Celebrations/ Remembrances

Topbilled, I prefer to look at people and their lives on the positive side, especially stars and entertainers of the past.

In my opinion, we're all human beings which means we all have flaws. Entertainers of every generations have things in their personal or professional lives that others don't agree with. I like to think of this Classic Film Forum as a way to celebrate their contributions as entertainers.

I view Johnny Carson with a smile because my Grandmother loved to watch his show and got a lot of happiness doing so. My Grandmother was a first generation immigrant from Czechoslovakia. She was sent to American by her family when she was 16 to find a job and make money so the rest of her family could join her. She worked very hard her whole life - on the farm and in the gardens (I learned how to garden from her when I was little). At the end of the day, when she was older, she would watch Johnny and his guests. She laughed and sooo enjoyed herself. For this I thank Johnny Carson. He brought a lot of joy into my Grandmother's life - and I'm sure into a few others lives as well.

I will continue to look at the positive side of entertainers, stories, films and the people who make them, because it's their contributions that have given the rest of us this wonderful art form!

I don't disagree with either Topbilled or Christine. Johnny during the last years of the TONIGHT SHOW, had rather mean tendencies in his monologues. Compare to the first 20 years monologues. He also seemed to make fun of and insult some of the quirky guests booked on the show, like the woman with the potato chips shaped like animals or people, the woman with the fruitcakes. He also frequently insulted McDonalds. And he could be quite inappropriate with beautiful female guests (that may be the product of his generation which tended to believe women wanted that.)

But he had good guests - how else to see George Segal play his banjo-slapstick antics with Burt Reynolds-Bob Hope, Dean, Bette Davis, and Joan Crawford (I believe she was on the first TONIGHT SHOW he hosted.

In private Johnny was apparently not a sterling character. And it doesn't affect my ability to enjoy watching the shows. In the same way I don't let the truth about some actors' lives affect my ability to lust after their screen personas. There, I've admitted that I have lusted.

Remembering the lovely and talented Barbara Cook, who was born October 25th, 1927. What a voice!