In November 1955 Mad magazine trained its sights on Today. The result was The Dave Garrowunway Show, a spoof that gleefully skewered the program’s conventions. Dave not only loved the piece, but talked about it on the air and recommended the Today audience check it out.
Obviously I can’t post the whole piece here (besides, the version I have is the reformatted version printed in the paperback The Brothers Mad, and it doesn’t look anywhere as good as the magazine version). But the image above, the work of the great Jack Davis, should give you an idea of how deliciously off-the-wall The Dave Garrowunway Show is.
It’s a given, almost as if guaranteed by some kind of law of nature, that any discussion of the Garroway era on Today will mention J. Fred Muggs. And, yes, it’s important to remember Mr. Muggs, who provided a ratings boost after his February 1953 debut (and whom some accounts credit with saving the program from cancellation) and became something of a pop-culture sensation. An entire generation still has vivid memories of Muggs’ mischievous antics on early morning television.
That’s all well and good. But J. Fred wasn’t the only animal sidekick on Today, and another chimpanzee is often lost in his shadow, or identified as Muggs in photos or footage. And that’s sad, for while Kokomo Jr.’s tenure on Today wasn’t as long, his story is no less interesting.
In early 1957, Muggs’ days on Today were numbered. (That’s a story I will get into another day; let’s just say it’s complicated, and since lawsuits ensued I want to make sure I tell that one correctly.) Producers were going to have a gap to fill somehow. As it happened, an upcoming Florida remote would provide an answer.
Enter New York bricklayer and nightclub magician Nick Carrado, who had fallen in love with an adorable year-old chimp during a visit to a Massachusetts wild animal farm in 1956, and purchased the little one. Frustrated with trying to teach a rabbit to do tricks, Carrado thought of incorporating the chimp into his act. But his plans changed when the chimp started stealing the show. Carrado, who remembered “literally raising him like a child,” taught the chimp how to do magic tricks and other things that would delight audiences. In honor of two fallen Marine Corps buddies, Koke and Moe, Carrado named the chimp Kokomo Jr. They shared Carrado’s Manhattan apartment, where Kokomo had his own room with its own television set. “He’s crazy about programs with horses and dogs in them. He likes to bark at horses,” Carrado told a reporter.
In early 1957 Carrado and Kokomo Jr. took their show to Florida. While they were down South, Today was doing a remote from the state. The producers had heard about Kokomo’s act and wanted to meet him, and the chimp ended up on the program. As Carrado remembered, “NBC taped the whole show around us and we were hired on the spot.” According to contemporary accounts, Today began promoting Kokomo Jr.’s March 1 debut in mid-February, before Muggs’ send-off.
NBC photo
Kokomo made his official Today debut on March 4, dressed in a white shirt, gray trousers and a bow tie. Throughout the program, he ran errands for Garroway and carried paper to a wastebasket. “At the close of the first day,” wrote one reviewer, “he rubbed his natural crew-cut (signifying he had a headache), but then – after some thought – he dropped his hand and applauded his own performance.” In later programs Kokomo wrote “poetry” on a typewriter and did watercolor paintings, or helped Garroway with the weather.
The producers would sometimes ask Carrado for certain routines, like playing a violin, and Carrado would train Kokomo in how to play. Carrado took pride in Kokomo, taking him for regular shaves and haircuts and keeping him outfitted in nice clothes, and adding new tricks to the repertoire.
Within two months of his Today debut, the city of Kokomo, Indiana named the chimp an honorary citizen. A New York restaurant asked him to contribute a painting for display. Soon Kokomo was asked to appear on the newly-retooled Tonight program with Jack Paar in July 1957, and went through basic training with a Naval Air Reserve unit for a September 1957 Today segment. Merchandise soon followed, including a doll. The chimp was invited to Kokomo, Indiana, and even invited to throw out the first ball on the opening day of the Kokomo Dodgers’ season.
Kokomo’s personality differed from that of his predecessor. While Muggs had a reputation for mischief, Kokomo Jr. came across as relaxed. Take a look, for instance, at this moment from November 1957 as Garroway gently reads poetry to an affectionate Kokomo. (And note that while the video misidentifies Kokomo Jr. as Muggs, that is Kokomo Jr. If you look closely, you will see the “Kokomo Jr.” nametag on his vest.)
While Kokomo Jr. was an adorable addition to Today, lightning did not strike twice. Perhaps audiences accustomed to the higher-octane antics of Muggs weren’t as engaged by the laid-back Kokomo Jr. Perhaps the producers, or Garroway himself, got tired of the concept or felt it didn’t fit the increasingly informative nature of Today. In any event, by July 1958 Kokomo Jr. was off the program. Columnist Marie Torre noted at the end of that month that “Kokomo Jr. (of old Today fame)…is posing for photographic illustrations for a series of Hallmark greeting cards.”
After his Today gig was over, Kokomo went on to continued success on television and the stage, doing everything from mall openings to television commercials. In 1969 the original Kokomo Jr. retired to a farm Carrado owned in upstate New York. Kokomo’s son took over the act, traveling with Carrado in a custom motorhome from gig to gig. A reporter noted in 1977 that Carrado credited the elder Kokomo for a successful act that made millions of dollars. Carrado later revealed that he used two chimpanzees in the act, alternating them between days to keep them from getting exhausted. “I was always concerned about not pushing them too hard,” Carrado told an interviewer in 2000 about that secret. “In the end, I’d rather that people know that I’m humane.”
In 1983 Carrado and the chimps retired to North Carolina. Carrado and his wife started a company that sold packaging tape. The chimpanzees lived out their retirement painting, snacking, watching television and riding on their Big Wheels through the Carrados’ yard. Carrado himself, long concerned about the humane treatment of animals, drew up a proposal for a retirement home for show-business animals. When Carrado passed away in December 2007, his obituary noted that he was “best friend and trainer of Kokomo Jr.”
Though the various Kokomos are long retired, they live on at the official Kokomo Jr. website, where you can learn more and see some interesting photographs and artifacts from Kokomo’s moments in the spotlight.
—– SOURCES:
Associated Press, “Kokomo Jr. Swinging, Rich Chimp,” Orangeburg, SC Times and Democrat, 24 June 1977.
Hurley E. Badders, “Tuning In,” Greenville News March 10, 1957.
William Ewald, “Kokomo A Versatile Young Chimp,” San Mateo Times, 8 May 1957.
Jack O’Brian, “Lark Rating Falls Short,” Des Moines Tribune 13 Feb. 1957.
Marie Torre, “Lawrence Welk Plans To Try Teen-Age Band,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle 29 July 1958.
The very first Today program aired on January 14, 1952. The complete program is lost to history, since in the run-up to “T-Day” nobody thought to order a kinescope. All that remains on film are the 7:00-7:29 segment and the segment from roughly 8:44 to 8:58. Many years ago the Today website had a rundown transcribed from the NBC archives, but some segments in the original document were out of sequence, and some other information was missing, incorrect, or didn’t seem to square up somehow.
What is presented below is the result of a years-long effort to reconstruct that first program. The detailed portions are from my notes from the kinescope (which you can watch here), while the rest is reconstructed from the rundown document, from the photographs Peter Stackpole took for Life that morning (many of which are linked below), from contemporary articles, and other sources. I have also embedded a few screen captures (credit: NBC) to illustrate from time to time. This is a living document, and as more information is found this post will be updated. If you have information that will help make this more complete, please share (gently) in the comments or drop us an e-mail.
TODAY – January 14, 1952
7:00 am – 10:00 am Eastern Standard Time
(kinescope begins) 6:59:30: NBC ID 6:59:35:Telop and v/o promo for Richard Harkness and the News 6:59:50: WNBT ID telop/spoken ID
The very first images of Today came from this camera position, which stayed busy that morning. (NBC photo)
7:00:00: Program begins. Jack Lescoulie spoken intro. 7:00:15:Garroway’s “preamble” begins. 7:02: Time stamp and headline crawl begin. Garroway walks to headline board for “Today in Two Minutes.”
NBC photo
7:04: News film of Capt. Carlsen of Flying Enterprise. 7:05: Return to studio; sports stories. Garroway explains when news summaries will be presented during the program. Begins tour of communications center. 7:06: Introduces Jack Lescoulie. Visits with Mary Kelly, who tells him the weather bureau is on the line for him. Garroway shows off Kelly’s electric typewriter. 7:07: Garroway shows off tape recorder and telephoto machine. Visits with Buck Prince, who has Romney Wheeler from London on the line. Also talks to Ed Haaker in Frankfurt. The big story there is the first big snowstorm of the year. “It’s really chilly here today.” Garroway: “You’re not alone. Thank you very much, Ed.” 7:09:Garroway introduces news editor Jim Fleming. 7:10: Garroway shows off wire service machines and wall of newspapers flown in for the program.
Newspapers from around the country. I think that’s Estelle Parsons holding the newspaper. (NBC photo)
7:11: Garroway walks back to telephoto machine and looks at photo – “still wet.” Walks back to his desk. 7:12: First remote – view from top of RCA building.
The first remote gives a view of 30 Rock’s ventilator stacks, but the rainy and cloudy morning prevents seeing much else. (NBC photo)
7:13:Remote from outside Pentagon. Frank Bourgholtzer v/o. Says things aren’t too visible from the Wardman Park Hotel location. Pans right from Pentagon to view of Washington skyline. Cut back to monitor view in New York. 7:13: Remote from Chicago. Jim Hurlbut interviews two Chicago police officers who are sitting in their patrol car. 7:14: In the middle of Hurlbut’s interview, we cut back to the studio. Call over studio PA from control room: “Station break, Dave.” “Oh…recess time, right back!” 7:15: Telop and v/o promo for The Mel Martin Show and WNBT ID. 7:15:Garroway at desk attempts to resume remote to Chicago but cannot get through to Hurlbut (although Hurlbut is visible on monitors with police officers).
Garroway gives up on trying to reach Jim Hurlbut: “Peace, lad.” (NBC photo)
7:23: Garroway walks over and cues Jim Fleming at the newspaper board on far end of communications center. Fleming compares Minneapolis headlines vs. San Francisco headlines. Lescoulie (next to Fleming) marvels that the late headlines from San Francisco would come in via wirephoto so quickly. Garroway comes over and announces “recess time.” 7:24:30: NBC tones. Telop promo for Dave and Charlie. Telop and v/o promo for Lights Out with Frank Gallop. Telop ID for WNBT; v/o promo for Tex and Jinx. V/O ID for WNBT.
NBC photo
7:25: Jack Lescoulie explains what viewers can expect on the program and over the next half-hour. Previews records, upcoming interview with family with son in Korea. Introduces Garroway, who interviews Lescoulie about his background and experiences. 7:27: “Sentimental Journey” fades up. “Recess; right back.” Garroway walks back to desk. 7:27: Film PSA for Treasury Dept./US Savings Bonds. No sound from film; instead, sounds from inside communications center (teletypes, phones, bells, etc). 7:28:Garroway at desk: “I didn’t know there was any sound with that film or I’d have whistled ‘Dixie.’” Remarks that he didn’t hear it over his speaker. Also notes they lost the time at the bottom of the screen and “we’re having some new times made.” 7:29: Garroway does time check, explains program for those just tuning in. Notes people looking in through windows. “Recess time right now for a minute.” 7:29: Telop promo for Richard Harkness and the News.
(end of kinescope segment; until further notice, this is reconstructed from program log sheet and other sources)
“Changing Times” was with “Today” on its first telecast. Kiplinger’s publications remained “Today” sponsors into the 1970s. (NBC photo)
8:44: Garroway does live spot for Changing Times while leaning on desk. Notes that a lady from Brooklyn called in reference to a spot earlier in the program: “Tell Garroway that the penny postcards he’s talking about now cost two cents.” Remarks that’s a sign of changing times. 8:45: NBC chimes/telop promo for Howdy Doody. Film promo for Boston Blackie. V/O promo by Don Pardo. Film ID for WNBT with V/O promo for Kukla, Fran and Ollie. 8:45: Back to studio. Garroway sees he’s on camera – “Oh, I’m talking to a friend! Is that all right?…Mort [Werner, producer], will you tell our cue people that they’re running about three inches high?” Gives time check; throws to Jim Fleming. Fleming gives story just in from Tokyo: US Navy patrol bomber crashed this morning near Yokohama. Recaps Mark Clark story, Douglas will not run for president or VP, attacks in Suez zone, Chinese charges that US planes overflew Manchuria, AEC chairman says we’re still working on H-bomb, new US proposal in Paris about control of A-bomb, Secretary of State Dean Acheson to testify before Senate Foreign Relations Committee today, Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh refuses to rescind order to close British embassies in Iran next week, economic adviser Leon Keyserling predicts $85 billion US budget for the year, recap of inflammable sweater story, bad weather in Pacific prevents search for survivors of missing freighter. Late bulletin comes in: Capt. Carlsen received a decoration today from the king of Denmark; Fleming notes that he will be honored in NYC Wednesday. Throws back to Garroway: “Brother Garroway, are you there?” 8:46: Garroway is on phone; grins at Fleming. Goes back to phone; asks control room if the mobile units are coming up after “Frenesi.” Asks them to hold “Frenesi” and to go to mobile units first. Cues Frank Blair in Washington. There’s a pause, cue channel chatter audible; picture from Wardman Park comes up, cough over audio. Garroway says he sees Jim Hurlbut in Chicago. Frank Bourgholtzer comes on, identifies himself. Picture shows morning traffic on Connecticut Avenue bridge and Rock Creek Parkway. Bourgholtzer says he’s at the Pentagon. Picture cuts to Pentagon and crowded parking lots there. Bourgholtzer says Ray Scherer is standing in front of the Pentagon, doesn’t know if they can cut to him or if they’ll show the yacht basin. “Sherm, can we have that shot? There we are!” Bourgholtzer notes that some come to work by boat, including Air Force brass from Bolling Field. Pan over parking lots; Bourgholtzer notes some can contain 6-7,000 cars. Bourgholtzer then throws to Ray Scherer, who notes parking lots on Mall side of Pentagon and how quickly they filled up. Notes Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial in distance. Says he expects Secretary of the Army Frank Pace at any moment. Gloomy, overcast morning in Washington. 8:50: Quick view of Pentagon exterior before cuts back to Garroway: “There! We got it that time!” Garroway, smiling, gives quick explanation of how these are some of the tools that will be used on the program to take you to various places, how they can get into just about any place. Cues Jim Hurlbut in Chicago.
NBC photo
8:51: Hurlbut in Chicago, outside the Loop Terminal of the Illinois Central suburban railroad. Shows people coming out of terminal to go to work. Cuts to corner of North Michigan and East Randolph, showing pedestrians and traffic. Hurlbut notes how busy that corner gets during rush hour. Cuts back to Hurlbut outside terminal with people coming out of terminal. Hurlbut notes the fog will be with them all morning long. Cut to view of bridge tower in fog and NBC mobile unit on bridge, panning left. Cut to view of buses waiting for passengers. Cut back to Hurlbut, who wraps with “so, take it away, Dave Garroway.”
The state of the art in 1952. If only this baby could come up for sale in Hemmings the month after I win the lottery. (NBC photo)
8:53: “Thank you, Jim, old friend…and he is that.” Garroway notes Chicago is his old hometown and it looks familiar to him, but NYC is his new hometown and how busy and populated it is. Time check as he cues camera at Grand Central Terminal and Peter Roberts. Shots of commuters arriving as Roberts explains what’s going on. 8:54: Back to Exhibition Hall and Garroway. “We’re going to take a time-out for a short recess at this minute. Be right back, folks.”
There’s no way I was leaving this out. (NBC photo)
8:54: NBC chimes. Telop promo for Kukla, Fran and Ollie. Telop card for Mothers’ March on Polio with Eddie Cantor v/o. Don Pardo v/o repeats phone number. Telop ID for WNBT with Pardo v/o for Ben Grauer’s Seeing is Believing. WNBT verbal ID. 8:55: Lescoulie at desk recaps what program has done thus far and what it intends to do, bringing you top stories “as regularly as coffee is served.” Wire service photos will also be shown. “And, of course, we’ll always have…Dave Garroway!” Garroway standing near desk realizes he’s on, gives time check. Time and headline crawl return to screen. Garroway notes a lady has called and said it’s an interesting program but they haven’t once mentioned Brooklyn. Garroway walks over to Lescoulie, says Jack was telling him something about “a rhubarb between [Roy] Campanella and the Dodgers.” Lescoulie notes the lady calling about the lack of a Brooklyn mention; Garroway taps Lescoulie’s shoulder and says “I just said that.” They laugh about it. 8:56: Lescoulie begins telling story about Campanella’s refusal to have bone chips removed. “Sentimental Journey” comes up and Lescoulie is faded out in middle of story. 8:56: Filmed PSA for Big Brothers of America with Gene Lockhart. “Sentimental Journey” still plays over first few seconds. 8:57: Back to Lescoulie in studio; no audio for first few seconds. Lescoulie recaps his conversation with Campanella about a story that he was holding out on re-signing with the Dodgers for the 1952 season. Campanella debunks story, saying he would return to the Dodgers.
Jack Lescoulie not only smiled between every sentence, but kept smiling while he was talking. It’s truly amazing to watch. (NBC photo)
8:58: Garroway at desk notes they have a box of gadgets. Shows off needle-threading device.
NBC photo
8:59: Garroway notes it’s time to say goodbye to east coast viewers. Notes he wants to stand because he means it sincerely, and notes that the show has a lot of bugs but they will work them out. “Today” super comes up. “Peace.”
During the run-up to the premiere of Today, Dave Garroway made guest appearances on some NBC programs. In the process, he got to match wits with some comedy legends. Here’s Dave paying a visit to Bob and Ray in the week before Today‘s premiere:
Maybe it’s me, but in that sketch Bob looks a lot like Pat Weaver and Ray reminds me of Today‘s first newsman, Jim Fleming.
Another preserved bit captures Dave’s January 6, 1952 visit to Fred Allen’s program. It’s a real treat.
NBC’s promotional push for its brand-new morning experiment, as seen in a two-page ad in Broadcasting, January 7, 1952. (Trivia: Today had been scheduled for a January 7 debut, but in December 1951 it was decided to bump the debut back one week; among other things, it allowed a little more time to get everything ready in the RCA Exhibition Hall, plus it allowed a few more run-throughs before the big day.)
To spend hours upon wonderful hours exploring a huge archive of Broadcasting and other industry periodicals, visit the incredible American Radio History website.
It had all the makings of television history. For the first time, a regularly-scheduled program would not only originate from overseas, but it would do so through a series of fascinating new technologies that would revolutionize the medium. That’s what Today had planned for April 1959, when its producers planned to originate the show from Paris, France. But what should have been a triumph instead was a fiasco involving a network, a broadcast union, and Brigitte Bardot. Sounds implausible, doesn’t it? But it happened.
To give you the whole picture, let’s begin with a little bit of technological history. For much of the 1950s, getting pictures from Europe to America had been lengthy and complicated. Communications satellites were years away. Transatlantic cable lines had nowhere near the bandwidth for live television. In 1953, CBS and NBC had raced to get films of the Coronation on the air, which turned into a giant and expensive mess involving jet bombers, chartered P-51s, and two television networks desperate to be first. (That whole story, a particular favorite of mine, is worth a blog post of its own, but it didn’t involve Dave Garroway all that much; instead I’ll refer you to this story from someone who was there. And this one is pretty darn good, too.)
There had been a couple of major advances since the Coronation race. For one, commercial jet service between Europe and New York, which in 1953 had been in the teething stages, was now routine. It would be easy to have footage flown back on a scheduled flight to New York. The other big innovation was the dawn of videotape. Today had already moved to previous-day taping the year before, so it was nothing new. But it added new flexibility to an overseas remote. Today segments, or entire shows done live-to-tape, could be recorded and the videotapes sent to New York, ready to put on the air just as any other Today program would be at the time.
But all this raised another issue. Sending NBC mobile units to Paris would be a huge and expensive logistical effort. Budgets were already tight, and Jack Paar had to cancel a planned series of shows from Paris due to budget issues. The Today adventure had itself been at risk for a period. The services of Intercontinental Television were contracted for production of the Paris remotes, using what was billed as “a 15-ton, 35-foot, self-contained mobile videotape unit.”
Garroway told AP television writer Charles Mercer what he hoped to achieve. “I want to show Paris to Americans in the way that only television can,” he said. “Tape, you know, has a live quality unlike film.” Garroway envisioned going to a different spot in Paris each day and doing the program from there. “There won’t be any editing or retakes. I’ll talk and interview people and generally be a guy showing Paris to friends back home.” NBC’s publicity held out promises of such famous sights as the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Left Bank, the Eiffel Tower, and others. The usual Today hosts – Garroway, Jack Lescoulie, and Charles Van Doren – would do stories from around the city, while the role of “Today Girl” would be filled each day by a different French actress. The first program, to be aired Monday, April 27, would feature an interview with actress Brigitte Bardot.
While the Bardot interview would make headlines that Monday, it wasn’t for reasons she, Garroway, or NBC anticipated.
At 7 a.m. that morning, at the time Today was to go on the air, the NBC employees responsible for airing the tape walked off their jobs. As members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, they claimed the tape had been produced with the help of non-union French personnel in violation of NABET’s contract with NBC. In solidarity, NABET workers with the NBC Radio Network also walked out. In all, about 1,500 workers across NBC’s operations nationwide walked out that morning, including engineers, news writers, traffic and communications personnel, operations directors, and even publicists and air-conditioning technicians.
NABET spokesman Tyler Byrne claimed that NBC was in violation of its contract with the union regarding video tape jurisdiction. Byrne said that NBC had promised to use union technicians and had taken nine union members to Paris, but claimed that many technical jobs were being done by local men being paid “coolie rates.” Byrne charged NBC with using a “runaway shop” approach on the Paris remotes, and warned, “If the networks find it cheaper to produce video tape abroad it will result in unemployment and cutbacks among workers here.” (The president of Intercontinental Television later claimed his workers were paid equal or higher to the NABET personnel, and that they belonged to the French union.)
NABET had initially called the walkout a “no-work period” so workers could write grievance letters, but later conceded it to be a general strike. Picketers outside NBC headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza carried signs reading “lockout.” But NBC countered, “They simply walked off their jobs. There was no lockout.” NBC held that the tapes made in Paris were done in compliance with its contract with NABET, and threatened to sue.
For three hours, NBC network programs were off the air. There was no Today program in most markets. KSD-TV in St. Louis found itself having to fill time with old films from its film library. WINR-TV in Binghamton, New York aired several films, whose subjects included the Sea Scouts, diesel engines, and even one about men cooking, during the time Today would have been on the air. On radio, the biggest loss was NBC’s five-minute News on the Hour updates at the top of each hour, so the effect was limited on that side of the network.
Not until 10 am that morning did supervisory personnel have both networks back to regular operations. The television network had Dough-Re-Mi airing on time at 10 am, and News on the Hour and other news programs were back on the air soon. The Associated Press reported “there were occasional fluffs,” and noted that NBC had received calls from ad agencies complaining about commercials being inserted abruptly, appearing dim, or not having sound. (At least one of Kermit Schaefer’s “Blooper” record collections includes a clip from a News on the Hour from that day, with audio from another circuit intruding on Howard Reig reading the sponsor billboard.)
NBC hoped to work out an agreement with NABET before the next morning, but had plans in place to make sure Today got on the air as scheduled the next morning. As it happened, no agreement was reached, so network supervisors were at the controls the next morning and Today aired as scheduled. Part of that morning’s program included the Bardot interview that hadn’t aired the day before. Meanwhile, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service scheduled a sit-down between NBC and NABET that morning. An hour and twenty minutes of meeting later, nothing was accomplished, and NBC filed a $500,000 suit against NABET. On May 5, it rescinded the NABET contract and invited negotiations for a new contract.
Two days later, NABET employees picketed the Emmy Awards in Hollywood and New York. Three of the marchers in Hollywood wore black tie. Finally, on May 14 NBC and NABET reached an agreement, and operations began to get back to normal. No longer were salesmen having to do double duty as cameramen.
As for the program that started the whole affair? Television critic John Crosby wrote, “One can’t escape the impression that this is the sort of thing television should have been doing all along – bringing a city like Paris right into your living rooms with live cameras (even if the show is on tape.)”
—
SOURCES:
Associated Press, “Fluffs Mark Strike Of Television Crews,” Dover, Ohio Daily Reporter, Apr. 28, 1959, 1.
Associated Press, “Garroway TV Show Aired, Despite Row,” San Mateo, Calif. Times, Apr. 28, 1959, 23.
Associated Press, “NBC Rescinds Union Contract,” Corpus Christi Caller-Times, May 6, 1959, 33.
Associated Press, “NBC Technicians Quit in New York,” Muncie Star Press, Apr. 28, 1959, 1.
Associated Press, “Sudden Strike Disrupts NBC’s TV, Radio Chains,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Apr. 27, 1959, 1.
Associated Press, “TV Pickets Dress Right,” Klamath Falls, Or. Herald and News, May 7, 1959, 3.
Associated Press, “U.S. Mediators Try to Settle Strike of Technicians at NBC,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Apr. 28, 1959, 2.
John Crosby, “Garroway View of Paris in the Spring,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Apr. 29, 1959, 72.
John Crosby, “Tape Crews, Crowds Raise Issue of Reality,” Hartford Courant, May 4, 1959, 17.
Charles Mercer, “Dave Garroway Has Interesting Theory,” Pensacola News Journal, Mar. 5, 1959, 59.
While at the state university library today, I happened across this:
This book, brand-new that morning, was the subject of Today‘s very first author interview, January 14, 1952. No video or audio of the interview is known to exist, but you can view a couple of Peter Stackpole’s Life pictures of the interview here and here.
Time got away from us here at Garroway At Large World Headquarters, and the Wide Wide Blog has suffered as a result. Last week I had to take a trip to conduct research on my other project. (Maybe I’ll write something about that project in a future post. It’s pretty interesting.)
To make up for my absence, here’s a really big present for you. Perhaps the best way for you to get a glimpse of what the Garroway magic was like, as it happened, is to unplug yourself from the present, journey back to November 1957, and enjoy Garroway and friends in long form. (Note: the title gets it wrong – that’s Kokomo Jr. and not Muggs – but don’t let that distract you.)
Enter New York bricklayer and nightclub magician Nick Carrado, who had fallen in love with an adorable year-old chimp during a visit to a Massachusetts wild animal farm in 1956, and purchased the little one. Frustrated with trying to teach a rabbit to do tricks, Carrado thought of incorporating the chimp into his act. But his plans changed when the chimp started stealing the show. Carrado, who remembered “literally raising him like a child,” taught the chimp how to do magic tricks and other things that would delight audiences. In honor of two fallen Marine Corps buddies, Koke and Moe, Carrado named the chimp Kokomo Jr. They shared Carrado’s Manhattan apartment, where Kokomo had his own room with its own television set. “He’s crazy about programs with horses and dogs in them. He likes to bark at horses,” Carrado told a reporter.
To spend hours upon wonderful hours exploring a huge archive of Broadcasting and other industry periodicals, visit the incredible 
rt. Budgets were already tight, and Jack Paar had to cancel a planned series of shows from Paris due to budget issues. The Today adventure had itself been at risk for a period. The services of Intercontinental Television were contracted for production of the Paris remotes, using what was billed as “a 15-ton, 35-foot, self-contained mobile videotape unit.”
a different spot in Paris each day and doing the program from there. “There won’t be any editing or retakes. I’ll talk and interview people and generally be a guy showing Paris to friends back home.” NBC’s publicity held out promises of such famous sights as the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Left Bank, the Eiffel Tower, and others. The usual Today hosts – Garroway, Jack Lescoulie, and Charles Van Doren – would do stories from around the city, while the role of “Today Girl” would be filled each day by a different French actress. The first program, to be aired Monday, April 27, would feature an interview with actress Brigitte Bardot.
Two days later, NABET employees picketed the Emmy Awards in Hollywood and New York. Three of the marchers in Hollywood wore black tie. Finally, on May 14 NBC and NABET reached an agreement, and operations began to get back to normal. No longer were salesmen having to do double duty as cameramen.
