TV Host Mike Douglas Dies

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Mike Douglas Signs Off

by Joal Ryan
Aug 11, 2006, 2:05 PM PT

Tiger Woods putted. Gene Simmons wagged his tongue. John Lennon cohosted. The Mike Douglas Show was nothing if not fearlessly devoted to variety.

Mike Douglas, the genial namesake host of the 1963-1982 talk show that in its own genial way beamed the counterculture right into the American kitchenette, died on his 81st birthday Friday.

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Douglas' wife, Genevieve Douglas, told the Associated Press that her husband passed away at a Palm Beach, Florida, hospital, one day after his admission. She said he'd been treated on and off for dehydration for the past few weeks, but that she did not know the cause of death.

Guests on Douglas' long-running show, which debuted on local TV in Cleveland in 1961, and went national two years later, were an eclectic bunch: Muhammad Ali; Liberace; Sly Stone; Judy Garland; Brian Wilson; the 2-year-old Tiger Woods (his TV debut); and the fully costumed, fully demonized KISS version of Gene Simmons.

"I'm evil incarnate," Simmons hissed while sitting on stage between Douglas and Vegas comedian Totie Fields.

In the 1974 episode, Fields theorized that Simmons, underneath all the makeup, really was just a "nice Jewish boy"; Douglas politely inquired about the origins of his "getup." Neither seemed fazed by the monster antics. After all, nothing ever bad ever happened on The Mike Douglas Show.

Rosie O'Donnell frequently cited Douglas' program--its leisurely chats, its warm celebrations of entertainers, its lack of chair-throwing Geraldo brawls--as the template for her own 1996-2002 daytime talk show.

"He was a kind and gentle man," O'Donnell said Friday. "I have fond memories of watching him when I was a little girl."

The secret to the Douglas show's success, the New York Times surmised in 1968, was that its host--the "handsome, blue-eyed and extremely affable" entertainer born Michael Dowd Jr. in Chicago in 1925--had "discovered the pot o' gold buried in the heart of the American kitchen."

But Douglas and his show weren't schmaltz. He was hip enough to interview a fast-talking Wilson about the Beach Boy's drug use; his audience was genuine enough to gasp when the rocker copped to a $100-a-day cocaine habit.

In addition to the young Rosie O'Donnell, the radicalized John Lennon also was a Douglas fan. In 1972, the ex-Beatle and wife Yoko Ono cohosted a week's worth of shows with their favorite Irish tenor. Guests included Broadway performer Vivian Reed and Black Panther Bobby Seale.

"All in all, it was a wild week of '70s television," WFMU's Beware of the Blog said in a 2005 review. "Try to find a mainstream TV national show these days that will feature a week of radical left-wing politics, rock-'n'-roll, and occasional caterwauling."

Douglas' show ended in the early 1980s, an era marked by a changing of the daytime TV guard. Gone were Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin and Dinah!; on the way in, give or take a few years, were Oprah, Sally Jessy, Geraldo and more.

In later years, Douglas lived in Palm Beach, wrote a book about his TV years, and guested--more than once--on The Rosie O'Donnell Show.
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May he RIP
 
Heard that earlier today. Only the cnn boob said "Michael Douglas" died, and I'm like wow Kirk lost two sons in one year.

Anyways, best to Mike's family.
 
He was a favorite of mine when I was a kid... his show is where I first heard the likes of Tony Bennet and Tom Jones. Its where I first heard David Brenner ask why we get ten hot dogs but only eight buns. Saw Brooke Shields as a kid, interviewed with her mom about Pretty Baby. He has always been a standard of a bygone era in daytime tv... :(
 
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man i loved that show. he had balls to have some of the radicals on, and keep the show going without a hitch..............the sixtys was soul....no gimmicks no staged crap they have now..
 
ravinesedge, was Mike Douglas a neccesary kill? Keith is still live and happy- which is not supposed to be.
 
Back in 1974, I was playing drums with a show group called The Kim Brothers. (For those of you old enough to remember the Kim Sisters from the Ed Sullivan show, these were their brothers).

At the time, we were working in Valley Forge, Pa. We appeared on the Mike Douglas Show on 7/25/1974. He really was amazing. None of us had ever met the guy but he made us feel so at ease. It was like he knew us forever. Unbelievably smooth. We did a 9 minute segment on his show. It was truly a great experience for me at that time of my career.

Unfortunately, when we returned home from the road to Las Vegas, the day it was to air it was blacked out. I never got to see the appearance. However, I have found out that I can get a copy of the show from the producers in L.A. at the meager cost of $400.00 to transfer from the "2" to current format. Some day I plan on getting a copy.

Just thought I'd share my Mike Douglas experience.

Mark Dalzell / AudioScapes
Las Vegas, NV
www.markdalzell.com
 
I would gladly pay it (if it were me, I mean) heh! I am glad to hear a first person account confirming what I always felt, that he as a real class act. :)
 
There's always a possibility that they may release several DVD package's now at a much cheaper price. Just wait and see I guess. But in the event they don't, then I'll probably pony up the $400.00 to get a copy.

Mark
 
kool stuff mdslammer............hey how many dvxusers on this site? we could chip in to buy this segment for you! or are we that cheap?
 
i've noticed nobody seems to like what i say sometimes, or understand? ...............oh i'm so wwwonly ...so wwwonly. hahahahahaheheheheheh...........maybe because i'm krazzzy
 
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