Speaking of the man as I was a moment ago, he's one of those performers I always thought was truly classy and bright in a real way…as opposed to the way some non-classy folks manage to come off well on TV thanks to judicious handling, TelePrompters and support from Writers Guild members. I only met Cavett once for about twenty seconds so there was no time to tell him a story about his old talk show that I don't imagine he knows.
It dawns on me that I have at least one steady reader of this blog who knows Mr. Cavett well. Steve, if you think he'd be interested, please e-mail him a link to this item…
In 1971, Dick Cavett was hosting his acclaimed late night program of conversation and comedy on ABC and there was an episode that never aired…one I'm sure he's sick of people bringing up but I will anyway. He had on a guest named J.I. Rodale who published books and magazines promoting healthy eating and exercise. Right after he finished his interview and while sitting there on stage alongside the next interviewee, Mr. Rodale had a sudden attack of (I suppose) irony and died.
Back then, the local ABC affiliate in Los Angeles ran a movie each weekday afternoon from 3 PM to 5 PM and it was followed by the local news. I was watching that day…and I seem to recall the film was "The Honeymoon Machine," which interested me only for the chance to gaze longingly on Paula Prentiss and to hope that Richard Benjamin would die soon making her a widow and therefore available. Hey, I was 19 at the time.
Every so often during one of the 94 commercial breaks per hour, we'd see a little ten second flash of a local newsman in his local newsroom teasing a headline that would be covered later on the local news. At one point, he breathlessly proclaimed, "Famous guest dies during taping of Dick Cavett Show. Details right here at 5 PM."
Just as I was being startled by that and wondering who the famous guest was, they cut to a network (as opposed to local) promo and an announcer said, "Tonight on The Dick Cavett Show, join Dick as he welcomes the legendary Jack Benny."
Whoa!
Snap assumption: Jack Benny died during the taping of The Dick Cavett Show! That's what everyone who was watching and paying attention must have immediately thought. (This took place, of course, three years before Mr. Benny actually did leave us.)
I immediately started thinking of all the aspects of this: Jack Benny had died! Jack Benny had died while performing on TV! Jack Benny had died in front of a live audience! Jack Benny had probably died while discussing his life with Dick Cavett!
That all lasted about twenty seconds…until I said to myself, "Self, if Jack Benny had died, that would be the headline. They wouldn't say 'famous guest.' Besides, when they use the term 'famous guest,' it usually means someone you never heard of!" I supposed (correctly) that the Cavett show on which someone had died would not be aired and that they'd selected a rerun to take its place…a rerun that happened to feature Jack Benny. And I wondered how many people watching KABC at that moment had jumped to the same initial assumption.
Less than a minute later, they cut away from a great shot of Paula Prentiss (the cads) to go back to that local newsguy in the local newsroom. Awkwardly, for they'd obviously decided not to wait for anyone to write it out for him, he said, "Uh, just to clarify, the guest who died at the taping of The Dick Cavett Show this afternoon in New York was —" he consulted some papers to get the name "— publisher J.I. Rodale. It was not Jack Benny. To repeat: It was not Jack Benny!"