in New York City
Died: October 30, 2000
Renaissance man Allen was prolific, versatile genius
Someone once asked Steve Allen if people got his show in Boston, and the comedian instantly quipped: "They see it, but they don't get it."
Actually, every weeknight, Americans still see the show he invented 46 years ago. It's called THE TONIGHT SHOW.
It's too bad that Allen, who died of a heart attack Monday at 78, will be remembered by a generation of TV viewers as an old man griping in newspaper ads that "TV Is Leading Children Down a Moral Sewer."
They never knew him as his era's most brilliant comic talent, a renaissance man in a culture that celebrates one-hit wonders. They didn't know him as a respected jazz pianist; a prolific composer (6,000 songs); versatile author (40 books of fiction and nonfiction); movie star; producer; and poet.
It's still Steverino's show
But they watch the TV institution he created on Sept. 27, 1954. NBC's top late-night show, and David Letterman's LATE SHOW, remain pretty much what Allen invented: He opened with a monologue. Chatted with the musical director, Skitch Henderson. Talked to the audience. Did sketches and made fun of audience members shown on camera.
Before Johnny Carson's "Carnac" came Allen's "Answer Man." Allen took cameras into Manhattan streets when David Letterman was still in grade school. He read funny newspaper items before little Jay Leno could read a headline.
THE TONIGHT SHOW is a remarkable institution in an industry where TV concepts are tossed away like paper towels. Allen sensed that from Day One.
"I want to give you the bad news first: This show is going to go on forever," he told the first viewers.
In an interview 40 years later, Allen said, "I did not anticipate it. But it's understandable."
He later was host of a prime-time comedy series, THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW, and a game show, I'VE GOT A SECRET.
TV's most creative genius invented TV as he went along, influencing Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Letterman - a generation of comics.
But TV is only part of the picture. His many musical compositions include THIS COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING BIG.
A serious side, too
In 1977, America saw his serious side with his PBS MEETING OF THE MINDS, in which actors portraying historical figures like Thomas Jefferson, Cleopatra and William Shakespeare argued philosophy.
He could never explain how his mind worked.
"It's to me like being praised for sweating," he told me in 1994.
In recent years, his brain had focused on the failed promise of television, its explosion of "filth, sex and violence."
"There are so many good examples of the possibility - of what used to be the habit - of doing good programs. And that is why it is all the more disgusting that now we have Jerry Springer and Howard Stern," he said in 1998.
How did he want to be remembered? He didn't care.
"Either I won't be anywhere at all, or I'll be very busily occupied," he said in our '94 talk. "So given those two alternatives, who the hell cares what they say about you in Cleveland after you've cut out?"
"The difference between literature and journalism is
that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read."
OSCAR WILDE
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