The Silver Screen Oasis

KR, was Arthur Godfrey that maniacal? I barely remember him, thought he was just 'folks'...but you know, thinking back, I seem to remember a rant he did once...

The more I think back....I remember my parents liked him, and all of a sudden, he was persona non grata at our house. I was such a little tyke (believe it or not!) I can't remember any discussion, we just didn't listen or watch him anymore. Now I'm curious, too!

There was an issue involving a colleague named Julius LaRosa. I don't know the story. It's hard to believe for young people like us (!), but Arthur Godfrey was a super star. Mostly radio. Early TV, I guess. A household name, as I understand it.

I remember DON McNEIL AND THE BREAKFAST CLUB. The show pre-dates me even. But it was going strong in the mid 1960's. I like radio. I hope it's not phased out by the "everything when you want it" technology. It's nice to be surprised once in a while!

I remember Julius LaRosa, he was the heartthrob on the show, had a beautiful voice. H'm, curiouser and curiouser......

Godfrey fired LaRosa on the air. Eh, Cumpari was one of my first 45s (you know, a disc bigger than a CD, but smaller than an album, with a big hole in the middle).

Here's a fascinating clip that recounts the rather bewildering incident between
Arthur Godfrey and singer Julius LaRosa in 1953.
[youtube][/youtube]

Yes, I was reading about at WIKIpedia (of course THEY are right ) Because he was fired on the air, and Godfrey waited until the last half hour, when the tv broadcast was over, and only the radio portion was being aired, added to the firestorm. Within that same week, he fired several others who had dared to cross his wishes.

In reading about Godfrey, 2 movies were mentioned, Face in the Crowd, and The Great Man. Both were partially attributed to him, but also mentioned Tennessee Ernie Ford and Will Rogers, Sr.!! two MORE icons to fall??????

Alfred Godfrey is one of those radio personalities that my family do not cared for because of the firing of Julius LaRosa. I didn't listen any of his radio shows because I'm hard of hearing (where I live they had repeats of it) and my family was heartbroken when he fired Julius. Because of that, they totally stopped listening his shows and that's was the end of it. To my family he was cruel and mean to people that he worked with (that's is their impressions) and could not quite understand why Julius was fired and because of that they simply cared less about Godfrey. I can't speak for myself here; but I can speak for my family.

Regis Philbin walked off THE JOEY BISHOP SHOW, but returned a few days later. This was a talk show in the mid-1960's. Sure didn't hurt Regis' career!

Should I know THE GREAT MAN? I don't think I've seen it.

RR, it's a 1955 or 56 movie with Jose Ferrer, who also directed, Dean Jagger and Keenan Wynn.

Taglines:
Everybody loved the Great Man except those who hated his guts!

They always mention comics like Milton Berle and Jackie Gleason as being the first big stars of early television, but for a time no one was bigger than Arthur Godfrey. He had a quiet, unassuming demeanor that allowed him to be welcomed into everyone's living room. He was everyone's favorite Uncle.

So when he blew up on the air and fired his singer it shocked a nation for they had never seen this side of him before. Suddenly everyone felt that they had been hoodwinked by this benign character and Godfrey's popularity rapidly tumbled. It was the first instance of television creating a personae and the audience rejecting it.

From what I understand, he did not blow up on the air at all, just wished LaRosa luck as he went off on his own. Unfortunately, LaRosa didn't know about it before hand. Newspapers picked up on the backstage stuff and were critical of Godfrey.

From the info I gathered from a few different websites, the real tie in with Face in the Crowd was that Godfrey made fun of his sponsors on the air and was not well liked behind the scenes. The upshot was that the companies who sponsored the show and were made fun of actually saw sales of their products go UP. That's too much power I guess for any network to put up with.

from what I've read, LaRosa sang a song, and immediately afterwards, Godfrey announced "That was Julie's swan song. We wish him well" etc. The nasty part was, he waited until the tv portion was over, just the radio portion was being aired. No way to see anyone's reaction.....

Johnny Carson had a field day ridiculing Christmas marketing too early in the year. Not knowing the next commercial would be just that! When they came back, Carson and guests laughed it up; got some mileage out of it. I'm willing to bet no harm was done. That was essentially what Johnny was about. No harm.