“Hey Wenty!” you ask. “Why have all of your blog posts lately been recaps of Happy Days cliffhanger episodes?”
Because, dear loyal blog reader, there’s been some stress and worry in my feeble mind about things over which I have no control. And “Happy Days” makes me happy. Watching it, writing about it…it’s like a soothing ointment for the poison ivy in my cerebellum.
But man does not live by Fonz alone. So I thought I’d profile another great figure in broadcasting who may or may not be familiar to you by name. Wikipedia kick-starts our discussion:
Born in Los Angeles, California, to a Russian father and a Canadian mother, Dick Tufeld spent his childhood in Pasadena, California. Tufeld attended the Northwestern University School of Communication, then known as the university’s School of Speech. In 1945, he obtained a job as an engineer at KLAC, a radio station in Los Angeles.
Tufeld quickly became a staff announcer for ABC Radio, and by the 1950s was already handling major network television assignments. Check out this portion of one of the “Disneyland” television series episodes, “Man In Space.” That’s Tufeld narrating. The voice will be instantly recognizable, especially if you grew up watching TV in this era.
Tufeld did a large amount of work for Walt Disney Productions in the decades to come. But his most famous role would come from the fantasy worlds of Irwin Allen…and also involve space. Yes, Dick Tufeld was the Robot in the CBS sci-fi series “Lost In Space”. It was a role that would land him a voice cameo on “The Simpsons” and eternal fandom.
Another gig that kept Tufeld very busy in the 1960’s: the booming, effervescent announcer of ABC’s variety spectacular “The Hollywood Palace.” “Palace” was the series built from the ashes of “The Jerry Lewis Show”, one of TV’s all-time notorious catastrophes; apparently two hours of live, unrehearsed TV with Jerry Lewis every Saturday night was not what people wanted in 1963. “The Hollywood Palace” basically kept the theater and the cameras and did “The Ed Sullivan Show” with celebrity guest hosts instead of Ed.
Incidentally, there are dozens and dozens of “Hollywood Palace” episodes on YouTube, and most still have the old commercials that aired with the show. They’re each a fascinating time capsule of the moment they originally aired.
The nice thing about “Palace” for Dick Tufeld is that he got a credit, even if he had to read it himself:
In the 70s and 80s Tufeld continued to be…well, omnipresent. He was an in-demand talent for every kind of voiceover assignment. Network promos:
Commercials…
And last but not least: proving yet again that announcers never look how they sound, here’s Dick Tufeld on “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show”, announcing for Garry’s “Name The Schumaker Baby” contest. Shandling’s series was a non-stop parade of 4th-wall-breaking conceits (“I feel a dissolve coming on”) and television references; in another episode Forgotten Icon Of Broadcasting Ed Herlihy takes the announcing chores when Red Buttons buys Garry’s house and, of course, his show.
Dick Tufeld died in 2012, 14 years after being the only original cast member to reprise their role in the big-budget “Lost In Space” movie. That was the kind of voice and the kind of talent Dick Tufeld possessed: irreplaceable.