It’s been a while since I did some decent reading. (Comic books don’t count.) But here are some books that I have enjoyed. They’re all in my areas of interest, which is…well, TV, radio, cartoons…all those sophisticated subjects.
“We’re Live In 5” By Jeff Margolis
Jeff Margolis is a television producer and director. He was in the control room, cueing the cameras for “The Sonny And Cher Comedy Hour”, “Tony Orlando And Dawn”, a few hundred television specials, 30 or 40 awards shows and the like.
The book is a fascinating story of how a young TV-addicted kid found his way into the television business. (It helped that his uncle was Monty Hall of “Let’s Make A Deal” fame). Margolis found his earliest TV gigs on variety shows and specials (including Perry Como Christmas specials!). Through the 70s, 80s and 90s he produced and/or directed specials featuring Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett, Frank Sinatra, and dozens more. Some of these are absolutely legendary, like the 1990 “Sammy Davis Jr. 60th Anniversary Celebration”, taped just after Davis was diagnosed with throat cancer. Davis could not sing at his own celebration…but with some help from Gregory Hines he gave one last performance:
As variety TV specials fell out of favor, Margolis became known for producing and directing televised award shows. His first such gig was the 1989 Academy Awards, which ended up in the hall of shame for this woefully misguided opening number:
This book is a very entertaining look at the role of the television director–and how television as an entertainment medium has changed over the years. Incidentally, in college I took some TV classes and actually directed some very simple amateur TV programs. A television director looks at several monitors and selects which camera angle should be used on air. It’s not easy!
Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television
By Todd S. Purdum
Quite the provocative title for this excellent biography; Desi Arnaz did not invent television. But he revolutionized how television was made, and how we as viewers are able to watch programs that were created 75 years ago.
Desi Arnaz was born in the lap of luxury, his father a powerful politician in Cuba. But after a Cuban revolution the Arnaz family relocated to Miami, living in a rat-infested warehouse.
In search of a better life Desi began to learn the guitar. From that humble start he joined the Xavier Cugat band; started his own band introducing the conga; became the bandleader for Bob Hope’s radio show; and played a role in the RKO movie “Too Many Girls”. One of those girls was a redhead named Lucille Ball.
“I Love Lucy”– the series that was created to save Lucy and Desi’s marriage–almost never happened. CBS and the show’s sponsor, Phillip Morris cigarettes, insisted that the Arnazes perform the show live from New York City. This was to ensure the best picture quality for the largest audience; this was before videotape, and the only way to preserve a TV show was via kinescope, a lousy-quality film print made by pointing a movie camera at a TV screen. Lucy and Desi, being west coasters, did not cotton to the idea of moving east.
Desi insisted that there had to be a way to produce the show on film–and he also insisted that the show would have to be filmed in front of a live studio audience, because Lucy was at her best with an audience. The story of Desi’s dogged determination to figure out a way to do the show in the format and location that suited them is remarkable. It was this adamancy that led a representitve of Phillip Morris’ advertising agency to say, quote: “Don’t f— with the Cuban.” In addition to providing top quality film prints to every CBS affiliate, Desi’s efforts essentially created the rerun.
The book goes beyond the creation and success of “I Love Lucy” to investigate Arnaz’ flawed behavior. He was an alcoholic, finally joining AA a year before his passing; and he was a constant philanderer, becoming a familiar face at brothels throughout southern California. The story of the doomed-to-fail marraige of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz has been told in a multitude of volumes…but this latest biography offers a new perspective and, with the support of Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr., as reliable a telling as we may ever have,
Winking At Life
By Wink Martindale
Earlier this year we lost the great Wink Martindale, which led me to find a used copy of this autobiography. Winston Conrad Martindale began his decades-long radio career at the tender age of 17. He began in Jackson, Tennessee and moved on to Memphis, where Martindale was in the WHBQ studios when Elvis Presley’s “That’s All RIght Mama” made its radio debut. Martindale soon became a radio and television personality, hosting “dance party” programs on local TV stations. One such local program featured an interview with Elvis:
WIth radio and television success in his grasp, Wink then becomes a recording artist, scoring a top 10 hit with “Deck Of Cards”:
Wink’s story follows him up the mountain of radio success, to Los Angeles, and eventually as a television personality on a national level. The 1970’s brought his greatest level of fame:
The book is written with the same friendly nature and good humor that made Wink Martindale such a welcome guest on TV sets and radios…and there are surprises to be found in these pages, about Wink’s relationship with Elvis, his laundry list of game show host roles, and his surge of popularity in the 1990’s on the cable TV game show “Debt.”