The Dick Cavett Show

The Dick Cavett Show

Dick Cavett in 2008
Production
Running time 90 minutes
Release
Original release March 4, 1968 – December 30, 1986

The Dick Cavett Show was the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including:

Cavett taped his programs in New York City.

Show history

The Dick Cavett Show most often refers to the shows on ABC-TV that Dick Cavett hosted between 1968 and 1975 in New York. The first daytime show featured Gore Vidal, Muhammad Ali, and Angela Lansbury. ABC pressured Cavett to "get big names," although subsequent shows without them got higher ratings and more critical acclaim.

Cavett with guest Anthony Quinn (1971)

The late-night talk show that ran from December 29, 1969 to January 1, 1975 ran opposite NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Cavett took the time slot over from The Joey Bishop Show. In addition to the usual monologue, Cavett opened each show reading selected questions written by audience members, to which he would respond with witty rejoinders. ("What makes New York so crummy these days?" "Tourists.")

While Cavett and Carson shared many of the same guests, Cavett was receptive to rock and roll artists to a degree unusual at the time, as well as authors, politicians, and other personalities outside the entertainment field. The wide variety of guests, combined with Cavett's literate and intelligent approach to comedy, appealed to a significant enough number of viewers to keep the show running for several years despite the competition from Carson's show.

The late-night show's 45-minute midpoint would always be signaled by the musical piece "Glitter and Be Gay" from Leonard Bernstein's Candide. The Candide snippet became Cavett's theme song, being used as the introduction to his later PBS series, and was played by the house band on his various talk show appearances over the last 30 years.

Typically each show had several guests, but occasionally Cavett would devote an entire show to a single guest. Among those receiving such special treatment (some more than once) were Groucho Marx,[1] Laurence Olivier, Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn (without an audience), Bette Davis, Orson Welles, Noël Coward (who appeared on the same show along with Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Tammy Grimes, and Brian Bedford), John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Ray Charles, Alfred Hitchcock, Fred Astaire, Woody Allen, Gloria Swanson, Jerry Lewis, Lucille Ball, Zero Mostel ("on some shows I've had just one guest, but tonight I have Zero") and David Bowie. These shows helped showcase Cavett's skills as a host who could attract guests that otherwise might not do interviews, at the expense of some of the excitement that might ensue from the multiple-guest format.

Dick Cavett and Jack Paar

In January 1973, despite a vociferous letter campaign, ratings forced the show to be cut back to occasional status, airing one week a month under the umbrella title ABC's Wide World of Entertainment. Jack Paar, who ABC had tried to recruit as Cavett's successor, insisted that both he and Cavett get at least one week per month as a sign of respect for Cavett. By the end of 1974, it was airing only twice a month.

The PBS series featured single guests in a half-hour format and was produced by Christopher Porterfield, a former roommate of Cavett's at Yale University who had coauthored the book Cavett published in August 1974. The show remained on the PBS lineup until affiliates voted it off the schedule in 1982.

On all three of the early ABC shows, the bandleader was Bobby Rosengarden and the announcer was Fred Foy of The Lone Ranger fame. The morning show was produced by Woody Fraser. Tony Converse was the producer of the ABC Prime Time (1969) show and the original producer of the ABC late-night show, succeeded by John Gilroy. Cavett's writer was Dave Lloyd.

The Dick Cavett Show was also the name of a short-lived radio show.

Notable moments

March 4, 1968: The Premiere of "This Morning"

In the first broadcast of his 90-minute morning show, Cavett had as his first guest, engineer/designer/futurist Buckminster Fuller. The two discussed how politicians would eventually become obsolete through technological advances, while the wide-ranging discussion also included a comment from Fuller that a woman is a baby factory and that a man's role is to simply press the right button. Later on in the program, Cavett chatted with actress Patricia Neal, who discussed her long rehabilitation from a near-fatal stroke in 1965.

March 27, 1968: Christine Jorgensen walks off the show

During an interview with Christine Jorgensen, the first widely known trans woman to have sex reassignment surgery (in this case a full/complete male-to-female vaginoplasty) she walked off the show when she felt offended when Cavett asked her about the status of her romantic life with her "wife"; because she was the only scheduled guest, Cavett spent the rest of that show talking about how he had not meant to offend her.

June 6, 1968: Robert F Kennedy Assassination

Due to continuing coverage of the Robert F. Kennedy assassination that took place earlier that morning, Cavett's show didn't begin until 11 a.m., and was interrupted at 11:20 for 30 minutes of further updates on the unfolding tragedy. At 11:50, Cavett's show returned for its final 10 minutes. The assassination was the lone topic discussed during the entire 30 minutes the show was presented. On the following two mornings, the show began at its regular time of 10:30 a.m., and was once again devoted exclusively to assassination coverage, and presented without commercial interruption.

June 13, 1969: Groucho Marx: one-man Show

Due to conflicting network broadcasts, Dick Cavett pre-taped a one-man, 60-minute episode with Groucho Marx.[1]

July 7, 1969: Jimi Hendrix

In this interview, rock star Jimi Hendrix modestly downplays his abilities and displays his sense of humor. Perhaps most importantly, he reveals some of his aesthetic ideals and the purpose of his music as he viewed it then when he discussed his concept of the “Electric Church”:

[Music] is getting to be more spiritual than anything now. Pretty soon I believe that they are going to have to rely on music to get some kind of peace of mind or satisfaction—direction, actually—more so than politics, because politics is really on an ego scene…[Politics] is the art of words, which means nothing. So, therefore you have to rely on more of an earthier substance like music or the arts, theater, acting, painting, whatever…[The Electric Church] is a belief that I have. We do use electric guitars. Everything is electrified nowadays. So, therefore the belief comes through electricity to people. That’s why we play so loud. Because it doesn’t actually hit through the eardrums like most groups do nowadays. They say ‘Well, we’re going to play loud too, because they’re playing loud.’ And they’ve got this real shrill sound that’s really hard. We plan for our sound to go inside the soul of the person…and see if they can awaken some sort of thing in their minds, because there are so many sleeping people.

Jimi then performed Hear My Train A Comin' with the house band, and did the teeth trick at the end of the song.

August 19, 1969: The Woodstock Show

On Tuesday, August 19, 1969, Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell, and David Crosby and Stephen Stills (of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), all appeared on The Dick Cavett Show. It is now often referred to as "The Woodstock Show", as many of the performers, and Cavett's audience, came directly from the concert for the taping the afternoon before the show aired. Stills pointed out the mud from the concert venue still on his pantleg. Jefferson Airplane's performance "We Can Be Together" marked the first time the word "fuck" was uttered on live television in the US (the actual line is "In order to survive we steal, cheat, lie, forge, fuck, hide and deal". "Up against the wall, Up against the wall, Motherfucker", a line uttered by cops busting hippies they knew, came after). Mitchell sang "Chelsea Morning", "Willy", and "For Free". Grace Slick kept calling Cavett "Jim" and briefly talked about her school days at Finch College. Stephen Stills performed "4 + 20". Joni Mitchell sang "The Fiddle and the Drum" a cappella. Jefferson Airplane (with Crosby) then launched into "Somebody to Love". The credits rolled as everybody, aside from Mitchell, partook in an instrumental jam as the audience danced.

Jimi Hendrix was scheduled to join the others but was unable to appear at the afternoon taping that occurred only a few hours after he'd performed at the late-running festival. Mitchell's manager, apparently fearing a similar situation that may have prevented her from appearing on The Dick Cavett Show, did not allow her to perform at Woodstock. He considered the Cavett Show too important for her career for her to risk missing the taping.[2]

Mitchell wrote the song "Woodstock" based on descriptions by Graham Nash and from the images she saw on television, as she could not be there in person. The most famous version of the song is by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, who recorded it for their Déjà Vu album (1970). It appears in the film Woodstock during the closing credits. Mitchell recorded it for Ladies of the Canyon (1970).

September 5, 1969: Groucho Marx

Groucho Marx remarked about the musical Hair, which had just opened and was notorious for its ground-breaking use of explicit nudity: "I was going to go, but I saw myself in the mirror one morning, and I figured, why waste five and a half dollars?"

September 9, 1969: Jimi Hendrix

In an interview with Jimi Hendrix, Cavett spoke about Hendrix's performance of the "Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock, and called the style "unorthodox". Jimi commented that the song was "not unorthodox" and that what he played was beautiful. The audience clapped, and Dick blushed.

Hendrix performed "Izabella" & "Machine Gun" with his band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

February 4, 1970: Judy Collins

During an interview with singer Judy Collins, which discussed her experiences as a defense witness at the Chicago Seven trial, several of her comments were censored at the direction of the ABC legal department. Collins wrote a protest letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), claiming a violation of her free speech rights and the network license granted to ABC by the FCC. Her protest was denied, with the FCC ruling that a television network could, at its discretion, delete or edit remarks on its programs. Elton Rule, president of ABC Television, noted that in the network's judgement, "her remarks ... were not within the bounds of fair comment."

February 19, 1970: Noël Coward, Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Tammy Grimes, and Brian Bedford

To honor Noël Coward on the occasion of his being knighted, Cavett interviewed not only "The Master" himself, but also his close friends, The Lunts. Tammy Grimes and Brian Bedford, who were appearing on Broadway at the time in a revival of Coward's classic play, Private Lives, performed a medley of Sir Noel's most popular songs. At one point during the interview, Cavett asked Coward, "What is the word for when one has terrific, prolific qualities?" Without missing a beat, Coward answered in a deadpan manner, "Talent", which sent Cavett and the audience into convulsions of laughter.

March 6, 1970: Salvador Dalí, Lillian Gish, and Satchel Paige

Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí appeared on the show with silent screen star Lillian Gish and baseball legend Satchel Paige. Dalí carried an anteater on a leash in with him when he came on stage, and he tossed it in Gish's lap, much to her consternation.

Cavett asked Dalí why he had once arrived to give a lecture at the Sorbonne in an open limousine filled with heads of cauliflower. Dalí responded with a barely-coherent discourse regarding the similarity of the cauliflower head to the "mathematical problem discovered by Michelangelo in the rhinoceros' horn".

Cavett interrupted him by waving his hands in Dalí's face, exclaiming "Boogie boogie boogie!" (imitating Groucho Marx in the film A Night at the Opera). The audience broke up, and Dalí appeared at a loss.

April 6, 1970: Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin

Actors Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin appeared together on the show with movie producer Mel Brooks and movie critic Rex Reed. Their interview went extremely poorly from the outset with Frechette giving abrupt non-conversational answers, and Halprin staying silent. Cavett apparently believed they lived in a commune, when they in fact were followers of cult leader Mel Lyman. When Cavett asked about the "commune" they lived in, Frechette "categorically" denied that it was a commune and said that "The community is for one purpose, and that's to serve Mel Lyman, who's the leader and founder of that community." At that point, Halprin finally tried to speak, but Cavett went to commercial. When the show returned from commercial, Dr. Aaron Stern, a Beverly Hills psychiatrist and director of MPAA's code and rating administration, the next guest, was brought out, and Frechette and Halprin were not interviewed further.

September 18, 1970: John Cassavetes, Peter Falk, and Ben Gazzara

Director John Cassavetes and actors Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara appeared on the show to promote the movie Husbands. All three guests were highly intoxicated, and "for thirty-five minutes they smoked, flopped around on the floor, and generally tormented Cavett, whose questions they’d planned to ignore".[3] Dick Cavett pronounced it “one of the most interesting evenings of my life”.[3]

December 18, 1970: Lester Maddox Walks Off the Show

Former Georgia governor Lester Maddox, appearing in a panel discussion along with author Truman Capote and football great Jim Brown, walked off the show in the middle of a conversation about segregation after Cavett refused to apologize to Maddox's satisfaction. Cavett had made a reference to the "bigots" who had elected Maddox. Following a give-and-take about how insulting the remark might have been and Maddox's demand for an apology, Cavett had finally apologized to those Georgians that had supported Maddox who might not be bigots. Not satisfied, Maddox left the studio. During the hastily called commercial break, Cavett tried to coax Maddox back to no avail. Cavett suspected that the behavior was mere showmanship and a calculated publicity stunt. The incident was reported on the news before it aired that night, increasing viewership. In Greenwood, Mississippi, the hometown of Cavett's wife Carrie Nye, the guests at a country club dance abandoned the dance floor to watch the show on the TV in the lounge. In Atlanta, then-ABC affiliate WQXI-TV (now WXIA) led with the story on its 11 PM newscast, but as this was a Friday night, when the station normally aired movies and delayed Cavett's Friday show to Sunday, Atlanta viewers had to wait until Sunday night to see the incident.

Capote, after watching Maddox walk offstage, paused and quipped, "I've been to his restaurant and his chicken isn't that finger lickin' good." Years later, Cavett said he got more comments about the show (including some 6,000 pieces of hate mail) than any other he had done.[4]

Maddox later returned for another appearance on the show, and this time Cavett walked off as a joke. Left alone on stage, Maddox cued the band and began singing "I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do" as Cavett reappeared in the wings to join in.

The walk-off incident is mentioned at the beginning of the Randy Newman song "Rednecks."

April 29, 1971: Robert Mitchum Interview

Actor Robert Mitchum, known for avoiding public appearances, gave a rare interview as the sole guest. Mitchum talks about his childhood, Hollywood, his disdain for politics and politicians, and his 1948 arrest. The show features film clips from Ryan's Daughter (1970) and Night of the Hunter (1955).

June 7, 1971: J. I. Rodale's Onstage Death

As noted in Cavett's autobiography (p. 321-323), on June 7, 1971 publisher J. I. Rodale, an advocate of organic farming, died of a heart attack during taping. Cavett was speaking with journalist Pete Hamill when Rodale began to make a snoring noise. Cavett's reaction to this is contested - he claims that both he and Hamill realized immediately that something was wrong, while other accounts have him addressing the unconscious man with "Are we boring you, Mr. Rodale?" The audience did not realise anything was seriously wrong until Cavett asked (avoiding the cliché), "Is there a doctor...in the audience?"

The program was never aired and a rerun was aired in its place.[5] On the following night's program (June 8, 1971), Cavett described his reaction at length as to what happened during the previous night's taping regarding Rodale's death and discussed the incident. An audio air check of this opening exists; it is archived in the collection of Archival Television Audio, Inc. (www.atvaudio.com)

June 1971: Vietnam War Debate with John Kerry

During a debate about the Vietnam war, Cavett had two veterans debating on the show. The anti-war side was led by a young John Kerry and the pro-war side by John E. O'Neill, later the founder of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. It was later revealed through then-President Richard Nixon's secret White House tapes that Nixon wanted to "get rid" of Cavett because of this debate.

August 2, 1971: Ingmar Bergman

Director Ingmar Bergman appeared for the first time on a US talk show, in one of the few TV interviews he ever agreed to do.

November 24, 1971: Danny Kaye

Actor/singer Danny Kaye appeared for the entire show with film clips, performing and promoting UNICEF.

December 15, 1971: Norman Mailer vs. Gore Vidal

Moments before the episode with Gore Vidal, Norman Mailer, and Janet Flanner, Mailer, annoyed with a less-than-stellar review by Vidal of Prisoner of Sex, headbutted Vidal and traded insults with him backstage.[6] As the show began taping, a visibly belligerent Mailer, who admitted he had been drinking,[6] goaded Vidal and Cavett into trading insults with him on air and continually referred to his "greater intellect". He openly taunted and mocked Vidal (who responded in kind), finally earning the ire of Flanner, who announced that she had become "very, very bored" with the discussion, telling Mailer "You act as if you're the only people here." Mailer moved his chair away from the other guests and Cavett joked that "perhaps you'd like two more chairs to contain your giant intellect?"[7][8] Mailer replied "I'll take the two chairs if you'll all accept finger-bowls." As Cavett professed to not understand Mailer's "finger bowl" comment and made further jokes, Mailer stated "Why don't you look at your question sheet and ask your question?", to which Cavett responded "Why don't you fold it five ways and put it where the moon don't shine?"[6][8]

A long laugh by the audience ensued, after which Mailer asked Cavett if he had "come up with that line himself". Cavett replied "I have to tell you a quote from Tolstoy?"

The headbutting and later on-air altercation was described by Mailer himself in his short book Of a Small and Modest Malignancy, Wicked and Bristling with Dots, including a description that does not jibe with the videotape and was disputed by Cavett decades later in his New York Times Online column.[9] Cavett noted that Mailer said that he received more mail about this episode than anything else in his career.[10]

1971: John Simon vs. Mort Sahl

Critic John Simon revealed on the air to the home audience that during the most recent commercial break, fellow guest Mort Sahl had threatened to punch him in the mouth.

1971: The Pornography Episodes

Cavett did a two-part show on pornography; both parts were taped the same day and shown on two nights. During the first part, he was discussing the depiction of oral sex in movies and made a parenthetical utterance: "oral-genital sex...mouth on sex organs." A flap ensued where executives demanded that the censor cut the second phrase.

An angry Cavett described the ongoing situation at the beginning of the second part, reusing the phrase. One of the guests, legal scholar Alexander Bickel, sided with Cavett. The result was that the show aired with the phrase cut the first night but left in the second night.

March 31, 1972: Chad Everett vs. Lily Tomlin

During the taping of this episode, actor Chad Everett had a much publicized argument with feminist actress/comedian Lily Tomlin. Tomlin became so enraged when Everett referred to his wife as "my property" that she stormed off the set and refused to return.[11]

June 27, 1972: Angela Davis

Angela Davis, an activist who was associated with the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and 1970s, cancelled a scheduled appearance on June 27, 1972. The basis for the controversy was the continuing debate over the SST (Supersonic transport) system. ABC had insisted on inviting either William F. Buckley, Jr. or William Rusher of the conservative National Review magazine to have a balanced viewpoint, but Davis declined.

1972: Rogers Morton

A show with Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton resulted in nine animals being added to the endangered species list after Cavett commented on them.

June 12, 1973: Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando, who just months earlier had rejected his Academy Award for The Godfather to protest the plight of American Indians, appeared on the show with representatives of the Cheyenne, Paiute, and Lummi tribes to promote his views. After the program ended, Brando assaulted photographer Ron Galella who ended up in the hospital after being punched in the face.

October 1973: Katharine Hepburn 2-Hour Interview

During a two-part interview with Katharine Hepburn, Hepburn got up and left at the end of the first half of the interview, thinking her job was done. Cavett apologized to the audience, promising she would be back the next evening (she was). However, this was actually staged by Cavett and Hepburn as a joke.[12]

February 21, 1974: Carol Burnett Interview

Actress Carol Burnett appeared and was interviewed for the entire 90 minute program.[13]

1979: Oscar Peterson

A piano lesson with Oscar Peterson. Oscar Peterson demonstrated the styles of Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, George Shearing with an amazing facility. The show began with Peterson playing a solo piece and then he discussed his debut and view on critics.

DVD release

Five DVD sets have been released featuring various episodes of the series.

DVD NameRelease DateNumber of episodesAdditional Information
The Dick Cavett Show:
Jimi Hendrix		May 14, 20022This 1-disc set features 2 episodes compiling 3 songs performed live by Jimi Hendrix. Bonus features include an interview with Dick Cavett, Billy Cox, Mitch Mitchell & others.
The Dick Cavett Show:
Rock Icons		August 16, 20059This 3-disc set features 9 episodes that include appearances from David Bowie, David Crosby, George Harrison, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, The Jessy Dixon Singers, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Ravi Shankar, Paul Simon, Sly & the Family Stone, Stephen Stills, Stevie Wonder, Wonderwheel and Gary Wright. Bonus features include Bob Weide's interview of Dick Cavett.
The Dick Cavett Show:
Ray Charles Collection		September 13, 20053This 2-disc set features 3 episodes compiling 14 songs performed live by Ray Charles. Bonus features include new episode introductions and an interview with Dick Cavett.
The Dick Cavett Show:
John & Yoko Collection		November 1, 20053This 2-disc set features 3 episodes of John Lennon and Yoko Ono appearances from 1971 to 1972. Bonus features include new episode introductions and an interview with Dick Cavett.
The Dick Cavett Show:
Comic Legends		February 21, 200612This 4-disc set features 12 episodes from the series featuring interviews with Woody Allen, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Carol Burnett, Mel Brooks, George Burns, Bill Cosby, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Groucho Marx and The Smothers Brothers. Bonus features include new episode introductions, Cavett Remembers The Comic Legends with Bob Weide, an interview with Joanne Carson, Dick Cavett on The Ed Sullivan Show, Cavett Backstage featurette, promos, outtakes and Here's Dick Cavette, a 30-minute special featuring footage from The Dick Cavett Morning Show with Groucho Marx, Bob Hope and Woody Allen. This DVD set also includes the interview with Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin.
The Dick Cavett Show:
Hollywood Greats		September 12, 200612This 4-disc set features 12 episodes from the series featuring interviews with Robert Altman, Fred Astaire, Peter Bogdanovich, Marlon Brando, Mel Brooks, Frank Capra, Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Katharine Hepburn, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Groucho Marx, Robert Mitchum, Debbie Reynolds and Orson Welles. Bonus features include new episode introductions, promos, and the featurette Seeing Stars with Dick Cavett and Robert Osborne .

See also

References

  1. 1 2 The Dick Cavett Show: Season 3, Episode 9 Groucho Marx (13 Jun. 1969) - imdb q.v.: YouTube
  2. ↑ "The Dick Cavett Show: Rock Icons (DVD liner notes)". Daphne Productions. 2005.
  3. 1 2 http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/dick-cavetts-worst-show
  4. ↑ http://www.onthemedia.org/2003/jun/27/governor-leaves-the-stage/transcript/
  5. ↑ Cavett, Dick (May 3, 2007). "When That Guy Died on My Show". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-21. I brought out the next guest, Pete Hamill, whose column ran in The New York Post. Rodale moved “down one” to the couch. As Pete and I began to chat, Mr. Rodale suddenly made a snoring sound, which got a laugh. Comics would sometimes do that for a laugh while another comic was talking, pretending boredom. His head tilted to the side as Pete, in close-up as it happened, whispered audibly, "This looks bad." The audience laughed at that. I didn’t, because I knew Rodale was dead. To this day, I don’t know how I knew. I thought, "Good God, I’m in charge here. What do I do?" Next thing I knew I was holding his wrist, thinking, I don’t know anything about what a wrist is supposed to feel like.
  6. 1 2 3 "The Guest From Hell: Savoring Norman Mailer's legendary appearance on The Dick Cavett Show". Slate.com. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  7. ↑ Google video titled "Charlie Rose - Dick Cavett, 57 min - Mar 5, 2001."
  8. 1 2 4-minute YouTube excerpt from Norman Mailer - Gore Vidal show
  9. ↑ Cavett, Dick (November 25, 2007). "When They Told Me Norman Wrote a Book…". The New York Times.
  10. ↑ Cavett, Dick (November 14, 2007). "In This Corner, Norman Mailer". The New York Times.
  11. ↑ Lily Tomlin Biography - Time Magazine
  12. ↑ As seen in "Bonus Features" on the "Hollywood Greats" DVD box set.
  13. ↑ As seen in The Dick Cavett Show: Comic Legends 4-disc DVD box set.

Further reading

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