Here's to a better, stronger America! (points to flag)
September 13, 2008 5:54 AM Subscribe
GEORGE PUTNAM (all caps, because that's the way he said everything), Los Angeles Television/Radio Legend, has died at the age of 94. A protege of Walter Winchell who came to L.A. in 1951 to restart a stalled career as a news anchor, he was famous for his dramatic style and extremely UNobjective reporting. Retrospective of his colorful career: Part One, Part Two. Best known on the Web as the "outstanding news reporter" who narrated the '50s alarmist documentary "Perversion for Profit", he was also acknowledged as the model for the Mary Tyler Moore show's bombastic newsman character Ted Baxter (seen here sitting in on a real newscast). Not restricting his editorializing to his daily "One Reporter's Opinion" segment, he is credited/blamed for the election of Sam Yorty as mayor of Los Angeles. And when TV News outgrew him, he found a home for the next 30 years doing Talk Radio (where some of us believe Rush Limbaugh also modeled his style after him). And that’s the up-to-the-minute obitfilter; up to the minute, that’s all the obitfilter.
In lieu of a moment-of-silence signifying "." I would recommend an emphatic "!"
In lieu of a moment-of-silence signifying "." I would recommend an emphatic "!"
I have a personal memory of this bombastic broadcaster. In 1976, KFI Radio moved its studios, giving up a facility that included a 'live audience' studio where Golden Age radio shows including Jack Benny's was produced. "Sweet" Dick Whittington, who was doing a daily offbeat talk show at KFI at the time, put his own spin onto the event and staged a final broadcast that was an old-style talent show with amateur talent recruited and auditioned over the phone on his regular show. Every television station in Los Angeles sent a news crew to the event, filming the singers, dancers, magicians and jugglers performing on the radio. (Think about that a moment)
When a couple of the performers failed to show up, Dick saw one of his better known 'regular' callers (a college student who would later work for him as his Producer at another station) in the audience and sent an assistant to ask him to get on stage and do SOMETHING. A few minutes later, Dick feigned surprise as he introduced an all-too-familiar 'amateur' who stepped out in front of several hundred people and a half-dozen cameras and announced his intent to do... a tightrope-walking act. Nervous laughter ensued; the chubby teenager in street clothes didn't look the part. So he went on to explain that the truck with all his equipment was stuck in traffic so he would have to improvise. He then picked up a large cable sitting near the front of the stage, laid it out as straight as he could, and, while scat-singing some circus music, carefully walked the "Ground-Level High-Wire" across the stage and back again, earning enthusiastic applause after he jumped off the cable and yelled "TA DAA!" Afterwards, KFI's Chief Engineer took him aside and told him to never touch the cables again.
That evening, the News broadcasts on every Los Angeles station showed 'highlights' of the broadcast, most as their show-closing 'Lighter Side of the News' segment, but none of them showed the Ground-Level High-Wire Act. Except George Putnam. and it wasn't part of the official report; instead he deviated from his signature closing (something he did less than a dozen times in 20 years) to say "You know, television is a great medium, but there are still some things that you can only do on radio..." Then the newscast ended by showing the entire minute-and-a-half 'act' behind the credit crawl.
And, if you haven't guessed yet, that college kid was me. I have never felt prouder to be the punchline of a joke in my life. Instead of closing by pointing at the American Flag, George Putnam pointed at me. "Here's to a better America, George."
posted by wendell at 6:57 AM on September 13, 2008 [9 favorites]
When a couple of the performers failed to show up, Dick saw one of his better known 'regular' callers (a college student who would later work for him as his Producer at another station) in the audience and sent an assistant to ask him to get on stage and do SOMETHING. A few minutes later, Dick feigned surprise as he introduced an all-too-familiar 'amateur' who stepped out in front of several hundred people and a half-dozen cameras and announced his intent to do... a tightrope-walking act. Nervous laughter ensued; the chubby teenager in street clothes didn't look the part. So he went on to explain that the truck with all his equipment was stuck in traffic so he would have to improvise. He then picked up a large cable sitting near the front of the stage, laid it out as straight as he could, and, while scat-singing some circus music, carefully walked the "Ground-Level High-Wire" across the stage and back again, earning enthusiastic applause after he jumped off the cable and yelled "TA DAA!" Afterwards, KFI's Chief Engineer took him aside and told him to never touch the cables again.
That evening, the News broadcasts on every Los Angeles station showed 'highlights' of the broadcast, most as their show-closing 'Lighter Side of the News' segment, but none of them showed the Ground-Level High-Wire Act. Except George Putnam. and it wasn't part of the official report; instead he deviated from his signature closing (something he did less than a dozen times in 20 years) to say "You know, television is a great medium, but there are still some things that you can only do on radio..." Then the newscast ended by showing the entire minute-and-a-half 'act' behind the credit crawl.
And, if you haven't guessed yet, that college kid was me. I have never felt prouder to be the punchline of a joke in my life. Instead of closing by pointing at the American Flag, George Putnam pointed at me. "Here's to a better America, George."
posted by wendell at 6:57 AM on September 13, 2008 [9 favorites]
We used to get really high just to watch George's Talk Back show back in the 70s. Jeez, that was always good for some hysterical laughs that weren't surpassed until we got really high just before sitting in Wally George's Hot Seat studio and witnessing Wally's anti-drug rants up-close and personal.
George was a huge hit in my household when I was growing up and a huge presence in SoCal. He could be something of a loon, but he also possessed a warmth that transcended the lunacy.
posted by buggzzee23 at 7:08 AM on September 13, 2008 [1 favorite]
George was a huge hit in my household when I was growing up and a huge presence in SoCal. He could be something of a loon, but he also possessed a warmth that transcended the lunacy.
posted by buggzzee23 at 7:08 AM on September 13, 2008 [1 favorite]
d_n_s, Harry Shearer, the voice of Kent Brockman, frequently parodied Putnam when he was part of the radio comedy ensemble "The Credibility Gap" in the late '60s and early '70s, and the voice he did was a little different but not very much; Old George certainly was an inspiration to Shearer, if not the Simpsons writers.
posted by wendell at 7:09 AM on September 13, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by wendell at 7:09 AM on September 13, 2008 [1 favorite]
Two more sidelights to that big broadcast.
A few months after Ol' George made his comment, seemingly longing for the radio medium, his contract ended at that TV station and was not renewed. He started doing his "Talk Back" on the radio soon after.
I have heard from a semi-reliable source that Chuck Barris listened to that broadcast and it inspired him to develop "The Gong Show". He even offered Whittington the job of hosting it, but "Sweet" Dick turned it down because he had another TV project in the works (that was canceled after 6 weeks).
posted by wendell at 7:19 AM on September 13, 2008
A few months after Ol' George made his comment, seemingly longing for the radio medium, his contract ended at that TV station and was not renewed. He started doing his "Talk Back" on the radio soon after.
I have heard from a semi-reliable source that Chuck Barris listened to that broadcast and it inspired him to develop "The Gong Show". He even offered Whittington the job of hosting it, but "Sweet" Dick turned it down because he had another TV project in the works (that was canceled after 6 weeks).
posted by wendell at 7:19 AM on September 13, 2008
I think there's a bit of Jerry Dunphy in Ted Baxter as well.
UGH! Not that way! Get yer minds out of the gutter!
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 10:32 AM on September 13, 2008
UGH! Not that way! Get yer minds out of the gutter!
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 10:32 AM on September 13, 2008
Jerry Dunphy... another L.A. Television institution that 92.5%* of the MetaFilter membership has never heard of... With the white hair (Putnam didn't gray until he was working exclusively on radio) and frequent malaprops (Dunphy committed far more on-air bloopers than Putnam), I'm sure he was part of the character design too, but the anchor of the newscast Channel 2 titled "The Big News" passed away in 2002 and didn't get an ObitFilter then.
Of course, if you had grown up just outside a celebrity-dense part of the San Fernando Valley, been in the same Boy Scout troop with one of Jerry Dunphy's sons and had him as the keynote speaker at the troop's annual awards dinner, you'd know... know... no... NO! STOP ME BEFORE I ANECDOTE AGAIN!
* percentage I pulled out of my ass
posted by wendell at 12:29 PM on September 13, 2008
Of course, if you had grown up just outside a celebrity-dense part of the San Fernando Valley, been in the same Boy Scout troop with one of Jerry Dunphy's sons and had him as the keynote speaker at the troop's annual awards dinner, you'd know... know... no... NO! STOP ME BEFORE I ANECDOTE AGAIN!
* percentage I pulled out of my ass
posted by wendell at 12:29 PM on September 13, 2008
Oh wendell...
I wish there were some clips of these newscasters doing their thing up on youtube (other than the one you linked to I couldn't find anything).
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 12:50 PM on September 13, 2008
I wish there were some clips of these newscasters doing their thing up on youtube (other than the one you linked to I couldn't find anything).
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 12:50 PM on September 13, 2008
!
I always thought Kent Brockman was Jerry Dunphy, too. I mean, just LOOK at him. Now look at Kent. He's got the hair, people! (I do think the voice is more George Putnam tho.)
As a side note, and slightly off topic (sorry) ahhhh... good ol' Wally George. He was Ed Anger in flesh and blood. Man, I miss the days where people could be politically incorrect, offensive zealots without anyone actually taking them seriously or giving them any validity as much of anything but over-the-top entertainment and parody. I mean, Rush Limbaugh's program would be so much improved if he would just spend more time having inexplicable pie fights with Rick Dees and women in bikinis. And Wally's screams about the stupidity of evolution were definitely much improved by his UCLA frat boy cheering section, all wearing sunglasses and drunk out of their minds (they probably had no clue what the topic of conversation even was). Now that was entertaining 3am tv watching. I wish our culture still had that sense of the absurd, where one could say crazy shit with a straight face without having to explain or apologize what's a joke and what isn't. Anyone who took Wally seriously, the joke was on them and he knew it. His whole shtick was solely to be offensive entertainment.* No public apologies or begging for forgiveness from that guy. And if he had, it would've ruined everything for everyone.
*From Wikipedia: "At one point, Wally George hosted controversial Los Angeles-area Baptist preacher Robert L. Hymers, but since the two of them disagreed on nearly nothing, the encounter degenerated into potty language on both sides, and barely contained giggles by both George and Hymers, as they desperately tried to find something to disagree on and insult each other about."
posted by miss lynnster at 1:11 PM on September 13, 2008 [1 favorite]
I always thought Kent Brockman was Jerry Dunphy, too. I mean, just LOOK at him. Now look at Kent. He's got the hair, people! (I do think the voice is more George Putnam tho.)
As a side note, and slightly off topic (sorry) ahhhh... good ol' Wally George. He was Ed Anger in flesh and blood. Man, I miss the days where people could be politically incorrect, offensive zealots without anyone actually taking them seriously or giving them any validity as much of anything but over-the-top entertainment and parody. I mean, Rush Limbaugh's program would be so much improved if he would just spend more time having inexplicable pie fights with Rick Dees and women in bikinis. And Wally's screams about the stupidity of evolution were definitely much improved by his UCLA frat boy cheering section, all wearing sunglasses and drunk out of their minds (they probably had no clue what the topic of conversation even was). Now that was entertaining 3am tv watching. I wish our culture still had that sense of the absurd, where one could say crazy shit with a straight face without having to explain or apologize what's a joke and what isn't. Anyone who took Wally seriously, the joke was on them and he knew it. His whole shtick was solely to be offensive entertainment.* No public apologies or begging for forgiveness from that guy. And if he had, it would've ruined everything for everyone.
*From Wikipedia: "At one point, Wally George hosted controversial Los Angeles-area Baptist preacher Robert L. Hymers, but since the two of them disagreed on nearly nothing, the encounter degenerated into potty language on both sides, and barely contained giggles by both George and Hymers, as they desperately tried to find something to disagree on and insult each other about."
posted by miss lynnster at 1:11 PM on September 13, 2008 [1 favorite]
It just has to be said: Ted Knight was a fucking GENIUS.
posted by briank at 4:03 PM on September 13, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by briank at 4:03 PM on September 13, 2008 [2 favorites]
I really thought he was dead a long time ago. Definitely one of the sounds of my childhood.
I think Ted Baxter was a combo of both George and Jerry ["From the mountains to the sea...to all of Southern Califonia" Dunphy.
posted by Sassenach at 10:44 AM on September 14, 2008
I think Ted Baxter was a combo of both George and Jerry ["From the mountains to the sea...to all of Southern Califonia" Dunphy.
posted by Sassenach at 10:44 AM on September 14, 2008
I grew up watching George Putnam. Hard to imagine anyone of a certain age and within a certain geographic area not having seen or heard him on the airwaves making his orotund pronouncements. Hal Fishman, Jerry Dunphy, George Putnam ..... all the lions of Southern California network affiliate broadcast news talking-head-dom, gone.
posted by blucevalo at 9:09 AM on September 15, 2008
posted by blucevalo at 9:09 AM on September 15, 2008
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