Mike Douglas, TV talk show host has died.

[DukeCity]

My mom was a big fan, so I saw the show frequently in the late '60s and '70s. Not the hippest talk show host ever, but some entertaining moments.

edit to post link: Mike Douglas obit

Edited August 11, 2006 by DukeCity

[Jim R]

Weird... out of the blue, I was just thinking about him the other day. I used to watch his show on occasion, after school... even though it could get corny at times, I guess there was enough "variety" there for me. He always seemed like a down-to-earth guy, even if his show got to be pretty trendy (no surprise, for a major network show like that). Never cared for his singing, though (sorry, Mike ). Last time I saw him was an interview (on Larry King, I think) after Carson died. He was classy, as usual. RIP.

[catesta]

I too remember watching his show after school. He seemed like a good guy.

R.I.P., Mike.

On a side note....The Seinfeld episode in which Kramer digs the Mike Douglas Show set out of the trash and rebuilds it in his apartment is one of my all time favorites.

Edited August 11, 2006 by catesta

[Quincy]

I too remember watching his show after school. He seemed like a good guy.

R.I.P., Mike.

On a side note....The Seinfeld episode in which Kramer digs the Mike Douglas Show set out of the trash and rebuilds it in his apartment is one of my all time favorites.

Actually it's the Merv Griffin set. Great lil' pic you posted.

Yeah I remember watching it some too. I think John Lennon was a bit of a fan which is why he did that run of appearances on the Mike Douglas Show.

[Ron S]

And the show was done in PHILLY (well, for most of its run).

[Dan Gould]

My father was involved in the syndication sales of the show when he worked for Group W, so I always felt some sort of connection to the guy. We've got photos at home of Dad and Mike on the set.

RIP.

Edited August 11, 2006 by Dan Gould

[catesta]

I too remember watching his show after school. He seemed like a good guy.

R.I.P., Mike.

On a side note....The Seinfeld episode in which Kramer digs the Mike Douglas Show set out of the trash and rebuilds it in his apartment is one of my all time favorites.

Actually it's the Merv Griffin set. Great lil' pic you posted.

Yeah I remember watching it some too. I think John Lennon was a bit of a fan which is why he did that run of appearances on the Mike Douglas Show.

Yeah you're right, my bad.

I meant to say it would have been funnier if it was the Mike Douglas Show set.

[sheldonm]

I too remember watching his show after school. He seemed like a good guy.

R.I.P., Mike.

On a side note....The Seinfeld episode in which Kramer digs the Mike Douglas Show set out of the trash and rebuilds it in his apartment is one of my all time favorites.

....too funny!!!

R.I.P. Mike!

[Harold_Z]

The little band on that show wasn't bad at all. The bassist, Jimmy DeJulio, sounded VERY hip on that show on both upright and Fender.

[Chalupa]

The little band on that show wasn't bad at all. The bassist, Jimmy DeJulio, sounded VERY hip on that show on both upright and Fender.

Wasn't Jimmy Bruno the guitarist, or one of the guitarists???

Edit: No.

Edited August 11, 2006 by Chalupa

[garthsj]

Just because my father was an undertaker, do I always have to provide these sad details? .... In any case, Douglas had a groovy band, and often featured Jack Sheldon, both playing the trumpet and doing his comedy schtick, which can often be hilariously hip.

Mike Douglas, Former TV Talk Show Host, Dies at 81 in Florida

by Brian Skoloff

Associated Press, August 11, 2006

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Mike Douglas, who drew on his affable personality and singing talent during 21 years as host of a syndicated television talk show, died Friday on his 81st birthday, his wife said.

He died at 5:30 a.m. at a Palm Beach Gardens hospital, Genevieve Douglas said. She wasn't sure of the cause yet, but said he was admitted Thursday.

She said he became dehydrated on the golf course a few weeks ago and had been treated on and off for that since. He lived in North Palm Beach.

"He was coming along fine, we thought. It was really a shock," she said. "We never anticipated this to happen."

The afternoon talk show, which aired from 1961 to 1982, featured Douglas' ballad and big-band singing style, other musicians, comedians, political personalities and sports figures. His interviews included seven men who were then, had been or would become president.

"People still believe 'The Mike Douglas Show' was a talk show, and I never correct them, but I don't think so," Douglas said in his 1999 memoir, "I'll Be Right Back: Memories of TV's Greatest Talk Show."

"It was really a music show, with a whole lot of talk and laughter in between numbers."

Longtime friend Larry King said on CNN: "He was a genuine nice guy."

"It was easy to be around him," King said Friday. "He had a relaxed measure about him, and he also had an incredible ability to get great guests."

King said Douglas became disappointed later in his career as times changed, and he tried a few nighttime talk shows.

"He was out of place, he was not a nighttime host," King said. "Sometimes time passes you by, and time passed Mike by.

"I don't want to say he was bitter because he had done so well in his life ... but he was not happy," King added. "At the end of his life, he was very happy in retirement."

Tom Kelly, who co-authored Douglas' memoir, said he had about 30,000 guests appear on his show over the years.

"One big key to his great success was he had his ego in check," Kelly said. "He always let the guest have the limelight. He was a fine performer. He could sing, he could do comedy, he did it all, but he always gave the guest the spotlight."

Douglas did about 6,000 shows, most an hour and a half long, and estimated that at its peak the show was seen in about 230 cities.

Douglas fondly recalled when Tiger Woods, as a preschooler who already was drawing attention because of his golfing talent, appeared on the same show as Bob Hope, an avid golfer, in 1978. "I don't know what kind of drugs they've got this kid on, but I want some," Hope quipped.

Douglas was genial only most of the time. He confided in his memoir that his composure was sorely tested one week in 1972 when former Beatle John Lennon and wife, Yoko Ono, were his unlikely guest hosts. One of the guest celebrities they selected was well-known anti-war activist Jerry Rubin.

"He just got on my nerves. It sounded like this guy hated the president, the Congress, everyone in business, the military, all police and just about everything America stands for," Douglas said. He recalled becoming confrontational with Rubin.

But Lennon "picked up the mantle of Kind and Gentle Host, and he did it quite well, reinterpreting Jerry's comments to take some of the sting out and adding a little humor to keep things cool," Douglas said.

Douglas was among the "early settlers" in daytime talk shows, said Robert Thompson, a professor and director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

"Mike Douglas was an old-fashioned traditionalist, holding down the fort while the culture was changing," Thompson said. "He was always the very friendly talk show host, nice to everybody. He would lean toward his guest as if he really cared. He owned that territory."

Hosts Phil Donahue, Dinah Shore and Merv Griffin also found success about the same time. Douglas said in his book that people often confused him with Griffin, another singer of Irish heritage.

Tim Brooks, television historian and executive vice president of research for Lifetime Television Network, said Douglas was "an outgrowth on the 1950s mentality of politeness, or niceness."

"Even when America was getting kind of angry in the 1960s and 1970s, his show was sort of an oasis of politeness," Brooks said. "It got you away from some of the turmoil in life."

Actress Rosie O'Donnell, who eventually had her own talk show, said in an introduction to Douglas' book that she was influenced by his shows. She described Douglas has having "a twinkle in his eye and a kindness to his being."

Born Michael Delaney Dowd in Chicago on Aug. 11, 1925, Douglas began his career as a teenage singer and entertainer in supper clubs and on radio programs.

He was the staff singer at radio station WKY in Oklahoma City before joining the Navy during World War II and serving on a munitions ship.

Returning home, he became a featured performer on the radio and eventual television program, "Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge." Kyser gave him his stage name.

Douglas had some hits with Kyser in the 1940s, including "Old Lamplighter" and "Ole Buttermilk Sky." He made the popular song charts one more time in 1966 with the sentimental "The Men in My Little Girl's Life."

As the era of rock 'n' roll began to emerge in the late 1950s, his style became less marketable, so he started looking for a way to energize his career.

He briefly hosted "Hi, Ladies!", a daytime television program on WGN in Chicago. Then in 1961, Woody Fraser, a Westinghouse Group W program director who had known Douglas in Chicago, recruited him to a Group W station in Cleveland (then KYW) to host a talk and entertainment program.

The show syndicated starting in 1963 but had a limited budget, and Cleveland was not a frequent destination for well-known potential guests. The show moved to Philadelphia in 1965 and was based there for 13 years.

"The proximity to New York just made it for us," Douglas said in a 2004 interview. "We had limos going from New York to Philadelphia. That made it easier to get some of the guests who were in New York, and they happily came."

The show moved to Los Angeles in 1978.

Three years later, Group W replaced Douglas with a younger popular singer, John Davidson. "The Mike Douglas Show" continued in syndication under Douglas' control until he retired in 1982 to North Palm Beach, Fla. Douglas appeared as a guest on several talk shows but spent much of his leisure time on the golf course.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1990, but after surgery he was cancer free.

[JSngry]

JAck Sheldon was a stalwart of Mort Lindsay's band on the MErv Griffin show. Did not know that he was also w/Joe Harnell's Douglas band.

Edited August 12, 2006 by JSngry

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i seriously thought both mike douglas and duke jordan died decades ago

[paul secor]

I believe that there was mention that Walt Dickerson and Sun Ra appeared on Mike Douglas' show in the late 60's when Impressions of a Patch of Blue was issued. Can't find it here - perhaps it was on the BNBB.

[Chalupa]

I believe that there was mention that Walt Dickerson and Sun Ra appeared on Mike Douglas' show in the late 60's when Impressions of a Patch of Blue was issued. Can't find it here - perhaps it was on the BNBB.

Can't find either one listed on the "guests" page.

http://www.themikedouglasshow.com/

[paul secor]

I believe that there was mention that Walt Dickerson and Sun Ra appeared on Mike Douglas' show in the late 60's when Impressions of a Patch of Blue was issued. Can't find it here - perhaps it was on the BNBB.

Can't find either one listed on the "guests" page.

http://www.themikedouglasshow.com/

Possibly another talk show out of Philly. If so, my bad.

[BruceH]

I also watched Mike Douglas after school quite a bit, particularly in the first half of the 70's. Mike always seemed like a decent sort of guy...whereas I found Merv Griffin a little creepy, even then.

RIP, Mike.

[paul secor]

I believe that there was mention that Walt Dickerson and Sun Ra appeared on Mike Douglas' show in the late 60's when Impressions of a Patch of Blue was issued. Can't find it here - perhaps it was on the BNBB.

Can't find either one listed on the "guests" page.

http://www.themikedouglasshow.com/

Possibly another talk show out of Philly. If so, my bad.

Bad memory on my part. I just checked the liners on the Patch of Blue reissue, and Frances Davis writes about seeing Dickerson and Sun Ra on "an afternoon talk show in Philadelphia". Apologies for passing on faulty information.

[DukeCity]

American Bandstand originally came from Philly. Perhaps Dick Clark was a Sun Ra fan?

[Harold_Z]

gotta catch sly on mike douglas for full memorial effect-- ain't looked but maybe the one w/sly, the champ & an ofay congressman is on youtube

I remember that.

You mean the one where Ali gets pissed with Sly and Mike Douglas gets pissed with Ali.

That's when talk tv was TALK TV ! Nothing scripted there!

Along similar lines was the show where Milton Berle gets pissed with Richard Pryor.

That stuff was all for real. I wish tv was that loose now.