Sorry to hear of the passing of local (Los Angeles) TV legend Lloyd Thaxton at age 81. Thaxton hosted some national game shows and late in his career, produced some widely-syndicated shows. But to those of us who were L.A. teens in the sixties, he'll always be that funny guy with the afternoon dance party show on KCOP, Channel 13. (Yes, I know this show was nationally syndicated, too…but Thaxton was as L.A. as smog, nose jobs and orange juice imported from Florida.)
The show started life as Lloyd Thaxton's Record Shop, then it became Thaxton's Hop, then it was The Lloyd Thaxton Show. By any name, it was a fun hour produced on a budget of about eleven dollars. Thaxton was ingenious, coming up with a hundred different ways to pantomime or otherwise provide visuals for the hit records he played. He wore silly costumes. He did lip-sync and also thumb-syncs, with faces painted on his thumbs. He was a lot of fun to watch.
The L.A. Times has a nice obit up along with a video clip from The Lloyd Thaxton Show. It was nice to see him in action again, even for only two minutes. And it's sad to lose a clever guy like that.