“Today” at 30

On January 14, 1982 Today marked its thirtieth anniversary.¹ As it tended to do on its milestone anniversaries, Today devoted much of the program to a big celebration. The 1982 anniversary special was unexpectedly poignant, and it’s for a reason we’ll get to in a little while.

As most Today anniversaries do, this one began with a glimpse at a few moments from that very first telecast.

Then we return to the studio, where we see Jack Lescoulie and Dave Garroway joking with each other about the spelling of Lescoulie’s last name.² The rapport between the two melts away the years, and for a moment it’s like 1954.

Bryant Gumbel – who had just taken over as co-host after Tom Brokaw accepted the NBC Nightly News anchor slot – introduces the men he calls “the originals,” Lescoulie, Garroway and Frank Blair.³

Gumbel asks Garroway what they were thinking the first day. And at this point, Garroway sounds like a grandfather dispensing advice. “You are now in the first phases of the beginning of your real life, Bryant,” he says. “You’ll find that out in the years to come. At least, I did.” Gumbel asks if it really was an adventure for him. “It changes you from one man into another. Did me. And you will feel differently about the world, very much so, if you’re on like three, four, five years.”

Gumbel notes that Lescoulie was called “the saver,” and Lescoulie described the origins of that: Garroway instructing him to walk in if he ever thought Dave was getting dull or an interview wasn’t going right. “Now, that kind of trust you don’t get very often!” Lescoulie said. Garroway mentions hearing Lescoulie as host of The Grouch Club, and suggesting him to Pat Weaver as a result.

Frank Blair remembers the task they had, which was to get people to watch at seven in the morning. He and Lescoulie recall John Crosby’s famous “What hath God and NBC wrought?” review, and that the show couldn’t last beyond thirteen weeks. At this point, Garroway jumps in: “Well, all the pioneers, you know – Copernicus, Galileo, we all suffered the first year or two!”⁴ There’s a little laughter from the panel. “That’s true!” Lescoulie says. “You’re putting us in pretty fast company, though.”

Jane Pauley asks Garroway about his statement on the first program “to be informative without being terribly stuffy.” She asks why Garroway was afraid of being stuffy. “I don’t like stuffy things, or people, very much, I guess,” he says. “And there was so much to talk about, and do, and there still is in the world, that I don’t find it a very stuffy world even today. And if you can get the world over to them, it’s great.” And with that, the inevitable topic of J. Fred Muggs comes up. “You didn’t consider that at all demeaning because you’re not a stuffy guy, eh?” Pauley asks. “No!” Garroway says. “He was a charming, marvelous beast.” At which point Garroway pulls out a TV Guide and says that Muggs is more in the public eye today than he has ever been,⁵ and as evidence shows the magazine’s “Distinguished J. Fred Muggs Awards.”⁶ To which Garroway says, “This chimpanzee has been off the air for twenty-one years! And yet he’s still in the public eye!”

After a break – or as Gumbel says to Garroway, “what you used to call a recess” – Pat Weaver joins the panel. Gumbel asks why a chimpanzee joined the program. “Well, a pleasant little small ape – you know, if you got a gorilla, it might have scared Dave and Jack! I don’t think it would have worked with a gorilla!” Weaver explains that one of the problems they faced was that children would turn the set to cartoons, so they needed something that could effectively compete. “When Muggs did happen, it was the ideal solution to a problem that we faced in the early days, which is how to get the kids to like the show.”

In the next segment, Gumbel talks to John Chancellor and Edwin Newman, who joined Today when Garroway left. “You replaced Dave Garroway,” Gumbel says to Chancellor. “Tough act. What were your thoughts?”

Before Gumbel can finish his question, Chancellor slumps over, puts his head on Gumbel’s shoulder, and snores loudly. Then he snaps back up. “Well, that was one of my thoughts,” Chancellor says. “I couldn’t believe we were on that early. It was a very difficult act to follow, and I’m not sure I was really able to fill those shoes, which I learned to be about size eighteen. Dave was one of the most magnificent communicators I had ever known and I suppose some of us learned – I think maybe Edwin did, too – from David and from Jack Lescoulie to be a little easier on television. I think most of us were very solemn when we were doing the news, and I loosened up a lot when I was on the Today show, and I think Ed did too.” Chancellor talks about how serious the show was when he took over, with a lot of heavy global and national topics balanced with some of the lighter things they did. “And they’ve threatened me by showing some of the lighter things that we’ve done.”⁷

Gumbel then asks Newman about a couple of famous moments from his time on Today, including the time he abruptly cut off an interview with George Jessel that was going off the rails,⁸ and the time Newman interviewed himself about his book Strictly Speaking.⁹

Throughout the morning there are birthday wishes at the end of segments. Here’s one from the Blues Brothers.

Later segments are less Garroway-centric, but still give us glimpses of a bygone era. Here, Gene Shalit has a few minutes with Barbara Walters, who talks about how she was the last person hired when Dave Garroway was still there, so there was really nobody on the show she didn’t know.

We then see some other historic moments, such as greetings from Pope Paul VI via satellite:

…then a clip from the program’s visit to Romania:

…and the Orient:

…and to London.

And then there’s top-of-the-hour greetings. Some views of the set:

But even in the midst of celebration, the world continues to turn, and the second hour begins with a news update from Chris Wallace in Washington. The big story was the previous day’s crash of Air Florida Flight 90 after it took off from Washington National Airport.

After some updates on the crash and investigation from correspondents in Washington, Wallace talks to NBC technician Jim Bigger, who had been returning to the Washington bureau from an assignment at the Pentagon.

Bigger was less than half a mile from the scene – as he tells Wallace, “close enough to know I was glad that I was no closer” – and provides a chilling report, saying it looked for all the world like the plane was going to land on the bridge, that the plane was in a stall configuration with nose up and tail down, and a lot of noise.¹⁰ The plane, Bigger says, settled on the span of the bridge and then disappeared. “There was almost an eerie sense of silence,” he says. “There was nothing, and the aroma of jet fuel began to permeate the air and we knew there was an aircraft in the river. There was no place else for him to go.”

Then it’s to Willard Scott with the weather. He begins by acknowledging the crash – “Our hearts go out to everyone down there” – and the big weather story, which is a huge winter storm system covering much of the United States.¹¹ Willard mentions that Phil Donahue had been scheduled to appear on today’s program but was stuck in Boston. “Enjoy your second cup,” Willard advises him.

Gene Shalit does a longer interview with Barbara Walters, mentioning a time that “a really tough subject almost got the better of Barbara Walters,” and asks that a monitor be nearby for her to see the clip. But it’s not of a prime minister or celebrity trying to squeeze out from a hard question; instead, it’s this:

And her response:

Walters talks about how the times have changed for women; when she started on Today as a writer, they only had one female writer at a time, and they only wrote women’s stories. Producer Shad Northshield championed her, saying that Walters was capable of writing about anything, so she wrote about more topics and eventually became an on-air reporter. When she sees someone like Jane Pauley in a prominent role, she says, it is a sign that times have changed since those early days.

The interview continues after the break, as Hugh Downs¹² joins Shalit and Walters. “I would not have been on the air were it not for Hugh and his generosity,” Walters says, “because they didn’t take writers and put them on the air. And so many of the opportunities I had were because this was a man who was never jealous, and never small.” They talk about her reputation as a tough questioner, and she talks about how she gets people to open up on sensitive topics. Downs backs her up, saying he’s never heard her be mean to an interviewee.

Then there’s a segment about Joe Garagiola that turns into a roast, of sorts. But it takes a serious turn when Gumbel talks about being offered the Today job; when the offer came, Gumbel knew there was someone who could give him advice about moving from sports to a general-interest morning program, because he’d done it. Gumbel thanks “my buddy here” and says “I will forever appreciate it. Thank you.”

Jane Pauley references the station break cue “We’ll be back; don’t go far,” and how that was the trademark of Frank McGee. She introduces Jim Hartz, who was McGee’s longtime friend and who succeeded McGee as Today host when he died in 1974.

Hartz, an Oklahoman like McGee, talks about their close friendship and remembers McGee’s distinguished career. “As a reporter he was all business – no nonsense, nothing fancy,” Hartz says.

“On camera he was blunt, sometimes abrasive¹³, but never lost what one critic called his ministerial dignity. Away from here, though, on the farm down in Virginia, Frank was relaxed and warm and funny. One of the things he told me he liked most about the Today show was the luxury of enough time to be himself, to let the other side of his personality come out.”¹⁴

In the next segment, a clip of Dave Garroway doing the weather with the help of Lee Ann Meriwether is followed by Willard Scott doing that day’s weather with the help of Lee Ann Meriwether. She remembers how the weather was outlined on the map in red, which couldn’t be seen on black-and-white television, so they only had to trace over it. “And it made me look so intelligent!”

After they ham it up for a few minutes, Jane Pauley and Gene Shalit visit with Tom Brokaw. He remembers coming to New York for the World’s Fair and looking in the window at the Today Show,¹⁵ and holding up a sign plugging Today in Omaha. “I thought that was going to be my one network shot, and as a penalty I had to come back and do it for five and a half years.”

After a segment showing times when presidents had given interviews to Today, including Harry Truman’s post-presidency strolls past the big windows, Gumbel throws to Willard Scott, who’s on the 49th Street sidewalk opposite the old Exhibition Hall.

After talking to a woman who said she remembers watching the first Today program, Willard just happens to bump into David Letterman, whose new NBC late-night program begins Feb. 1. Letterman congratulates everyone on Today on the show’s thirtieth anniversary – “and I know that means a lot coming from a guy whose own show lasted eighteen weeks.”¹⁶

And then one more celebrity greeting, this one from Steve Martin.

As the two hours come to an end, Gumbel talks about all the hours of programming on over 7,810 broadcasts – “and if that doesn’t humble you a little bit on this January 14th, 1982, then I am not sure what does” – and then each Today alum identifies themselves.

One is saved for last – as Gumbel says, a very special goodbye from a very special man. “Sentimental Journey” comes up in the background.

“I’m Dave Garroway…and peace.”

There is applause. Gene Shalit hands Garroway the first piece from the enormous birthday cake. Lee Ann Meriwether, Florence Henderson, Helen O’Connell and Betsy Palmer – former Today Girls – gather around Garroway. He holds the plate and says to them, “I said ‘peace’ and I got one!” They laugh and hug him.

No one knew how poignant the moment would be. Six months, one week and one day later, the same studio that hosted a joyous celebration, and some of the same people who had gathered for that celebration, would be holding an on-air memorial for Dave Garroway, who had died the day before. No one knew, or could have known. In a thank-you letter to producer Steve Friedman, Garroway had written of the fun he had coming back for the show. He ended the letter, “Now, let’s talk about 1987.”

If only it could have been.

Here are a few more photos to supplement the screengrabs above:

1. You can watch a partial recording of this program in six segments, starting here.
2. They both spell it out in unison, but toward the end Garroway takes a turn and spells it “L-E-S-C-O-U-L-E-Y.” They laugh about it and then Lescoulie says “Just like John Chancel-LORE,” poking fun at the anchorman’s insistence on having his name pronounced thusly.
3. Again, Today – as it frequently did – elides the fact that Blair was still with the NBC Washington bureau when Today debuted in 1952, and that Jim Fleming was the original newsman on Today. Fleming was replaced in early 1953 by Merrill Mueller, who filled in until Blair was brought in later in 1953.
4. It’s a moment you have to see to fully appreciate, with Garroway’s dry wit in evidence.
5. There’s another moment here. When Garroway gets out the magazine, he momentarily loses track of which camera he’s on, and makes a little joke of it. It’s very funny to see. That morning, the old Garroway was back.
6. For many years TV Guide featured the “J. Fred Muggs Awards For Distinguished Foolishness” to poke fun at poor decisions made the previous year in the television industry.
7. My copy of the 30th anniversary special is incomplete, but I wonder if one of the clips Chancellor referenced was a clip of him and Frank Blair racing go-karts in the studio during the first – and to my knowledge, only – Today Show Grand Prix.
8. In the midst of an interview Jessel referred to the New York Times as Pravda and the Washington Post as Izvestia, which Newman felt was slanderous, “and it was not a very, shall we say, coherent interview anyway, and so I told him I didn’t want to hear any more from him.”
9. Newman said that it was the idea of producer Stuart Schulberg, who decided the only person appropriate for the task of interviewing Newman was himself. To which Chancellor interjects, “For which he was paid!“
10. Which squares with the investigation’s findings: due to a number of factors (melted snow on the wings that refroze into ice; engines that had ingested a lot of snow and winter gunk during a powerback attempt, failure to activate engine anti-ice, and other issues), the airplane didn’t have enough lift or thrust, and the pilots committed to a takeoff they should have rejected. Let’s just say that Palm 90 is a case study that pilots study the daylights out of. If the takeoff doesn’t feel right, then reject it.
11. I remember being at my grandparents’ house in my hometown the afternoon of January 13 – school had been called off due to the weather, and on the television was coverage of the Palm 90 accident that afternoon. I seem to recall watching the helicopter hovering over the river, trying to save people.
12. Yes, I know I need to write a memorial post about Hugh Downs. No one hassles me about that more than I do.
13. Hartz was more candid about this to writer Steven Battaglio, saying that while he and McGee got along because they were pals, he saw McGee chew people up and down in the newsroom.
14. One wonders what Barbara Walters was thinking while this reminiscence was going on. Walters’ role on Today was famously constrained by McGee, who did not want her considered a co-equal. Only after McGee passed away and Hartz came in did Walters get equal standing, in part because Hartz was a more easygoing man and in large part because of some savvy language in Walters’ contract, stating that if McGee left Today for any reason, she would receive co-host status. Walters wrote at length about her dealings with McGee in her 2008 memoir Audition.
15. Although the mention of the window implies the RCA Exhibition Hall, Brokaw would have been outside the Florida Showcase on the other side of 49th Street, Today‘s second “fishbowl” studio in the early 1960s.
16. Referring to Dave’s short-lived morning program from 1980.