent offers to guests of most of the network talk shows of the period, if not also the syndicated ones...
Click to expand...

Sorry if I appear to diverge, but if Dr. Field's Tonight Show appearances were post-1966, then he already took over weeknights, following previous weeknight weatherman Tex Antoine's departure for WABC-TV where, just a few years later, he became a part of the Eyewitness News team . . . Anyway, Dr. Field was not the only one who did weekend weather on WNBC before moving to weeknights. Following his departure in 1984 for WCBS-TV, Dr. Field's replacement as weeknight WNBC weatherman was someone who, until then, had done weekends . . . Al Roker.
 
Ultimajock said:
mleach said:
Maybe not the actual tapes but what about the films of their appearances? I believe the old "This is Your Life" program.did such practice. Those who appeared got a copy of the kinescope for their personal use.
Click to expand...

...in at least one instance, I know the guest got a colour kinescope of the appearance. A few years back, WWOR/9 Secaucus/New York put together a tribute program to Dr. Frank Field, their then-weekend weathercaster, who had been the chief meteorologist for WNBC-TV/4 when The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was originating from 30 Rock and, naturally, Dr. Field became the butt of some of Carson's monologue jokes. There were also a couple of times when Carson stuck around 30 Rock after the Tonight taping to make a gag appearance on WNBC's 11:00 newscast during Dr. Field's segment; in the WWOR program, colour kinnies of both types of appearances were included, and IIRC the program's narration identified Dr. Field's personal collection as the source of those kinnies. There was also a colour kinnie of the morning version of The Dick Cavett Show on which Joanne Carson, Johnny's then-spouse, appeared that pops up as an extra on one of the Cavett DVD sets. So these lead me to believe they were, if not common, at least frequent offers to guests of most of the network talk shows of the period, if not also the syndicated ones...
Click to expand...

Interesting...perhaps the inspiration for David Letterman's occasional "bust-ins" of WNBC's "Live At Five" broadcasts in the 1980's over in 6-B?
 
firepoint525 said:
Seems like Letterman also interfered with some Today programming at 30 Rock while he was at NBC.
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Yes, Letterman did once interrupt a Today show interview with a bullhorn....shouting that he was the president of NBC and that he was not wearing any pants. I believe that this was about 1985 or 1986.
 
stdjsb25 said:
firepoint525 said:
Seems like Letterman also interfered with some Today programming at 30 Rock while he was at NBC.
Click to expand...
Yes, Letterman did once interrupt a Today show interview with a bullhorn....shouting that he was the president of NBC and that he was not wearing any pants. I believe that this was about 1985 or 1986.
Click to expand...
I remember the Today show's angle on that one, too. The host at the time (don't remember who it was, Bryant Gumbel, maybe?) mentioned, sort of euphemistically, that Letterman was "doing some taping" or something like that.
 
The Hope/Dino/Gobel bit is memorable for Gobel's observation: Did you ever get the feeling the whole world's a tuxedo and you're a pair of brown shoes?
Click to expand...

George Gobel was so underrated...His other shining moment on that appearance was talking about his days in the Army Air Corps in WWII, and letting everyone know that not a single Japanese aircraft made it past Tulsa. A couple years later (I can't believe I'm thinking of this right now), he was on the same Tonight show as a guy named Simon Argevitch (I can't believe I remember the dude's name!!!) who was a "cigar multiplist". In other words, he could stick several cigars in his mouth at the same time and smoke them. When it was Gobel's turn to appear on the show, he made his entrance with cigarettes in his mouth, in his ears, and up his nose. Carson lost it. End of story.
 
firepoint525 said:
stdjsb25 said:
firepoint525 said:
Seems like Letterman also interfered with some Today programming at 30 Rock while he was at NBC.
Click to expand...
Yes, Letterman did once interrupt a Today show interview with a bullhorn....shouting that he was the president of NBC and that he was not wearing any pants. I believe that this was about 1985 or 1986.
Click to expand...
I remember the Today show's angle on that one, too. The host at the time (don't remember who it was, Bryant Gumbel, maybe?) mentioned, sort of euphemistically, that Letterman was "doing some taping" or something like that.
Click to expand...

Yes, indeed it was Gumbel that Letterman interrupted, along with his co-host at the time, Jane Pauley.As I recall, the Today Show was doing a special near the skating rink and Letterman was upstairs at 30 Rock with the bullhorn. Letterman and Pauley were good buds, both coming from Indiana, so he probably thought he could get away with it. However, Gumbel was not pleased, and it led to a feud between the two (real or faked...who knows), for many years.
 
The part that Letterman interrupted must have been edited out, or I may have missed it by tuning in late or something, because about all that I remember was the casual mention of Letterman "taping." But I remember seeing Letterman's version of these events on his own show.

But it also got me curious about when (as in what time of day) each show taped their programs, because I thought Today was live, or at least semi-live, while Letterman taped in the afternoons or early evenings for playback in late night. It's possible that he taped that one segment during the morning hours.
 
firepoint525 said:
The part that Letterman interrupted must have been edited out, or I may have missed it by tuning in late or something, because about all that I remember was the casual mention of Letterman "taping." But I remember seeing Letterman's version of these events on his own show.

But it also got me curious about when (as in what time of day) each show taped their programs, because I thought Today was live, or at least semi-live, while Letterman taped in the afternoons or early evenings for playback in late night. It's possible that he taped that one segment during the morning hours.
Click to expand...

They were taping a Today prime-time special during this bit. Letterman usually taped at 5pm.
 
Sidebar: Regarding the posted comment..."Maybe not the actual tapes but what about the films of their appearances? I believe the old "This is Your Life" program did such practice. Those who appeared got a copy of the kinescope for their personal use."
I understand it was standard practice on the Tom Snyder "Tomorrow Show", that guests on the program received a videotape copy of their appearence.
 
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