Just to repeat here what I Twittered earlier: We oughta pass a law that Neil Patrick Harris will host all awards shows from now on. He was great on the Emmys...funny, brisk and well aware that the evening was not all about him. I don't have a lot to say about the awards themselves; just that there didn't seem to be any ghastly oversights or grave injustices. I thought the guy (I forget who it was) who thanked the agents who got him his award-winning job...and then thanked his new agents...was making a joke that would have gone over better with the crowd if it hadn't been so true.
This is currently up on some sites as part of the Associated Press Emmy coverage...
Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" was named the best comedy or variety show in the annual Emmy Awards. Blessed with an abundance of material during a presidential election, the show beat out David Letterman's "Late Show," "Saturday Night Live," "Real Time With Bill Maher" and "The Colbert (col-BEAR') Report (rap-PORE')"
I guess they put that in because some TV or radio newscasters use material from AP. But shouldn't anyone who's got a job reading press copy aloud know how to pronounce the name of that show? And isn't it "rep-PORE?"
Maxine Marx, daughter of Chico, passed away in her sleep early Monday morning, September 14, at the age of 91. She was a lovely lady with a nice background in acting and in teaching acting. Maxine was always accommodating to the many Marx Brothers fans who sought her out for interviews and info, and an awful lot of them became fans of this charming woman. I spent an evening with her about twenty years ago and while she had many great stories of her father and uncles, it was more fun to hear her talk about her own life and the many talented friends she'd acquired. Folks just liked Maxine and her legacy includes a lot of actors who cherish her tutelage.
It's times like this I wish I had an extra $60,000 to throw about. That's the opening bid (at this hour, unoffered) in an online auction of Walker Edmiston's Beany & Cecil memorabilia.
The late Mr. Edmiston was a brilliant actor, voice performer and puppeteer and in the fifties, he spent some time puppeteering for Bob Clampett on Time for Beany and Thunderbolt the Wonder Colt. His estate (or someone) is selling off all the neat stuff he saved from those gigs, including actual hand puppets and set pieces. Wonderful stuff.
In other news, you can also own the Emmy Award that Fred deCordova won for producing The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. You can also bid on many of the original stop-motion figures built for George Pal's Puppetoon series...
There are many priceless TV artifacts over there, especially to please a Star Trek fan. Thanks to Phil De Croocq for letting me know about some of this.
What do we have here? Hmm...looks like seven and a half minutes from the original Tonight with Steve Allen. It wasn't called The Tonight Show back then — a fact that absolutely every single person who ever writes about TV history overlooks...and probably should. But as far as I know, it wasn't called The Tonight Show until the Monday after Jack Paar left. That first non-Paar show was guest-hosted by Art Linkletter...so if you want to get real nit-picky annoying about things, the answer to the question, "Who was the first person to ever host an episode of The Tonight Show?" is Art Linkletter.
Note: If you're ever on Jeopardy! and you're in Final Jeopardy! and everything is riding on your response to "The first host of The Tonight Show," don't answer Art Linkletter. Say Steve Allen.
Anyway, gang — as Mr. Allen used to say — footage of any pre-Carson Tonight is very rare and Johnny's early years are about 98% lost, as well. So this clip is nice to see, even if not a lot happens in it. It's mostly Steverino playing with a doll and then singing a forgettable song with Skitch Henderson at the piano...
September 21, 2009
