I'm going to stop posting about Johnny in the next day or so but I did want to make one point that absolutely no one seems to be making. It's that Johnny was an enormously powerful man to the point that very few folks in the industry were willing to ever get on his bad side. In one of the Associated Press obit pieces, I couldn't help but notice this paragraph…
Carson often had a cigarette in hand in the early years of "Tonight," eventually dropping the on-air habit when smoking on TV became frowned on. But he remained a heavy smoker for some years afterward, said a former associate who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Take a look at that. Johnny, who smoked constantly on network television for years, has died of emphysema…and one of his former (not even current) associates is still afraid to be quoted by name saying that the man remained a heavy smoker.
Johnny was quite beloved. I'm sure most of the glowing sentiments we're now hearing are heartfelt, and of course it would be rude to dwell on negatives when the body is still warm. Still, even before his death, people were only quietly (very quietly) whispering the "other" stories — the ones about ruthless (though usually not unethical) business dealings or, going back some years before his current marriage, of drinking and womanizing.
I'm not saying these stories are true. Some obviously are the bitter interpretations of people who felt Johnny should have had them on the show or allowed them into his tight circle of friends or otherwise aided them, but not all are as easily dismissed. I think anyone who ever got within six blocks of Mr. Carson will tell you privately that they heard such tales, and also that no one ever wanted to be quoted as telling them. When you kick the King, you have to be prepared to kill him…so you don't kick.
People did speak ill of him. Late in Carson's run, the entire media world forgot all the bad reviews that dismissed him as pandering to the Lowest Common Denominator. For instance, back when it was Cavett-vs.-Carson in late night, it was the intellectual who interviewed Noel Coward getting bested in the ratings by the low-class guy who did naughty double-entendre jokes and brought on animals to defecate on his desk.
Some of this Carson-bashing was simple snobbishness and some of it was the old tactic of getting attention by attacking the guy on top…but a lot of people just didn't like Johnny. They felt he smirked too much and went for easy laughs about squirrels warming their nuts, to say nothing of all that airtime spent coaxing airhead starlets to give salacious answers. At some point, the critical community gave up and declared he'd always been an integral part of Americana reflecting the national pulse…but he was not so universally beloved until near the end of his tenure.
Still, throughout, he was the most powerful man in show business. People who were in or around the field (and not already consigned to Carson's enemies list) were afraid to say anything that might have enraged The Legend. There are those who were at or around NBC during his reign who feel that the 30+ year marathon sprint was in no small part attributable to some of Carson's associates and employees; that, for example, Peter Lassally and/or Fred DeCordova kept the show working, that Talent Coordinator Jim McCawley deserves most of the credit for the discovery of new comedians, and that more of the best Carson "ad-libs" came from the writers than audiences could accept.
There are those who feel Johnny would not have been able to survive his last few years without Jay Leno keeping the ratings strong (and the demographics, younger) on the many nights he guest-hosted. Some would tell you that the mess over filling Johnny's chair after his departure was due to his refusal to ever plan for that day, forcing NBC to strategize with no clue as to when it might occur. These are all views that no one dared utter aloud when Johnny was around. Out of fear — and perhaps because some of us loved him on the show and wanted desperately to believe he was that nice, charming guy — he had to be the undisputed Monarch of Late Night, receiving all of the credit and none of the blame.
I write all this as a huge fan of the on-screen Carson. I am also an admirer of an aspect of Johnny's job which no one ever speaks of, which was his role as the guy ultimately in charge of the show's production. Others dealt with the network and talent coordinators and agents on a day-to-day basis but with an authority that flowed from him. When something was wanted, his people could call and say, "Johnny wants this," and they'd usually get it…and every now and then, Johnny himself had to get on the phone to someone high at NBC or at some agency and scare the hell out of them.
No matter how good one is in front of the camera, a long gig in show business has a lot to do with career management and knowing how to fight for the right things, and win. Carson knew how to do all that, which is why some said, "No one ever helped themselves in this business by pissing off Johnny Carson."
I don't know if his death means that people will become less afraid of telling "those stories" or suggesting there were other views of Carson. When Bob Hope died, a lot of folks thought we'd see an avalanche of books about the "real" Bob Hope…but we haven't, and he still remains more or less sacred. Perhaps Johnny will, as well. Even in an honest, warts-and-all accounting, he'd probably still come off as a god. Just maybe a slightly-more-human god.