"The show tonight is our farewell show" - Johnny Carson (5/22/92)...
It's hard to believe that 14 years have passed since the reign of late-night king Johnny Carson ended with his final monologue on May 22nd, 1992. Johnny opened his last show by thanking Robin Williams and Bette Midler for "giving us an excellent show" just the night before. How can we ever forget the Divine Miss M singing to the host of The Tonight Show for an entire generation ? Johnny wasn't the only one shedding a tear after that Kleenex moment...
Johnny reminisced about his first show, "We started the show October 2, 1962. The total population of the Earth was 3 billion, 100 million people. This summer 5 billion, 500 million people, which is a net increase of 2 billion, 400 million people, which should give us some pause. A more amazing statistic is that half of those 2 billion, 400 million people will soon have their own late-night TV show"...
| Johnny Carson decided to talk directly to his audience rather than have guests for his last show. "I would prefer to end like we started -- rather quietly in our same time slot, in front of the same shabby little set. It is rather shabby. We offered it to a homeless shelter and they said 'no thank you'. I am taking the applause sign home -- putting it in my bedroom. And maybe once a week just turning it on"... Johnny had some personal thoughts for his family mentioning his wife Alex, sons Chris and Cory, his brother Dick, sister Katherine, some nephews and nieces who were there to witness his final show. Johnny also mentioned how he would have loved to have his late son Rick there but mentioned that "life does what it is supposed to do and you accept it and you go on". Johnny then introduced a retrospective of his 30 years of hosting The Tonight Show which featured some 23,000 guests and a lifetime of some of the best television moments ever seen... More May 22 Memories... 1761] The 1st life insurance policy in the U.S. is issued in Philadelphia... 1892] Dr. Sheffield, a British dentist, invents the toothpaste tube (didn't you always wonder how they get the toothpaste into a tube ?)... 1900] The Associated Press is incorporated as a non-profit news cooperative in New York (quite altruistic...but shtoopid not to mention short-lived)... 1908] The Wright Brothers register their flying machine for a U.S. patent... 1939] Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini sign a "pact of steel" commiting Germany and Italy to a military alliance and storm clouds for the free world... 1954] Robert Zimmerman (who you might know as the future Bob Dylan) is bar mitzvahed in Hibbing, Minnesota after taking private Hebrew lessons... 1955] A scheduled dance to be headlined by Fats Domino is cancelled by police in Bridgeport, CT because "rock and roll dances may be featured"... 1961] Ernie K-Doe is #1 with "Mother-In-Law"... 1963] Mickey Mantle homers off the facade atop the 3rd tier in rightfield at Yankee Stadium just a couple of feet from becoming the 1st ball ever hit out of the stadium... 1966] "When a Man Loves a Woman" is #1 for Percy Sledge (a remake of the song by Michael Bolton will also top the charts in 1991)... 1967] Florence Ballard appears with the Supremes for the last time on "The Tonight Show" (in July Motown replaces her with Cindy Birdsong)... 1967] "To Tell the Truth" bows out after 11 years as a game show (the original panel consisted of Polly Bergen, Hy Gardner and Hildy Parks who would soon be replaced by Kitty Carlisle. Bud Collyer was the original host)... 1969] The lunar module of Apollo 10 separates from the command module and flies to within 9 miles of the moon in a dress rehearsal for the 1st lunar landing... 1972] The Chi-Lites are #1 with "Oh Girl"... 1977] Janet Guthrie becomes the 1st woman to earn a spot in the Indy 500 since its inception in 1911... 1980] Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue (who considered wearing a gown until Marlo slapped him silly) say their "I do's" (Donahue's "I do" lasted an hour and a half and consisted of Phil going into the audience with a mic)... 1992] Johnny Carson hosts "The Tonight Show" for the last time (feature story)... 2002] The remains of Chandra Levy, the federal intern who disappeared more than a year earlier, are found in a Washington park (California Congressman Gary Condit was questioned in the case due to his relationship with Levy)... 2003] Annika Sorenstam becomes the 1st woman since 1945 to tee off against the men in the Colonial Golf tournament in Fort Worth, Texas (but she would miss the cut)... 2004] Christopher's girlfriend Adriana gets whacked on the Sopranos (mercifully, Vito who had some gender issues, gets the same treatment last night and sleeps with the fishes next to Adriana and a host of others)... [To ensure accuracy of dates and content, mutiple reference sources are used in the timeline]... "Happy Trails To"... Former Hartford, Philadelphia, etc. DJ Long John Wade, who accompanied the Beatles on their 1964 tour of the U.S. passed away from a lengthy illness over the weekend at a retirement home on Cape Cod at 66. Wade had retired in 1979 and moved to the Cape because of health problems... Freddie and the Dreamers lead singer Freddie Garrity, who died from emphysema at 65 over the weekend. Only 5'3", Freddie slung his arms around and bounced on stage to "Do the Freddie" and the group's biggest hit, which reached #1, "I'm Telling you Now". This was a fun act to watch and underrated but should be given a place for their contribution to the British Invasion... "Happy Birthday, happy birthday"... 1922] Movie critic Judith Crist... 1924] Charles Aznavour... 1927] Michael ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding") Constantine... 1934] Peter Nero... 1938] Richard Benjamin... 1950] Bernie Taupin... 1959] Morissey (Smith and solo)... [Today is the 142nd day of 2006 with 223 days remaining in the year and 7 days until Memorial Day]... ... |
