Good Morning, Dave: Wed, 10/1/80

Over the years as I've searched for more Morning Dave episodes, I've found that nearly all of the surviving tapes cover the end (or near end) of his run.  There was a sneaking suspicion that a show of this kind may never be on TV again, so the effort to record for history's sake was well worth the effort.

Today's Beta transfer might not be pristine, but what the fuck do you want, it's 35 years old!

The applause this morning seems to last extra long, which in hindsight I took to mean (and possibly fear) as "don't cancel this show!"  Mary Stuart from Search for Tomorrow is the lead guest, as well as a survivalist Tom Brown, who is introduced as someone who "spent 14 months nude in New Jersey.  (Laughs)  I know you're saying sure, we've all done a little of that."

The plan in prep for today's show was for a courtroom sketch artist to draw different segments of the show.  But the person backed out at the last minute, so Dave heads to the audience to find a replacement.  Dave impresses that the drawings don't have to be great ("It won't be" she claims) but Dave won't take no for an answer at this point, and she's selected.

Barbara Jean Lloyd is now seated near the stage and almost laments that now she'd better pay attention to the show.  All Dave can do is laugh.

Mary Stuart covers her career on the show and tells how glad she is that the show isn't live as it was in the old days.  "David, you're too young to remember live television."  Dave looks around nervously to tell her that, indeed, the show she's on NOW is live.  "Nobody told me!"

Next, being a daytime show, it's time for some jogging tips, all labeled as a "public service announcement."  Items such as making your own shoes, cooking food inside pants while you run, and running alongside an accordion player (so you hear "the real thing") are included, but I must admit the tape is starting to get a little rough at this point.

Next is another audience member, Betty Brown, who is at the show because her daughter dragged her along.  Dave has a sample of foods from a Health Food store, and after some easy jokes at the absurdity of 1980 good living, they get to the meat of the segment: cooking freeze-dried egg product.

After the break with some typical commercials for Daytime, 1980, ("Some job - I'm standing all day, and now I've got hemmoroids!") we return to see the finished product.

Betty says "it tastes better than it looks."  The audience doesn't seemed interested in enjoying the freeze dried egg product.  Next, Tom Brown comes out for another visit.  (Tom's still at it in 2015)  Tom speaks of living in the woods of New Jersey to live off the land there, and most of his calm claims are met with stunned silence by the audience.

The other side of the break is Tom covering his job in tracking for missing or lost people in the woods, and to survive in such a situation, he and Dave do a demonstration.  After going over what plants are edible in the wild (and Tom's quick fact that the % of poisonous plants are high), Dave attempts to make fire using wood, a bow, and the side of his shoe.

The audience chants, and band plays along and...nothing.  A big "awwww!" from the audience.  After Edwin Newman's news update, we review the court sketches.  The glare and 35 years take much away from the artist's intention, but still, an accurate drawing.