Kids came home to Mike Douglas after school. It was a friendly show.
Posted on 08/11/2006 10:03:08 AM PDT by lunarbicep
Mike Douglas, who drew on his affable personality and singing talent during 21 years as host of a syndicated television talk show, died Friday on his 81st birthday, his wife said.
The afternoon talk show, which aired from 1961 to 1982, featured Douglas' ballad and big-band singing style, other musicians, comedians, political personalities and sports figures. His interviews included seven men who were then, had been or would become president.
Kids came home to Mike Douglas after school. It was a friendly show.
Another childhood memory.
I miss variety shows.
Used to do my homework with MD show on the tube...........
Yes! What you said.
Tiger Woods' first TV appearance was on the Mike Douglas show when Tiger was 3, I believe.
Mike Douglas was a good troop. His shows were entertaining and polite.
Back when there was decency in TV.
Rest in peace.
Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin and the Cleveland Press were my mom's afternoons, God Rest her soul!
Fields......
Thanks!
The show originated in Cleveland for awhile, then Philly if I recall. RIP, Mike.
hmm. I figured him for a pipesmoker.
I never missed it. I watched it everyday after school. From Tiny Tim to the Absent Minded Professor to Phyllis Diller, it was a very entertaining show for adults and kids.
Mike Douglas
AKA Michael Delaney Dowd, Jr.
Born: 11-Aug-1925
Birthplace: Chicago
Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Host of 1970s Mike Douglas Show
Military service: US Navy (WWII, served on V-12 program, Oklahoma)
At 15, Mike Dowd was already a professional singer, earning free room and board plus $35 a week for singing pop standards on a cruise ship that sailed between Cleveland and Buffalo. Douglas served in the Navy during World War II, then signed with Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge. It was Kysor who gave Dowd his new name, without warning, by introducing him one night as Mike Douglas. When Walt Disney heard Douglas' singing, and asked him to croon as Prince Charming in Cinderella. Douglas later worked as a "staff singer" at NBC, before being offered his own show at a Cleveland TV station. It started in December 1961, but was quickly successful and syndicated, and relocated to Philadelphia from 1965-78, then Burbank from 1978-82. It was the top-rated daytime talk show during most of its run.
On one program, Barry Goldwater played his trombone, and on another, a 3-year-old golf prodigy named Tiger Woods putted on stage. Douglas often had co-hosts who would spend an entire week on his show, everyone from Barbra Streisand to Sammy Davis, Jr. to Joan Crawford and Joyce Randolph. Co-hosts helped interview guests in exchange for spending an entire week -- instead of just a few minutes -- plugging their latest projects.
In 1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono co-hosted for a week, with guests including Bobby Seale, Jerry Rubin, Ralph Nader, and George Carlin. Douglas squirmed and his staff struggled to keep political discourse to a minimum, and Lennon was told he could not perform the song "Gimme Some Truth", because it included an unflattering allusion to President Richard Nixon. In addition, he had to sit through Douglas' syrupy renditions of "Michelle" and "I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends". It was generally considered Douglas' finest week, and drew huge ratings. Backstage, though, producers and staff remember it as "a week everyone was very relieved to see end". The Mike Douglas Show was not normally a comfortable place for newfangled 1970s perspectives; its producer was a young Roger Ailes, who went on to craft Fox News as a right-wing TV beacon.
I was one of those kids. On a bright note, Art Linkletter is still alive, and doing pretty well.
Totie Fields.
I think he introduced a lot of comedians in the 60's.
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