Today's Video Link

The skill set of Johnny Carson included sometimes (usually) being able to wring a good conversation out of guests who weren't talkative in the way you're expected to be talkative on a talk show.  Here we have an interview with Marty Feldman on The Tonight Show for 7/15/1977.  I'm going to guess Mr. Feldman wasn't particularly thrilled to be doing this but he had this movie coming out that he'd written, starred in and directed — The Last Remake of Beau Geste — and he knew he had to do things like this to enhance its box office take.

A month or two before this, I attended a seminar where Feldman spoke and answered questions. He was delightful and funny and very honest. About his upcoming movie, he said — and I think this is verbatim — "I have a four-picture deal with Universal unless this one bombs, in which case I have a one-picture deal." As things turned out, the film was a modest hit but Feldman wound up in a huge battle with the studio because they recut the film and made many changes of which he did not approve. Perhaps that had something to do with his less-than-excited demeanor on Johnny's show.

Eventually, he went on to make In God We Trust (or Gimme That Prime Time Religion) a few years later for the same studio, then was unable to get the next film on his deal going before he died in 1982. It was a great loss because he really was a funny, creative man.

The interview, as you'll see, gets off to a slow start. Feldman was speaking in a low voice and you may be able to see the boom mike over him being lowered, sometimes into the shot, to try and pick up what he was saying better. Nowadays, guests are usually radio-miked so a boom is not necessary and it's easier to crank up someone's volume.

Johnny throws a lot of questions at his guest and I think he was hoping Feldman would mention his eyes so that he could be asked about them as a follow-up question instead of having the host raise the topic. Finally, Johnny had to bring them up and the interview picked up a lot. I don't believe Feldman ever appeared with him again…