Edgar
There was a newspaper strike and Mayor LaGuardia read the Sunday New York news comics over the radio. Yes it happened.
I think you all have misinterpreted what I've been saying. I have no doubt that he read the comics over the radio. My point of contention was that this story had gotten entangled in the urban myth that is aluded to in the title of this thread. I only pointed out that I realize for the first time in my life that the mayor never said, "That Ought To Hold The Little Bastards," at the end.
Isn't it true that Soupy Sales was kicked off the air because he told the children viewers to take the green papers out of Daddy's wallet and mail them to him?
I heard an apochryphal story about how Groucho Marx's "You Bet Your Life" got cancelled. If it isn't true it ought to be. He had a male contestant on who claimed to have lots (10, say) of children.
Groucho: "You must really love your wife."
Contestant: "Yes, Groucho I certainly do."
Groucho: "Well I love my cigar too, but I take it out once in awhile."
Equus, i have seen kinescope of the episode to which you refer--although i don't recall that he was cancelled for the reason, don't know if he was or not. He said it to a woman, by the way.
Before i read the link I was about to mention that the episodes were all recorded. I find it strange that it has not been found in the uncensored versions if it really happened.
That's interesting Pheonix, i would say that i'd probably seen the episode which Snopes has at their site, but then "revised" the memory in my unconscious, based upon the infamous story . . . memory is far more malleable that we'd like to admit . . .
My first job out of college was as a small town Disk Jockey, back in the days when turntables and LPs and 45's were still in use at radio stations.
I made two memorable bloopers during that job. Neither of which was heard outside our tiny listening area, but they were pretty funny, I think.
1) I was slow getting the next record cued up and the song that had been on the air ended unexpectedly. Panicked, I threw on the nearest LP available, dropped the needle on the first song so I wouldn't need to cue it up, and started introducing it before I knew what record I'd put on, and before figuring out what I was going to say. I glanced at the record label upside down on the turntable, and announced to the listening audience, "...and now the New Christie Minstrels will Minstruate for us..."
2) I had a guest in the studio and we were discussing an album by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. A photo of the performing organist was on the back of the album cover. The guest offered, "Well, this man in the album photo certainly has a big smile, doesn't he?" and I responded, "Yes, you'd probably smile too, if you had an organ that big."
Oddly, I am no longer in radio......
A person once told me for a fact that Soupy Sales asked on his show, "What word begins with f and ends with uck." He supposedly then gave the answer: "firetruck." I didn't believe the story then and I see no reason to believe it still.
Amazing how this stuff gets started.
