He had a great voice. Rest in Peace, Gary.
Posted on 02/13/2015 2:59:38 PM PST by EveningStar
Radio, TV and voiceover performer Gary Owens died on Feb. 12 at his home in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles. Owens, who was 80, had been a diabetic since the age of 8.
Owens was probably best known as the announcer on NBC’s “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” (1968-73), with his trademark hand-over-the-ear announcing style. On the show, John Wayne once imitated Owens announcing. The phrase Gary created on his KMPC radio show, “Beautiful downtown Burbank,” later became a nightly catchphrase on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.”
Owens also lent his voice to more than 3,000 cartoons, providing the voice of “Space Ghost” as well as Blue Falcon, Roger Ramjet, Powdered Toast Man and even Batman.
(Excerpt) Read more at variety.com ...
All night. That’s why I don’t remember him. I was just a kid in elementary school.
I was in bed.
Later I listened to KSFO’s Comedy hour in the evening with Gene Nelson and then John Gilliland.
RIP Gary Owens. You’ll be missed and long admired.
His story is interesting - he was the best announcer they had except he was zany and would interrupt or put on crazy audio tapes while the commercial were running. So to keep his job, Russ said he would do the all-nighter which no one wanted and their little problem with his antics, so he could do what he wanted.
*sigh* those were the days...
I read the Ben Fong-Torres piece on him you linked to.
Thanks for the link.
Amazing aren’t they, some girl in I believe from the Netherlands colorizes them. Here is a high resolution one.. The first time I saw this I thought it was fake, that it was staged but it isn’t. It’s Atlantic city 1912, same year the Titanic sunk and only 9 years after the Wright brothers flight. Actually the Titanic sunk in April and this looks like summer so these people probably still have it on their minds “Hell no I ain’t getting on a ship again”.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/16617?size=_original#caption
Wow, whoever did the color on those is very good.
He had a great voice. Rest in Peace, Gary.
70s ‘stache, sideburns, and suit/tie
killer look :-)
Great post! I was 14 when The Beatles had their first hit record here in America. That was 51 years ago!
PS My late Uncle would have been about 14 years-old when those pictures you posted were taken 100 years ago!
Colorizing...sharpening, correcting for motion artifacts...I would like to know what photo editing software they were using!
The restorations show a depth of field that is amazing!
Naughty!
I’ve been to that site......many times yet never seen the colorized versions you posted.....nice, well done !
Thank God for the bikini.
Oddly enough, one of his more influential shows was Roger Ramjet. Somebody suggested the reason for this was that it could be enjoyed by kids, college students, adults, and anyone who was intoxicated.
R.I.P Gary Owens.
Have you ever seen the documentary about CKLW? It’s amazing the influence one station had.
I began listening after the heyday but remember JOJO, Byron and Super Max.
Yep, more ‘Boomer history biting the dust. It just gets faster.
I think I remember seeing a Laugh-In clip of him giving the news of the future where he said, “Dateline 1988, President Ronald Reagan...” The guy was 15 to 20 years ahead of his time.
I always zone out on pics like that because how could they exist if the past has the same value today as something that never happened? The past does not exist in the present, so if you think like that then it has the same value as something that never happened. Yet photographs exist. For them to exist the past has to exist. The past cannot have a zero value. If you look at an apple on a table and move it to the other side of the table, how could it be on that other side if the fact that you moved it no longer exists as it pertains to the present? It cannot have a zero value. That past action has value, it has to exist simultaneously, constantly with the present for it to be reality otherwise the apple could not have a new position.
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