APPEARING as a guest on the TONIGHT SHOW about 30 or so years ago was then Critic of TV GUIDE, the late Cleveland Emory. Sitting in as substitute was guest host and former (and original) Emcee, Steve Allen. Other than the expected business of asking the very outspoken Mr. Amory about his likes and dislikes of the current video medium offerings, the discussion turned toward creativity. Without hesitation, Cleveland Amory named his three top creative men in television; one being the multi-faceted talent of Steve, with the second being Dave Garroway. The trio was rounded out by the fast living, cigar chomping former Disc Jockey and manic comedy producer, Mr. Ernie Kovacs.
ASSEMBLING one's honor roll consisting of these three should come as no surprise; as they surely rose above the crowd in those early TV days, having few near competitors to enumerate. (Although, excuse me, 'Cleve'; but I would add Soupy Sales to the roster. Honest, Schultz!) All had some peculiarity of their own; placing their own inimitable brands on the volumes of works left behind. Each has also left his own indelible print on their own genres and hence has been inspiration and true role models to those who followed.
MR. GARROWAY brought sincerity and a natural, one to one conversational style to his Emcee & Starring positions on GARROWAY AT LARGE as well as his long run as the first host of NBC's TODAY SHOW. Steve Allen's energy and off-the-wall, usually non-sequitor comic style has been an obvious inspiration to many an upstart funny man; with David Letterman's great following and longevity coming immediately to mind.
THE third member of this artistic triumvirate, Ernie Kovacs, with the shortest life of all and the often most outlandish and truly "deep", meaningful routines, perhaps had the most long-lasting affect on posterity.
SIMPLY stated as the reason we go through this rather intricate opening simply because of Mr. Ernie Kovacs. He was the first one to make use of video tape (circa 1958) in much the same way that Mack Sennett, Hal Roach and other silent film producers used film. Any examination of Kovacs' the sketches in his specials or the 'clues' in his Comedy-Game Show, TAKE A GOOD LOOK, will render this point very obvious.
LONG about 1968, following closely on the success of THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR (CBS), NBC brought us ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN; which combined a lot of contemporary music, quick one liners, non-sequitor sketches with the OP-Art/Pop-Art sets, Carnaby Street Fashion and full-blooded, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass-type music.
EARLY on, both Dan Rowan & (the lovely) Dick Martin admitted their debt to Ernie and even reprised the famous sight-gag sketch that combines the girl taking the bubble bath with the old multitude of Circus Clown emerging from the little car gag.
IMITATION being the sincerest form of flattery, an old adage which holds up even more so in Hollywood and in Show Business generally, the idea came along to writer Frank Peppiatt to do a sort of LAUGH-IN knock off; albeit one with a decidedly rural, Southern, "Good-Old-Boy " setting, Veteran performers from the Country & Western Circuits would be culled and pressed into service to amuse and entertain a TV audience composed of many a new found fan; to whom the "Hillbilly Music" and Kountry Korn humor was new.
USING the name recognition and talents of the great C & W Singer, Buck Owens as Master of Ceremonies, HEE HAW stocked its Orchestra with local, "home grown" veteran Nashville Musicians from Grand Ole Opry service. Added to this we had generous servings of Country Humor; as provided by many a master Country stage comedian.
HEE-HAW's role of honor read like a Who's Who of Nashville, and all long before we heard of any CMA (That's Country Music Association and its CMA Awards. Got it, Schultz?) Either as regular cast members or as guest Stars, the Show boasted of names like: Emcee Buck Owens, Junior Samples, Minnie Pearl, Loretta Lynn, Roy Clark, David 'Stringbean'Akeman, Jeannie C. Riley, Tammy Wynette, Grandpa Jones, Dennis Weaver, Roy Acuff, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Larry Gatlin, Barbara Mandrell, Reba McIntire, George Jones, Charley Pride, George "Goober" Lindsey, Waylon Jennings, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sheb Wooley, Dolly Parton, Patti Page, the Sons of the Pioneers, the Oak Ridge Boys, etc., etc. Well, you get the picture.
FREE WHEELING fun was the order of the day for a typical HEE HAW. There was great music served up by the Original Artists. Always there was a plentiful supply of quick, rapid fire, one liners. And, although there was a lot of innuendo and sexual titillation involved with a lot of well endowed ladies decked out in wardrobe like Lil Abner's girlfriend, Daisy May, they always managed to balance things out in the end.
YOU see, they would always have a Gospel Song or an American Standard Spiritual included; being presented in a most serious and solemn a moment, a real departure from the rest of the proceedings. This was their way of providing content containing the "Sociably redeeming content".
WELL, overalls, hay bales, corn fields and barnyards not withstanding; they sure must have been doing something right! After all, this weekly dose of hour-long Kountry Korn far out-lasted most any and all series on TV; being on the tube, network and in syndication, from 1969-93! POODLE SCHNITZ!!
