Dick Clark explains why he still does a live broadcast on New Year's Eve. I know there are some who find it depressing (and a bad way to ring in a new year) to see him struggling to speak after his stroke but my attitude is more like "Hey, if it helps him in any way, I can endure it." There are people like that in this world and they shouldn't hide away just because they make others uncomfortable. I also don't really watch Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, though I somehow always wind up seeing a clip of his participation.
There are a couple of job offers in my past I turned down or had to turn down and now sorta regret. One was to write on the Jerry Lewis Telethon. I was busy that year, figured it would probably be offered again…and it wasn't. Another was to go to Vegas on New Year's Eve and help produce a live telecast, competitive with Mr. Clark's, that would emanate from there.
That particular setup just sounded like a nightmare of crowds and logistic problems…and when I later talked to the guy who accepted the job I passed on, I learned I was right. That one I don't regret skipping but one year, Dick (with whom I'd worked, both as a writer for his shows and as a producer on a show where we hired him) asked me to get involved with his New Year's broadcast.
It meant working on the music segments that were all pre-taped in October — when the acts were available and not charging what they charge to perform on New Year's Eve — with the hosts saying, "And now, let's cut to Dick Clark in Times Square and see what's happening there. Dick, what's the mood like in New York tonight?" And while this was being taped in L.A., Dick was just off-camera. Then 12/31, Dick and I would fly to New York at the last possible minute, do the live remote from the rooftop, then fly back almost immediately.
I remember being amazed at how close he cut it, given that he had to be on the air live at a specific time…and it was not a time when travel in and out of the Times Square area was likely to be a breeze. If I absolutely had to be on a rooftop there at the moment the new year commenced, I think I'd have flown to New York a few days before, checked into that hotel and not left it until the telecast…then flown home a few days later.
Dick's itinerary that year called for getting to his N.Y. hotel (a few blocks from where the chosen rooftop was located) around 4 PM on the last day of the year, making his way to the building somewhat later, then getting back to his hotel after the broadcast and flying home first thing the morning of January 1. I think it was like an 8 AM flight. Thinking back, it now sounds like it might have been a fun adventure but when it was offered, I somehow didn't imagine it that way.
Again, I was busy at the time and I figured (wrongly), "They'll ask me again some other year." No, sometimes they don't. Always a good thing to remember.
Anyway, I really liked Dick Clark. I didn't like his idea of how to pay people but I liked him. If going to New York each year to do those few minutes on the air cheers him up or gives him an incentive to stick with his physical therapy, I'm all for it. I'd be very happy to tune in live and see him if it looked like he was making good progress and was sounding more like Dick Clark.