Mike douglas talk show host biography

Entertainer, talk show host (–)

For the actor, see Michael Douglas. For other people with similar names, see Mike Douglass and Michael Douglas (disambiguation).

Michael Delaney Dowd Jr. (August 11, &#; August 11, ), known as Mike Douglas, was an American "Big Band" era singer, entertainer, television talk show host of The Mike Douglas Show, and actor.

Early life

Dowd was born in Chicago, Illinois. His birth year has been called into question, with years ranging from to having been given as his year of birth at some point. His family later moved to Forest Park, Illinois, where he attended Proviso Township High School, but left the school after his second year. After that, he began singing as a choirboy.

Career

By his teens, Dowd was working as a singer at nightclubs and on a Lake Michigan dinner cruise ship. He was a "staff singer" at the Oklahoma City radio station WKY. After serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II on a munitions ship, he resumed his performing career as a staff singer for WMAQ-TV in Chicago. He moved to Los Angeles. He was on the Ginny Simms radio show. After that, Douglas joined the big band of Kay Kyser as a singer.

Although big band swing faded from popularity, Kyser had to continue performing due to contractual obligations, and co

From Wikipedia:

The Mike Douglas Show was an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that aired in syndication from to

A former big band singer, Douglas moved to television in the s. The Mike Douglas Show started December 11, in Cleveland as a local show on Westinghouse's KYW-TV (now WKYC-TV), it proved popular and, in July , was syndicated by Westinghouse to all five of its owned-and-operated stations. By the show was available in markets and seen by an audience of six million viewers a day.

The program featured light banter with guests and musical performances. Instead of an opening comedic monologue (as was the case with The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, for example), Douglas, given his vocalist background, would begin each show by singing a popular song for the audience. Each week would have a different co-host who would appear every day with Douglas. The program was initially aired live on KYW-TV but, after Zsa Zsa Gabor in called Morey Amsterdam a "son of a bitch," the program then aired on a one-day tape-delay basis. This allowed for the editing-out of any objectionable material. Live broadcasts (with a seven-second delay) were attempted only on a few special occasions thereafter, such as when the Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup.

In August , the show moved from Cleveland to Philadelphia to a small basement studio located in the KYW-TV building at Walnut Street (see photos on right). This studio held seats. In July , the show moved to a new studio in the newly constructed KYW-TV studios at 5th and Market Streets in Philadelphia. That studio ("Studio A") was the first and only studio especially constructed for the program. While the overall new studio was larger, it accommodated only seats. The original musical director in Philadelphia was Ellie Frankel. In , Joe Harnell, an accomplished musician, composer, and band leader took the position of musical director. Harnell continued as musical director

Inducted:

Successful singer and talk-show host, Mike Douglas was a prolific personality in the s and &#;60s. Mike Douglas has been compared to several other talk-show hosts that were born in the Midwest such as Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett and Phil Donahue. Referred to as &#;the Cary Grant of the coffee break,&#; Mike Douglas charmed American housewives with style, personality and good looks.

Mike Douglas was born in Chicago and began a career in show business as a singer. He started out as a choir boy in school and turned pro in After serving a stint in the US Navy, Mike Douglas turned down a Hollywood singing opportunity to join the Kay Kyser Band. He stayed with the band more than five years, performing concerts, playing on the radio and on television. Michael Douglas and the Campus Kids was his successful contribution to the Kay Kyser Band. For two years he was a vocalist the quiz show, Kay Kyser&#;s Kollege of Musical Knowledge.

When he made his debut in show business, his personal life was also taking a successful turn. He met Genevieve Purnell when the two were still in their teens yet they fell in love. The two met in Oklahoma and eloped, forging the marriage certificate because neither was of legal marrying age. Genevieve claimed she was Together they have three daughters.

brought about significant changes for Mike Douglas&#; career. Kay Kyser had quit show business leaving Mike Douglas to fend for himself in a profession of uncertainty. For starters, he dubbed the singing voice of Prince Charming in Cinderella. He became a regular on local Chicago variety shows including Hi Ladies, the prime-time Music Show and the daytime variety show Club In the talented singer was hailed to Cleveland by the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company to host his own talk show. His show, The Mike Douglas Show, was syndicated nationally in and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Performance. It was a major accomplishment as it was the first daytime talk show to win an

The Mike Douglas Show

Host: Mike Douglas. Guests: British Oscar winning actress Glenda Jackson, composer/conductor Marvin Hamlisch and Tom Waits.

MD: [close-up] You're about to see an extraordinary performer. It's hard to put a label on him, that's always something he avoided, because he's kind of a combination: poet, jazz singer and vagrant with a surprising amount of personal charm. Here is Tom Waits!

  
Waits at the piano, wearing his ratty black sports coat, the black and white tie, black beret, ashtray on the piano. Performs: Eggs and Sausage]

MD: [walks over to the piano] We're coming right back!
[Break]

[They're sitting down. Glenda Jackson: smoking a cigarette, smiling. Hamlisch: a suit with glasses. Waits: smoking, tipping of his cigarette every three seconds, leaning back and forth, staring at his shoes. Hiding his eyes behind his beret.]

MD: Eh Tom, I want you to. You're eh. You project a very strange image of eh. How would you. How would you describe what you're doing?
TW: Oh eh. I don't know, I'm perhaps a little bit of a curator. I'm a little bit of a curator and eh I do nocturnal *?* And eh I kinda of eh travelogues, and that sort of thing. Eh, I'm an unemployed service station attendant most of the time. I'm just lucky, I'm a living and bre