More to Come, Part II (The 1960's)

If the analytics on this blog are to be trusted (and it's Google, right?) the most popular individual post here on Pacific Gold is More to Come from April, 2012.  In it, I admired the swank nature of the moved-to LA version of The Tonight Show.  At the time, I only put up 1 bumper card from the New York days.  And, while that era of New York was swank in its own right, what I had as an example doesn't do it any favors.  So why shouldn't that era get its due?

Well, it should...though the further back we go, the harder episodes are to find.  Thankfully, another friendly collector got them from somewhere (who knows if he can't say, won't say, whatever) and I figured this could give another view of the show.

1965.  Middle of the decade, early in John's run, and while not all the famous pieces are in place, it's close.  The show also seems to be an established hit, so the principals are loose as well.  Maybe that's how they were all the time.  Hard to say unless you were there, and I wasn't (as far as I know).

I included this not because it's anything special, but more as a "typical" example for the era.  It didn't have to be anything more than what it said, right?

That's pretty much true, though the show wasn't (or didn't feel) tied to the "more to come" phrase.  View the creativity below:

What's considered the 1960's aesthetic in fashion/design/home furnishing was viable here as well.  Not much art could be done with Johnny or his pictures (especially if he didn't pose for any other photos) but NBC's art department was trying to figure out how to think outside the norm.

Not that the bar was especially high.  See the photo above, which looks like it's already well-worn.  For all we know, this could have been used for Jack Paar, too.  NBC had a vested interest in color programming with RCA as an owner.   CBS and ABC were getting around to broadcasting more shows in color (why, in a round-about way, promote the competition?).

If you had a black and white set, that's how it looks.

With a swing band in the studio and 1 hour and 45 minutes to fill each night, music took up more of the program than usual.  The show also wanted you to stay tuned in case the current guest bored you:

While the bottom photo might seem the kind of art in a jazz club or saloon, the above...how to describe it?  Is it the kind of art that was later in Trivial Pursuit?  Almost early-Trader Joe's?

As we know, the move to Hollywood brought it to another level.  (David Letterman's morning show and then Late Night took it to another, more humorous level)  But in the beginning, the "more to come" cards were as slick and hip as the mid-60s were for Don Draper...and Johnny Carson himself.

More to Come

The search for gold is a continuous one; always on the look-out.  Video gold is one of those things, and thanks to some very friendly collectors, I've received multiple old episodes of the Tonight Show.  Since I've accumulated these discs, I've filed them where they should be filed: under SWANK.

In each instance, the only negative (if it is such a thing) is the topical humor of the monologue.  Johnny makes a quip, everyone laughs, and I run to Wikipedia to find out he is referring to President Ford's budget director.  The rest?  It's a truckload of people simply making it happen.  Even better?  These were recorded by some friendly man in a station control room long ago.  This means, after the national ads, nothing but Doc and the boys groovin' it out.  And thus, the "more to come" bumper slides.

They're a lost art, especially for today's late night talk shows.  Moreover, they're usually difficult for an audience to see.  This certainly was not the case back then.  But Johnny's bumper cards certainly evolved over time.

I may be over-thinking this, but the above bumper card comes from when the show was still shot out in New York.  1971 New York, well...it was swank, but then (as now) doesn't hold a joint to LA.  This rigid "art" was typical of the episodes of the time.

Ah. here we are.  They're more proud to say they're in Dealville than anything else.  What, we're moving to Burbank?  Make that shag carpet, Kenny.  Yeah, and a lot of live ferns.

Once settled, you'd see motifs of the California lifestyle, one the show began to embrace completely.

There were variants on this theme, but it continued throughout the first year or so in California.  After this identity was established, the cards were...OK, I want to put this point across without any accusations at all.  I've used the word "swank."  Is "funk" an appropriate word?  "Imbibed during creation" an appropriate phrase?

Whichever you choose, an artist would be given room to make a whole series of cards, filling an entire episode, on a rotating basis.  Let 'er rip.

"Fred, I had this dream last night..."
"Go for it, pal."

One of the multiple reasons the show moved full-time to CA was greater access to film starts, a lifeline a talk show desperately needs (as do studios).  It's fun to see their spirit caught up in this wave.

So, we're doing an episode on New Year's Eve, and it's the late '70s.  Our guest will be Robert Blake.  Johnny returns from commercial with "10 seconds to the New Year" and says a brief word...followed by "3...2...1..."

Guy on the left: "HAWWWWWW"

Just as the pioneers headed west, so did this show.  It wasn't easy...we had tough conditions, unexpected troubles, and a constant fear for our lives.  But enough about NBC in the late 70s.

Yeah...perhaps there was research showing more people trip while watching Tonight than any other show?

Well, it's getting late...time to go to bed.  Hey, what's on after the show?

Chuck Mangione?  Turn on the coffee pot!  We're going ALL NIGHT!