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Arthur Godfrey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arthur Morton Godfrey (August 31, 1903 - March 16, 1983), born in New York City, New York was an American broadcaster and entertainer.

Early life

While his family was originally well off, his mother was an unsuccessful performer, and his father a failed sportswriter who left the family. With the family in sudden poverty, Godfrey tried to help them keep going, then went on the road doing odd jobs and hoboing. He served in the United States Navy from 1920 to 1924 as radio operator, serving in that capacity on naval destroyers. Additional training in radio came during his service in the Coast Guard from 1927 to 1930. It was during his Coast Guard stint in Baltimore that he appeared on a local talent show and became popular enough to land his own brief weekly program.

Radio announcer

On leaving the Coast Guard, he became a radio announcer for Baltimore station WFBR and moved the short distance to Washington, D.C. to become a staff announcer for NBC-owned station WRC that same year and remained there until 1934. He was already an avid flyer and in 1933, nearly died following a violent car crash outside Washington that left him hospitalized for months. During that time, he decided to listen closely to the radio and realized the stiff, formal announcers could not connect with the average radio listener, as the announcers spoke as if to a crowd and not one person. Godfrey vowed that when he returned to the airwaves he would affect a relaxed, informal style as if he were talking to just one person. He also used that style to do his own commercials and became a regional star.

In addition to announcing, Godfrey sang and played the ukulele. In 1934 he became a freelance entertainer, but eventually based himself on a daily show on CBS-owned station WJSV in Washington, titled Arthur Godfrey's Sun Dial. Godfrey knew President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who listened to his Washington program, and through Roosevelt's intercession, he received a commission in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II. He eventually moved his base to CBS' New York City station, then known as WABC, and was heard on both WJSV and WABC for a spell. In the autumn of 1943, he also became the announcer for Fred Allen's Texaco Star Theater show on the CBS network, but a personality conflict between Godfrey and Allen led to Godfrey's early release from the show after only six weeks.

As he provided a first-hand account of Roosevelt's funeral, broadcast live over CBS in April, 1945, Godfrey broke down in tears. The entire nation was moved by his emotional outburst. This led to his joining the CBS Radio network in his own right, where he was given his own daily program, Arthur Godfrey Time, a Monday-Friday morning radio show that featured his monologues, interviews with various stars and music from his own in-house combo and regular vocalists on the show. Godfrey's monologues and discussions were all totally unscripted, and went whatever direction he chose.

Television

That program was supplemented by Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, a program featuring rising young performers. In 1948 Arthur Godfrey Time began to be simultaneously broadcast on radio and television. The radio version ran three hours; the TV version an hour, expanded to an hour and a half. Godfrey's skills as a commercial pitchman brought him a number of loyal sponsors including Lipton Tea, Frigidaire, Pillsbury cake mixes, Chesterfield cigarettes and many more.

He found that one way to enhance his pitches was to extemporize his commercials, poking fun at the products, company executives, and the advertising agency types who wrote the scripted commercials that he regularly ignored and, if he read them at all, ridiculed them. To the surprise of the advertising agencies and sponsors, his kidding of the commercials and products frequently enhanced the sales of those products. Godfrey's popularity and ability to sell brought a windfall to CBS, accounting for a significant percentage of their corporate profits.

In 1949 Arthur Godfrey and his Friends, a weekly variety show, began on CBS TV in prime time.

His affable personality on the radio combined warmth, heart, and bits of ornery, occasional double entendre repartee, but earned him adulation from fans who felt that despite his considerable wealth, that he was really "one of them," almost a friendly next-door-neighbor type. His ability to sell products, insisting he would not promote products in which he did not personally believe, gave him a level of trust from his audience, a belief that "if Godfrey said it, it must be so." When he quit smoking after his 1953 hip surgery, he spoke out against smoking and merely shrugged off Chesterfield's departure as a regular sponsor.

Eventually he added weekend "best-of" program culled from the week's Arthur Godfrey Time, known as Arthur Godfrey Digest. He began to veer away from interviewing stars in favor of a small group of regular performers that became known as the "Little Godfreys." Many of these artists were relatively obscure, but were given colossal national exposure, some of them former Talent Scouts winners including The McGuire Sisters, the Chordettes, Hawaiian vocalist Haleloke, veteran Irish Tenor Frank Parker, Marian Marlowe and Julius LaRosa, who was in the Navy when Godfrey, doing his annual Naval reserve duty, discovered the young singer and offered him a job upon his discharge.

LaRosa joined the cast in 1951 and became a favorite with Godfrey's immense audience, who also saw him on the prime-time weekly show Arthur Godfrey and his Friends. He also had a regular announcer-foil on the show: Tony Marvin. Godfrey preferred his performers not to use personal managers or agents, but often had his staff represent the artists if they were doing personal appearances.

In his own way, Godfrey was a social pioneer. One of the "Little Godfrey" acts were the Mariners, an integrated vocal quartet of white and African-American Coast Guard veterans. When the act appeared on his TV show and Southern CBS affiliates and racist Southern politicians complained of their participating in dance sequences with white women, Godfrey responded caustically, decrying the racism and refusing to remove them from the cast.

Meanwhile, Talent Scouts performers included Lenny Bruce, Don Adams, Tony Bennett, Patsy Cline, Pat Boone, opera singer Marilyn Horne, Roy Clark, and Irish vocalist Carmel Quinn. Later, he promoted "Little Godfrey" Janette Davis to a management position as the show's talent coordinator. One notable performer who was turned down for the Talent Scouts show was Elvis Presley, while he was still a local performer in Memphis.

Aviation

Arthur Godfrey learned to fly in the 1930s while doing radio in the Washington, DC area. He was badly injured on his way to a flying lesson one afternoon in 1933 when a truck, coming the other way, lost its left front wheel and hit him head on. Godfrey spent months recuperating, and the injury would keep him from flying on active duty during WWII. He served as a reserve officer in the U.S. Navy in a public affairs role during the war.

Godfrey used his pervasive fame to advocate a strong anti-Communist stance and to pitch for enhanced strategic air power in the Cold War atmosphere, but also became a strong advocate for his middle class audience to consider vacationing in Hawaii and Miami Beach, formerly enclaves for the wealthy. He made a TV movie in 1953 taking the controls of an Eastern Airlines Constellation airliner, flying to Miami, showing how safe airline travel had become. As a reserve officer, he used his public position to cajole the Navy into qualifying him as a Naval Aviator, and played that against the Air Force, who successfully recruited him into their reserve. At one time during the 1950's, Godfrey had flown every active aircraft in the military inventory at one time or another.

His continued unpaid shilling for Eastern airlines earned him the undying gratitude of good friend Eddie Rickenbacker, the WWI flying ace who was the President of the airline. He was such a good friend of the airline that Rickenbacker took a retiring DC-3, fitted it out with an executive interior and DC-4 engines, and presented it to Godfrey, who then used it to commute to the studios in New York City from his huge northwestern Leesburg, Virginia farm every Sunday night. The new DC-3 was so powerful (and noisy) the Town of Leesburg ended up moving their airport. The original Leesburg airport, which Godfrey owned and referred to affectionately as 'The Old Cow Pasture' on Godfrey's show, was less than a mile from the center of town, and residents had come to expect rattling windows and crashing dishes every Sunday evening and Friday afternoon. In 1960, Godfrey proposed building a new airport by selling the old field, and donating a portion of the sale to a local group. Since Godfrey funded the majority of the airport, it is now known as Leesburg Executive Airport at Godfrey Field. He also was known for flying a Navion, a smaller single-engined airplane, as well as a Lockheed Jetstar, and in later years a Beech Baron.

Godfrey had been in pain since the 1933 car crash which damaged his hip. In 1953, he underwent pioneering hip replacement surgery in Boston using an early plastic artificial hip joint. The operation was successful and he returned to the show to the delight of his vast audience. CBS was so concerned about losing his audience that during his recovery, he broadcasted live from his Beacon Hill estate, the signal carried by microwave towers built on the property. It is believed that this was the first time that CBS conducted a 'remote' broadcast.

Behind The Scenes

Behind Godfrey's on-air warmth was a cold, controlling personality. He insisted that his "Little Godfreys" attend dance and singing classes, believing all of them should be versatile performers whether or not they possessed the aptitude for those disciplines. In staff meetings with the cast and his staff, he could be abusive and intimidating. In spite of his ability to bring in profits, CBS executives who respected Godfrey professionally were not personally fond of him since he often baited them on and off the air.

The LaRosa Incident

Like many men of his generation, Julius LaRosa thought dance lessons somewhat effeminate---and chafed when Godfrey ordered dance lessons for his entire performing crew. CBS historian Robert Metz, in CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye, suggested Godfrey instituted the practise because his own physical limits made him sensitive to the need for coordination on camera. "Godfrey," Metz wrote, "was concerned about his cast in his paternalistic way."

Godfrey and LaRosa had a dispute over the missed dance lessons, when LaRosa missed a lesson due to a family emergency. He claimed he'd advised Godfrey, but was nonetheless barred from the show for a day in retaliation. At that point, LaRosa retained an agent and manager to renegotiate Godfrey's contract with him or, failing that, receive an outright release. He also cut a hit single with Godfrey's musical director Archie Bleyer, "E Cumpari," the best-selling hit of LaRosa's musical career. LaRosa admitted the record's success made him a little cocky, but Godfrey immediately consulted with CBS President Dr. Frank Stanton---who noted that Godfrey had hired LaRosa on-air and suggested firing him on-air.

On October 19, 1953, after lavishing praise on LaRosa in introducing the singer's performance of "I'll Take Manhattan", Godfrey thanked him, then announced that this was LaRosa's "swan song" with the show. LaRosa, who had to be told what the phrase "swan song" meant, was dumbfounded, since he had not been informed beforehand of his departure and apparently any contract renegotiations had yet to happen. Stanton later admitted the idea may have been "a mistake." In perhaps a further illumination of the ego that Godfrey had formerly kept hidden enough, radio historian Gerald Nachman, in Raised on Radio, claims that what really miffed Godfrey about his now-former protege was that LaRosa's fan mail had come to outnumber Godfrey's. It's likely that a combination of these factors led to Godfrey's decision to discharge LaRosa. It is not likely Godfrey expected the public outcry that ensued.

In any event, the LaRosa incident opened an era of controversy that swirled around Godfrey and, little by little, dismantled his just-folks image. LaRosa was beloved enough by Godfrey's fans that they saved their harsh criticism for Godfrey himself. After a press conference was held by LaRosa and his agent, Godfrey further complicated the matter by hosting a press conference of his own where he responded that LaRosa had lost his "humility." The charge, given Godfrey's sudden baring of his own ego beneath the facade of warmth, brought more mockery from the public and press. Almost instantly, Godfrey became the butt of many comedians' jokes.

The Firings Continue

Godfrey would fire others among his regulars, including bandleader Archie Bleyer, within days of LaRosa's public execution. Bleyer had formed his own label, Cadence Records, which recorded LaRosa and, eventually, the Chordettes, another Godfrey discovery. Godfrey was also angered that Bleyer had produced a spoken word record by Godfrey's Chicago counterpart Don McNeill, host of The Breakfast Club, which had been Godfrey's direct competition on the NBC Blue Network and ABC since Godfrey's days at WJSV. Despite the McNeil show's far more modest following, Godfrey was unduly offended at what he felt was disloyalty on Bleyer's part.

In January 1954, Godfrey buzzed the control tower of Teterboro Airport in his Douglas DC-3. His license was suspended for six months. Godfrey claimed the windy conditions that day required him to turn immediately after takeoff, but in fact he was peeved with the tower because they wouldn't give him the runway he asked for. Occasionally, he snapped at cast members on the air. A significant number of other Little Godfreys, including the Mariners and Haleloke, were dismissed from 1953 to 1959.

Godfrey's problems with the media and public feuds with newspaper columnists such as Jack O'Brian and newspaperman turned CBS variety show host Ed Sullivan were duly documented by the media, who began running critical exposé articles on him full of scandal, linking him to several female "Little Godfreys". Two films, 1956's The Great Man, starring Jose Ferrer, who also directed and produced, and the 1957 classic A Face in the Crowd starring Andy Griffith and Patricia Neal, were reputedly inspired by Godfrey's now-controversial career. Great Man was adapted from a novel by TV writer Al Morgan. While "Face" creator Budd Schulberg maintains his story was actually inspired by hearing that Will Rogers, Sr., was far from the man of the people he claimed to be, certain elements of the film, including its protagonist Lonesome Rhodes (Griffith) spoofing commercials were clearly Godfrey-inspired.

Recordings also mocked Godfrey's controversial side. Following the LaRosa episode, Ruth Wallis, renowned for her double-entendre tunes, recorded "Dear Mr. Godfrey," a country tune that implored him to "hire me and fire me and make a star of me." Famed satirist Stan Freberg recorded "That's Right, Arthur," a barbed spoof of Godfrey's show, depicting the star as a rambling, self-absorbed motormouth and his longtime announcer Tony Marvin as a yes-man, responding "That's right, Arthur" to every Godfrey pronouncement. Fearing legal problems, Freberg's label, Capitol Records, would not release it. The recording finally appeared on a 1990s Freberg box set.

Despite his faux pas, Godfrey still commanded a strong presence and a loyal fan base. Talent Scouts lasted until 1958.

Later in life

But in 1959, he began suffering chest pains. Closer examination by physicians revealed a mass in his chest that could possibly be lung cancer. In 1959, Godfrey left Arthur Godfrey Time and Arthur Godfrey and His Friends after revealing his illness.

Surgeons discovered cancer in one lung that spread to his aorta. One lung was removed. Yet despite the disease's high mortality, it became clear after radiation treatments that Godfrey had beaten the substantial odds against him. He returned to the air on a prime-time special, and resumed the daily Arthur Godfrey Time morning show, but only on radio, not TV. He would continue the show, reverting to guest stars such as Max Morath and Carmel Quinn, with a live combo of first-rate Manhattan musicians, until 1972 when the show ended.

Godfrey by then was a Colonel in the US Air Force Reserve and still an active pilot.

He made three movies: Four For Texas (1963), The Glass Bottom Boat (1966), and Where Angels Go...Trouble Follows (1968). He briefly co-hosted Candid Camera with creator Allen Funt but that relationship, like so many others, ended acrimoniously. Godfrey also made various guest appearances.

In retirement, Godfrey wanted to find ways back onto a regular TV schedule. He appeared on the rock band Moby Grape's second album, and despite his political conservatism became a powerful environmentalist who identified with the youth culture, irreverently opposing the "establishment", as he felt he had done during his peak years. He was a master at dressage and made charity appearances at horse shows. He made commercials for the detergent Axion, only to clash with the manufacturers when he found that the product contained phosphates, implicated in water pollution. During one appearance on The Dick Cavett Show, Godfrey commented that the United States needed the supersonic transport "about as much as we need another bag of those clunkers from the Moon"; that statement is considered to have effectively ended SST interest in the U.S.A., leaving it to Britain and France. (Cavett claims today that Godfrey's statement also earned tax audits from the Richard Nixon-era Internal Revenue Service for the show's entire production staff.) Godfrey's presence ebbed considerably over the next ten years, despite an HBO special and an appearance on a Public TV salute to the 1950s.

Emphysema resulting from the radiation treatments for his cancer became a problem in the early 1980s and he died of the disease in New York City. He is buried in Leesburg, Virginia, not far from his farm.

Arthur Godfrey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arthur Morton Godfrey (August 31, 1903 - March 16, 1983), born in New York City, New York was an American broadcaster and entertainer.

Early life

While his family was originally well off, his mother was an unsuccessful performer, and his father a failed sportswriter who left the family. With the family in sudden poverty, Godfrey tried to help them keep going, then went on the road doing odd jobs and hoboing. He served in the United States Navy from 1920 to 1924 as radio operator, serving in that capacity on naval destroyers. Additional training in radio came during his service in the Coast Guard from 1927 to 1930. It was during his Coast Guard stint in Baltimore that he appeared on a local talent show and became popular enough to land his own brief weekly program.

Radio announcer

On leaving the Coast Guard, he became a radio announcer for Baltimore station WFBR and moved the short distance to Washington, D.C. to become a staff announcer for NBC-owned station WRC that same year and remained there until 1934. He was already an avid flyer and in 1933, nearly died following a violent car crash outside Washington that left him hospitalized for months. During that time, he decided to listen closely to the radio and realized the stiff, formal announcers could not connect with the average radio listener, as the announcers spoke as if to a crowd and not one person. Godfrey vowed that when he returned to the airwaves he would affect a relaxed, informal style as if he were talking to just one person. He also used that style to do his own commercials and became a regional star.

In addition to announcing, Godfrey sang and played the ukulele. In 1934 he became a freelance entertainer, but eventually based himself on a daily show on CBS-owned station WJSV in Washington, titled Arthur Godfrey's Sun Dial. Godfrey knew President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who listened to his Washington program, and through Roosevelt's intercession, he received a commission in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II. He eventually moved his base to CBS' New York City station, then known as WABC, and was heard on both WJSV and WABC for a spell. In the autumn of 1943, he also became the announcer for Fred Allen's Texaco Star Theater show on the CBS network, but a personality conflict between Godfrey and Allen led to Godfrey's early release from the show after only six weeks.

As he provided a first-hand account of Roosevelt's funeral, broadcast live over CBS in April, 1945, Godfrey broke down in tears. The entire nation was moved by his emotional outburst. This led to his joining the CBS Radio network in his own right, where he was given his own daily program, Arthur Godfrey Time, a Monday-Friday morning radio show that featured his monologues, interviews with various stars and music from his own in-house combo and regular vocalists on the show. Godfrey's monologues and discussions were all totally unscripted, and went whatever direction he chose.

Television

That program was supplemented by Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, a program featuring rising young performers. In 1948 Arthur Godfrey Time began to be simultaneously broadcast on radio and television. The radio version ran three hours; the TV version an hour, expanded to an hour and a half. Godfrey's skills as a commercial pitchman brought him a number of loyal sponsors including Lipton Tea, Frigidaire, Pillsbury cake mixes, Chesterfield cigarettes and many more.

He found that one way to enhance his pitches was to extemporize his commercials, poking fun at the products, company executives, and the advertising agency types who wrote the scripted commercials that he regularly ignored and, if he read them at all, ridiculed them. To the surprise of the advertising agencies and sponsors, his kidding of the commercials and products frequently enhanced the sales of those products. Godfrey's popularity and ability to sell brought a windfall to CBS, accounting for a significant percentage of their corporate profits.

In 1949 Arthur Godfrey and his Friends, a weekly variety show, began on CBS TV in prime time.

His affable personality on the radio combined warmth, heart, and bits of ornery, occasional double entendre repartee, but earned him adulation from fans who felt that despite his considerable wealth, that he was really "one of them," almost a friendly next-door-neighbor type. His ability to sell products, insisting he would not promote products in which he did not personally believe, gave him a level of trust from his audience, a belief that "if Godfrey said it, it must be so." When he quit smoking after his 1953 hip surgery, he spoke out against smoking and merely shrugged off Chesterfield's departure as a regular sponsor.

Eventually he added weekend "best-of" program culled from the week's Arthur Godfrey Time, known as Arthur Godfrey Digest. He began to veer away from interviewing stars in favor of a small group of regular performers that became known as the "Little Godfreys." Many of these artists were relatively obscure, but were given colossal national exposure, some of them former Talent Scouts winners including The McGuire Sisters, the Chordettes, Hawaiian vocalist Haleloke, veteran Irish Tenor Frank Parker, Marian Marlowe and Julius LaRosa, who was in the Navy when Godfrey, doing his annual Naval reserve duty, discovered the young singer and offered him a job upon his discharge.

LaRosa joined the cast in 1951 and became a favorite with Godfrey's immense audience, who also saw him on the prime-time weekly show Arthur Godfrey and his Friends. He also had a regular announcer-foil on the show: Tony Marvin. Godfrey preferred his performers not to use personal managers or agents, but often had his staff represent the artists if they were doing personal appearances.

In his own way, Godfrey was a social pioneer. One of the "Little Godfrey" acts were the Mariners, an integrated vocal quartet of white and African-American Coast Guard veterans. When the act appeared on his TV show and Southern CBS affiliates and racist Southern politicians complained of their participating in dance sequences with white women, Godfrey responded caustically, decrying the racism and refusing to remove them from the cast.

Meanwhile, Talent Scouts performers included Lenny Bruce, Don Adams, Tony Bennett, Patsy Cline, Pat Boone, opera singer Marilyn Horne, Roy Clark, and Irish vocalist Carmel Quinn. Later, he promoted "Little Godfrey" Janette Davis to a management position as the show's talent coordinator. One notable performer who was turned down for the Talent Scouts show was Elvis Presley, while he was still a local performer in Memphis.

Aviation

Arthur Godfrey learned to fly in the 1930s while doing radio in the Washington, DC area. He was badly injured on his way to a flying lesson one afternoon in 1933 when a truck, coming the other way, lost its left front wheel and hit him head on. Godfrey spent months recuperating, and the injury would keep him from flying on active duty during WWII. He served as a reserve officer in the U.S. Navy in a public affairs role during the war.

Godfrey used his pervasive fame to advocate a strong anti-Communist stance and to pitch for enhanced strategic air power in the Cold War atmosphere, but also became a strong advocate for his middle class audience to consider vacationing in Hawaii and Miami Beach, formerly enclaves for the wealthy. He made a TV movie in 1953 taking the controls of an Eastern Airlines Constellation airliner, flying to Miami, showing how safe airline travel had become. As a reserve officer, he used his public position to cajole the Navy into qualifying him as a Naval Aviator, and played that against the Air Force, who successfully recruited him into their reserve. At one time during the 1950's, Godfrey had flown every active aircraft in the military inventory at one time or another.

His continued unpaid shilling for Eastern airlines earned him the undying gratitude of good friend Eddie Rickenbacker, the WWI flying ace who was the President of the airline. He was such a good friend of the airline that Rickenbacker took a retiring DC-3, fitted it out with an executive interior and DC-4 engines, and presented it to Godfrey, who then used it to commute to the studios in New York City from his huge northwestern Leesburg, Virginia farm every Sunday night. The new DC-3 was so powerful (and noisy) the Town of Leesburg ended up moving their airport. The original Leesburg airport, which Godfrey owned and referred to affectionately as 'The Old Cow Pasture' on Godfrey's show, was less than a mile from the center of town, and residents had come to expect rattling windows and crashing dishes every Sunday evening and Friday afternoon. In 1960, Godfrey proposed building a new airport by selling the old field, and donating a portion of the sale to a local group. Since Godfrey funded the majority of the airport, it is now known as Leesburg Executive Airport at Godfrey Field. He also was known for flying a Navion, a smaller single-engined airplane, as well as a Lockheed Jetstar, and in later years a Beech Baron.

Godfrey had been in pain since the 1933 car crash which damaged his hip. In 1953, he underwent pioneering hip replacement surgery in Boston using an early plastic artificial hip joint. The operation was successful and he returned to the show to the delight of his vast audience. CBS was so concerned about losing his audience that during his recovery, he broadcasted live from his Beacon Hill estate, the signal carried by microwave towers built on the property. It is believed that this was the first time that CBS conducted a 'remote' broadcast.

Behind The Scenes

Behind Godfrey's on-air warmth was a cold, controlling personality. He insisted that his "Little Godfreys" attend dance and singing classes, believing all of them should be versatile performers whether or not they possessed the aptitude for those disciplines. In staff meetings with the cast and his staff, he could be abusive and intimidating. In spite of his ability to bring in profits, CBS executives who respected Godfrey professionally were not personally fond of him since he often baited them on and off the air.

The LaRosa Incident

Like many men of his generation, Julius LaRosa thought dance lessons somewhat effeminate---and chafed when Godfrey ordered dance lessons for his entire performing crew. CBS historian Robert Metz, in CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye, suggested Godfrey instituted the practise because his own physical limits made him sensitive to the need for coordination on camera. "Godfrey," Metz wrote, "was concerned about his cast in his paternalistic way."

Godfrey and LaRosa had a dispute over the missed dance lessons, when LaRosa missed a lesson due to a family emergency. He claimed he'd advised Godfrey, but was nonetheless barred from the show for a day in retaliation. At that point, LaRosa retained an agent and manager to renegotiate Godfrey's contract with him or, failing that, receive an outright release. He also cut a hit single with Godfrey's musical director Archie Bleyer, "E Cumpari," the best-selling hit of LaRosa's musical career. LaRosa admitted the record's success made him a little cocky, but Godfrey immediately consulted with CBS President Dr. Frank Stanton---who noted that Godfrey had hired LaRosa on-air and suggested firing him on-air.

On October 19, 1953, after lavishing praise on LaRosa in introducing the singer's performance of "I'll Take Manhattan", Godfrey thanked him, then announced that this was LaRosa's "swan song" with the show. LaRosa, who had to be told what the phrase "swan song" meant, was dumbfounded, since he had not been informed beforehand of his departure and apparently any contract renegotiations had yet to happen. Stanton later admitted the idea may have been "a mistake." In perhaps a further illumination of the ego that Godfrey had formerly kept hidden enough, radio historian Gerald Nachman, in Raised on Radio, claims that what really miffed Godfrey about his now-former protege was that LaRosa's fan mail had come to outnumber Godfrey's. It's likely that a combination of these factors led to Godfrey's decision to discharge LaRosa. It is not likely Godfrey expected the public outcry that ensued.

In any event, the LaRosa incident opened an era of controversy that swirled around Godfrey and, little by little, dismantled his just-folks image. LaRosa was beloved enough by Godfrey's fans that they saved their harsh criticism for Godfrey himself. After a press conference was held by LaRosa and his agent, Godfrey further complicated the matter by hosting a press conference of his own where he responded that LaRosa had lost his "humility." The charge, given Godfrey's sudden baring of his own ego beneath the facade of warmth, brought more mockery from the public and press. Almost instantly, Godfrey became the butt of many comedians' jokes.

The Firings Continue

Godfrey would fire others among his regulars, including bandleader Archie Bleyer, within days of LaRosa's public execution. Bleyer had formed his own label, Cadence Records, which recorded LaRosa and, eventually, the Chordettes, another Godfrey discovery. Godfrey was also angered that Bleyer had produced a spoken word record by Godfrey's Chicago counterpart Don McNeill, host of The Breakfast Club, which had been Godfrey's direct competition on the NBC Blue Network and ABC since Godfrey's days at WJSV. Despite the McNeil show's far more modest following, Godfrey was unduly offended at what he felt was disloyalty on Bleyer's part.

In January 1954, Godfrey buzzed the control tower of Teterboro Airport in his Douglas DC-3. His license was suspended for six months. Godfrey claimed the windy conditions that day required him to turn immediately after takeoff, but in fact he was peeved with the tower because they wouldn't give him the runway he asked for. Occasionally, he snapped at cast members on the air. A significant number of other Little Godfreys, including the Mariners and Haleloke, were dismissed from 1953 to 1959.

Godfrey's problems with the media and public feuds with newspaper columnists such as Jack O'Brian and newspaperman turned CBS variety show host Ed Sullivan were duly documented by the media, who began running critical exposé articles on him full of scandal, linking him to several female "Little Godfreys". Two films, 1956's The Great Man, starring Jose Ferrer, who also directed and produced, and the 1957 classic A Face in the Crowd starring Andy Griffith and Patricia Neal, were reputedly inspired by Godfrey's now-controversial career. Great Man was adapted from a novel by TV writer Al Morgan. While "Face" creator Budd Schulberg maintains his story was actually inspired by hearing that Will Rogers, Sr., was far from the man of the people he claimed to be, certain elements of the film, including its protagonist Lonesome Rhodes (Griffith) spoofing commercials were clearly Godfrey-inspired.

Recordings also mocked Godfrey's controversial side. Following the LaRosa episode, Ruth Wallis, renowned for her double-entendre tunes, recorded "Dear Mr. Godfrey," a country tune that implored him to "hire me and fire me and make a star of me." Famed satirist Stan Freberg recorded "That's Right, Arthur," a barbed spoof of Godfrey's show, depicting the star as a rambling, self-absorbed motormouth and his longtime announcer Tony Marvin as a yes-man, responding "That's right, Arthur" to every Godfrey pronouncement. Fearing legal problems, Freberg's label, Capitol Records, would not release it. The recording finally appeared on a 1990s Freberg box set.

Despite his faux pas, Godfrey still commanded a strong presence and a loyal fan base. Talent Scouts lasted until 1958.

Later in life

But in 1959, he began suffering chest pains. Closer examination by physicians revealed a mass in his chest that could possibly be lung cancer. In 1959, Godfrey left Arthur Godfrey Time and Arthur Godfrey and His Friends after revealing his illness.

Surgeons discovered cancer in one lung that spread to his aorta. One lung was removed. Yet despite the disease's high mortality, it became clear after radiation treatments that Godfrey had beaten the substantial odds against him. He returned to the air on a prime-time special, and resumed the daily Arthur Godfrey Time morning show, but only on radio, not TV. He would continue the show, reverting to guest stars such as Max Morath and Carmel Quinn, with a live combo of first-rate Manhattan musicians, until 1972 when the show ended.

Godfrey by then was a Colonel in the US Air Force Reserve and still an active pilot.

He made three movies: Four For Texas (1963), The Glass Bottom Boat (1966), and Where Angels Go...Trouble Follows (1968). He briefly co-hosted Candid Camera with creator Allen Funt but that relationship, like so many others, ended acrimoniously. Godfrey also made various guest appearances.

In retirement, Godfrey wanted to find ways back onto a regular TV schedule. He appeared on the rock band Moby Grape's second album, and despite his political conservatism became a powerful environmentalist who identified with the youth culture, irreverently opposing the "establishment", as he felt he had done during his peak years. He was a master at dressage and made charity appearances at horse shows. He made commercials for the detergent Axion, only to clash with the manufacturers when he found that the product contained phosphates, implicated in water pollution. During one appearance on The Dick Cavett Show, Godfrey commented that the United States needed the supersonic transport "about as much as we need another bag of those clunkers from the Moon"; that statement is considered to have effectively ended SST interest in the U.S.A., leaving it to Britain and France. (Cavett claims today that Godfrey's statement also earned tax audits from the Richard Nixon-era Internal Revenue Service for the show's entire production staff.) Godfrey's presence ebbed considerably over the next ten years, despite an HBO special and an appearance on a Public TV salute to the 1950s.

Emphysema resulting from the radiation treatments for his cancer became a problem in the early 1980s and he died of the disease in New York City. He is buried in Leesburg, Virginia, not far from his farm.

Richard Basehart
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Richard Basehart (August 31, 1914 - September 17, 1984) was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, as the character of Admiral Harriman Nelson.

One of his most notable film roles was the acrobat known as "the Fool" in the acclaimed Italian film La Strada directed by Federico Fellini. He also appeared as the killer in the 1948 film noir classic He Walked by Night and as Ishmael in Moby Dick. He was once married to Academy Award-nominated actress Valentina Cortese with whom he had one son before divorcing in 1960.

Richard Basehart appeared in the pilot episode of the television series Knight Rider as millionaire Wilton Knight, you can hear his narration in the beginning of the show's credits. Basehart had a noticiable fan in the character of Gypsy from the cult cable television program Mystery Science Theater 3000.

He died at age 70 following a series of strokes.

Buddy Hackett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Born August 31, 1924
Brooklyn, New York
Died June 30, 2003
Malibu, California

Buddy Hackett (August 31, 1924 - June 30, 2003), born Leonard Hacker, was an Jewish American comedian and actor.

Hackett was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Public School 103 and then went on to New Utrecht High School. While still in high school, he began appearing in nightclubs, beginning with the "Borscht Belt", resorts in the Catskills. He served three years with an anti-aircraft unit during World War II.

His first job after the war was at the Pink Elephant, a Brooklyn club. He made appearances in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and the Catskills. He acted on Broadway in Lunatics and Lovers, where Max Liebman saw him and put him in two television specials. A television series, Stanley, was developed for him, which helped start Carol Burnett's career. He became known to a wider audience when he appeared on television in the 1950s and 1960s as a frequent guest on such talk shows as Jack Paar and Arthur Godfrey, telling brash, often off-color jokes, and mugging widely at the camera. During this era, he also appeared as a panelist on What's My Line?.

Hackett became widely known from his film role in the box-office success, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). Children came to love Hackett for his role as lovable auto mechanic/hippie Tennessee Steinmetz in Disney's The Love Bug (1969). He appeared as Art Carney's replacement on The Jackie Gleason Show, and in the 1958 film God's Little Acre. His later career was mostly as a guest on variety shows and prime time sitcoms.

In 1978, Hackett surprised many when he gave a dramatic performance as Lou Costello in the TV movie Bud And Lou. Harvey Korman played Bud Abbott in this production. The film told the story of Abbott and Costello and Hackett's portrayal was widely praised. He and Korman did a memorable rendition of the team's famous "Who's On First" routine.

Hackett starred in the 1980 film Hey Babe! with Yasmine Bleeth. It was Yasmine's first film at 12-years-old.

His last film performance was reprising the voice of Scuttle, the goofy little seagull, in Disney's The Little Mermaid (1989) for the direct-to-video sequel The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea in 2000. Buddy Hackett also appeared in the short term comedy series Action which starred Jay Mohr as movie producer Peter Dragon. He played Dragon's uncle Lonnie.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Buddy Hackett was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Buddy Hackett's Jacket was purchased by Johnny Hoelting in 2004 for an undisclosed sum of money.

Buddy Hackett died of natural causes on June 30, 2003, in Malibu, California at age 78. Hackett had suffered from diabetes for many years prior to his passing.

James Coburn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


James Coburn (August 31, 1928, Laurel, Nebraska - November 18, 2002) was an Oscar-winning American movie actor. His grandfather, Charles Coburn, was an Oscar-winning actor who led the charge in the 1950s to blacklist anyone suspected of Communist-leaning.

Coburn became famous as the "tough guy" in a variety of films, first mostly with his friends Robert Vaughn and Charles Bronson (whom he co-starred with in The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape). In 1966, Coburn finally became a bona-fide star with the release of Our Man Flint, a James Bond spoof released by 20th Century Fox as competition. After a sequel, Coburn decided to branch off into the independent film world. Due to his interests in karate (which he discovered by training with Bruce Lee), Buddhism, and gong-playing, the remainder of the decade (which included less-than-forgettable films), proved uneventful to Coburn.

In 1973, however, Coburn teamed up with radical director Sam Peckinpah for the film Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (they had first worked together in 1965 on Major Dundee). But Peckinpah's drinking and budget problems caused the film to be drastically edited when it opened. Both Peckinpah and Coburn were disappointed and delved into Cross of Iron, a war epic which also flopped. The two still remained good friends until the legendary director's death in 1984 of a stroke.

Due to severe rheumatoid arthritis, he appeared in very few films during the 1980s. He claimed to have healed himself with pills containing sulfur, and returned to screen in the 1990s.

He then appeared in films such as Young Guns II (1990), Sister Act 2 (1993), The Nutty Professor (1996), Maverick (1994), and Payback (1999), mostly in small but memorable roles. For his appearance as the abusive father of protagonist Nick Nolte in Affliction he received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1998.

He died suddenly on November 18, 2002 from a heart attack, at the age of 74.

Richard Gere
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born 31 August 1949
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Richard Tiffany Gere (born August 31, 1949) is an American Golden Globe Award winning actor.

Biography

Early life

Gere was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Jewish parents of Anglo-Irish descent. His father, Homer George Gere, was an insurance agent for Nationwide Insurance Company. His mother, Doris Anna Tiffany, is a housewife; he has three sisters and a brother.

In 1967, Gere graduated from North Syracuse Central High School, where he excelled at gymnastics and music (he played the trumpet). He attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, but left college after two years to pursue acting and a professional trumpet career.

Career

Gere's first major acting role was in the original London stage version of Grease in 1973. He began appearing in Hollywood films in the mid 1970s, co-starring in the sexual thriller, Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), and playing the leading role in director Terrence Malick's well-reviewed 1978 film, Days of Heaven. His acting career took off in 1980, with the successful film American Gigolo, followed by the popular romantic drama An Officer and a Gentleman, which had grossed over $100 million in 1982. Subsequently, he was the first man ever to appear on the cover of Vogue magazine.

Gere's career in the 1980s alternated between box office successes and failures. After the release of both Internal Affairs and the huge hit Pretty Woman in 1990, Gere's status as a leading man was again solidified, and he continued starring in solidly performing films throughout the 1990s, including 1993's Sommersby, 1996's Primal Fear and 1999's Runaway Bride, which re-teamed Gere with his "Pretty Woman" co-star, Julia Roberts. People magazine named him the "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1999.

2002 was a notable year for Gere, with three major releases; The Mothman Prophecies, a horror thriller which received some decent reviews, Unfaithful, a solid performer at the box office, and the critically acclaimed film version of Chicago, for which he won a Golden Globe as "Best Actor - Comedy or Musical". Gere's 2004 ballroom dancing drama, Shall We Dance, was also a solid performer, although his next film, Bee Season, largely failed to find an audience amid the Oscar-contenders of November 2005.

Gere is Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals' "Man of the Year" for 2006.[1] In July of 2006, Gere was cast opposite Jesse Eisenberg and Terrence Howard in Spring Break in Bosnia, a comic thriller in which he will play a journalist in Bosnia; the film will be released in 2007.[1]

Private life

Gere was married to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995. During their marriage there were numerous rumors in the press that the relationship was a cover-up for the alleged homosexuality of both partners, something each denied. 1 Also, during the 1980s, a rumor surfaced claiming Gere was admitted into a Los Angeles hospital because he had participated in a practice called gerbilling. There is no evidence for this claim, but the rumor has dogged his public image ever since, and there have been several references to it in film, television and literature. 2 He married actress Carey Lowell in 2002, after dating her for several years. They have a son, Homer James Jigme Gere, who was born in 2000, and is named after Gere's father [2].

Gere is a well known Buddhist and an active supporter of the Dalai Lama. He has also been a persistent advocate for better human rights in Tibet, and was a co-founder of the Tibet House and served on the Board of Directors for the International Campaign For Tibet. He also campaigns for ecological causes and for AIDS awareness, and has expressed his concern for AIDS problems in India.[3]

Gere was banned as an Academy Award presenter in 1993 after he used the opportunity to condemn the Chinese government.[4]

"Personal Ad"

SBF Seeks Male companionship.
I love long walks in the woods.
Riding in your pickup truck.
Hunting
Camping
Fishing trips.
Cozy winter nights spent lying by the fire.
Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand.
Rub me the right way and I will respond with tender caresses.
I'll be at the front door when you get home from work.
Kiss me and I'm yours.
I'm a svelte good looking girl who loves doggy style.
Call 565-2121 and ask for Daisy. The phone number is the
ASPCA and I'm an eight week old black Labrador.

Well, Bob, someone at the ASPCA was thinking creatively, right? Thanks again for the bio's, Boston. I suppose that one of the best movies that Gere made was "Primal Fear", and that was due in part to Edward Norton's stellar performance, methinks. The ending was quite a surprise as well.

Before commenting further, listeners, we will await our Raggedy with verification that these stars really existed.

Hard to believe that this is the last day of August, so let's listen to a September song, shall we?

Oh, it's a long, long while from May to December
But the days grow short when you reach September
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
One hasn't got time for the waiting game

Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few
September, November
And these few precious days I'll spend with you
These precious days I'll spend with you

Good Morning WA2K.

Yes Letty, they did/do exist.

Well, Raggedy, so they do. Love it, PA. We'll put those up on our dart board here in our little studio for the high school tour that we expect sometime next week.<smile>

I can hear those kids now.

"Who is that dude with the petit guitar?"

"There's a man with a cat. Is that Dr. Seuss?"

"Hey, look at that montage of the old guy in the cowboy hat. I think my Grandma knows him."

" I know that one. My mom thinks he's cool."

" Wonder if that guy in the stripped shirt owns a jet ski.?"

Ain't it the truth.

I learned something from Bob's bios about the oldtimers today. I had no idea that Charles Coburn led the anti-communist movement in the 50s. What a disgrace that witch hunt was. Much was said about Adolphe Menjou and Elia Kazan, but I never read or heard anything about Coburn's role.

Nor did I, Raggedy. Did Bob also say that Gere was banned from the Academy Awards for bashing China? I am too lazy to re-read the transcripts.

Well, let's play another oldie, then. <smile>

Here's to the guy in the stripped shirt:

(Hernandez/Carter)


In the land across the sea
They speak about a sailor
In the days of mystery
When Earth was a different place
And you still will hear the tale
They tell of his wisdom
In his hour of destiny
He followed the song of his heart.
refrain:
Beware the siren song
A song of delirious beauty
Though you want to sing along
A song full of promised delight
Lash yourself onto the mast
A song that will lead you to madness
Till the siren song has passed
A song that ends only in pain

Through the wind and through the rain
Through the long night of tempting
Of torment and of doubt
He cried out in his pain
But this captain stayed the course
Guiding the ship through danger
Past the siren's melody
On to the promise of home.

refrain

Beware the siren song
Try not to listen
Make sure the ropes are strong
Focus your vision
Beware the siren song
A song of beauty
Guide your ship on the right course.

And the ocean is so deep
Blackening water is raging
As the ship is tossed about
A speck in the infinite void
And the map is old and worn
Stained with the tears of captains
Who have sailed this way before
To follow the song of the heart.

Breaking news from the world of art:


OSLO (Reuters) - "The Scream" and another stolen masterpiece by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch were recovered by police on Thursday, two years after gunmen seized the paintings from an Oslo museum.

"'The Scream' and 'Madonna' are now in police possession," police chief Iver Stensrud told a news conference. "The damage is much less than we could have feared."

He said the pictures were recovered on Thursday afternoon in "a successful police operation" and said no ransom had been paid.

"The Scream" is an icon of existential angst showing a terrified figure against a blood-red sky. "Madonna" shows a bare-breasted woman with long black hair.

Two masked gunmen walked into the Munch Museum in Oslo in August 2004 and yanked the two works from the walls in front of dozens of terrified tourists. They escaped in a car driven by another man.

Field Commander Cohen

Field Commander Cohen, he was our most important spy.
Wounded in the line of duty,
parachuting acid into diplomatic cocktail parties,
urging Fidel Castro to abandon fields and castles.
Leave it all and like a man,
come back to nothing special,
such as waiting rooms and ticket lines,
silver bullet suicides,
and messianic ocean tides,
and racial roller-coaster rides
and other forms of boredom advertised as poetry.
I know you need your sleep now,
I know your life's been hard.
But many men are falling,
where you promised to stand guard.

I never asked but I heard you cast your lot along with the poor.
But then I overheard your prayer,
that you be this and nothing more
than just some grateful faithful woman's favourite singing millionaire,
the patron Saint of envy and the grocer of despair,
working for the Yankee Dollar.

I know you need your sleep now ...

Ah, lover come and lie with me, if my lover is who you are,
and be your sweetest self awhile until I ask for more, my child.
Then let the other selves be wrong, yeah, let them manifest and come
till every taste is on the tongue,
till love is pierced and love is hung,
and every kind of freedom done, then oh,
oh my love, oh my love, oh my love,
oh my love, oh my love, oh my love.


L Cohen

Seems So Long Ago, Nancy

It seems so long ago,
Nancy was alone,
looking ate the Late Late show
through a semi-precious stone.
In the House of Honesty
her father was on trial,
in the House of Mystery
there was no one at all,
there was no one at all.
It seems so long ago,
none of us were strong;
Nancy wore green stockings
and she slept with everyone.
She never said she'd wait for us
although she was alone,
I think she fell in love for us
in nineteen sixty one,
in nineteen sixty one.

It seems so long ago,
Nancy was alone,
a forty five beside her head,
an open telephone.
We told her she was beautiful,
we told her she was free
but none of us would meet her in
the House of Mystery,
the House of Mystery.

And now you look around you,
see her everywhere,
many use her body,
many comb her hair.
In the hollow of the night
when you are cold and numb
you hear her talking freely then,
she's happy that you've come,
she's happy that you've come.


L Cohen

Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors.

edgar, Thank you for the Leonard Cohen songs, Texas. I am becoming more and more fascinated with that man, so let's greet the start of the September day with a poem from same:

Anthem


The birds they sang
at the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
has passed away
or what is yet to be.

Leonard Cohen

Good poetic advice for all of us, folks.

as is my usual, I made my cuppa tea about 4;30am and sat in the dark on the patio and waited the sunrise over the Sandia, my camera was handy so it took this shot

Ah, dys, that is lovely. It's rather like my sunset here. Would it do me any good to ask you where Sandia is?

From another Elizabeth:

BLUSH OF LOVE

If love can make a heartbeat flush
The glowing cheeks in reddish blush
Then it is this, my radiant face
A mirror of love's deep embrace

For love brings heat and trembling chills
A breathless sigh, a cringe of thrills
A heart that skips a beat or two
Each time that I remember you

Although we parted long ago
A burst of heat, a subtle glow
Quite unexpectedly appears
When thoughts of you dissolve the years

Some day when all is said and done
And skies are filled with scarlet sun
I'll spend the twilight of my days
Imbued in red of glowing rays

And in the blush of sunset's cast
I will confess my love at last

Sandia or Sandia Peak is the mountain that is the eastern city limits of Albuquerque, I live on the west side which is across the Rio Grande river. Sandia Peak is 10,678 feet.

Thanks, dys. No mountains here, but I hold memories of them somewhere.

This seems to be mountain time, listeners, so how about a song:

In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia,
On the trail of the Lonesome Pine.
In the pale moonlight,
Our hearts entwined,
She carved her name, and I carved mine,

Oh, June, like the mountains I'm blue,
Like the pine, I am lonesome for you.

In the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia.
On the trail of the Lonesome Pine.

In Virginia, folks, there is also a place called The Wilderness Road; As legend has it, it was one of Daniel Boone's early forages.