Since I cancelled my cable TV service, I rely on Netflix and Amazon Prime for my nighttime entertainment. I was getting discouraged with Netflix’s offerings and wasn’t too enthused about Amazon’s lineup either. Then I happened to go on Amazon’s website and discovered several programs and movies that weren’t showing up as I browsed with my remote. One of my discoveries was clips from old Merv Griffin shows.  Fascinating to watch these, not only because most of the folks are deceased but because of the fashions, hair styles, and topics discussed. 

               The most obvious thing you notice at first is that everyone is smoking.  An ashtray sits on Merv’s desk and people light up throughout the interviews.  When the Everly Brothers were introduced, I eagerly awaited their singing. But nope; wasn’t to be.  As I watched more shows, I discovered all the singing acts were blacked out as were all the movie clips that Merv presented as a movie star came on to advertise their latest flick. Disappointing. But even with these black-outs, the interviews were pure entertainment.  Merv really had a way of asking the questions we all wanted answers to.

               Some of the celebrities were so full of themselves, it was hard not to fast forward through their episodes of showing off.  These included Mickey Rooney, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, and Jerry Lewis. I’ve always liked Mickey Rooney and you could tell he’s been in front of the camera all his life. Non-stop stories.  Same with Jack Benny, who I also always watched as a kid.

               Probably the two strangest people were Andy Warhol and Phil Spector. Andy came on and didn’t say much of anything. Some woman he came on with did all his speaking for him.  Phil Spector walked on stage from the audience dressed in high heeled pointed boots and dark glasses.  He acted like he was doing us all a favor by appearing. Virginia Graham was in the middle of a story when he came on and her story was left in the dust.  Then he proceeded to antagonize both Virginia and another comedian that was seated next to Merv.  They obviously had no use for Phil, and it was fun watching Merv trying to sooth ruffled feathers.

               Robert Kennedy appeared and was probably one of the best political speakers I’ve ever heard. Harry Belafonte introduced Martin Luther King and he was very interesting too.  I always love to see interviews of authors and three that spoke especially well and made me want to go to the library and read everything they’ve written were Irving Stone, James Michener, and Alex Haley. They all certainly kept the audience enthralled as they told stories about their lives. The same with Shelley Winters. I could listen to her talk all day.

               Much to my surprise, you could tell John Wayne wasn’t comfortable in this media. As it was, Merv interviewed him while they toured John’s ranch in Arizona and while at a bull auction.  Another celebrity who seemed just a tad shy, opened up much more once her husband joined her onstage.  That was Lucille Ball and Gary Morton.  Gary and Lucy were married for 28 years and he was a great conversationalist.  I did read, however, that she never really fell out of love with Desi.

               The interview with Jayne Mansfield was fascinating. She came on with her four dogs and four kids. One of them being Mariska Hargitay from Law and Order, Special Victims Unit, who was two years old.  Jayne, by the way, spoke 5 languages, had a very high IQ, and was trained as a classical pianist and violinist. Sadly, she died a year after this show in a terrible car crash. Her kids were asleep in the back seat but were uninjured.

               Two sports figures that surprised me were Willie Mays, who was quite comfortable in front of the camera and bantered back and forth with Merv for quite a while. He had definite opinions too. Another soft spoken but obviously intelligent guy was Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, who was very religious, and 

gave us history on oriental rugs, which he collected.

Warren Beatty, who was campaigning for McGovern, got quite a bit of air time. Right before he appeared, this notice came on screen:  “Sadly, many of the master tapes of the Merv Griffin Show were erased and reused which was a common practice in the television industry. This clip of Warren Beatty exists because Richard Nixon monitored his friends and enemies on various TV appearances which were taped on a special 2” video machine in the white house.”

Because Lou Gossett, Jr. was in Port Townsend filming an Officer and a Gentleman, I naturally wanted to see his interview.  I read by the way, that Jack Nicholson turned down the role that Lou played in our hometown movie.  I was on IMDB reading about Lou and found this little tidbit:

(on coming close to being killed by the Manson Family)-- When I was living in Laurel Canyon, we were there to welcome The Rolling Stones, and The Beatles were in town, and they were staying at the Chateau Marmont Hotel. We had taken pictures and were talking. Roman Polanski was there with his wife who was pregnant. The Mamas and the Papas were there, along with the people I hung out with most of the time. They said, "Everybody's going to have late coffee and breakfast at Roman Polanski's house". My house was right around the corner so I went home to take a shower and put on fresh clothes. I turned on the TV and there the news was…I dodged a bullet.

               My favorite movies are Godfather I and II so I was pleased to find the interview with Francis Ford Coppola.  Very interesting guy.  And one surprising thing I didn’t know about the movie was that the baby used in the baptism scene (when all the killing was going on in other places) was his own child that had recently been born.  They needed a baby for the scene and he said: Oh, I have a baby.