Retro Bio: He-e-e-ere's...Johnny by Robert Lardine
Award Books
1975
paperback (out-of-print)
170 pages, illustrations
Johnny Carson was known for his warmth and quick wit on The Tonight Show, however, author Robert Lardine shows a cool and distant Carson off-screen.
Lardine, former New York Daily News feature writer, claims Carson had a reputation for "being a terrible subject"; he gave "monosyllabic answers" and ducked answers "continually." He writes from experience, having interviewed Carson several times. He occasionally quotes Carson from previous interviews, because Carson refused to be interviewed for the book. To complete his sketch of this complicated man, Lardine relied on Carson's correspondence and interviews with friends, former wives, and TS staff members.
Lardine inspects the many sides of Carson, his good and bad relationships with guests, his devotion to his work, his alleged stinginess of money and of friendliness, and the need for approval that lead him to pursue show business.
Carson began performing magic, billed as The Great Carsoni, and when he was sixteen in his local Norfolk, Nebraska landed a gig at a men's club. The shy and unpopular Carson started making friends and becoming more outgoing. He also displayed an early comedic talent, writing humor columns for his high school's paper, and a jazz fan, he took up the drums. After high school he majored in engineering at the University of Nebraska. When he finished military duty he switched his major to radio in speech, having honed his entertainment skills while he was in the Navy. Soon after he graduated from college he became a DJ at radio station WOW in Oklahoma. A year later he left for Los Angeles and found work at TV station KNXT where he was offered a TV show entitled Carson's Cellar. Groucho Marx, Fred Allen, Jack Benny, and Red Skelton were among his fans and guests. His next show Earn Your Vacation, failed, yet as a sideline he wrote jokes for Skelton.
In a twist suitable for showbiz fairy tales, Carson was asked to fill in on Skelton's show after Skelton received a concussion. Carson garnered good reviews for his guest hosting stint; Jack Benny liked his performance and told CBS execs. CBS then gave Carson his own show, The Johnny Carson Show. It flopped after nearly one year -- some blamed him for appearing tense on the show. Carson blamed the fiasco on too many producers. Producer Don Fedderson next signed Carson to host the game show Who Do You Trust? It was popular, but at the time, Carson felt his career was going nowhere. He aimed higher, and in October 1962, managed to succeed Jack Paar as host of The Tonight Show.
Despite the blurb on the front cover, "The real
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