On a more respectful note, Merv was indeed my intro, along with the daytime hosts (Mike Douglas and, locally, Joe Franklin), to the wonderful world of vintage talk shows. During my childhood, Merv's program was on in prime time, and when the networks were awful, there was definitely always something to catch on his show. In seeing the recent DVD collection of his shows, I was struck by how cursory the interviews were (even in his most probing mode, Merv was definitely a predecessor to today's "softest" interviewer, Larry King). I still was exposed for the first time to many of the "old guard" on his show, as well as some of my latter-day favorite comedians (from Pee Wee Herman to Bobcat Goldthwait). His show certainly became an institution as it went on, and it was the Tonight Show for those who couldn't stay up late (or, in the case of a kid like myself, weren't allowed to).
The footage below (more to come!) is the last recorded TV appearance of Orson Welles, who came to do some magic ("whamming" — I love it), talk with Merv in an informal mode, and also do a bit of plugging for the new Orson bio by Barbara Leaming. I won't upload the middle segment, as it is availble on the DVD box, but the first and third portions are not.
Orson does his "whamming" best:
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Friday, August 17, 2007
Merv Griffin, the tabloid TV years
There are certainly many more things that can be said about Bergman and Antonioni than can be said about good ol' Merv, but I thought I'd pay tribute to his TV presence by putting up one of the "salacious" stories aired on the classic Fox TV show A Current Affair. Watch how perennially sopped journo Steve Dunleavy dotes on the very gayness of the story, ably abetted by Merv's lover's lawyer. I don't know how this case was resolved, but it did provide us with a great few minutes of sleazy interviewing (both gents look like they came straight from Central Casting), and a chance for those N.Y. Post-style headline writing: "Merv in Jeopardy," kee-rist!
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