December 18, 2024 • 41 mins
Morgan White Jr. filled in on NightSide:
Throughout radio personality Ed Kalegi’s career he’s chatted with greats such as Carol Burnett, Norman Lear, Dean Koontz, and so many more. Morgan welcomed Kalegi as he shares excerpts from his book, It Was Great To Say Hello To...:A Curious Radio Host’s Conversations with Actors, Authors, and Newsmakers.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
Throughout radio personality Ed Kalegi’s career he’s chatted with greats such as Carol Burnett, Norman Lear, Dean Koontz, and so many more. Morgan welcomed Kalegi as he shares excerpts from his book, It Was Great To Say Hello To...:A Curious Radio Host’s Conversations with Actors, Authors, and Newsmakers.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
I'm going final hour, final hour of night Side Dan
spin Off all night.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
He should be here tomorrow, but if not, who knows.
I may get the call, I may not. But this
hour I'm speaking with a colleague, broadcast colleague. He's out
of New York. He got in touch with me earlier
last week. I think I got a text from him saying,
(00:33):
in case you're looking for a potential guest, I'll do it.
So Ed Kalecki, did I pronounce it wrong?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Ed, You're very close, Morgan, good evening. It's close.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, but I don't like mispronouncing names. It's a bad
thing to.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Do, but I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Tell people the name of your show.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
The name of my show is The Weekend with Ed
Kleggy and I've been doing it for about ten years.
We're on a series of stations in the pretty much
the Midwest and the West. And it's a love of
life for me because I am someone who grew up
immersed in media. Morgan. I'm a child of the seventies
(01:19):
and an adolescent of the eighties, and I simply loved
radio and television, and I guess I listened to and
watched way too much of it and it rub off
on me, and it made me realize at a very
young age what I wanted to do, and I was broadcasting.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
That's how I started. A generation before you. I was
a child of the fifties into the sixties. I was
one of those kids that had the transistor radio under
my pillow turned up so I could hear it through
the pillow. And ironically, the radio station I listened to
(01:53):
most often was BZ. I loved nighttime VZ with Larry
Glick and Dick Summer and on down the line mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
And with me down in New Jersey, I was able
to pick up easy at night, and I literally fell
in love with the artistry and the craftsmanship that was
David Brudnoy. And to me, that was a standard of
gold radio and gold standard of radio. And I love
that so much. And there has always been so much
(02:23):
personality out of that radio station. In later years, I
of course loved listening to You, but I became infatuated
with Steve Lavelli. I mean, any guy that plays the
clarinet is good with me. I mean, and and to me,
it's just there is such a wonder when it comes
to communication and the radio and listening to that, and
(02:44):
there is a magic within radio Morgan that simply does
not exist in any other medium.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
How true. Now I'm going to test you. What was
Steve Levelli's cat's name?
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Oh see, now I knew there was going to be
I remember the clarinet, but I don't remember. You know
what's gonna happen next hour when I'm walking upstairs in
my home, I'm gonna think that was the name of
the cat. But I know you're I'm going to tell
you now.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
My producer knew, and he whispered in my ear. Max
there's a there's a TV show about cats and it
comes on periodically, and he was on that show once
with Max broadcasting in front of this not this microphone,
(03:32):
but absy microphone. Wow, And you mentioned David Brednoy. I
have met thousands of people, celebrities, uh, TV people, movie people,
sports people, thousands. The most intelligent man I ever met
(03:53):
was David Brennan bar none, and he had me.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
On his show subject. There was nothing that could get
past him. And he was able to elicit so much
out of a guest, and that's not the easiest thing
to do many times, but he was able to do
it a wonderful avenue of communication. And he was so
(04:20):
erudite and just so communicative, and it was just simply
a pleasure to listen to him. You felt like you
were in a course at Harvard or at Yale. But
he was able to communicate in a way that was
understandable to everyone. But he did it on such a
high level. And you are born with that, Morgan. You
cannot be taught how to do that.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
That is true. And I will say this Norm Nathan
and David BRADNOI the other reason I have a microphone
in front of me. They spoke on different occasions to
my boss in the old days, Peter Casey, and they
talked Peter in the giving me a shot, and I
ran with it once I got the shot, And that's
(05:05):
why I'm still here. David was underlying the most intelligent
man I ever person, most intelligent person I ever met. Yes,
and thank you for bringing up his name. So I
want to I want to talk about this book. It
(05:26):
was my treat to say hello to Blank. That's your
book title? Did I get it right?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
But almost?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
It is.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
It was great to say hello to And the reason
why it's cold, that is because just over the years,
I guess I had fallen into a trap of opening
up a conversation with it's great to say hello to
the person's name, and it kind of just sucks. So
I guess that kind of became my thing after a while.
So when my literary agent, a wonderful literary agent named
(06:03):
Diane nine who was headquartered down in Washington, when we
were kicking around ideas for an idea for the title
of the book, she said, what about you know what
your catchphrase is? And I'm thinking that's pretty obvious, but
it's also pretty good. So since these are interviews which
have already happened, we took that it is great and
we turned it into what it was great. So it
(06:23):
was great to say hello to a curious radio hosts,
conversations with actors, authors, and newsmakers, And that is the title.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Now, I for no particular reason, I called six names.
How many separate names are in the book.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
There are twenty four separate interviews in this book, all.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Right, So I called six names, and I want to
throw them out to my audience. Most of my audience
should be able to relate to these individuals. Maybe you've
heard them interviewed here by me or Dan Ray or
Steve Lavelly over the years, Paul Sullivan, Bradley jay On
down the list, Dick van Dyke, who just turned ninety
(07:09):
nine this week, Cindy Williams, Carol Burnett, Richard Lewis, Robert Klein,
and Doris Kerns Goodwin. You heard those names people. I'm
gonna be speaking to add up until midnight. If you'd
like to call in and ask about Dick Van Dyke's
interview or Doris Kerns Goodwin's interview. That's why I've got
(07:34):
ed here now. If you want, you can just sit
back and listen. A lot of good conversation will be
bubbling up over the next forty five minutes. But if
you would like to join six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty or eight eight, eight, nine, two, nine,
ten thirty, this is night Side. Dan is off. I
am here. Time and temperature eleven fifteen forty three degrees.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Nightside Studios.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I' WBZ News Radio. I'm Morgan. Ed Kalecki is my guest,
and we are talking about the two dozen of important
people he has interviewed over the years, He's got a
book it was great to say hello to and you
fill in the blank of all these people, curious radio hosts,
(08:28):
conversations with actors, authors and newsmakers. That's the official title.
Who published it, by the way.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
The publisher, Morgan is Rand Smith's books, and they have
been wonderful to work with.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
All Right, and I'm going to begin with a woman
I've heard here on BZ interviewed by Dan Ray and
David Brudnoy, Doris Kearns Goodwin. And she began her political
career on Lyndon Johnson's staff and has kept her hand
(09:11):
in politics low these four or five decades. Tell me
about Darris Kurn's Goodwin Morgan.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
What I always enjoyed most about Doris, and it came
through in our conversation, is that she has a very
unique ability as a historian to be able to take
current events and she can analyze them but through the
wonderful prism of history, and that's her craft. And she
(09:42):
has a delightful sense of humor as well. I remember
when we spoke and she kind of tossed out the
line I go to bed with dead presidents every single
night because they're always on her mind. And yeah, but
I just find her ability to take a look at
history and to be able to relate it to what's
going on now, and she does it in such a
(10:03):
flawless and in such a seamless way, And she is
such a wonderful repository of American history, of presidential history.
I had a wonderful conversation with her about FDR and
and about the contemporary importance that he would still show
now with some of the things that he did back then,
And talked about her conduct with Lyndon Johnson and how
(10:28):
she felt about him, and overall just about leadership and
leadership qualities and what was it that made a perfect president?
And Abe Lincoln is her guy and will always be
her guide. But I just found her fascinating because here
is someone who deals with history, but yet she speaks
in such a contemporary way.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Why was Abe Lincoln her favorite president? I mean, she
worked for a president, She worked for.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Lyndon Johnson exactly. But she said there would be no
Lindon Johnson, there would be no other presidents that came
after A. B. Lincoln because he saved the country. He
saved the country at its most horrible most fractious time,
and she feels that he is a seminal leader because
everything that came after that in terms of American history,
(11:15):
is because of how he acted as president during the
Civil War and during that most important and most incredible times.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Most people don't realize that his assassination was a troika
of assassinations planned by the South, and John Wilkes Booth
was just one of the pawns that the South had
used to try and kill Johnson, his vice president, and
(11:49):
the Secretary of State. And if I'm not mistaken, was
that swort at the time.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
I think you're correct, yes, And.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
That way the South would have been able to reinvigorate
the war between the states and hopefully have it turned
in the favor of the South. But their plans were
figured out by soldiers and people in Washington. So they
(12:26):
succeeded in killing Lincoln. And they tried to kill Johnson,
and they thought they did. They shot him, but the
bullet bounced off a neck brace that he had, if
I'm not mistaken, So their attempt to kill three was
not successful, and the Union endured. And I want to
(12:53):
be the first to say thank goodness for that.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
But indeed.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Lincoln had already cemented the path we would follow after
April of eighteen sixty five.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
And it's incredible to think about how and how difficult
that was because obviously, you know, there was no ubiquitous media,
There was no way to communicate instantly and in an
easy way to the entire country at that point. And
just with all the machinations that had to take place
to be able to do what he did and to
be able to cemit that path to preserving the Union
(13:36):
and for us to continue as a united nation, it
just makes what he did that much more impressive.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
And look at now we don't have a lot of
pictorial evidence, but there were photos pictures of Abraham Lincoln
before he took office in eighteen sixty sixty one and
at the end of his life being assassinated in April
(14:04):
of eighteen sixty five. Look at the aging that took
place on that man. The weight of the Civil War,
the war between the States, just took almost a decade
off his life in five years, And I cannot imagine
(14:29):
what that pressure was like. Yet and still he survived it.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
You know, the.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Treaty of Appomattics came before his assassination, so he lived
through the war. Not long after, but he lived through
the war.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
And unfortunately he didn't get a chance to finish out
his second term. And I wonder, had he finished his
second term, how would our life, our lives be different.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
It's a very good point. I mean, obviously, you know,
we can never go back. And it's funny. As we're
talking about Lincoln, I think about something that I experienced
about ten years ago. I had taken my family to
Washington for a vacation, and we walked through the Smithsonian
and everybody is happy, and there's this, and there's that,
and all of a sudden, you go into this room
(15:28):
and it's very dimly lit and there is this glass
and enclosed case in the middle of the room, and
you're wondering what is that. And then when you walk
up to it and you see what it is, and
you realize what it is, you're struck. And it's the
hat that Lincoln wore that night at Ford's Theater, and
the bullet hole is in it, the bloodstain, all these
(15:53):
decades and decades later, is still there, and you realize
that you're looking at this most incredible piece of tangible
American history right in front of you. And this is
something that you were taught when you were a kid
in elementary school, and it's something that we've learned about
and we carried with and we know how important this
man was. But when you see the actual hat and
(16:17):
you see the bullet hole right there, it's a very
surreal feeling and that washes upon you as you walk
through that room. It's very difficult to describe.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I'm speaking with Ed Kellenghee and he has a radio
show that's if I were to drive away from Boston,
what would be the first city I could hit and
tune in your radio show? And what night is it on?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
All right, it is depending upon the station. It's on Saturdays,
it's on Sundays. It gets moved around for sports. We
are on essentially a number of smaller community stations, a
bunch of stations that still do believe in the magic
of radio. You got to go out towards Oh, you
gotta go out towards Minnesota, and you got to go
out to Oregon. In Colorado, we're pretty much in that
(17:05):
neck of the woods. And I'm just a guy who
lived in Jersey. But that is what it is. But
in early twenty twenty five, there will be an announcement
of a larger platform. So as they stay say in
the biz, stay tuned.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
But you can't tell me now, I know I.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Can't, all right, I would get thirty lashes, but yes,
but there is that they say something in the hopper.
So once I know you, my friend will be one
of the first to know.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Are you on CEO in Minnesota?
Speaker 3 (17:36):
No, I'm not. I know that's a wonderful station, and
I know that Jordan Rich for a long time is
doing a show that was hurt both on DZ and WCCO.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
But same for me, same for me.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
You go very nice.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
That's what I thought, because I know they do talk
and they've always had that talk station vibe. So I
figured maybe that's where you are. But I wrong.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Maybe there will well maybe at some point I will
who knows.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
All right, I've been wrong before.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Now that's okay.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Dick Van Dyke had his ninety ninth birthday this week.
How many times did you interview Dick Van Dyke.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
I had the pleasure of speaking with Dick one time,
and it was so memorable because I was just taken
by the energy of this man and even into his
late nineties. And it was very interesting how when we
were talking he just came out and said, you know,
most of my contemporaries are gone. So I responded, well,
(18:39):
then what do you do? And really what I'm missing
a beat? He said, well, I just find new contemporaries.
And when you go online Morgan and you watch, there
are these YouTube videos he sings with an a cappella group.
He's still dancing ninety nine years old, and just the
unbound energy and not just the love of life, but Morgan,
(18:59):
this man has such an appreciation of life and an
appreciation of his career, and he knows the position he
holds in the fiber and the fabric of the pop
culture of this country and of the world. And I
think that he feeds upon that, and I think that's
a wonderful thing. And he truly proves that age is
(19:20):
simply it's it's the number with the numbers, but it's
a state of mind. You know what you can be
whatever age you want to be, because of how you
choose to live each day. And he exemplifies that to
the next.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
The key is he won't let the view of being
seventy being eighty being ninety stop him and I saw
this must have been about three or four years ago.
He did a soft shoe on some TV program. I
(19:58):
don't remember the program, but he is a ninety something
year old man doing a soft shoe in time as
if he were in his mid thirties. Again, yeah, and
so smoothly. He always was a great dancer. And I
(20:19):
want to tell you something I did on my show,
maybe a decade ago. I asked the audience. This is
one of those questions to get a reaction. Who did
the better pratfall? Ken Berry or Dick Van Dyke. Now
Kim Barry was good, and he was a hoofer as well,
(20:42):
but easily threw out of every four call I took,
said Dick Van Dyke.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
I think he did a great pratfall. I think I
think Dick is or was, however you want to phrase.
This was a bit more theatric in what he was
a to do, because Dick was influenced so greatly by
Stan Laurel ken Berry. Yes, I'm I'm glad you brought
him up because I can remember. And it's funny how
you think of things when you have these conversations. He
(21:11):
was on a summer replacement show on ABC called Wow.
It was this Saturday night variety show and it would
always be it would always start with these wonderful dance numbers.
Ken Berry was an incredible dancer. People think of him
for f Troop and Mama's Family and Mayberry RFD. That
man was so light on his feet and it was
(21:32):
a wonderful dancer. And it makes me think, you know, Morgan,
times have changed so much. Performers used to be so
well rounded. They were quote unquote entertainers and.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
They could do everything, yes, everything.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
And we don't really have that anymore, and I think
that's a shame.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
No tell you what. Let me take my news break
and come back and we'll pick up talking about Dick
Vandyke and maybe I'll incorporate the other names that I mentioned.
So people, Ed Khalicky is going to be here until
I leave at midnight. You want to call in, do so.
The time is eleven thirty and temperature forty three degrees.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
My name is Morgan White Junior. I am here until midnight.
I've been here since eight. Dan Ray has been off.
Hopefully he'll be in tomorrow, Ed, you're still here.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
I certainly am Morgan.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Good Ed Kaliky is my guest. He is here, and
he is like I am, a talk show host. His
show is syndicated. And you said there are thirty stations
or so the carrier.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Show thirty stations and wonderful places like are again and
out in Nebraska and all across the Fruited Plains. So yeah,
So it's a bunch of stations that are still committed
towards radio and this type of radio and community radio.
So it's been a fun ride and it just provides
(23:10):
me an opportunity to have some great conversations with all
kinds of different people from all different walks of life.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
All right, now, I want to continue our conversation about
Dick Van Dyke, and I will, but we've got a
phone call and callers come first. So Gary, you're next
on night Side. Hello, Gary, Yes, Ed.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Can you fill me in? What type of show do
you have? Again?
Speaker 3 (23:37):
It's a talk show, Gary, And I'm good to talk
to you, and we talk about we talk with authors,
and we talk with actors, and we talk with newsmakers.
I've been very fortunate over the years to be able
to work with some great publicists from New York and
Washington and Los Angeles and so general interest talk. But
I am also someone who loves old show business. So
(23:59):
I always loved that great, feel good interview with a celebrity,
and that's why you'll see so many of them in
this book, because I'm just somebody who grew up immersed
in media and it never rubbed off. And it's very
fortunate for me to be able to do something that
I always wanted to do.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Where can we hit your show around this area?
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Well in this area, which you'd have to do. The
easiest way to be able to hear the content that
I do is a because like I said, we're on
a lot of smaller stations than any of them don't
really broadcast online. What you can do, which you can
go to my website which is ed colegg E ed
k A l e gi dot com, or you can
also go on SoundCloud and what happens is after everything airs,
(24:41):
everything is placed up there and there is a wonderful
repository of about twelve hundred segments and interviews from over
the years, and there is just hours and hours of
listening that's available. So It's a great way for all
of the audio just to live on and to be
able to be heard whenever somebody wants to hear it.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Since you're an old time entertainment or even still today.
Of course at the tablet, I'm sixty one years of age.
I tell people all the time, you know, like some
of the greatest sports movies at our time. The one
that makes me cry all the time is the Little
Garrett Story.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Of course, yep, I love that movie. So you know
what's so interesting about that? I got to tell you
I found this out. I thought it was great when
Gary Cooper could not swing the bat left handed as
Lou Garrett did. A lot of people realize is that
what they had to do was put a Yankee uniform
on Gary Cooper with the reverse image of the Yankee
(25:37):
and why on the other side of the uniform, so
when they shot it, they could flip the mirror image
of Gary Cooper swinging a bat right handed, but it
looked like Lou Garrigg swinging the bat left handed. That's
the magic of Hollywood.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Excellent, and that's the one movie that definitely makes me cry.
It is one of the greatest sports movies of our
time now what people talk about even sports movies and
so forth in this type of category, as you would know,
and you never see the movie ever, as Morgan is
listening to. You never seen it on AMC or anywhere.
(26:14):
The Dan nikes the musical.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Oh yeah, I've seen it. I've seen it. It's a
wonderful movie. Yes, low against But the question.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Indeed, why don't they ever put it on? It's still
an entertaining movie for even today's audience.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Agree, Turner Classic Movies has shown it within the past year.
You weren't home on that night in front of your
TV that it was shown. And I have seen it
on Turner Classic Movies.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Okay, and also ed as far as sports movies are concerned, right,
the only movie I ever want to go see with
my father and my life. My dad was a great dad,
but he wasn't you know, the type of guy that
played catch with Yeah this dat blank line right, Well,
he was still a great dad. We went together and
go to see the nineteen seventy five The Bad News
Beierz m Yeah, yes to me, it was so fun
(27:18):
of a movie. I mean, way do get rate The
Bad News Berz for a sports movie?
Speaker 3 (27:27):
For a little aside. I was. I was what was
in seventy five? I was eight years old. I was
all excited. We were going to go that night to
go see it, but my parents had looked at the
newspaper the day before, and when my dad and I
showed up at the theater, the Bad News Bears was gone,
and they were showing James Cohn and Alan Arkin and
Freebee and the Bean. My father took me to my
first rated movie, and when we got home, my mother
(27:50):
was mad. But I got to tell you, Gary, the
Bad News Bears is a great movie. But for me,
the second Bad News Bears movie, Bad News Bears in
Breaking Training, when they went to the Astrodome to play
the Texas Champion or whatever with William Devane. To me,
that story is just better. But as a baseball movie,
the Bad News Bears the whole, the one when they
(28:12):
went off into Japan with Tony Curtis that one. I
wouldn't even waste my time with that. But the first
two are fantastic. And Walter matt that was great in
that first movie, and it was so true to what
Little League baseball was, and that Vic Morrow character when
he slaps branding and Cruise on the mound. When I
loved that Barretts, Oh my goodness. And that was so
(28:35):
nineteen seventies. I mean that's the way things were then,
and there were little league coaches like that. Gary, You're right,
I mean, great movie.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, I know it. Yeah, all right, Gary, anything else.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
I'm gonna tell us one last thing, since we're talking
about baseball. I am five years old. That was a
little league baseball way back when we won. There was
two half ten games and ten games. We went ten
and on the fresh half and then the second half.
I looked at my coach. He said, hey, we win
this half. We automatic to win the championship. I said,
there's no championship game. Coach goes, oh, how boring that is. Yeah,
(29:10):
but we still get a cophy and all that. And
I said, oh, geez, I hope we have a bad
second half. He goes, how dare you? You're my play,
my best guy on my team, and you talk like that.
We went five and five, and he looks at me says, well,
the other team we tied. We got to play a
championship game. You got your wish. And we lost in
the championship game seven to two. Because that wasn't allowed
to pitch because I was in little league minors, not majors.
(29:33):
And they smoked us and my coach looked at he says, well, Gary,
you got yours. That's right the way, all right again?
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Right, yeah, thanks for the call, Gary. Take care, a
happy merry Christmas, Happy New Year. All right, now, let's
finish talking about Dick Van Dyke. Yes, I've got two
minutes before my next break. What else do you want
to mention about that legend?
Speaker 3 (30:05):
His versatility. We talked about his ability to dance, his
comic acting, but I also remember a wonderful movie that
he was in and it kind of reflected some of
the battles of his own life. He was in a
movie called The Morning After and it was him and
he was portraying this man who was dealing with alcoholism,
and it was such a difference from what we were
(30:27):
used to from Dick Van Dyke. And when I spoke
to him, he talked about how that movie, even almost
fifty years later, is still being shown at AA meetings
and trying to help people. But he was such an
incredibly versatile performer and he still is, obviously for some
of the things you see him doing on YouTube. But
I just found that he is he is the manager
(30:48):
to be celebrated, not just for his talent, but his
diversification of talent. Bye by Bertie on the Broadway stage
and everything that he has done. He is a well
rounded performer, to say the very released.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
You know, they use the term a five tooled player
in baseball, that's right, and he is a five tooled actor.
He can act, he can sing, he can dance, he
can make you cry, he can make you laugh. And
when the only other actor I can think of that
(31:24):
compared with those skills is Sammy Davis Junior.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
That's a very I like that. That's a very good point,
and that's a good correlation. And with Dick van doct
you remember he said he got to deliver the eulogy
at stan Laurel's funeral and he worshiped stan Laurel. And
for Dick that was pretty much his way of knowing
that he made it and he was able to touch
the life of stan Laurel in that way. And I
(31:50):
just thought that was fantastic as well.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
And when Henry Calvin and Dick fitz well Rob Petrie
did a Laurel and hardy bit on the Dick Van
Dyke Show ACES Home Run. Tell you what, Let's let
me take my last break and we might touch upon
the other performers I mentioned earlier. Time and temperature here
(32:16):
on nights side eleven forty five forty three degrees.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Life Sight Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
You know, with only ten minutes of show to go,
if you haven't figured out that Dan is not here tonight. Yes,
my name is Morgan Mike Junior. I get to fill
in for Dan periodically, as I will be filling in
all next week. I'm scheduled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
and the following Monday and Tuesday the week after next week.
(32:54):
But right now I've got my buddy Ed Kalki. He
is here, I am here, and the both of us
do this for a living. Talk to people in the radio,
well known people like from the world of TV, from
the world of movies, from the world of politics, newsmakers
as they are called, And I threw out some names earlier,
(33:18):
and we've got enough time to talk about Carol Burnett.
But before I do, Ed, where can they get your book?
Name the publisher again and where they can get it.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
The name of the book. The name of the publisher
is Rand Smith Books. The name of the book is
it was Great to Say he lo To. It is
available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble. You can go online
to Walmart, thrift Books, Hudson Booksellers, any of the regular
places you would go online and purchase a book. It
is there and it makes a wonderful holiday gift. And
(33:52):
with the magic of prime, that could be there before
you know it. So yes, is.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
There a talking book aspect to the book.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
There are conversations about that because what it would be
it would be me repurposing the recordings of these and
you know what, that's probably a really good idea, So
that could be the next step with us. The first
idea was to get the written version of this out,
because the idea is me talking about the interviews rather
(34:23):
than just putting the transcriptions up. So an audio book
would be a bit of an interesting challenge to be
able to do that, but it's something that could be explored.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Okay, let's with the time we have left talk about
the charwoman. I'm so glad we've had this time together.
Carol Burnette, What.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Of joy I mean, because here's somebody who you know,
you're like me. I spent so many Saturday nights at
ten o'clock watching CBS and watching what was wonderful television.
Oh and it's funny how she had that show had
such staying power because television in nineteen seventy eight looked
(35:04):
much different than it did in nineteen sixty seven. But
the one constant during that time was the Carol Burnette
Show on CBS. And one of the most interesting things
that she told me, Morgan, was how the show came
to be. She was a performer on the Gary Moore
Show for many years, and she was and in her contract,
(35:25):
her agent, who was very very smart, put this little
clause in it and said, you know what, at some point
towards the end of the contract, all Carol has to
do is kind of pull a hypothetical lever and you'll
give her her own variety show. Well, She's at a
Christmas party one year in late sixty six and says
to an executive CBS, you know what, I want to
pull that lever. I want that show. And they said
(35:46):
to her, come on, Carol, we know we put it
in the contract for the Variety. It's a guy's game
at this point. It's it's Dean Martin. It's not a woman.
It's Gary Moore. It's not a woman. And so she said,
well it's in the contract. They they were forced to
give her the show. And it was the smartest thing
CBS ever did.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
And I cannot think of too many variety shows that
had a decade of success.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
That's right, that's what you did, Morgan. Oh, and she
respected the industry so much when you think about the
musical numbers that they did on that and how she
paid homage to what came before her. And she had
on these wonderful celebrities and these people that so meant
so much to Hollywood, and she brought them into a
(36:32):
contemporary audience. And I think about the humor on that show.
You go watch the Dentist Sketch with Tim Conway and
Harvey Corman. It's as hysterical now as it was then,
and it's something that we can share with our kids
and our grandkids, and you don't have to be afraid
to watch it because it's all g rated. Yet it
is all hysterical, and that is timeless comedy. And there
(36:56):
is no better comedy than that.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
It reminds me of the w see Field's bit where
he was a dentist and had a female patient and
comedy ensued. And the fact of when now they didn't
start with Tim Conway as part of their regular cast,
but when they added Tim Conway, the magic of Tim
(37:22):
Conway and Harvey Korman, I think that gave her a
show another four or five seasons that it might not
have had.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
I think you're right. I mean lyle Wagener was a
good performer in his own set, but you know what,
he wasn't Tim Conway. And when you had that constant
on the show and Morgan, wasn't it wonderful how we
as the audience we were brought in on the joke
because they would break character, they would laugh in the
middle of doing these skits because they were so funny,
and it just it made what they were doing that
(37:53):
much more entertaining. And it was such a unique brand
of comedy and a unique brand of television At a
time when Variety started to go in a lot of
weird and different directions, that show had a consistency and
a lot of people forget Dick Van Dyke was even
a regular on that show for one season towards the end, Yeah,
as he was, Yes, And it was so unique even
(38:16):
for its own time.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
And the thing of it is, I'm trying to think
of an example. Chaer had her own variety show after
she and Sonny had the divorce. They each had their
own separate shows, and Chare had her own show, and
she went that extra step to be rebald, to be
(38:42):
almost lewded with the skits that they did. She was
a camp and a bit of a tramp. Cal Bernett
didn't have to do that. They went with Funny and
share with r Raided And that was the major difference
in both for CBS network shows.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
And it goes to show you how confident Carol was
in her material and what she did, because it was
proven at that point. And she had said to me
one of the things that she remembers most fondly about
what she did was with that show. Is that then
and even now, a grandmother can sit with a grandchild,
they can watch the very same thing on a screen
(39:26):
and they can both laugh at the same time. And
as a parent, you never had to go running to
change the channel on the television because you were worry
what was going to be said or what would happen next?
And you know what, that's a wonderful way to be
able to enjoy and watch television when you don't have
to be afraid what your kids are going to be
exposed to.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
And I'd see her now because she does promos for
her show on Meet TV and they have her interacting.
So the magic of TV with Perry Mason and Sergeant
Chokes from Hogansira and she still has that it quality
to make you smile.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
It is and you brought it up too, and Morgan,
isn't it wonderful now that we have all of these
ancillary channels that have come up, And this is all
because television went digital and you have these subchannels that
have to be populated with programming and bringing back all
of these classic shows, and these channels such as me
TV and Antenna and Cozy, it is an opportunity for
(40:30):
a different generation to look at programs that we remember
fondly but had really begun to be kind of forgotten
about by the younger generation because they weren't out there.
There wasn't that ubiquity of these shows. But now you
can flip around to the remote and you can find
these shows, and I think it's wonderful that it's being
(40:50):
exposed to an entirely new audience.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
I do too. I'm almost out of time, so Ed,
will you come back one night?
Speaker 3 (40:59):
This has been oh, this has been absolute choice for me.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
All right, well, we will get you back sometime in
the twenty twenty five. So thank you. I want to
thank Bill Friedman who's on earlier tonight. I want to
thank Jack Hart who's on early tonight. I want to
thank my producer, Rob Brooks, and he's the producer at
the station. Sitting next to me is Nancy. Thank you,
(41:24):
and Gray So for all of the night side audience.
Thanks for putting up with me for the past four hours.
And I've got the Morgan Show on Saturday and Phillyanfidan
all next week and beyond. Bye Boston.
I'm going final hour, final hour of night Side Dan
spin Off all night.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
He should be here tomorrow, but if not, who knows.
I may get the call, I may not. But this
hour I'm speaking with a colleague, broadcast colleague. He's out
of New York. He got in touch with me earlier
last week. I think I got a text from him saying,
(00:33):
in case you're looking for a potential guest, I'll do it.
So Ed Kalecki, did I pronounce it wrong?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Ed, You're very close, Morgan, good evening. It's close.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, but I don't like mispronouncing names. It's a bad
thing to.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Do, but I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Tell people the name of your show.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
The name of my show is The Weekend with Ed
Kleggy and I've been doing it for about ten years.
We're on a series of stations in the pretty much
the Midwest and the West. And it's a love of
life for me because I am someone who grew up
immersed in media. Morgan. I'm a child of the seventies
(01:19):
and an adolescent of the eighties, and I simply loved
radio and television, and I guess I listened to and
watched way too much of it and it rub off
on me, and it made me realize at a very
young age what I wanted to do, and I was broadcasting.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
That's how I started. A generation before you. I was
a child of the fifties into the sixties. I was
one of those kids that had the transistor radio under
my pillow turned up so I could hear it through
the pillow. And ironically, the radio station I listened to
(01:53):
most often was BZ. I loved nighttime VZ with Larry
Glick and Dick Summer and on down the line mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
And with me down in New Jersey, I was able
to pick up easy at night, and I literally fell
in love with the artistry and the craftsmanship that was
David Brudnoy. And to me, that was a standard of
gold radio and gold standard of radio. And I love
that so much. And there has always been so much
(02:23):
personality out of that radio station. In later years, I
of course loved listening to You, but I became infatuated
with Steve Lavelli. I mean, any guy that plays the
clarinet is good with me. I mean, and and to me,
it's just there is such a wonder when it comes
to communication and the radio and listening to that, and
(02:44):
there is a magic within radio Morgan that simply does
not exist in any other medium.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
How true. Now I'm going to test you. What was
Steve Levelli's cat's name?
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Oh see, now I knew there was going to be
I remember the clarinet, but I don't remember. You know
what's gonna happen next hour when I'm walking upstairs in
my home, I'm gonna think that was the name of
the cat. But I know you're I'm going to tell
you now.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
My producer knew, and he whispered in my ear. Max
there's a there's a TV show about cats and it
comes on periodically, and he was on that show once
with Max broadcasting in front of this not this microphone,
(03:32):
but absy microphone. Wow, And you mentioned David Brednoy. I
have met thousands of people, celebrities, uh, TV people, movie people,
sports people, thousands. The most intelligent man I ever met
(03:53):
was David Brennan bar none, and he had me.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
On his show subject. There was nothing that could get
past him. And he was able to elicit so much
out of a guest, and that's not the easiest thing
to do many times, but he was able to do
it a wonderful avenue of communication. And he was so
(04:20):
erudite and just so communicative, and it was just simply
a pleasure to listen to him. You felt like you
were in a course at Harvard or at Yale. But
he was able to communicate in a way that was
understandable to everyone. But he did it on such a
high level. And you are born with that, Morgan. You
cannot be taught how to do that.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
That is true. And I will say this Norm Nathan
and David BRADNOI the other reason I have a microphone
in front of me. They spoke on different occasions to
my boss in the old days, Peter Casey, and they
talked Peter in the giving me a shot, and I
ran with it once I got the shot, And that's
(05:05):
why I'm still here. David was underlying the most intelligent
man I ever person, most intelligent person I ever met. Yes,
and thank you for bringing up his name. So I
want to I want to talk about this book. It
(05:26):
was my treat to say hello to Blank. That's your
book title? Did I get it right?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
But almost?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
It is.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
It was great to say hello to And the reason
why it's cold, that is because just over the years,
I guess I had fallen into a trap of opening
up a conversation with it's great to say hello to
the person's name, and it kind of just sucks. So
I guess that kind of became my thing after a while.
So when my literary agent, a wonderful literary agent named
(06:03):
Diane nine who was headquartered down in Washington, when we
were kicking around ideas for an idea for the title
of the book, she said, what about you know what
your catchphrase is? And I'm thinking that's pretty obvious, but
it's also pretty good. So since these are interviews which
have already happened, we took that it is great and
we turned it into what it was great. So it
(06:23):
was great to say hello to a curious radio hosts,
conversations with actors, authors, and newsmakers, And that is the title.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Now, I for no particular reason, I called six names.
How many separate names are in the book.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
There are twenty four separate interviews in this book, all.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Right, So I called six names, and I want to
throw them out to my audience. Most of my audience
should be able to relate to these individuals. Maybe you've
heard them interviewed here by me or Dan Ray or
Steve Lavelly over the years, Paul Sullivan, Bradley jay On
down the list, Dick van Dyke, who just turned ninety
(07:09):
nine this week, Cindy Williams, Carol Burnett, Richard Lewis, Robert Klein,
and Doris Kerns Goodwin. You heard those names people. I'm
gonna be speaking to add up until midnight. If you'd
like to call in and ask about Dick Van Dyke's
interview or Doris Kerns Goodwin's interview. That's why I've got
(07:34):
ed here now. If you want, you can just sit
back and listen. A lot of good conversation will be
bubbling up over the next forty five minutes. But if
you would like to join six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty or eight eight, eight, nine, two, nine,
ten thirty, this is night Side. Dan is off. I
am here. Time and temperature eleven fifteen forty three degrees.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Nightside Studios.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I' WBZ News Radio. I'm Morgan. Ed Kalecki is my guest,
and we are talking about the two dozen of important
people he has interviewed over the years, He's got a
book it was great to say hello to and you
fill in the blank of all these people, curious radio hosts,
(08:28):
conversations with actors, authors and newsmakers. That's the official title.
Who published it, by the way.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
The publisher, Morgan is Rand Smith's books, and they have
been wonderful to work with.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
All Right, and I'm going to begin with a woman
I've heard here on BZ interviewed by Dan Ray and
David Brudnoy, Doris Kearns Goodwin. And she began her political
career on Lyndon Johnson's staff and has kept her hand
(09:11):
in politics low these four or five decades. Tell me
about Darris Kurn's Goodwin Morgan.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
What I always enjoyed most about Doris, and it came
through in our conversation, is that she has a very
unique ability as a historian to be able to take
current events and she can analyze them but through the
wonderful prism of history, and that's her craft. And she
(09:42):
has a delightful sense of humor as well. I remember
when we spoke and she kind of tossed out the
line I go to bed with dead presidents every single
night because they're always on her mind. And yeah, but
I just find her ability to take a look at
history and to be able to relate it to what's
going on now, and she does it in such a
(10:03):
flawless and in such a seamless way, And she is
such a wonderful repository of American history, of presidential history.
I had a wonderful conversation with her about FDR and
and about the contemporary importance that he would still show
now with some of the things that he did back then,
And talked about her conduct with Lyndon Johnson and how
(10:28):
she felt about him, and overall just about leadership and
leadership qualities and what was it that made a perfect president?
And Abe Lincoln is her guy and will always be
her guide. But I just found her fascinating because here
is someone who deals with history, but yet she speaks
in such a contemporary way.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Why was Abe Lincoln her favorite president? I mean, she
worked for a president, She worked for.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Lyndon Johnson exactly. But she said there would be no
Lindon Johnson, there would be no other presidents that came
after A. B. Lincoln because he saved the country. He
saved the country at its most horrible most fractious time,
and she feels that he is a seminal leader because
everything that came after that in terms of American history,
(11:15):
is because of how he acted as president during the
Civil War and during that most important and most incredible times.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Most people don't realize that his assassination was a troika
of assassinations planned by the South, and John Wilkes Booth
was just one of the pawns that the South had
used to try and kill Johnson, his vice president, and
(11:49):
the Secretary of State. And if I'm not mistaken, was
that swort at the time.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
I think you're correct, yes, And.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
That way the South would have been able to reinvigorate
the war between the states and hopefully have it turned
in the favor of the South. But their plans were
figured out by soldiers and people in Washington. So they
(12:26):
succeeded in killing Lincoln. And they tried to kill Johnson,
and they thought they did. They shot him, but the
bullet bounced off a neck brace that he had, if
I'm not mistaken, So their attempt to kill three was
not successful, and the Union endured. And I want to
(12:53):
be the first to say thank goodness for that.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
But indeed.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Lincoln had already cemented the path we would follow after
April of eighteen sixty five.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
And it's incredible to think about how and how difficult
that was because obviously, you know, there was no ubiquitous media,
There was no way to communicate instantly and in an
easy way to the entire country at that point. And
just with all the machinations that had to take place
to be able to do what he did and to
be able to cemit that path to preserving the Union
(13:36):
and for us to continue as a united nation, it
just makes what he did that much more impressive.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
And look at now we don't have a lot of
pictorial evidence, but there were photos pictures of Abraham Lincoln
before he took office in eighteen sixty sixty one and
at the end of his life being assassinated in April
(14:04):
of eighteen sixty five. Look at the aging that took
place on that man. The weight of the Civil War,
the war between the States, just took almost a decade
off his life in five years, And I cannot imagine
(14:29):
what that pressure was like. Yet and still he survived it.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
You know, the.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Treaty of Appomattics came before his assassination, so he lived
through the war. Not long after, but he lived through
the war.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
And unfortunately he didn't get a chance to finish out
his second term. And I wonder, had he finished his
second term, how would our life, our lives be different.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
It's a very good point. I mean, obviously, you know,
we can never go back. And it's funny. As we're
talking about Lincoln, I think about something that I experienced
about ten years ago. I had taken my family to
Washington for a vacation, and we walked through the Smithsonian
and everybody is happy, and there's this, and there's that,
and all of a sudden, you go into this room
(15:28):
and it's very dimly lit and there is this glass
and enclosed case in the middle of the room, and
you're wondering what is that. And then when you walk
up to it and you see what it is, and
you realize what it is, you're struck. And it's the
hat that Lincoln wore that night at Ford's Theater, and
the bullet hole is in it, the bloodstain, all these
(15:53):
decades and decades later, is still there, and you realize
that you're looking at this most incredible piece of tangible
American history right in front of you. And this is
something that you were taught when you were a kid
in elementary school, and it's something that we've learned about
and we carried with and we know how important this
man was. But when you see the actual hat and
(16:17):
you see the bullet hole right there, it's a very
surreal feeling and that washes upon you as you walk
through that room. It's very difficult to describe.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I'm speaking with Ed Kellenghee and he has a radio
show that's if I were to drive away from Boston,
what would be the first city I could hit and
tune in your radio show? And what night is it on?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
All right, it is depending upon the station. It's on Saturdays,
it's on Sundays. It gets moved around for sports. We
are on essentially a number of smaller community stations, a
bunch of stations that still do believe in the magic
of radio. You got to go out towards Oh, you
gotta go out towards Minnesota, and you got to go
out to Oregon. In Colorado, we're pretty much in that
(17:05):
neck of the woods. And I'm just a guy who
lived in Jersey. But that is what it is. But
in early twenty twenty five, there will be an announcement
of a larger platform. So as they stay say in
the biz, stay tuned.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
But you can't tell me now, I know I.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Can't, all right, I would get thirty lashes, but yes,
but there is that they say something in the hopper.
So once I know you, my friend will be one
of the first to know.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Are you on CEO in Minnesota?
Speaker 3 (17:36):
No, I'm not. I know that's a wonderful station, and
I know that Jordan Rich for a long time is
doing a show that was hurt both on DZ and WCCO.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
But same for me, same for me.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
You go very nice.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
That's what I thought, because I know they do talk
and they've always had that talk station vibe. So I
figured maybe that's where you are. But I wrong.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Maybe there will well maybe at some point I will
who knows.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
All right, I've been wrong before.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Now that's okay.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Dick Van Dyke had his ninety ninth birthday this week.
How many times did you interview Dick Van Dyke.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
I had the pleasure of speaking with Dick one time,
and it was so memorable because I was just taken
by the energy of this man and even into his
late nineties. And it was very interesting how when we
were talking he just came out and said, you know,
most of my contemporaries are gone. So I responded, well,
(18:39):
then what do you do? And really what I'm missing
a beat? He said, well, I just find new contemporaries.
And when you go online Morgan and you watch, there
are these YouTube videos he sings with an a cappella group.
He's still dancing ninety nine years old, and just the
unbound energy and not just the love of life, but Morgan,
(18:59):
this man has such an appreciation of life and an
appreciation of his career, and he knows the position he
holds in the fiber and the fabric of the pop
culture of this country and of the world. And I
think that he feeds upon that, and I think that's
a wonderful thing. And he truly proves that age is
(19:20):
simply it's it's the number with the numbers, but it's
a state of mind. You know what you can be
whatever age you want to be, because of how you
choose to live each day. And he exemplifies that to
the next.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
The key is he won't let the view of being
seventy being eighty being ninety stop him and I saw
this must have been about three or four years ago.
He did a soft shoe on some TV program. I
(19:58):
don't remember the program, but he is a ninety something
year old man doing a soft shoe in time as
if he were in his mid thirties. Again, yeah, and
so smoothly. He always was a great dancer. And I
(20:19):
want to tell you something I did on my show,
maybe a decade ago. I asked the audience. This is
one of those questions to get a reaction. Who did
the better pratfall? Ken Berry or Dick Van Dyke. Now
Kim Barry was good, and he was a hoofer as well,
(20:42):
but easily threw out of every four call I took,
said Dick Van Dyke.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
I think he did a great pratfall. I think I
think Dick is or was, however you want to phrase.
This was a bit more theatric in what he was
a to do, because Dick was influenced so greatly by
Stan Laurel ken Berry. Yes, I'm I'm glad you brought
him up because I can remember. And it's funny how
you think of things when you have these conversations. He
(21:11):
was on a summer replacement show on ABC called Wow.
It was this Saturday night variety show and it would
always be it would always start with these wonderful dance numbers.
Ken Berry was an incredible dancer. People think of him
for f Troop and Mama's Family and Mayberry RFD. That
man was so light on his feet and it was
(21:32):
a wonderful dancer. And it makes me think, you know, Morgan,
times have changed so much. Performers used to be so
well rounded. They were quote unquote entertainers and.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
They could do everything, yes, everything.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
And we don't really have that anymore, and I think
that's a shame.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
No tell you what. Let me take my news break
and come back and we'll pick up talking about Dick
Vandyke and maybe I'll incorporate the other names that I mentioned.
So people, Ed Khalicky is going to be here until
I leave at midnight. You want to call in, do so.
The time is eleven thirty and temperature forty three degrees.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
My name is Morgan White Junior. I am here until midnight.
I've been here since eight. Dan Ray has been off.
Hopefully he'll be in tomorrow, Ed, you're still here.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
I certainly am Morgan.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Good Ed Kaliky is my guest. He is here, and
he is like I am, a talk show host. His
show is syndicated. And you said there are thirty stations
or so the carrier.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Show thirty stations and wonderful places like are again and
out in Nebraska and all across the Fruited Plains. So yeah,
So it's a bunch of stations that are still committed
towards radio and this type of radio and community radio.
So it's been a fun ride and it just provides
(23:10):
me an opportunity to have some great conversations with all
kinds of different people from all different walks of life.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
All right, now, I want to continue our conversation about
Dick Van Dyke, and I will, but we've got a
phone call and callers come first. So Gary, you're next
on night Side. Hello, Gary, Yes, Ed.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Can you fill me in? What type of show do
you have? Again?
Speaker 3 (23:37):
It's a talk show, Gary, And I'm good to talk
to you, and we talk about we talk with authors,
and we talk with actors, and we talk with newsmakers.
I've been very fortunate over the years to be able
to work with some great publicists from New York and
Washington and Los Angeles and so general interest talk. But
I am also someone who loves old show business. So
(23:59):
I always loved that great, feel good interview with a celebrity,
and that's why you'll see so many of them in
this book, because I'm just somebody who grew up immersed
in media and it never rubbed off. And it's very
fortunate for me to be able to do something that
I always wanted to do.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Where can we hit your show around this area?
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Well in this area, which you'd have to do. The
easiest way to be able to hear the content that
I do is a because like I said, we're on
a lot of smaller stations than any of them don't
really broadcast online. What you can do, which you can
go to my website which is ed colegg E ed
k A l e gi dot com, or you can
also go on SoundCloud and what happens is after everything airs,
(24:41):
everything is placed up there and there is a wonderful
repository of about twelve hundred segments and interviews from over
the years, and there is just hours and hours of
listening that's available. So It's a great way for all
of the audio just to live on and to be
able to be heard whenever somebody wants to hear it.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Since you're an old time entertainment or even still today.
Of course at the tablet, I'm sixty one years of age.
I tell people all the time, you know, like some
of the greatest sports movies at our time. The one
that makes me cry all the time is the Little
Garrett Story.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Of course, yep, I love that movie. So you know
what's so interesting about that? I got to tell you
I found this out. I thought it was great when
Gary Cooper could not swing the bat left handed as
Lou Garrett did. A lot of people realize is that
what they had to do was put a Yankee uniform
on Gary Cooper with the reverse image of the Yankee
(25:37):
and why on the other side of the uniform, so
when they shot it, they could flip the mirror image
of Gary Cooper swinging a bat right handed, but it
looked like Lou Garrigg swinging the bat left handed. That's
the magic of Hollywood.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Excellent, and that's the one movie that definitely makes me cry.
It is one of the greatest sports movies of our
time now what people talk about even sports movies and
so forth in this type of category, as you would know,
and you never see the movie ever, as Morgan is
listening to. You never seen it on AMC or anywhere.
(26:14):
The Dan nikes the musical.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Oh yeah, I've seen it. I've seen it. It's a
wonderful movie. Yes, low against But the question.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Indeed, why don't they ever put it on? It's still
an entertaining movie for even today's audience.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Agree, Turner Classic Movies has shown it within the past year.
You weren't home on that night in front of your
TV that it was shown. And I have seen it
on Turner Classic Movies.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Okay, and also ed as far as sports movies are concerned, right,
the only movie I ever want to go see with
my father and my life. My dad was a great dad,
but he wasn't you know, the type of guy that
played catch with Yeah this dat blank line right, Well,
he was still a great dad. We went together and
go to see the nineteen seventy five The Bad News
Beierz m Yeah, yes to me, it was so fun
(27:18):
of a movie. I mean, way do get rate The
Bad News Berz for a sports movie?
Speaker 3 (27:27):
For a little aside. I was. I was what was
in seventy five? I was eight years old. I was
all excited. We were going to go that night to
go see it, but my parents had looked at the
newspaper the day before, and when my dad and I
showed up at the theater, the Bad News Bears was gone,
and they were showing James Cohn and Alan Arkin and
Freebee and the Bean. My father took me to my
first rated movie, and when we got home, my mother
(27:50):
was mad. But I got to tell you, Gary, the
Bad News Bears is a great movie. But for me,
the second Bad News Bears movie, Bad News Bears in
Breaking Training, when they went to the Astrodome to play
the Texas Champion or whatever with William Devane. To me,
that story is just better. But as a baseball movie,
the Bad News Bears the whole, the one when they
(28:12):
went off into Japan with Tony Curtis that one. I
wouldn't even waste my time with that. But the first
two are fantastic. And Walter matt that was great in
that first movie, and it was so true to what
Little League baseball was, and that Vic Morrow character when
he slaps branding and Cruise on the mound. When I
loved that Barretts, Oh my goodness. And that was so
(28:35):
nineteen seventies. I mean that's the way things were then,
and there were little league coaches like that. Gary, You're right,
I mean, great movie.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, I know it. Yeah, all right, Gary, anything else.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
I'm gonna tell us one last thing, since we're talking
about baseball. I am five years old. That was a
little league baseball way back when we won. There was
two half ten games and ten games. We went ten
and on the fresh half and then the second half.
I looked at my coach. He said, hey, we win
this half. We automatic to win the championship. I said,
there's no championship game. Coach goes, oh, how boring that is. Yeah,
(29:10):
but we still get a cophy and all that. And
I said, oh, geez, I hope we have a bad
second half. He goes, how dare you? You're my play,
my best guy on my team, and you talk like that.
We went five and five, and he looks at me says, well,
the other team we tied. We got to play a
championship game. You got your wish. And we lost in
the championship game seven to two. Because that wasn't allowed
to pitch because I was in little league minors, not majors.
(29:33):
And they smoked us and my coach looked at he says, well, Gary,
you got yours. That's right the way, all right again?
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Right, yeah, thanks for the call, Gary. Take care, a
happy merry Christmas, Happy New Year. All right, now, let's
finish talking about Dick Van Dyke. Yes, I've got two
minutes before my next break. What else do you want
to mention about that legend?
Speaker 3 (30:05):
His versatility. We talked about his ability to dance, his
comic acting, but I also remember a wonderful movie that
he was in and it kind of reflected some of
the battles of his own life. He was in a
movie called The Morning After and it was him and
he was portraying this man who was dealing with alcoholism,
and it was such a difference from what we were
(30:27):
used to from Dick Van Dyke. And when I spoke
to him, he talked about how that movie, even almost
fifty years later, is still being shown at AA meetings
and trying to help people. But he was such an
incredibly versatile performer and he still is, obviously for some
of the things you see him doing on YouTube. But
I just found that he is he is the manager
(30:48):
to be celebrated, not just for his talent, but his
diversification of talent. Bye by Bertie on the Broadway stage
and everything that he has done. He is a well
rounded performer, to say the very released.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
You know, they use the term a five tooled player
in baseball, that's right, and he is a five tooled actor.
He can act, he can sing, he can dance, he
can make you cry, he can make you laugh. And
when the only other actor I can think of that
(31:24):
compared with those skills is Sammy Davis Junior.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
That's a very I like that. That's a very good point,
and that's a good correlation. And with Dick van doct
you remember he said he got to deliver the eulogy
at stan Laurel's funeral and he worshiped stan Laurel. And
for Dick that was pretty much his way of knowing
that he made it and he was able to touch
the life of stan Laurel in that way. And I
(31:50):
just thought that was fantastic as well.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
And when Henry Calvin and Dick fitz well Rob Petrie
did a Laurel and hardy bit on the Dick Van
Dyke Show ACES Home Run. Tell you what, Let's let
me take my last break and we might touch upon
the other performers I mentioned earlier. Time and temperature here
(32:16):
on nights side eleven forty five forty three degrees.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Life Sight Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
You know, with only ten minutes of show to go,
if you haven't figured out that Dan is not here tonight. Yes,
my name is Morgan Mike Junior. I get to fill
in for Dan periodically, as I will be filling in
all next week. I'm scheduled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
and the following Monday and Tuesday the week after next week.
(32:54):
But right now I've got my buddy Ed Kalki. He
is here, I am here, and the both of us
do this for a living. Talk to people in the radio,
well known people like from the world of TV, from
the world of movies, from the world of politics, newsmakers
as they are called, And I threw out some names earlier,
(33:18):
and we've got enough time to talk about Carol Burnett.
But before I do, Ed, where can they get your book?
Name the publisher again and where they can get it.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
The name of the book. The name of the publisher
is Rand Smith Books. The name of the book is
it was Great to Say he lo To. It is
available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble. You can go online
to Walmart, thrift Books, Hudson Booksellers, any of the regular
places you would go online and purchase a book. It
is there and it makes a wonderful holiday gift. And
(33:52):
with the magic of prime, that could be there before
you know it. So yes, is.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
There a talking book aspect to the book.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
There are conversations about that because what it would be
it would be me repurposing the recordings of these and
you know what, that's probably a really good idea, So
that could be the next step with us. The first
idea was to get the written version of this out,
because the idea is me talking about the interviews rather
(34:23):
than just putting the transcriptions up. So an audio book
would be a bit of an interesting challenge to be
able to do that, but it's something that could be explored.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Okay, let's with the time we have left talk about
the charwoman. I'm so glad we've had this time together.
Carol Burnette, What.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Of joy I mean, because here's somebody who you know,
you're like me. I spent so many Saturday nights at
ten o'clock watching CBS and watching what was wonderful television.
Oh and it's funny how she had that show had
such staying power because television in nineteen seventy eight looked
(35:04):
much different than it did in nineteen sixty seven. But
the one constant during that time was the Carol Burnette
Show on CBS. And one of the most interesting things
that she told me, Morgan, was how the show came
to be. She was a performer on the Gary Moore
Show for many years, and she was and in her contract,
(35:25):
her agent, who was very very smart, put this little
clause in it and said, you know what, at some point
towards the end of the contract, all Carol has to
do is kind of pull a hypothetical lever and you'll
give her her own variety show. Well, She's at a
Christmas party one year in late sixty six and says
to an executive CBS, you know what, I want to
pull that lever. I want that show. And they said
(35:46):
to her, come on, Carol, we know we put it
in the contract for the Variety. It's a guy's game
at this point. It's it's Dean Martin. It's not a woman.
It's Gary Moore. It's not a woman. And so she said,
well it's in the contract. They they were forced to
give her the show. And it was the smartest thing
CBS ever did.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
And I cannot think of too many variety shows that
had a decade of success.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
That's right, that's what you did, Morgan. Oh, and she
respected the industry so much when you think about the
musical numbers that they did on that and how she
paid homage to what came before her. And she had
on these wonderful celebrities and these people that so meant
so much to Hollywood, and she brought them into a
(36:32):
contemporary audience. And I think about the humor on that show.
You go watch the Dentist Sketch with Tim Conway and
Harvey Corman. It's as hysterical now as it was then,
and it's something that we can share with our kids
and our grandkids, and you don't have to be afraid
to watch it because it's all g rated. Yet it
is all hysterical, and that is timeless comedy. And there
(36:56):
is no better comedy than that.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
It reminds me of the w see Field's bit where
he was a dentist and had a female patient and
comedy ensued. And the fact of when now they didn't
start with Tim Conway as part of their regular cast,
but when they added Tim Conway, the magic of Tim
(37:22):
Conway and Harvey Korman, I think that gave her a
show another four or five seasons that it might not
have had.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
I think you're right. I mean lyle Wagener was a
good performer in his own set, but you know what,
he wasn't Tim Conway. And when you had that constant
on the show and Morgan, wasn't it wonderful how we
as the audience we were brought in on the joke
because they would break character, they would laugh in the
middle of doing these skits because they were so funny,
and it just it made what they were doing that
(37:53):
much more entertaining. And it was such a unique brand
of comedy and a unique brand of television At a
time when Variety started to go in a lot of
weird and different directions, that show had a consistency and
a lot of people forget Dick Van Dyke was even
a regular on that show for one season towards the end, Yeah,
as he was, Yes, And it was so unique even
(38:16):
for its own time.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
And the thing of it is, I'm trying to think
of an example. Chaer had her own variety show after
she and Sonny had the divorce. They each had their
own separate shows, and Chare had her own show, and
she went that extra step to be rebald, to be
(38:42):
almost lewded with the skits that they did. She was
a camp and a bit of a tramp. Cal Bernett
didn't have to do that. They went with Funny and
share with r Raided And that was the major difference
in both for CBS network shows.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
And it goes to show you how confident Carol was
in her material and what she did, because it was
proven at that point. And she had said to me
one of the things that she remembers most fondly about
what she did was with that show. Is that then
and even now, a grandmother can sit with a grandchild,
they can watch the very same thing on a screen
(39:26):
and they can both laugh at the same time. And
as a parent, you never had to go running to
change the channel on the television because you were worry
what was going to be said or what would happen next?
And you know what, that's a wonderful way to be
able to enjoy and watch television when you don't have
to be afraid what your kids are going to be
exposed to.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
And I'd see her now because she does promos for
her show on Meet TV and they have her interacting.
So the magic of TV with Perry Mason and Sergeant
Chokes from Hogansira and she still has that it quality
to make you smile.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
It is and you brought it up too, and Morgan,
isn't it wonderful now that we have all of these
ancillary channels that have come up, And this is all
because television went digital and you have these subchannels that
have to be populated with programming and bringing back all
of these classic shows, and these channels such as me
TV and Antenna and Cozy, it is an opportunity for
(40:30):
a different generation to look at programs that we remember
fondly but had really begun to be kind of forgotten
about by the younger generation because they weren't out there.
There wasn't that ubiquity of these shows. But now you
can flip around to the remote and you can find
these shows, and I think it's wonderful that it's being
(40:50):
exposed to an entirely new audience.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
I do too. I'm almost out of time, so Ed,
will you come back one night?
Speaker 3 (40:59):
This has been oh, this has been absolute choice for me.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
All right, well, we will get you back sometime in
the twenty twenty five. So thank you. I want to
thank Bill Friedman who's on earlier tonight. I want to
thank Jack Hart who's on early tonight. I want to
thank my producer, Rob Brooks, and he's the producer at
the station. Sitting next to me is Nancy. Thank you,
(41:24):
and Gray So for all of the night side audience.
Thanks for putting up with me for the past four hours.
And I've got the Morgan Show on Saturday and Phillyanfidan
all next week and beyond. Bye Boston.
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