On the day of his 100th birthday, a special Vintage Variety episode traces the arc of Johnny Carson’s early career and his rise to becoming an American icon, as chronicled day-by-day for five decades in the pages of Variety.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
From Hollywood thet a night show starring Johnny Carson. This
is Ed Mcmahonnlick. Doc Severn sent a NBC Augograd fight
you to enjoin Johnny and his guest Charles.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Thursday, October twenty third,
twenty twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am
co editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Situta. I'm
in LA. He's in New York, and Variety has reporters
around the world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode,
(00:47):
we'll depart from our usual format of business news and
analysis for an extra special centennial salute to Johnny Carson.
Johnny Carson was born on this day, October twenty third,
one hundred years ago in Corning, Iowa. He died a
little over twenty years ago in retirement in Los Angeles.
(01:09):
In his sixty nine years in between, Johnny Carson became
an icon of television and a symbol of postwar American cool.
Carson's legend and his influence still looms large over late
night TV, even in its sadly diminished state. About ten
years ago, the Antenna TV channel ran full episodes of
(01:32):
nineteen seventies and eighties era Tonight Show episodes. Every one
of them was a time capsule, and every one of
them showed why Johnny Carson was the master of let
Me tell You a Story type of TV. Carson's legacy
is defined by his thirty year run on The Tonight Show.
It stretched from nineteen sixty two to nineteen ninety two,
(01:55):
from the days of Camelot and JFK to the end
of the Cold World War and the rise of Bill Clinton.
But Carson's TV career didn't begin with The Tonight Show.
To mark his centennial, we dove deep into the Variety
archives to trace the early TV shows and MC gigs
that led him to his storied tenure at NBC. Variety's
(02:17):
pages are chock full of carson coverage of the day
by day march of his career, starting with his first
appearance in Variety on October twentieth, nineteen fifty two, and
It's a Doozy. At the time, Carson was in Los
Angeles hosting a live local comedy variety show for what
is now KCBSTV channel two. It was called Carson's Cellar.
(02:42):
Here's a sample of the show.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
K NXD with its eyes wide open, cautiously present Carson Seller.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
And here's the guy who went to what conference is
that our Johnny has?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Thank you very much, everybody, thank you very much for
coming into the cellar tonight. It's a little bit cold
tonight back. I think that's why we got one young
lady out there before the show. I said, why did
you come and see the show? And she says, the
carder was cold outside. But we like to have an
honest audience, and tonight we's got a variety of things
on the cellar. Did you see the game?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
After nam, Carson made the top of page one with
a short item noting that the show had taken a
jab at the political battle then raging between presidential candidates
Dwight Eisenhower and Adlie Stevenson over income tax statement disclosures
or the lack thereof, particularly for Eisenhower's vice presidential running mate,
Richard Nixon. So with that context, here's the full story
(03:55):
that ran on October twentieth, nineteen fifty two, two weeks
before Eisenhower or would be elected to the first of
his two terms in the White House.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
Where's the money? The political campaign is providing new fodder
for TV comedians MC Johnny Carson's Saturday Night on Carson
Seller over KNXT opened up by revealing income taxes of
the Troop, which includes the New Yorkers, and wound up
challenging all other performers in LA to do the same.
(04:24):
Carson noted that for the first year listed nineteen forty five,
one hundred and fourteen dollars income for the troop was
from the State Unemployment Office.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
After that splashy first item, Carson's mentions in variety picked
up steam. By early nineteen fifty three, he was noted
in our pages several times a month by the following year,
and for the next four decades, not a week went
by without at least one reference, usually many more. Because
Carson worked NonStop. He hosted Carson's Seller in LA, he
(04:58):
worked as a writer on The Red Skale Melton Show.
He did nightclubs and personal appearances and telethons and charity
gigs just like every other rising comedian of the day.
Throughout the nineteen fifties, Carson hosted a number of local
and network series for CBS, including Platter Panel and Earn
Your Vacation. The latter was a quiz show in which
(05:19):
contestants told Carson their personal reasons for wanting to travel
to a certain place. Carson then asked them trivia questions
related to the location, and if they got enough of
them right, they won the trip. By the late nineteen fifties,
Carson had a steady gig hosting the ABC daytime game
show Who Do You Trust, which involved competitions between married couples.
(05:42):
He was also an affable regular on the talk show circuit.
Throughout his life, Carson was known for his efforts to
keep a low profile off camera. He didn't court the
spotlight for his personal life, even though he did make
headlines at times for his many marriages and the tragical
life loss of his thirty nine year old son Rick
in a car crash in nineteen ninety one. In light
(06:06):
of this, a story we found in the August thirtieth,
nineteen sixty one edition of Variety is all the more remarkable.
It features coverage of remarks that Carson made during a
trip to London to make an appearance on a British
talk show hosted by American singer Paul Anka Carson let
loose on his opinion on the state of the American
TV industry and the state of the comedy talent pipeline.
(06:31):
He couldn't have been more wrong in his assessments of
the industry and fun fact, Paul Anko would go on
to co write with Carson the distinctive Da Da Da
Dada Tonight Show theme that you heard at the top
of this episode. Here's the entire story.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
Johnny Carson responds us TV after five years, You're in trouble. Dateline, London,
August twenty nine. Johnny Carson, us comic featured on American
broadcasting companies daytime show Who Do You Trust, flew into
Britain for a week to tape a guest spot on
the Paul Anka Show for Granada TV So Far Unslotted,
(07:12):
and he aired his observations on USTv and its limitations.
Carson says that while American TV exists primarily to sell products,
no great new paths and entertainment are going to be trod. Indeed,
many of TV's best writers have given up the medium
because the sponsorship system inhibits them. The fear of upsetting people,
(07:33):
especially when they are in their own homes is a
very real one. To the sponsors, it's easy to understand
why they want to book only tried and tested shows
and won't tread new ground, and says Carson, there are
no training grounds left, and in a few years, when
today's top liners ie Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Perry Como
(07:57):
are no longer around, who's going to replace them? All
the big names in TV today had training grounds in
other fields of showbiz, and it was easy for them
to move into TV. But where can a newcomer find
a place to be bad in Longevity in TV is
around five years, opines Carson, who has had just that
(08:19):
long under contract to ABC and intends to seek an
extension in September. After that, you're on the way out.
No writer or artist is prolific enough to keep an
act fresh for much more than that, says Carson. Reason
Carson has been busy for the past five years and
now looks to be in the running for a late
night spot with ABC two is because he works live
(08:42):
and interviews people, he opines. Last year he reached an
average daytime audience of five point five million, which he
says contents his web.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Carson wasn't the first to host the Tonight Show for NBC.
Steve Allen got their first in nineteen fifty four, and
then he was succeeded by Jack Parr. When NBC and
Jack Parr parted ways in nineteen sixty one, Carson was
perfectly situated to be a top contender for the plum gig.
The reporting in Variety's pages from the day about the
(09:13):
frenzy jockeying for the Tonight Show throne is fascinating and
richly detailed. Change the names in the dynamic today is
so much the same the stories could have been written yesterday.
Here's a key paragraph from a lengthy story that ran
on November twenty second, nineteen sixty one, with the headline
who gets NBC late night slot.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
NBC at this point isn't venturing any guesses as to
who the possible successor will be, although it's known a
variety of names have been tentatively tossed into the hopper.
Parr himself has made some casual on the air references
which could suggest his own candidate might be Bob Newhart,
(09:55):
now holding down his own half hour NBCTV show. The
possibility of Steve Allen, returning to the late late slot,
which he occupied not long before. Par came has been raised. Also,
the name of Johnny Carson has been advanced. Actually, NBC
says we'd got one hundred names. Pretty soon we'll be
(10:17):
ready to make a decision.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
As it turned out, ABC played hardball and held Carson
to his who Do You Trust? Contract? His deal with
NBC was set, but he had to wait about nine
months before he could take over the Tonight Show in
October nineteen sixty two. NBC played the little hardball back
in February when it had Carson MC its presentation to
affiliate stations as part of the National Association of Broadcasters
(10:42):
convention that year. As we know, it all worked out
for Johnny Carson, and it was a pretty good deal
for America too. Carson's style on TV was smart, smooth, witty,
and aloof He was erudite and a Midwestern everyman all
at the same time. On his last week of shows,
Johnny Carson poured his heart out on air like never before.
(11:05):
In May nineteen ninety two, I remember vividly watching Carson's
final show live. It was a Taylor's Swift album, drop
level cultural event. It was beyond moving as the silver
Fox with the glinty eyes sat on a stool and
thanked the viewing audience for letting him into their homes.
For some thirty years, but I haven't even stronger memory
(11:27):
of watching Carson's second to last show, when guests Robin
Williams and Bette Midler poured their hearts out to him
about all that he'd done for their careers. Midler came
prepared with one of Carson's favorite pop tunes at the ready,
a little remembered love song called Here's that Rainy Day.
I'll never forget the way Carson looked at Middler as
(11:49):
they sang it together impromptu, mostly a cappella at the desk.
We'll let Bett and Johnny sing us out.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I should have.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
Saved those left over dreams.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Anybody.
Speaker 6 (12:00):
Here's that rainy day?
Speaker 7 (12:03):
He will Rainy Day told me about, and I laughed
at the thought that it might turn out this way.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
Where is that warn?
Speaker 7 (12:18):
I'll wish that all through side.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
After it brought my love s. Funny becomes a cold
rainy day, Funny that rainy day?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
He thanks for listening. This episode was written by me
Cynthia Littleton. With contributions from Clayton Davis as the voice
of Vintage Variety, copy Sticks Nick's Hickpicks. Please leave us
(13:11):
a review at the podcast platform of your choice, and
please tune in tomorrow for a bonus Friday episode of
Daily Variety. Because there's just that much going on. In
the meantime, the Beach Boys will sing us out with
their great Johnny Carson tribute song from nineteen seventy seven.
Speaker 6 (13:29):
He sits behind his microphone, he speaks scher Man.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
God.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Ever nay live thirday of of
Speaker 5 (14:10):
It's nice to have on the jolting
From Hollywood thet a night show starring Johnny Carson. This
is Ed Mcmahonnlick. Doc Severn sent a NBC Augograd fight
you to enjoin Johnny and his guest Charles.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Thursday, October twenty third,
twenty twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am
co editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Situta. I'm
in LA. He's in New York, and Variety has reporters
around the world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode,
(00:47):
we'll depart from our usual format of business news and
analysis for an extra special centennial salute to Johnny Carson.
Johnny Carson was born on this day, October twenty third,
one hundred years ago in Corning, Iowa. He died a
little over twenty years ago in retirement in Los Angeles.
(01:09):
In his sixty nine years in between, Johnny Carson became
an icon of television and a symbol of postwar American cool.
Carson's legend and his influence still looms large over late
night TV, even in its sadly diminished state. About ten
years ago, the Antenna TV channel ran full episodes of
(01:32):
nineteen seventies and eighties era Tonight Show episodes. Every one
of them was a time capsule, and every one of
them showed why Johnny Carson was the master of let
Me tell You a Story type of TV. Carson's legacy
is defined by his thirty year run on The Tonight Show.
It stretched from nineteen sixty two to nineteen ninety two,
(01:55):
from the days of Camelot and JFK to the end
of the Cold World War and the rise of Bill Clinton.
But Carson's TV career didn't begin with The Tonight Show.
To mark his centennial, we dove deep into the Variety
archives to trace the early TV shows and MC gigs
that led him to his storied tenure at NBC. Variety's
(02:17):
pages are chock full of carson coverage of the day
by day march of his career, starting with his first
appearance in Variety on October twentieth, nineteen fifty two, and
It's a Doozy. At the time, Carson was in Los
Angeles hosting a live local comedy variety show for what
is now KCBSTV channel two. It was called Carson's Cellar.
(02:42):
Here's a sample of the show.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
K NXD with its eyes wide open, cautiously present Carson Seller.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
And here's the guy who went to what conference is
that our Johnny has?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Thank you very much, everybody, thank you very much for
coming into the cellar tonight. It's a little bit cold
tonight back. I think that's why we got one young
lady out there before the show. I said, why did
you come and see the show? And she says, the
carder was cold outside. But we like to have an
honest audience, and tonight we's got a variety of things
on the cellar. Did you see the game?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
After nam, Carson made the top of page one with
a short item noting that the show had taken a
jab at the political battle then raging between presidential candidates
Dwight Eisenhower and Adlie Stevenson over income tax statement disclosures
or the lack thereof, particularly for Eisenhower's vice presidential running mate,
Richard Nixon. So with that context, here's the full story
(03:55):
that ran on October twentieth, nineteen fifty two, two weeks
before Eisenhower or would be elected to the first of
his two terms in the White House.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
Where's the money? The political campaign is providing new fodder
for TV comedians MC Johnny Carson's Saturday Night on Carson
Seller over KNXT opened up by revealing income taxes of
the Troop, which includes the New Yorkers, and wound up
challenging all other performers in LA to do the same.
(04:24):
Carson noted that for the first year listed nineteen forty five,
one hundred and fourteen dollars income for the troop was
from the State Unemployment Office.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
After that splashy first item, Carson's mentions in variety picked
up steam. By early nineteen fifty three, he was noted
in our pages several times a month by the following year,
and for the next four decades, not a week went
by without at least one reference, usually many more. Because
Carson worked NonStop. He hosted Carson's Seller in LA, he
(04:58):
worked as a writer on The Red Skale Melton Show.
He did nightclubs and personal appearances and telethons and charity
gigs just like every other rising comedian of the day.
Throughout the nineteen fifties, Carson hosted a number of local
and network series for CBS, including Platter Panel and Earn
Your Vacation. The latter was a quiz show in which
(05:19):
contestants told Carson their personal reasons for wanting to travel
to a certain place. Carson then asked them trivia questions
related to the location, and if they got enough of
them right, they won the trip. By the late nineteen fifties,
Carson had a steady gig hosting the ABC daytime game
show Who Do You Trust, which involved competitions between married couples.
(05:42):
He was also an affable regular on the talk show circuit.
Throughout his life, Carson was known for his efforts to
keep a low profile off camera. He didn't court the
spotlight for his personal life, even though he did make
headlines at times for his many marriages and the tragical
life loss of his thirty nine year old son Rick
in a car crash in nineteen ninety one. In light
(06:06):
of this, a story we found in the August thirtieth,
nineteen sixty one edition of Variety is all the more remarkable.
It features coverage of remarks that Carson made during a
trip to London to make an appearance on a British
talk show hosted by American singer Paul Anka Carson let
loose on his opinion on the state of the American
TV industry and the state of the comedy talent pipeline.
(06:31):
He couldn't have been more wrong in his assessments of
the industry and fun fact, Paul Anko would go on
to co write with Carson the distinctive Da Da Da
Dada Tonight Show theme that you heard at the top
of this episode. Here's the entire story.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
Johnny Carson responds us TV after five years, You're in trouble. Dateline, London,
August twenty nine. Johnny Carson, us comic featured on American
broadcasting companies daytime show Who Do You Trust, flew into
Britain for a week to tape a guest spot on
the Paul Anka Show for Granada TV So Far Unslotted,
(07:12):
and he aired his observations on USTv and its limitations.
Carson says that while American TV exists primarily to sell products,
no great new paths and entertainment are going to be trod. Indeed,
many of TV's best writers have given up the medium
because the sponsorship system inhibits them. The fear of upsetting people,
(07:33):
especially when they are in their own homes is a
very real one. To the sponsors, it's easy to understand
why they want to book only tried and tested shows
and won't tread new ground, and says Carson, there are
no training grounds left, and in a few years, when
today's top liners ie Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Perry Como
(07:57):
are no longer around, who's going to replace them? All
the big names in TV today had training grounds in
other fields of showbiz, and it was easy for them
to move into TV. But where can a newcomer find
a place to be bad in Longevity in TV is
around five years, opines Carson, who has had just that
(08:19):
long under contract to ABC and intends to seek an
extension in September. After that, you're on the way out.
No writer or artist is prolific enough to keep an
act fresh for much more than that, says Carson. Reason
Carson has been busy for the past five years and
now looks to be in the running for a late
night spot with ABC two is because he works live
(08:42):
and interviews people, he opines. Last year he reached an
average daytime audience of five point five million, which he
says contents his web.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Carson wasn't the first to host the Tonight Show for NBC.
Steve Allen got their first in nineteen fifty four, and
then he was succeeded by Jack Parr. When NBC and
Jack Parr parted ways in nineteen sixty one, Carson was
perfectly situated to be a top contender for the plum gig.
The reporting in Variety's pages from the day about the
(09:13):
frenzy jockeying for the Tonight Show throne is fascinating and
richly detailed. Change the names in the dynamic today is
so much the same the stories could have been written yesterday.
Here's a key paragraph from a lengthy story that ran
on November twenty second, nineteen sixty one, with the headline
who gets NBC late night slot.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
NBC at this point isn't venturing any guesses as to
who the possible successor will be, although it's known a
variety of names have been tentatively tossed into the hopper.
Parr himself has made some casual on the air references
which could suggest his own candidate might be Bob Newhart,
(09:55):
now holding down his own half hour NBCTV show. The
possibility of Steve Allen, returning to the late late slot,
which he occupied not long before. Par came has been raised. Also,
the name of Johnny Carson has been advanced. Actually, NBC
says we'd got one hundred names. Pretty soon we'll be
(10:17):
ready to make a decision.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
As it turned out, ABC played hardball and held Carson
to his who Do You Trust? Contract? His deal with
NBC was set, but he had to wait about nine
months before he could take over the Tonight Show in
October nineteen sixty two. NBC played the little hardball back
in February when it had Carson MC its presentation to
affiliate stations as part of the National Association of Broadcasters
(10:42):
convention that year. As we know, it all worked out
for Johnny Carson, and it was a pretty good deal
for America too. Carson's style on TV was smart, smooth, witty,
and aloof He was erudite and a Midwestern everyman all
at the same time. On his last week of shows,
Johnny Carson poured his heart out on air like never before.
(11:05):
In May nineteen ninety two, I remember vividly watching Carson's
final show live. It was a Taylor's Swift album, drop
level cultural event. It was beyond moving as the silver
Fox with the glinty eyes sat on a stool and
thanked the viewing audience for letting him into their homes.
For some thirty years, but I haven't even stronger memory
(11:27):
of watching Carson's second to last show, when guests Robin
Williams and Bette Midler poured their hearts out to him
about all that he'd done for their careers. Midler came
prepared with one of Carson's favorite pop tunes at the ready,
a little remembered love song called Here's that Rainy Day.
I'll never forget the way Carson looked at Middler as
(11:49):
they sang it together impromptu, mostly a cappella at the desk.
We'll let Bett and Johnny sing us out.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I should have.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
Saved those left over dreams.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Anybody.
Speaker 6 (12:00):
Here's that rainy day?
Speaker 7 (12:03):
He will Rainy Day told me about, and I laughed
at the thought that it might turn out this way.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
Where is that warn?
Speaker 7 (12:18):
I'll wish that all through side.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
After it brought my love s. Funny becomes a cold
rainy day, Funny that rainy day?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
He thanks for listening. This episode was written by me
Cynthia Littleton. With contributions from Clayton Davis as the voice
of Vintage Variety, copy Sticks Nick's Hickpicks. Please leave us
(13:11):
a review at the podcast platform of your choice, and
please tune in tomorrow for a bonus Friday episode of
Daily Variety. Because there's just that much going on. In
the meantime, the Beach Boys will sing us out with
their great Johnny Carson tribute song from nineteen seventy seven.
Speaker 6 (13:29):
He sits behind his microphone, he speaks scher Man.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
God.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Ever nay live thirday of of
Speaker 5 (14:10):
It's nice to have on the jolting
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