CBS – Garroway at Large

When words still pack a punch

In July 1971, Dave Garroway was hosting a summer replacement series called The CBS Newcomers. In that role, he had two duties. One was to be the master of ceremonies, welcoming the audience and introducing the young performers before each segment. The other role was to be Dave Garroway. Over the years Dave had been known for his observations on life – many offbeat, some profound, some worth a chuckle, but all were a vital part of the style that made Dave a favorite with so many.

On one episode of Newcomers, Dave began talking about how Americans lived in a disposable society. “We drink coffee from disposable cups,” he said, “and wipe our faces with disposable napkins. The airlines serve cocktails in disposable glasses.” At that point, Dave reached for his pocket and pulled out an object, holding it up for the cameras. “It saddens me to think there are those watching this show who have never owned one of these. It’s called a fountain pen. It didn’t write under water, and it didn’t write upside down, but it wrote beautifully. And then – get this now! – when it ran dry, you didn’t throw it away. You filled it again – and again – and soon it fit your hand. It got to be your pen.” It was a moment that was pure Garroway. And, in my case, it still packed a punch nearly 50 years later.

The other week, as I was transcribing all these notes, I came to this moment where Dave talked about fountain pens. Like most of you, I’m accustomed to writing with whatever ball-point pen is handy at the moment.¹ At the office, I’m fond of those ball-point gel pens with the replaceable cartridges. But something about that passage knocked loose a memory in my mind, and I did something about it.

When I was in high school, I was at a drug store browsing around. In the school supplies aisle, I saw a fountain pen. It was a Parker Vector in a blister pack, the entry-level pen. It cost more than other pens in the aisle, but I got entranced by the idea of writing with something different and bought it. That pen was my best friend the rest of my days in high school. I still have pages and pages of notes written in that flowing, slightly translucent blue ink I fed it through cartridges. That poor pen went through so much – I forget how many times I bent the nib – but it worked like a champ, and it was my pen, my faithful companion. I still have it – somewhere.

And that’s what I started thinking about the other week. Where was my friend, my pen? I searched everywhere, but couldn’t find it. After a while, I still couldn’t find it. No fear; I just ordered a newer pen that came highly recommended, and then a neat clone of a classic pen. Both of them are in the bag I carry to work every day.² But that wasn’t enough. About that time, a check arrived with some royalties for the book that was published last year.³ And I thought it would be nifty to commemorate that book with a little present to myself. Something that would last. Something I could use. Why not a pen? And not just any pen, but a pen that had fascinated me for a long time?⁴ So now, a few dollars later, this little beauty is in my collection, a little prize to myself for getting a neat book published after so many years. And it is my pen, and I hope it will be to the last of my days. I love this beauty, this reminder of another time. It feels solid and balanced in my hand. It writes wonderfully. I look forward to a long, happy friendship.

And it’s all because a little aside on a short-lived, little-remembered television show 49 summers ago knocked loose a recollection. There’s still power in Dave’s words. Not a bad legacy to leave.

:: No, we haven’t gone anywhere. We have just been overwhelmed of late by no end of things: a crush of demands at work, a few more demands involving outside work (some of it paying work, too, and we seldom refuse that kind of deal), as well as the overwhelming sense of unease and anxiety in the run up to (and playing out of) Election 2020. With all of that going on, I haven’t been able to spend the time I’ve wanted in Dave’s realm.

I can, however, report that all those pages of notes are steadily being woven into a coherent manuscript – as of right now, I’m up to Dave working as an NBC guide, his eye on taking an announcers’ class. So even though I’m not saying much, this thing is still happening. I do have a contractual deadline, after all, and I keep those kinds of deadlines, no matter how much oil gets burned in the wee hours of the morning to do so.⁵ Stay tuned, y’all.

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.

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.

Don’t watch him!

After bouncing among various gigs, Dave Garroway landed a job in 1964 with WCBS Radio in New York, hosting Garroway AM at 11:15 a.m. and Garroway PM at 4:15 p.m. CBS, always clever with its promotions, came up with this campaign. More about Garroway’s WCBS days will come in the book, of course.

Lost Garroway: “The CBS Newcomers,” 1971 (Part 2)

(Continued from Part 1.)

There was hope on the eve of Garroway’s return to television. “It’s good to have Garroway back with us,” said writer Tom Riste. “This man has too much talent to languish on the sidelines.” Cecil Smith of the Los Angeles Times wrote of watching a dress rehearsal of The CBS Newcomers, being impressed by the young talent on display, but finding that “the glue was Dave.” Smith watched Garroway close the show with a story about telling Dave Jr. a few years back that he was headed to a banquet to honor Dr. Jonas Salk. Dave Jr., who was ten when the story took place, didn’t know that name, so Garroway explained that Salk discovered the polio vaccine…only to hear Dave Jr., who had never known the dread that word once posed, ask “What’s polio?” Garroway then raised his hand and gave his familiar “peace” benediction. “It’s good to have him at large again,” Smith wrote. Others took a wait-and-see attitude. “Comedians, singers and a choral group perform, and if it looks a little like Laugh-In, they’ll probably deny it,” went a preview in the Sioux City Journal.

Garroway with “Newcomer” Peggy Sears (CBS photo)

As the show began, Garroway looked into the camera with a smile. “My name is Dave Garroway. Do you remember?” (As writer Don Freeman put it, that question wasn’t a mere gimmick for the show: “In television terms, nine years is nine eons.”) He continued, “I did my first show in 1948, and here I am tonight – a newcomer. But it’s a kick being here even if some of the newcomers weren’t even born when I was doing TV in Chicago. That was a long time ago, back when Ed Sullivan was just one of the kids on Juvenile Jury.”

Freeman praised Garroway’s return to television. “If the performers here are only recently out of the ranks of the amateurs, Garroway is the epitome of easygoing professionalism, a sure-handed master of the subtle intimacies of the medium.” He held out hope that the performers would “wear well,” though hoped the writing “will gain in sharpness and believability.”

But The CBS Newcomers fell flat with other reviewers. UPI television writer Rick DuBrow said that while there was “some pleasant talent exposed here and there,” the overall feeling was entertainment “of such an ordinary caliber – with several disastrous acts thrown in” that he found it hard to believe the claims CBS had made of an extensive national search. DuBrow also didn’t care for “the awful cuteness of the show as put together by the pros who should know better. Poor Garroway, along with the youngsters, was victimized by the foolish and self-consciously cute dialogue.” The one bright moment DuBrow saw for Garroway was when he was given a few minutes to talk, in classic Garroway form, about fountain pens and how they were an old-fashioned contrast to a world in which so much was disposable. “Perhaps it wasn’t a great Garroway dialogue,” he wrote, “but it did allow him to be himself, and it was miles ahead of the caliber of the rest of the hour.” Overall, however, DuBrow felt CBS had spent all this effort to find new talent but constrained them within an old format with corny jokes. “It was a visualized generation gap,” he wrote.

Steve Hoffman of the Cincinnati Enquirer called it “a bomb” that “never even got to the stage of fizzling. This hour has to be one of the worst I have seen on TV since moving to this desk 22 months ago.” Not only did Hoffman say the show “fumbled and bumbled” with talent that was “mediocre at best” and a format that was “an Ed Sullivan show in slow motion,” but he was especially disappointed by Garroway. “If you expected an erudite Garroway, you got blah. Only in the show’s opening did Dave show any of that academic charm that won him a tremendous following on NBC-TV’s Today show. He turned out to be another Major Bowes or Ted Mack by the end of this hour.” Hoffman was especially disappointed that Garroway let himself fall into trite interviews with the new talent. “‘How did you react when you heard you would be on the show?’ That got to be a sickening line of conversation.” On the whole, Hoffman likened the program to “a game of checking the clock to see how soon the misery would be over. Instead of entertainment, it was like sitting in your dentist’s chair.”

Judy Bachrach of the Baltimore Sun was even less impressed, calling it a “stuffed turkey” that left her speechless. Not only did she find the talent unsatisfactory (“either something is gravely wrong with present-day talent or something is gravely wrong with CBS talent scouts”), but she singled out Garroway, who “should know better. He started being gravely wrong when he launched into the achingly predictable me-a-newcomer??? jokes. He followed those up with a deadpan recitation of the lyrics to ‘We’ve Only Just Begun.’ And the lyrics to ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ chanted in Garroway alexandrines take second place in meaning, depth and scope only to ‘Love means not ever having to say you’re sorry.'” Nor did she care for Garroway showing the audience his trick of folding a $20 bill into a triangle: “My Uncle Paul used to do similar things with nickels at cocktail parties. Generally he was never invited again. Definitely nobody paid him for it.”

Two weeks into its run, rumors circulated that the CBS brass hadn’t been overly impressed with the program. Garroway expressed hope the show might catch on as a midseason replacement after its scheduled run. “I don’t know our chances,” he told writer Cynthia Lowery, “but they are keeping the costumes and scenery intact, which should mean something.”

The program experimented with different things. While many comedy shows featured sketches called “black-outs,” The CBS Newcomers tried something called “light-ups,” which reversed the principle. A segment introduced a couple weeks in, spoofing “man on the street” interviews, had Garroway asking members of the Good Humor Company questions in the style of Fred Allen’s “Allen’s Alley.” And on the final episode in September, Garroway even joined in what was termed “a comedy-and-music romp.”

Minneapolis Star critic Forrest Powers wrote that The CBS Newcomers “was based on the results of a nationwide talent search. If that’s all the goodies they found, we’re in real trouble.” Colby Sinclair of the Orlando Sentinel said The CBS Newcomers “was so bad the first week I returned again and again, hoping to see the reason for the production. I never did.” To Sinclair, “the show served one purpose. It put new life and hope into every third-rate performer in the country who, after viewing the talent selected to entertain, must have been certain that they were better than anyone on that program. For the most part, these kids need to be returned to a merciful oblivion.” Instead, Sinclair saw something in the “off-beat” charm of a variety show CBS had tried out, hosted by a couple named Sonny and Cher. Though “Sonny makes me so nervous I can hardly bear to watch him,” Sinclair had kind things to say about Cher, and praised the writers for “refreshing ideas.”

As it turned out, the off-beat charm of Sonny and Cher resonated with viewers, and CBS picked it up for a successful three-year run. Not so fortunate were the Newcomers, and soon the sets and costumes, the signs of Garroway’s hope the show would be picked up, were disposed of. Garroway would try a few more times in coming years to pitch ideas to broadcasters, but aside from the occasional guest appearance, The CBS Newcomers was Garroway’s last network hurrah.

SOURCES:

Judy Bachrach, “TV Notes: Rendered Speechless By CBS’s Newcomers,” Baltimore Sun 13 July 1971, 17.
Don Freeman, “On CBS Newcomers, Unknowns Get Crack at Tube,” The Daily Courier (Connellsville, Pa.), 24 July 1971, 15.
Steve Hoffman, “Did You See The Worst Show on TV?” Cincinnati Enquirer 13 July 1971, 17.
Forrest Powers, “TV ‘Freeze’ Drives Him Up Ladder,” Minneapolis Star 6 September 1971, 25.
Tom Riste, “CBS To Offer 10 New ‘Stars,'” Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Arizona), 12 July 1971, 27.
“Shows to Watch,” Sioux City Journal 11 July 1971, 32.
Colby Sinclair, “Fall Season Has Only Just Begin,” Orlando Sentinel 19 September 1971.
Cecil Smith, “Garroway-Hobin Reunion Sparks the CBS Newcomers,” Los Angeles Times 11 July 1971.
“TV Tonight,” Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, 6 September 1971, 40.

Lost Garroway: “The CBS Newcomers,” 1971 (Part 1)

In the late 1960s and into the 1970s, the television networks were trying to figure out how best to adapt to a younger generation. Some of that was through programming, with NBC’s innovative, rapid-fire Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In perhaps the most famous of the dozens of youth-oriented programs the networks tried during that era. But an up-and-coming generation had talent that needed to be discovered, and then given national exposure.

That, at least, was the idea of CBS Television president Robert Wood, who believed there needed to be more new and younger talent coming on television. But Wood didn’t want a show like Talent Scouts, where people competed for the spotlight. Instead, he wanted to find young professional performers and put them on a national television show.

Wood dispatched executive producer Robert Tamplin on a nationwide search for young talent. Tamplin enlisted the help of CBS affiliates to locate performers worth auditioning. As one writer put it, Tamplin “wanted no rock groups, no concert artists, no large choral groups, no mimics with a pantomime turn and no kids under 12 – and absolutely no amateur accordionists playing ‘Lady of Spain.'” Instead, he was looking for “something special or identifiable,” he said. “Those who make it big have something individual.” Tamplin watched 1,500 acts in 42 cities, visiting clubs, theaters and concerts in his search. “I feel we need to develop new people,” he said. “Television is important to building a career. If they’re good on television, they’ll catch on.”

The show Wood envisioned took the name The CBS Newcomers. It would air as a summer replacement for Carol Burnett’s show. Supporting the young talent on the show were some television industry veterans. Writers Artie Phillips, Fred S. Fox and Seaman Jacobs were among those providing the material. Nelson Riddle was musical director. Longtime director Bill Hobin, whose credits included Your Show of Shows and Your Hit Parade, would call the shots.

And the program, of course, would need a master of ceremonies. In a conversation with Hobin, Wood asked, “What’s the glue to hold it together?” Hobin replied, “I’d like somebody like Garroway.” To which Wood responded, “Why not get Garroway?”

Hobin’s suggestion of Garroway did not come out of thin air. They were both veterans of the “Chicago School,” and Hobin had directed 78 episodes of Garroway at Large before it was canceled in 1951. Though Hobin and Garroway hadn’t worked together in two decades, they remained friends.

It also helped that Garroway had moved to southern California. Since leaving Today in 1961, he had tried to get back into the television business through various means, but his efforts were stymied in part by the terms of his separation from NBC. He moved to Boston in the late 1960s to host an interview series, and there had been some hope it might catch on as a syndicated program, but those plans fell through. Garroway decided to try his luck out west, where his manager had moved. “Life is very, very pleasant out here,” he said. “All those put-downs you get from Easterners – I think they come from people who went back when they didn’t make it here.” Garroway also mentioned that during his last two years in New York, his son David had been held up and mugged three times. “He didn’t like that,” Dad said.

Garroway had been working at Los Angeles radio station KFI, doing a three-hour show six days a week that he described as “a few records, a lot of talk and a few commercials.” But that was wearing at him. Doing the show six days a week meant “you need an awful lot of things to talk about to keep that up,” he told one writer.

Garroway with producer Robert Tamplin (CBS photo)

When the invitation came from CBS to return to national television, Garroway eagerly accepted. “I have been available,” he dryly told writer Tom Green during the run-up to the show’s premiere. Garroway admitted that he had “missed a place to sound off” and said, “I’m a ham.” He told Green that he’d expected to be off the air only one or two years after leaving Today, but events had dictated otherwise. “Of course, when you’re off television this long, the networks think you have passed into another world.” To Garroway, getting back in the game was a balm. “I went over to the studio the other day and I saw my name on that parking spot and I smelled that smell in the building, and it was like something I had forgotten all about,” he told Green.

Garroway, who would turn 58 the day after the show’s July 12 debut, would preside over a troupe of performers all young enough to be his children. The cast included a six-member comedy team called the Good Humor Company, who had impressed audiences in clubs and hotels on both coasts and gained something of a following. Comedians Joey Garza and Rodney Winfield were also signed, along with musical performers Peggy Sears, Raul Perez, Cynthia Clawson, David Arlen, Gay Perkins and Rex Allen Jr., and a choral group called The Californians. “They are all likable kids,” Garroway said of them. “I wander through each program, doing my bit two or three times.” And he hoped something good would come of it for them. “Perhaps if people see how much really good talent there is around the country, opportunities will be created to use it.”

But would something good come of it all? We’ll find out in Part 2.

SOURCES:

“Bob Tamplin: A Familiar Face Just to Introduce New Ones,” Anniston (Ala.) Star 18 July 1971: 14.
Don Freeman, “Unknowns Get Crack at Tube,” The Daily Courier (Connellsville, Pa.), 24 July 1971, 15.
Tom Green, “Garroway Back on TV,” Ithaca (N.Y.) Journal, 10 July 1971: 34.
Lawrence Laurent, “Dave Garroway Returns to TV in ‘Newcomers,'” Lawton (Okla.) Constitution and Morning Press 25 July 1971, 53.
Cynthia Lowery, “After Trying California, Garroway Decides to Stay,” Pensacola News 9 August 1971, 10.
Cecil Smith, “Garroway-Hobin Reunion Sparks the CBS Newcomers,” Los Angeles Times 11 July 1971.