Late Night with Dave Garroway (Part 1)

After Dave Garroway left Today in June 1961, he took some time to deal with personal matters. So much had happened so quickly – the sudden death of his wife, most notably – on top of a demanding work schedule. Now, suddenly, everything was quiet. And after a few months, Garroway was ready to get back into a television gig.

There were some complications, however. The first was that while Garroway was away, television had gotten along without him. Suddenly, in the new, cool era of 1961 and 1962, Garroway seemed like something out of yesterday. The man who had been indispensable was now disposable, and the medium was getting along without him just fine.1 On a more personal level, the considerable clout Garroway had attained as host of Today was now gone.2

But one more thing was complicating Dave’s comeback. In his haste to get out of his obligations to Today (which lasted through 1961) and to NBC (which lasted through 1966), Dave hadn’t carefully considered the language of the agreement he signed. To his chagrin, he learned later that NBC retained a right of first refusal until 1966. If anyone offered Garroway a program, he was legally obligated to check with NBC to see if they had him in mind for a project. This meant Garroway wasn’t a sure thing for anyone who was proposing a program, and it gave NBC effective veto power over his doings. “I received nothing in return for it,” he lamented in 1965, “and managed to give up five years of a $100,000-a-year contract that would have paid me whether I worked or not.”3

Rumors of Garroway’s return to television began to circulate in late 1961. One item reported ABC was considering Garroway for a newscast to counter NBC’s Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. Instead, Garroway signed with the fledgling National Educational Television network to do a series of science programs called Exploring the Universe. Other odd jobs came up: filmed sporting events that Garroway hoped to parlay into a series; hosting gigs for the Miss Universe pageant, Talent Scouts and award shows. He signed a deal to narrate ads for the Ford Motor Company. He filled in for Arthur Godfrey and Jack Sterling on their radio programs, which prompted New York’s WCBS to offer him a twice-daily radio program. Garroway AM and Garroway PM began in April 1964, but in December Garroway announced he was leaving WCBS, claiming concerns about his son’s health and saying the preparation for each show had eaten up more time than he anticipated.

Les Crane, ABC’s bad boy (ABC photo)

In 1965 ABC offered Garroway another guest-hosting gig. Always trying to find a way to compete, ABC was trying to counter Johnny Carson’s Tonight program. It started with a show hosted by radio personality Les Crane. Initially a local program called Nightline, it hit the network in November 1963 as The Les Crane Show. It became notorious for its confrontational tone and controversial discussions. Columnist Kay Gardella later summarized the young Crane as “the Peck’s Bad Boy of TV, who parlayed such nontalents as rudeness, arrogance and conceit into a short but explosive TV career.”4 By 1965 ABC wanted to try a format with less fire and a more relaxed pace. Crane was sent away for a while and several guest hosts took turns on a show that now bore the title Nightlife. The new format abandoned controversy in favor of something more like a traditional late-night show. Several guest hosts were called in, including Shelley Berman, Pat Boone, Allan Sherman and Jack Carter. And after them, one Dave Garroway was given the chair for a week. Dorothy Kilgallen wished Garroway well in her column, writing that “Dave’s presence always guarantees the viewers a grace of intellect and originality not to be found on every spot on the dial.”

Garroway’s guests for his week as host reflected his interests. The beloved Mr. Wizard, Don Herbert, gave a science demonstration. A locksmith demonstrated how to keep locks safe from lock pickers. Singer Carol Sloane, whom Garroway had featured on Talent Scouts and while substituting on Arthur Godfrey’s radio series, appeared on the show. Godfrey himself appeared as a guest on another show, as did Morey Amsterdam. Another program found Garroway interviewing Major Donald Keyhoe, who had written a book about unidentified flying objects, while panelists Dizzy Gillespie and Dina Merrill joined in the discussion.5

Columnists cheered Garroway’s return, a calming influence on a show known for choppy seas. Ben Gross of the New York Daily News said Garroway “has given a new aura, a polish and an air of distinction to ABC-TV’s dismal flop (until this week) of a late-hour show…a knowing man, a truly sophisticated fellow, a wise and witty gentleman, he does not mar the proceedings with the garish, pushy pseudo-sophistication, the cheapness and Broadway crassness which have all too often blotted this show. Garroway should be made the permanent emcee of this attraction.” Paul Molloy of the Chicago Sun Times called Garroway “refreshing…personable, erudite and gracious,” and urged ABC to “cease its search and sign him up for some sort of duration.” Donald Freeman called Garroway “wonderful” and wrote that “the program enjoyed an immediate improvement.”

And ABC listened – after a fashion. How? Tune in next week.

  1. Which is not a commentary on Garroway so much as on how television’s never-ceasing hunger has always looked for the next thing, and how quickly the hot new thing of yesterday becomes the chopped liver of today.
  2. One can well argue Garroway was losing his clout with NBC, anyway. The network was planning serious changes to Today that, among other things, would have seriously reduced Garroway’s influence over the program and reduced his on-air role. The friction over Today‘s future was part of what finally led to the split between Garroway and NBC.
  3. Garroway would privately spend considerable time railing against the attorney who had arranged the separation from NBC. From the surviving evidence Dave’s complaints have merit. On the other hand, Garroway – who prided himself on his intelligence and discernment – is the one who signed the agreement. He could have prevented this if only he’d taken a breath beforehand, cooled his passions about getting out of those obligations, and carefully read what he was about to sign. Garroway instead joined the ranks of celebrities whose trust and/or inattention got transmuted into getting completely ripped off. Unfortunately, as his involvement in a magazine publishing company a couple years later would attest, it wouldn’t be the last time for him.
  4. Which makes it even funnier that Crane scored a Top-10 hit with this a few years later. Although, if you ask me, this is a much more true-to-life version.
  5. Given the description of this show, it’s beyond a damned shame no recording exists, because you couldn’t dream this sort of thing up. But, apparently, it really happened.