Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Firing Line with guest Steve Allen (1967)
You can hear Jayne Meadows and her inhaling laugh in the audience at the thirty-seven second mark and once you hear it, you will recognize it throughout. Let me say that I am a big Steve Allen fan. However, teamed with Buckley, this is truly a meeting of pretentious minds. I loved the Funny Men, Funny People and More Funny People series of books Allen wrote. I first read them at the age of 19. Re-reading them today, I find Allen terribly weak as an intellectual. Regardless he was, of course, one of television's great wits.
There have been some great Steve Allen rarities appearing on the site of late. His appearance on Hy Gardner Calling, some very rare Tonight Show footage and an all-color episode of the 1960 Steve Allen Show. Since we're watching him on Firing Line, maybe you should also go here and watch his appearance on The Mike Wallace interview! Great stuff!
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3 comments:
As to your comments about Allen's
intellectual powers, generally
speaking, artists are more emotive
and liberal. Conservatives tend to
be more rational, favoring logic
over emotion.
Both viewpoints are necessary and
sought after. In a show like Firing
Line, we can enjoy and learn from
a spirited discussion between such
luminaries as Bill Buckley and Steve Allen.
That said, I prefer the funny Steve
Allen; thanks for presenting so much of his existing television clips!
Sam Kujava
From what I've read, Steve Allen had a pretty impoverished childhood. I think his pretentiousness stemmed from a certain insecurity about his lack of education and breeding. Still, he was far more interesting to listen to than Jay Leno.
Steve Allen was unquestionably one of the greatest and funniest figures from the golden age of TV. But he should've kept his mouth shut about rock'n'roll.
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