Sorry for the hurried diary, but we lost one of the good guys today.
After serving in the WWII navy, Mike Douglas was a night club singer in the 50s, the voice of Prince Charming in Disney's Sleeping Beauty, and as best known, the host of an afternoon TV talk show, The Mike Douglas Show, from 1961 to 1982.
His guests included many talk/variety standbys of the day - entertainers like Tony Bennett, Alan King, Judy Garland, Sergio Franchi, Liberace, the usual suspects, circa 1965. Light fare that many homemakers, such as my Mom, would have on in the background as they finished the days chores. But, what made him special was his willingness to recognize the significance of many parts of our culture of the day.
Beyond the standbys, he also had many (then) new young comics who went on to becomes icons on their own such as Bill Cosby, Richie Pryor, and George Carlin. He also featured authors, including Robert Frost and James Michener, thinkers such as Margaret Meade, politicians, activists - a half dozen past or future occupants of the White House - numerous controversial figures, such as Ralph Nader, Jerry Rubin, F. Lee Bailey, and Bobby Seale, and he had many of the hottest, most significant musical acts of the time on as guests - The Animals, The Who, The Doors, and, numerous times, John Lennon, Smokey Robinson, and Frank Zappa. Gene Simmons, in full Kiss regalia, was a guest; jazz greats like Louis Armstrong, Grover Washington. John and Yoko even hosted the show a couple of times when Douglas was on vacation, and he let them pick the guests and create the show.
He didn't just bring us the standard white bread world, he brought a wide spectrum of what was happening, from all parts of our culture. He always was respectful of and interested in what his guests had to say, never treated them patronizingly, or like an inside joke with his audience.
Many shows had a live house band, but Mike Douglas was the only one with a female band leader, Ellie Frankel and her quintet.
Mike Douglas may have looked like a Brylcreemed square on the outside, but he was a broadly liberal minded guy who brought an un usually wide world to his afternoon audience. Check out the breadth of his guest list at www.themikedouglasshow.com
Mike Douglas died today, on his 81st birthday. If there is an afterlife, John Lennon's probably showing him around, right now.