I Told You Mitch Miller Was A Joker…Can You Spot The Joke Here?
On July 7, 2014
- TV History
I Told You Mitch Miller Was A Joker…Can You Spot The Joke Here?
As you watch, you’re in for a surprise as there is “a joker in the deck”, but not a word was ever said about it on the show. Thanks to Kevin Vahey for this bit of fun. (The joker, Johnny Carson, shows up at 2:53, 3:28 and 4:11)
Thank you FrBob Sewvello! That camera work was done by my dad, Bill Flood. He was the crane camera operator for Mitch Miller for years. Nice to see his work again. He was also friends with Leslie Uggams and used to tell the story of how he taught her to drive a stick shift around the streets surrounding Brooklyn Studios. I miss my dad, he passed in 2009.
Wow! Bob McGrath who went on to Sesame Street. The man is ageless.
Looked like Johnny was ‘caught’ not singing, and had to go to ‘chorus’ mode.
Its funny at the end they announce the montreal Canadians playing Detroit. It means that the airdate of this show was APRIL 22, 1966, with Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals played on Sunday, APRIL 24th.
Great camera work between 5:10 and 6:30 . The men had to move out of the way so the huge RCA TK-41 camera could move around the set. Amazing!
My long lost good pal Fred Baskin who worked Q prompter for Mitch Miller as well as Ed Sullivan told me of a cute story about Mitch..Back in that time the networks were still skiddish about highlighting black people on TV. Mitch found Leslie Uggams and loved her. He pushed NBC and introduced her on his show. But there was one thing that Mitch absolutely forbid her to do……He would not allow her to play cards with the rest of his singers because he knew that they would clean her out!! She was young and innocent and they were ruthless players.
There’s….Johnny!
Wow – did I see Johnny Carson in the chorus?