Here’s (Vintage) Johnny

Johnny, WE MISS YOU! Our bedroom has not been the same since you left.

--Sandy Gangstad of Boling, Texas, via e-mail to www.johnnycarson.com

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Psychic extraordinaire Carnac the Magnificent, slick pitchman Art Fern, superpatriot Floyd R. Turbo and other comic personas of once-and-always late-night television king Johnny Carson reside 650 feet underground in a Hutchinson, Kan., salt mine.

Hidden away behind locked doors, recorded on more than 4,000 tapes stored in fireproof and earthquake-proof rooms--where the temperature stays between 68 and 70 degrees--are 30 years of laughter, smiles, double takes and double-entendres. The fiery blast of Doc Severinsen’s trumpet. The big-band bebop of the “Tonight Show” band. The hearty guffaws of second banana Ed McMahon, and countless recitations of his immortal introduction, “Heeeerrrrrreee’s Johhny!”

Inside the nondescript storage facility, thousands of celebrities are still sitting on the “Tonight Show” couch, joking and whooping it up with Johnny, Doc and Ed. And studio audiences are still cheering Carson’s faux golf swing, chiming in on cue with “How hot was it?” as he offers his familiar prompt, “It was so hot today ...”

The Underground Vaults and Storage facility is home to the archive of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” going back to its beginnings in 1962. Almost all of the episodes from the last 20 of the show’s 30 years, believed to be one of the largest single television libraries in the world, are being preserved at the facility. Carson obtained full ownership of the program as the result of a public, drawn-out contract negotiation in 1972. The program at that time accounted for nearly a fifth of NBC’s total profit, so the network agreed to Carson’s wishes.

Now, the historic nature alone makes the collection priceless. Some clips were repackaged and syndicated starting in 1985 under the “Carson’s Comedy Classics” title. But with the exception of a previously released video boxed-set compilation of highlights, the monologues, skits, interviews and musical moments contained on the master tapes have been largely out of sight, just like Carson since he taped his final “Tonight Show” on May 22, 1992.

As the ninth anniversary of that “farewell to America” approaches, Carsoncontinues to shun the public eye. He does not perform or grant interviews, and has mostly been absent from television. He is not participating in an NBC salute to its late-night shows scheduled for the fall, although the special will include several “Tonight Show” clips featuring him.

Carson’s absence has only heightened his mystique and that of his “Tonight Show” era, as a legion of fans of baby boomer age and older hunger for specific episodes, interviews, sketches and other significant happenings that they recall with nostalgic fondness. Their wishes have remained mostly unfulfilled--until now.

The “Tonight Show” of the Johnny Carson years is undergoing a major renaissance. Drawing on the master tapes, Carson’s production company, in partnership with Respond2, a Portland, Ore.-based advertising and marketing firm, is launching a major campaign offering vintage “Tonight Show” highlights and long-sought-after moments to fans who regard the show as an emotional pop-culture cornerstone of their lives.

Compilations of previously unreleased clips are being packaged and sold exclusively to members of the Carson Club who join through the https://www.johnnycarson.com Web site created and run by Respond2. Material, including some behind-the-scenes, previously unseen footage, is being developed for a Carson-themed DVD planned for the fall. An exhaustive database on the Web site lists every guest, dates of their appearances, and whether that appearance is available on video.

Sixteen videos of “Tonight Show” highlights are being offered, and Carson Productions and Respond2 are developing at least two new tapes a month. The partners are hoping for the future marketing of entire episodes, which is currently restricted because of license agreements. Negotiations with the writers’ and directors’ guilds, as well as several other entertainment unions, are underway to gain clearances to sell those episodes. An e-mail newsletter, “The Carson Chronicles,” is in its second edition and is being sent to 5,000 fans.

Although relatively new, the enterprise is quickly developing into a multimillion-dollar business, say those associated with the venture. Executives decline to give financial information about the collection, saying only that hundreds of thousands of videos have been sold in the last five months. Carson associates and Respond2 are closely examining the databases to explore different configurations for the vast wealth of material in the tapes.

“There is such a close emotional association that people have with the show,” said Carson Productions’ Jeff Sotzing, who is Carson’s nephew. “The more the shows are made available, the more demand there seems to be.”

The decision to reach into the archives has been bandied about for some time, Sotzing said: “We’ve been looking at new technologies, CD-ROMS, broadband. The nostalgia aspect has made it attractive to do. Right now, we’re taking very small steps because we want to see what the demand is. We don’t want to over-merchandise the material. But the fact that Johnny Carson had the vision to preserve all this material is just wonderful.”

Tim O’Leary, president and chief executive of Respond2, added, “Mr. Carson is not motivated by money to do this. He genuinely believes in good television, and he knows that people want to see it.”

Both men say they are caught a bit off-guard by the appetite for “The Tonight Show.”

“There’s this race-car driver who said he would pay $500 for an episode from the 1970s where they raced miniature cars during a sketch,” said O’Leary. “One person really wants the interview with [slain Playboy model-turned-actress] Dorothy Stratten. Another wants a tape with just magicians. There are all these little icons of TV history that people want, like Jimmy Stewart performing his poetry.”

One of the more surprising twists in the marketing of the Carson Collection revolves around the 30-minute infomercial that has been running on network and cable stations since late last year for the boxed set and the first volumes.

Key to the marketing of “The Tonight Show” was developing a vehicle that would play on viewers’ memories rather than coming across as the selling of an old television program. Carson Productions hooked onto Respond2, which had previously developed 30-minute ads for Carnival Cruises, Replay TV, the NordicTrack exercise machine, and other products.

Said Sotzing, “We weren’t sure how to distribute home video. But we knew Respond2 had been successful in producing entertaining infomercials. We wanted an infomercial that would come across as entertainment.”

The infomercial is crammed with highlights from several “Tonight” shows through the years featuring Pearl Bailey, Don Rickles, Dolly Parton, George Gobel, James Stewart and others. Also shown are such well-known Carson moments as the famous Ed Ames segment when the actor threw a tomahawk at a life-size cowboy outline, striking it in an anatomically sensitive area.

Several viewers who saw the infomercial called to see if they could buy it, said O’Leary. “It’s become one of our most popular tapes. And this is the first time that I know of that an infomercial has been sold commercially. That’s when I knew that this was really a big deal.”

It was Carson who made the decision to preserve “The Tonight Show.”

The first 10 years of the Carson era were accidentally destroyed when NBC used the tapes to record other shows. “We maybe have a dozen shows between 1962 and 1972, bits and pieces. We discovered what had happened when Johnny moved the show permanently from New York to Los Angeles in 1972,” said Sotzing.

“From then on, the edict came down that absolutely nothing was to be erased. Johnny wanted us to preserve everything. Although at the time, he never thought it would see much use after the show ended.”

The agreement under which Carson has sole ownership of the shows is not totally novel. For instance, David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants production company owns Letterman’s CBS talk show, a deal that was made when Letterman left NBC for CBS nine years ago.

But the NBC-Carson deal was made in the days before the proliferation of cable TV and networks that regularly recycle material from the golden and not-so-golden days of television. The future value of the series was uncertain, even for Carson and his Carson Productions.

The tapes were initially stored in a Los Angeles warehouse. But it was not fireproof, earthquake-proof or climate-controlled. In 1992, the tapes were moved to the Kansas salt mine, which also houses several original prints of Hollywood films and other collections.

When Carson Productions desires a tape, it notifies Shelly Russell and Bart Zody at the Kansas facility. The staffers pull the tapes, and send them out. They are copied and then returned.

Of course, the revival of classic television shows is nothing new, particularly for baby boomers increasingly longing for the relics of their youth. Episodes of numerous beloved series such as “Gunsmoke,” “I Love Lucy,” “I Spy” and even cult shows such as “Space 1999” and “The Prisoner” are enjoying renewed popularity through mail order and in video and other retail stores.

Among the latest entries in this arena are the racy “Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts” from the ‘70s, which are being sold through mail order.

“They say you can’t go home again to the old neighborhood, but you really can go back to your TV neighborhood,” said Ron Simon, curator of television for the Museum of Television & Radio in New York. “You can go back to the time and place when things were simpler. There are lots of changes in the American landscape, but all the sights and sounds of the TV shows we remember stay the same.”

While selected episodes of the daytime “Mike Douglas” show have been available, “The Tonight Show” represents a rare instance in which a nighttime talk show very closely linked to the historic specifics of its era has been resurrected. The boxed set, which includes Carson’s last show, was the only material previously sold before the Web site started marketing the shows.

Simon said, “ ‘The Tonight Show’ is undeniably one of the most valuable documents in television, if only for its social and political significance. It was a coming together of American culture each night, and you could really get a pulse of American values and institutions. Johnny’s monologue gave a real sense of the American scene.”

The pre-Jay Leno “Tonight Show” recalls a time when late-night talk shows were spontaneous social gabfests, unlike today’s venues for the canned and relentless plugging of guests’ latest entertainment vehicles. The atmosphere was more unpredictable than the current crop of talk shows hosted by David Letterman, Leno, Rosie O’Donnell and several others.

Even though guests could smoke and were often seen drinking colored liquids that may or may not have been a bit alcoholic, there was an air of innocence and good-natured fun to the proceedings. The show was more about conversation than mere shilling. Carson’s monologue was very closely tied to the news of the day, and he was regarded as one of the key political commentators in America.

Almost 10 years after its departure, Carson’s “Tonight Show” remains the standard by which all talk shows are judged.

Fans writing in to www.johnnycarson.com communicate memories of watching the show as youngsters.

Wrote one fan, William Riffle: “As a junior high student, I had a TV in my bedroom. Seventh-graders are supposed to be asleep at 11:30 p.m. EST. I used to turn the volume down and form a tent over the TV with a blanket to keep from getting busted. Thank you for allowing this web site to rekindle the vibe of the only true ‘Tonight Show’--starring Johnny Carson.”

Said O’Leary, “Almost uniformly, everyone who has written us after seeing the infomercial gives us very touching stories about how much ‘The Tonight Show’ touched them and affected them. They had what they felt was a personal relationship with Johnny. They ask questions, they want to know if Johnny will ever come back.”

Sandy Gangstad, 39, a pizza-store manager from Boling, Texas, said she and her husband were among the numerous couples who would arrange their more amorous activities around “The Tonight Show.” “We didn’t want to miss Johnny,” she said with a giggle.

For Gangstad, late night has not been the same since Carson’s exit: “Jay Leno seems to be stuck on men’s behinds, and David Letterman just puts people down. Johnny would always be nice to people, no matter what. We used to love it when he would freak out with the animals.”

One of the more poignant communications came from June Johnson, 80, of Sun City, Calif. Johnson related in an e-mail to the Web site her memory of Sept. 7, 1983.

Johnson’s husband, who had returned earlier in the day from a visit to the doctor, told her he wanted to stay up and watch Carson before going to bed. She awoke the next morning to find her husband on the couch. She realized moments later that he had died during the night.

“He just looked like he had had a good night’s sleep,” said Johnson in an interview. “I always wondered what he saw that night, what show did he see. I wrote to Johnny asking him if I could get a copy of the show.” Carson personally sent her a video of that night’s program, along with other tapes and a signed letter.

Said Johnson: “He’s such a sweetheart of a guy that he would do that for an old lady who just asked him a little favor.”

There’s even inquiries about a famous Carson “urban legend” referred to in the infomercial during a clip of an 1989 appearance by actress and then-fitness queen Jane Fonda. Fonda told Carson how her son had seen him interview Zsa Zsa Gabor as she sat with a cat on her lap. Gabor asked the host if he would like to “pet my pussy.”

Said Fonda on the clip, “My son said you said, ‘I’d love to if you’d remove that damn cat.’ ”

Sotzing said, “That’s pure urban folklore. It never happened. But we get so many questions about it.” He chuckled, “Of course, when the infomercial airs on the Family Channel, we have to edit that part out.”

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE . . . COME BACK!!! WE MISS YOU AND WANT TO SEE YOU PERFORM AGAIN. IS THERE A SPECIAL IN YOUR FUTURE??? GOSH, I HOPE SO. PLEASE CONSIDER ONE. THERE IS ONLY ONE YOU ... AND YOUR FANS GREATLY MISS YOUR HUMOR. WAITING TO LAUGH AGAIN.

--Pam Betcher, Algonac, Mich.

The comeback of the vintage “Tonight Show” may seem like the perfect opportunity for Carson to climb back into the spotlight, if only to provide new introductions, insights or commentaries for the tapes and DVDs.

But a new version of “Heeeerrrrrreee’s Johnny” is not likely.

“Mr. Carson feels that the work speaks for itself,” O’Leary said. “He’s made a very conscious decision that he is fully retired and that he is not going to be in the public eye anymore. He feels he would violate that pledge if he did anything new for this material. He doesn’t want to mess with his legacy.”

However, Carson is intimately involved with the new enterprise: “He looks at and approves every piece of material. He’s very particular about the quality, about the handling of the tapes. Sometimes he will see something and say, ‘People wouldn’t like that.’ Or he’ll hear a concept for tapes we will have come up with, and he’ll nix it.”

O’Leary added that working with Carson was like “a dream come true. We’ve worked with a lot of celebrities, but Johnny Carson is the real deal. I was a little star-struck. But he’s got this calming Midwestern sensibility that is really great. He really understands his brand of TV. It’s all very intuitive to him.”

The “Carson Classic Moments” tapes targeted for Carson Club members sell for $19.99 a pair, plus shipping and handling. The first few volumes feature appearances by Burt Reynolds, Garry Shandling, Roseanne, and Vlosta, the International Queen of Polka. One segment also has a guest who made jewelry out of bird droppings.

Two new videos are sent to club members every four to six weeks.

Some of the proceeds of the tape sales go to charity. Due to an arrangement with Robin Williams and Bette Midler, who both appeared on the next-to-last Carson “Tonight Show,” a percentage of the sale of their video is donated to their charities.

As the Carson enterprise moves forward, fans continue to deluge the Web site with off-the-wall requests.

Sotzing said the possibilities for the collection are endless.

The production company is considering digitizing the tapes so that the collection will be on computer hard drives.

“It’s very fortunate that Johnny Carson had this vision,” he said. “ ‘The Tonight Show’ will go on.”

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This story has been edited to reflect a correction to the original published text. The fan who wrote about his experiences watching the show in junior high school was William Riffle of Warren, Ohio, not John Hofbauer.

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