Variety shows on television were ubiquitous during the 1950’s, 1960’s and early 1970’s. Major comedy and singing stars, from Milton Berle to Dean Martin, and Danny Kaye to Sonny & Cher, lit up the airwaves and achieved incredible ratings. By the late 1970’s they had lost steam, as audiences switched over to more hard-hitting comedy and drama series.
Sid & Marty Krofft, who had been producing kids’ television shows including H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville, and half a dozen other successful series in the early 1970’s, signed a deal with ABC-TV at the behest of the division’s president Fred Silverman, to produce a weekly variety series featuring Donny & Marie Osmond (The Kroffts would eventually be negotiated out as the Osmond family asserted more control over the production).
The show premiered in early 1976 on ABC, but was videotaped on the KTLA lot’s largest stage, Stage 6. Interestingly, Stage 6 was the one where Warner Bros.’ “The Jazz Singer,” the first ‘talking picture’ and major movie featuring synchronized sound, was shot in 1927.
As was the case with many television shows and films, the production process started much earlier than the first day of shooting. It was during one of those early pre-production days that I first ran into Donny on the KTLA lot when I was working as a page (with duties varying from days in the mailroom to seating audiences at tapings, all at a glorious $2.50 an hour).
I introduced myself and told him I’d be working on the show, and he was quite engaging, with that ever-present smile and upbeat nature. For five minutes we spoke in the solitude of an empty soundstage, but it would be a month before we’d meet again.
Having some seniority by then on the small page staff, I had been given a few of the best assignments, including working on the set of musical group Sha Na Na’s variety series, where every episode featured wonderful ‘50s hits live on stage and I got to meet many of that decade’s biggest stars (my favorites, Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell). When Donny & Marie tapings were finally under way, I had been given my favorite assignment of all from those years, working backstage between Donny & Marie’s dressing rooms with nothing to do but help them and each week’s guest stars with whatever they may have needed.
On Day One Donny saw me at the end of the backstage hall and came over with a cheery greeting, and I was blown away that even though a month had passed when we first spoke, he remembered my name and what we’d talked about. That we were both 19 years old and perhaps had similar perspectives on things as teenagers, it was more likely that we could bond (the Jew and Morman difference notwithstanding). That was also the day I first met Marie, who was 17 and equally as charming.
With production under way, I was blessed to be able to meet and assist all their famous guest stars. Paul Lynde was a regular, whose dressing room was only a few feet away from where I would regularly stand. Though when not on stage he’d usually park himself in that dressing room, he’d sometimes come out in the hall and with his unforgettable panache, keeping everyone in stitches.
I also had the opportunity to get to know the rest of the Osmond Brothers, as they all (including youngest brother Jimmy) were in every episode and very active in the musical direction of the show. Sometimes after a rehearsal or on an off day, I’d join them for touch football games at the Mormon Temple on Santa Monica Blvd. I even wrote and registered a movie treatment for them which was under consideration for a while, though I knew the odds were long that it would ever get produced.
Other than specific stars I met who I’ll mention shortly, one of my most memorable days on the set came in early September 1977, the show’s third season. By then I knew brother Jay Osmond well enough for this to happen…
From my journal, September 3, 1977:
The last two days presented one of the most interesting episodes I’ve encountered at KTLA since I started 16 months ago. On Thursday, a girlfriend of Jay’s, Lori, came backstage on the Donny & Marie Show.
Lori was a stewardess, and in town from Atlanta for a day or two. But she was not the girlfriend Jay was expecting.
As a matter of fact, Jay had a date with another girl, who he was to take to the Rams game Thursday night. When she came to the studio at 4:00, a frantic Jay had two girls sitting in the audience one behind the other! Frantically, he asked me to take his date into the dressing room while I took the other girl (Lori) to the green room. Oh, what a pickle!
He said goodbye to Lori, inviting her back for Friday, and asked me if I could perhaps entertain her and drop her off at a hotel for the evening.
That I did, after the workday was done. Having never been to LA, I drove her around a bit, stopping for a seafood dinner at Tony’s on the pier in Redondo Beach, and then to the valley to a motel on Ventura Blvd. Inside her room she called Atlanta to check in (I assume with her parents). The room was a crack-up, with mirrors on the ceiling! And there I was, with a gorgeous stewardess in her room with mirrored ceilings…we spoke a bit…and NOTHING happened!
The next morning I picked her up and took her to breakfast before heading into the station. She saw the taping, had her moments with Jay, and then good ole Jim Zrake drove her back to the airport. A fleeting moment with a gorgeous girl…and again…NOTHING! Thanks for the memories!
Though by that time I was 20 years old, and not so shy that I wouldn’t ask young women out who were visiting the station (The Bay City Rollers, a rock group fresh off their hit “I Only Wanna Be With You,” had a variety show that also taped at KTLA, and the teenage fans would line up DAYS in advance outside the station hoping to get a seat for the show; I did have the opportunity to get to know a few of them), there wasn’t a chance in the world that I would hit on one of Jay Osmond’s girlfriends!
Among the great stars that appeared on the show during 1976 and 1977 were many from the “Golden Age” of TV and film. Here are a few of my favorites:
DESI ARNAZ – Probably most exciting for me was getting to engage with Desi Arnaz. I introduced myself and checked him into his dressing room when he arrived, brought him coffee and checked in on him periodically. In that memorable Cuban accent I loved from growing up watching I Love Lucy, getting to hear him call me “Dawg” and talk to me a bit about mutual interests was a real joy.
GLEN CAMPBELL – I introduced him to a visitor backstage, a young Saudi princess who couldn’t have been more than 11 or 12 years old at the time. Over the previous few years there had been a few assassinations of Saudi royalty, including their king in 1975, which was not lost on Campbell when he said hello and asked the young girl “what do you want to be if you grow up?”
CYD CHARISSE – I adored her from MGM movie musicals and complimented her on her body of work (pun intended…she was gorgeous). And she was pure class.
GROUCHO MARX – Groucho only weeks before his death came in to be on the show, but was too fragile and ended up being walked out to his car before he was called. The ads in TV Guide for the episode had already been published and viewers hoping to see the movie icon were sorely disappointed.
ROZ KELLY – “Pinky Tuscadero” on Happy Days was as loud and forward as her character on the show. When I knocked on her door to tell her she was wanted on the stage, she opened it wearing only panties. “Haven’t you ever seen a girl’s boobs before?” she asked boldly (I had).
THURL RAVENSCROFT – The Star Wars characters appeared for a sketch on the show in 1977. While they probably couldn’t afford James Earl Jones to do the voice of Darth Vader, they did bring in the next best thing. Thurl Ravenscroft was the voice of Tony the Tiger in Frosted Flakes commercials (“They’re Grrrrrrrrrreat!”) and one of the Disneyland Haunted Mansion’s Grim Grinning Ghosts (“When the crypt doors creak and the tombstones quake…”). A delight talking to him.
EDGAR BERGEN – Another gracious guest backstage, signing autographs for all who asked, I’ve always been amazed at how a ventriloquist could have gained fame on the radio.
BERNADETTE PETERS - It was early in her career, and I was entranced with her. We spoke about old movies from the Golden Age and I mentioned that I thought she resembled actress Jean Arthur, who was big in Hollywood from the silents through the 1940’s. She agreed and took it as a compliment!
BARRY MANILOW - Marie was a huge fan of his, and when he surprised her on the set during a taping with a big gift box for her birthday, out jumped an adorable puppy and it was one of the most precious moments of the entire run. Spoke to him only in passing…he was at the height of his popularity and generated more excitement than any of the other guests I can recall.
Interestingly, BOB HOPE and LUCILLE BALL were frequent guests on the show and a few others I worked on at KTLA. But every time I was backstage or on the sidelines when one of them were there, they were always in the company of two or three others…handlers, publicists or friends, I’m not sure. I could never get the opportunity for a one-on-one chat.
But there were plenty more with whom I did converse. During my first season on the show I was yet to start my nightly journal, so some of the memories have gone, but my memories of Donny & Marie remain prominently.
I reunited with them in 1997 when they were promoting a new syndicated talk show they were cohosting (Marie recalled our “date” that never happened which I referred to in last week’s article) and again in 2009 after a performance of their show in Las Vegas. We caught up and reminisced about old times.
When I speak with young people today about the early days of my career, many of them don’t know Donny & Marie Osmond, much less the guest stars from a bygone era who lit up the silver screen and early days of television. Those who do usually have fond recollections of the variety show, clips of which are easily found on YouTube. I watch them and get nostalgic because I WAS THERE, only a few feet away when they were recorded.