Maybe not before 1962 when he was still a game show host, but sometime during his time as host of the Tonight Show.
A new (to me) program on Turner Classic Movies (Carson on TCM) made me think about the different times the Nebraskan entertainer crossed my path.
As a kid, I wasn't allowed to watch Mr. Carson very often. Maybe, if school was out of session or a Friday night or on a trip I could watch a little of the show.
As hard as it may be to believe in 2014 - televisions were not as ubiquitous as they are now. My folks had two TVs in the house (although not in my room except for very rare special occasions) and both were black and white.
When I headed to college, I didn't have my own TV and what programming I saw was on the common TV in the residence hall recreation room.
Finally, for my last nine months of college I had my first apartment. It was an efficiency apartment just off Merle Hay Road in Des Moines and cost the grand sum of $195 a month. It was great.
It's where I had my first TV. A 9" black and white portable TV. On that TV, I could see Johnny Carson.
My job at this time was downtown at WHO radio, working a shift from 12 midnight to 7am. My alarm would wake me a little before 10:30pm, and my "morning show" host was Johnny.
After college, I lost track for a few years as my work changed to day-side and a 4:30am wake up to get to work on time at 5.
Johnny Carson was still there when my schedule changed, and his monologue and sketches with some pretty interesting interviews tucked me into bed. I distinctly remember his last show in 1992; a classy close to a long and wonderful run.
That's what made this discovery so much fun.
The show on TCM shows some of Carson's interviews with movie stars. That makes sense TCM shows classic movies.
The one I saw had interviews with Jimmy Stewart (1979), Jack Lemon (1979), Sally Field (1976), Diane Keaton (1972), and Angie Dickinson (1980).
What struck me was the genuine nature of the interview - a real conversation between Johnny and his guest. The audience didn't rush in with applause at odd or random times which gave the conversation time to breathe. The interviews were not limited to a few minutes and weren't focused entirely on the movie the star was there to promote.
So far, I'm liking what I've seen in Jimmy Fallon's version of Johnny's show... but the pace is rapid-fire compared to the pauses we were comfortable with 30 years ago or more.
It's just another marker in the passage of time, I guess.
So, if you're looking for the wormhole back to the 1970s and a quieter more calm time in our lives... check out "Carson on TCM."
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