Product Description
"If you have ever turned on the TV after the 11 o’clock news and laughed, you owe Steve Allen a debt of gratitude." That’s how Entertainment Weekly described Steve Allen’s enormous contribution to American popular culture in a tribute to the legendary entertainer after his death on October 30, 2000. Steve Allen created the Tonight show—America’s longest running entertainment show and most successful late-night TV show. In so doing he led the way for other American icons: Johnny Carson, Jack Paar, David Letterman, and Jay Leno. The formula we all now take for granted did not exist before Allen: the desk, the opening monologue, breezy chats with celebrities, wacky stunts, comedy sketches, cameras roaming down the hall and outside the theater, off-the-cuff interviews with passers-by, and ad-lib banter with the studio audience. It’s all great fun and it’s all due to the incredibly witty, incurably silly, musically gifted, and ever-likeable Steve Allen.

Based on exclusive interviews, Ben Alba has produced this wonderful history of the first Tonight show, complete with terrific photos from the show and revealing insights from over 30 entertainment legends who knew and worked with Steve Allen—including Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters, Don Knotts, Louis Nye, Tom Poston, Bill Dana, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Andy Williams, Tim Conway, the Smothers Brothers, Diahann Carroll, Eartha Kitt, and Bill Dana. In addition, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Bill Maher, Bob Costas, and other TV veterans reflect on Allen’s contributions.

Starting with Allen’s early career in radio, Alba shows how the young radio talent developed many of the elements that would soon light up late-night television. He then highlightsAllen’s many innovations that made the Tonight show so appealing and enduring: the single-guest and single theme shows, road shows and live segments from across the country, Broadway shows visiting Tonight, creating a forum for jazz artistry and a groundbreaking showcase for African-American talent, musical tributes, and the use of the studio audience as a comedy goldmine.

Alba has created an invaluable, entertaining, and revealing behind-the-scenes look at the birth of an American television institution and its brilliant inventor, whose influence continues to make America stay awake and laugh—night after night. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Smock Smock!
Interesting book about Steverino. One interesting item that I've never seen written was that when Steve said Smock ! Smock! what did that exactly mean...it was Nelson (Smock) Riddle's (the arranger's) middle name and Steve said it as a joke to Nelson.

Steve Allen's TONIGHT show
INVENTING LATE NIGHT arrived quickly and in the condition stated by seller.The person for whom I purchased the book extremely pleased with it.In this viewer's opinion, Steve Allen's TONIGHT SHOW was by far the best.He established the format that his successors have used to this very day.

If you remember the entire family staring at a 12 inch appliance...
Us war babies, those born b/w '41 &'45, you know who you are do yourself a favor, give yourself a treat and devour a retrospect of what was really going on in the room where "everyone" was watching the one appliance only the most prosperous family member had.
I got this at a 1/2 price store, sorry Ama, was going to save until after my two week school hiatus.
I made the mistake of reading the intro and then the first 100 pages and now my new friend is going on vacation w/me wheather it wants to or not.
A great book brings you back to when you were innocent and young...readers of my zeitgeist this work does just that.

A Bio It's Not
Be forewarned, for those interested in a full fledged biography of the true inventor of late night TV, who provided the 'template' of late night variety/talk TV , Steve Allen, this is not the book for you. After a brief, cursory review of his early life the book dissolves into a review of Allen's TV career, especially on NBC. Using lots of secondary sources, e.g.newspaper and magazine accounts, with some oral history mixed in, the book has a choppy format, occasionally going back and forth in time. The stories are fun to read but one doesn't really get to know what made Steve Allen tick. Although not particularly well written, it's a good book to at least get an idea of how significant Allen was in TV history.

Before Johnny Carson, There Was Steve Allen.
Steve Allen invented the late-night TV talk show as we now know it.The whole rigamarole was his creation, the desk, the band, the opening monolgoue, the tacky skits, the going up into the audience to answer questions, the guest chatter, according to Ken Tucker in an 'Entertainment Weekly' article tribute in 2000.Steve Allen was born in New York City on St. Stephen's Day and named for the first Christian martyr. His parents were vaudeville performers. Mother was from an Irish family in Chicago. His first job at the age of seventeen (same as me) was as a salesman at $15 per week. He in Chicago, me in backward Knoxville. Neither of us was doomed to be the world of sales. His first job in the entertainment business was as d.j. at KOY as a staff announcer and d.j. on KFAC on Wilshire Blvd. in L.A. He had gone to high school one year in Hollywood.

Allen wrote a lengthy autobiographical poem in '38 then rewrote it in '56 after his success on television for 'Chicago' magazine. Men know much less for certain than they think they do. How much intelligence does it take to play records? He started writing songs but found Tin Pan Alley to be a 'myth' for success financially; $5,000 or $6,000 as royalties was considered "peanuts" back then in the magic world of music.

He grew jaded and considered t.v. a passing phenonmon. How wrong he was!Some of the musicians/singers who performed on his Tonight Show included Alan Jones, John Scott Trotter, Paul Desmond, Eddie Fisher, Dorothy Collins, Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians, Buddy Rich, Lester Young, Victor Young, Bob Crosby, Eddie Heywood, George Shearing, Johnny Desmond, Polly Bergen, Dinah Shore, and Vaughn Monroe.A plethora of actors also agreed to be interviewed including Marjorie Lord, William Bendix, Andy Devine, Sal Mineo, Natalie Wood, Cornel Wilde, Gordon MacRae, Judy Holiday, Andy Griffith, Rhonda Fleming, and Ray Bolger.Some public figures were Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Truman, and Countess Alexandria Tolstoy.Writers on t.v. to promote their books include Tennessee Williams, Dorothy Kilgallen, James Michener, Carl Sandburg, and Herman Wouk.Some of the composers were Aaron Copland, Adolph Green, Bob Merrill, Don Costas, Jimmy Van Heusen, and Jimmy McHugh.Comedians Pinky Lee and Ernie Kovacs were regulars as were some people in the audience.

One of his early books was "Mark it and Strike it" meaning a direction to stagehands used in t.v., a command to the crew to mark the position of the scenery and then remove it. He claims he used that title due to the "impermanence" of the medium. He says he didn't ever let television become his whole life becaues of its "here-today-gone-tomorrow" existence'.

These were the magic years of television for the above listed stars. They were actual stars of their time, and now their time has past. We are the here-and-now.His show was on NBC from 1956 to 1960 and introduced the world to Steve Lawrence and Edyie Gorme, for whom he wrote a song, and furthered their individual careers and as a team.In 1986, Allen was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame for his lifetime contributions to t.v.He died on October 30, 2000 and is sorely missed by his fans, family and friends. ... Read more

Product Description
Never opened. I onlyhad to cut my address label out. Cover, corner and pages in excellent condition. Will ship in a covered protective package, using USPS TRACKING system, and within one day. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Beautiful
I bought this magazine and its great!! It has beautiful pictures. Rob and Kristin are both hot on the cover. Its perfect for any TWILIGHT collector. ... Read more

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Sherilyn Fenn pictorial, Jay Leno & Elizabeth Perkins interviews ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Hottest woman alive
This is without a doubt my favorite nude celebrity photo spread ever.Sherilyn Fenn circa Twin Peaks may have been the most beautiful woman alive.She's still quite fetching. ... Read more

Product Description
Jack Passey has had a lifelong love affair with old cars. In 1932, at the age of 6, he could identify every make of car on the road. By age 19, Jack owned a 1927 Essex, a 1928 Buick and a 1936 Ford Convertible Coupe. By his mid-twenties, Jack had acquired a 1923 Lincoln Phaeton, a 1912 Cadillac Speedster, a 1925 Stutz Brougham, a 1931 Pierce-Arrow, 1930 and 1933 Cadillac V-16s, a 1937 Packard V-12 and a 1934 Dietrich Packard V-12. He did all of this while attending college and operating a one-man auto repair business. So began his lifelong quest to save fine old cars from the wreckers.By 1958, at age 32, Jack's collection had swelled to 90 cars, plus 30 or so parts cars. To safely store them all, he single-handedly converted an enormous abandoned chicken coop into a weather-proof storage garage.Jack's encyclopedic knowledge of old cars and his photographic memory has lead to a five decade-long concours judging career at such events as the Lincoln Owners Club, the CCCA Grand Experience and the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Jack has judged at the world-renowned Pebble Beach show for the last 35 years.In 1951, Jack went on his first Lake Tahoe Tour put on by legendary casino owner and car collector Bill Harrah. Jack knows first hand that old cars bring people together. And it's the people, and the lasting friendships, that are most special."The mose fabulous ride of my life" began for Jack in 1996 when he received a phone call from lifelong friend and retired publisher of the Los Angeles Times, Otis Chandler. Otis asked, "How would you like to help me put together a great museum of classic cars?" This simple request resulted in a collection of superb classic and antique automobiles with a 2006 value of $36 million.? In his lifetime Jack has owned almost 200 antique and classic cars, including 92 Lincolns, 36 Packards, 15 Cadillacs, five Duesenbergs, 16 Pierce-Arrows, five Locomobiles and three McFarlans. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Expert book
I was looking for a "dummies guide to painting your car" this is not near that.This is a few tips and tricks and mainly watching them build the propane Chevelle.This book is for people who know what they're doing and are looking to perfect their restorations to win at shows.

Great Book but not for novices
I loved this book and bought it based on a recommendation from a BASF newsletter I receive.

It's very easy to read and follow with tons of pictures as well.With this kind of work pictures are a major asset to help illustrate what they are talking about.If you are looking to see what goes into the making of a TRUE show car, this is for you.If you are looking to simply improve your auto body skills or are considering taking a crack at doing your own work for the first time, this will probably disappoint you.

This isn't really what I would consider a "How To" type of manual but more of an inside peek at the pains professionals take to make a real show car happen.It's really amazing to see.

While I enjoyed every page of this book it wasn't really what I was looking for.If you are looking for more info on how to do your own auto body work or you simply want to improve yourself and need tips and advice, there are other books worth considering before this one. ... Read more

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This takes guts to go 150MPH in a bathing suit on Bonneville Flats!!! The original picture in book!! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Hatfield's best work ever
This book's author is perhaps the world's premier motorcycle historian.The audio interview, made only weeks before Rollie Free's death, is touching and irreplaceable. ... Read more

Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. Tonight is the longest currently-running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running.The Tonight Show has been hosted by Steve Allen (1954?1957), Jack Paar (1957?1962), Johnny Carson (1962?1992), Jay Leno (1992?2009), and Conan O'Brien (2009?2010).The longest-serving host to date was Carson, who hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 seasons, from the fall of 1962 through the spring of 1992. The show's most recent host is Conan O'Brien, whose incarnation, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, premiered on June 1, 2009, and ended on January 22, 2010. Jay Leno, who preceded O'Brien as host, is scheduled to return as host beginning on March 1, 2010. ... Read more

Product Description
Used Hardcover Edition published by Wings Books, N.Y., 1992, 382 pages in Very Good condition. Minor wear on Dust Jacket and Cover along the edges and corners, text is clean and unmarked with no rips, tears, creases, loose or bent pages. Spine is firm but not plume, slightly tilted. Not a Mint Condition but still a very good readable copy of an Out-of-Print Hardcover. An Omnibus of all three Jay Leno's Headliners Books in One Volume. A funny book. We ship within 24 hours of your purchase with a Delivery Confirmation. ... Read more

Product Description
Weekly news and general interest magazine which reappeared between 2004 and 2007, and was distributed by inclusion inside certain local newspapers across the country. The cover headline of this issue reads,"The Return of Sunday Dinner. Why Families Are Coming Back to the Table." Also, in this issue, a two page essay by Jay Leno on how wacky dinner conversations contributed comic material to him. Also, 4 chefs contribute 4 crock pot recipes in this issue. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros., Lockheed, the Tonight Show, First National, Bob Hope Airport, the Jay Leno Show, the Tonight Show With Jay Leno, the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Nbc Studios, Cookie Jar Group, Woodbury University, Fryette Amplification, Hollywood Black Friday, Dic Entertainment, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, List of Management of the Walt Disney Company, Providence High School (Burbank, California), Bob's Big Boy, Burbank City Hall, Team Disney, Burbank Bus, Burbank Town Center. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 224. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Burbank, California - Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County, California. The estimated population in 2007 was 107,921. Burbank is located in two distinct areas, with its downtown, civic center and key neighborhoods nestled on the slopes and foothills that rise to the Verdugo Mountains, and other areas located in flatlands at the eastern end of the San Fernando Valley, 12 miles (19 km) north of Downtown Los Angeles. Billed as the "Media Capital of the World," many media and entertainment companies are headquartered or have significant production facilities in Burbank, including Warner Bros. Entertainment, Warner Music Group, NBC Universal, The Walt Disney Company, Cartoon Network, Viacom, and PBS. At one time it was referred to as "Beautiful Downtown Burbank" on Laugh-In and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The city was named after David Burbank, a New Hampshire-born dentist and entrepreneur. Olive Ave, Burbank, 1889The city of Burbank occupies land that was originally part of two Spanish and Mexican-era colonial land grants, the 36,400-acre (147 km) Rancho San Rafael, granted to Jose Maria Verdugo by the Spanish Bourbon government in 1784, and the 4,063-acre (16.44 km) Rancho Provide...http://booksllc.net/?id=107608 ... Read more

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This digital document, covering the life and work of Jay Leno, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 2257 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author