October 1, 1962-May 22, 1992.
FIRST ANNIVERSARY BROADCAST
Johnny Carson, host of NBC's network late-night "Tonight Show" reigned for 30 unprecedented years...five times the combined tenure of Steve Allen, and Jack Paar. Carson was impervious to competition, including efforts to dethrone him by Les Crane, Joey Bishop, Merv Griffin, Dick Cavett, Jack Paar, Pat Sajak, Joan Rivers, and Arsenio Hall. Sadly, very few complete "Tonight Show" broadcasts survive during Johnny Carson's first ten years of broadcasting. Around 1965, through the early 1970's, oldest tapes were first erased systematically by orders from myopic NBC executives, to be recycled for purposes of saving money. Ironically, in many cases, these older master tapes were too brittle, and portended probable drop-outs for re-use after being erased. Subsequently blank after being erased, these older questionable master 2" Quad tapes were either sparingly used or never used again for recording new programming and eventually were discarded. Saving thousands of dollars at the time (wiping master tapes for potential re-use) resulted in losing millions of dollars by NBC in today's marketplace, and more importantly wiping thousands of historic TONIGHT SHOW broadcasts, which contain precious personal anecdotes from political, show business, and sports icons of the past.
Guests Abbe Lane, Henny Youngman, and New York City Mayor Robert Wagner help Johnny celebrate his first anniversary as host of the Tonight Show.
This broadcast opens with Ed McMahon announcing the guests on this show, the First Anniversary broadcast. Johnny Carson related to this special telecast night.
Mayor of New York City Robert Wagner is introduced. Carson quips that during his own first two years living in NYC he thought newsman Gabe Pressman was the Mayor. Carson takes advantage of the moment asking Wagner if he can be instrumental in bringing back New York City's 11:15pm to 11:30pm segment which was replaced because of a newspaper strike by adding an additional 15 minute of local news after only 10 weeks of TTS broadcasting a full 105 minutes in NYC...on the air for the last time a full one hour forty five minutes, December 14, 1962.
Johnny praises the Mayor for the great job he is doing. He and Mayor Robert Wagner discuss the forthcoming NY World's Fair, anticipating 70 million visitors, taxes, and the challenges dealing with the second largest budget in the USA.
Abbe Lane already on the panel as Johnny Carson welcomes comedienne Henny Youngman, who praises Carson for the job he is doing...making guests feel comfortable when on the show. Henny jokes with Abbe Lane stating that he use to work with her husband Xavier Cugat. Hew tells Carson about his early career and how he use to deal with hecklers...some how use to wait outside after hours after him for cracks made during the show.
Henny Youngman does his stand-up routine, after which the tape ends.