Have always had a warm spot for Johnny Carson, he being THE talk show host of my childhood, before there was so much competition.I saw a piece for his birthday on the Writer’s Almanac site a bit back. I remembered he was Midwestern, but he was “born in Corning, Iowa (1925), (he) grew up an extremely shy boy until he started doing magic tricks. He later said that it was the discovery of magic that helped him relate to people...”
Of course he took over the Tonight Show from Jack Paar in the early 60s, and the rest as they say is history.
BUT...the most astonishing trick Johnny ever did in my mind, was disappearing from public view altogether after being on air almost every night in front of millions of people for 30 years! He just went away as gracefully as he always stayed.
No mean feat in a time when America seems forever equally repulsed and attracted to Britney’s lack of underpants and dignity.
