John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known as the host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992). Carson received six Primetime Emmy Awards, the Television Academy's 1980 Governor's Award, and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.

During World War II, Carson served in the Navy. After the war, Carson started a career in radio. He moved from radio to TV and took over as host of the late-night talk show Tonight from Jack Paar in 1962. He remained an American icon even after his retirement in 1992. He adopted a casual, conversational approach with extensive interaction with guests, an approach pioneered by Arthur Godfrey and previous Tonight Show hosts Steve Allen and Jack Paar but enhanced by Carson's lightning-quick wit. Former late-night host and friend David Letterman, as well as many others, have cited Carson's influence. Carson is a cultural icon and widely regarded as the king of late-night television.

Early life and career
John William Carson was born on October 23, 1925, in Corning, Iowa, to Ruth Elizabeth (Hook) Carson (1901–1985) and Homer Lloyd "Kit" Carson (1899–1983), a power company manager. He was the second child of three children. He had an older sister, Catherine "Kit" (Carson) Sotzing (1923-2014) and a younger brother Richard Carson (1929-2021). As a child, he lived in the nearby towns of Avoca, Clarinda, and Red Oak in southwest Iowa before moving to Norfolk, Nebraska, at the age of eight. There, Carson grew up and began developing his talent for entertaining. At the age of 12, Carson found a book on magic at a friend's house and immediately purchased a mail-order magician's kit. After purchasing the kit, Carson practiced his entertainment skills on family members with card tricks. He was known for following his family members around saying, "Pick a card, any card." Carson's mother sewed him a cape, and his first performance was staged in front of the local Kiwanis Club. He debuted as "The Great Carsoni" at age 14 and was paid $3 a show. Soon, many other performances at local picnics and county fairs followed. After graduating from high school, Carson had his first encounter with Hollywood. He had hitchhiked to Hollywood, where he was arrested and fined $50 for impersonating a midshipman, a story often regarded as apocryphal.

Military service
Carson joined the United States Navy on June 8, 1943, and received V-12 Navy College Training Program officer training at Columbia University and Millsaps College. Commissioned an ensign late in the war, Carson was assigned to the  in the Pacific. While in the Navy, Carson posted a 10–0 amateur boxing record, with most of his bouts fought on board the Pennsylvania. He was en route to the combat zone aboard a troop ship when the war ended. Carson served as a communications officer in charge of decoding encrypted messages. He said that the high point of his military career was performing a magic trick for United States Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal. In a conversation with Forrestal, the Secretary asked Carson if he planned to stay in the Navy after the war. In response, Carson said no and told him he wanted to be a magician. Forrestal asked him to perform, and Carson responded with a card trick. Carson made the discovery that he could entertain and amuse someone as cranky and sophisticated as Forrestal.

Education
Taking advantage of educational opportunities from the Navy, Carson attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he joined Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and continued performing magic (then paid $25 per appearance). He majored in journalism with the intention of becoming a comedy writer, but instead switched his major to speech and drama a few months later because he wanted to become a radio performer. Carson's college thesis, titled "How to Write Comedy for Radio", was a compilation of taped skits and jokes from popular radio shows with Carson explaining the comedic technique in a voice-over. It allowed him to graduate in three years. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in radio and speech with a minor in physics in 1949.

Early radio and television
Carson began his broadcasting career in 1950 at WOW radio and television in Omaha. He soon hosted a morning television program called The Squirrel's Nest. One of his routines involved interviewing pigeons on the roof of the local courthouse that would report on the political corruption they had seen. Carson supplemented his income by serving as master of ceremonies at local church dinners—attended by some of the same politicians and civic leaders he had lampooned on the radio.

The wife of one of the Omaha political figures Carson spoofed owned stock in a radio station in Los Angeles, and in 1951 referred Carson to her brother, who was influential in the emerging television market in Southern California. Carson joined CBS-owned Los Angeles television station KNXT (now KCBS-TV). In 1953, comic Red Skelton—a fan of Carson's "cult success" low-budget sketch comedy show, Carson's Cellar (1951 to 1953) on KNXT—asked Carson to join his show as a writer. In 1954, Skelton accidentally knocked himself unconscious during rehearsal, an hour before his live show began. Carson successfully filled in for him. In 1955, Jack Benny invited Carson to appear on one of his programs during the opening and closing segments. Carson imitated Benny and claimed that Benny had copied his gestures. Benny predicted that Carson, who readily admitted Benny's substantial influence on aspects of his comedic delivery, would have a successful career as a comedian.

Carson hosted several shows besides Carson's Cellar, including the game show Earn Your Vacation (1954) and the CBS variety show The Johnny Carson Show (1955–1956). He was a guest panelist on the original To Tell the Truth beginning in 1960, becoming a regular panelist from 1961 to 1962. After the primetime The Johnny Carson Show failed, he moved to New York City to host ABC-TV's Who Do You Trust? (1957–1962). It was on Who Do You Trust? that Carson met his future sidekick and straight man, Ed McMahon. Although he believed moving to daytime television would hurt his career, Who Do You Trust? was a success. It was the first show where he could ad lib and interview guests, and because of Carson's on-camera wit, the show became "the hottest item on daytime television" during his six years at ABC. From his experience as a radio host, he would later write a parody for The New Yorker of former talk show host Dennis Miller having the new role at the time (2000) as an NFL sports announcer, titled "Proverbs of Dennis Miller".

The Tonight Show

NBC's Tonight was the late-night counterpart to its early-morning show Today. Originating in 1954 with host Steve Allen, Tonight was somewhat experimental at the time, as the only previous network late-night program was NBC's Broadway Open House which starred Jerry Lester and Dagmar. Tonight was successful, and when Allen moved on to primetime comedy-variety shows in 1957, Jack Paar replaced him as host of Tonight. Paar left the show in 1962.

Carson's success on ABC's Who Do You Trust? led NBC to invite him to take over Tonight a few months before Paar's departure. Carson declined the offer because he feared the difficulty of interviewing celebrities for 105 minutes each day. Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, Groucho Marx, and Joey Bishop all also declined. NBC finally convinced Carson to sign by early February 1962. Carson can be seen discussing his upcoming job for the first time on the February 11, 1962, episode of What's My Line?. Due to Carson having six months left on his ABC contract, NBC used multiple guest hosts until he could take over. Guest hosts included Merv Griffin, Art Linkletter, Joey Bishop, Arlene Francis (the first woman to host The Tonight Show), Bob Cummings, Jerry Lewis, Groucho Marx, Donald O'Connor, and others.

Although he continued to have doubts about his new job, Carson became the host of Tonight (later called The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson) on October 1, 1962. After a difficult first year, he overcame his fears. While Tonight under its previous hosts had been successful, especially under Paar, Carson's version eventually did very well in the ratings. Billy Wilder said of Carson:

McMahon followed Carson from Who Do You Trust? as his announcer and sidekick, and Skitch Henderson was installed as the maestro of the NBC orchestra. McMahon's famous introduction, "Heeeeere's Johnny!!!" was followed by a brief monologue by Carson. This was often followed by comedy sketches, interviews, and music. Carson's trademark was a phantom golf swing at the end of his monologues, aimed stage left toward the studio orchestra. (Guest hosts sometimes parodied that gesture. Bob Newhart rolled an imaginary bowling ball toward the audience.)

Paul Anka wrote the theme song, ("Johnny's Theme"), a reworking of his "Toot Sweet"; given lyrics, it was renamed "It's Really Love" and recorded by Annette Funicello in 1959. Before taking over The Tonight Show, Carson wrote lyrics for the song, and so claimed 50 percent of the song's performance royalties (though the lyrics were never used). The theme is heard being played on sound recordings of Carson's first Tonight Show, and it was used without interruption through to his last broadcast on May 22, 1992.

The show was originally produced at the 30 Rockefeller Plaza NBC television studios in New York City, with occasional stints in California. The program began videotaping in advance during the Jack Paar days, although during the 1970s, NBC fed the live taping from Burbank to New York via satellite for editing (see below). Carson had a talent for quick quips to deal with problems. If the opening monologue fared poorly, the band would start playing "Tea for Two" and Carson danced a softshoe to laughs from the studio audience. Alternatively, Carson might pull the boom microphone close to his face and announce, "Attention K-Mart shoppers, clean up in aisle four!"

Move to Burbank
On May 1, 1972, the show moved from 30 Rockefeller Plaza to the NBC studios in  Burbank, California, because of the studio's proximity to celebrities.

From July 1971, Carson stopped hosting five shows per week. Instead, Mondays featured a guest host, leaving Carson to host the other four weeknights. Shows were videotaped in Burbank at 5:30 pm, fed from there to the Central and Eastern time zone stations via cross-country television line at 8:30 pm Pacific time (11:30 pm Eastern time), and later sent from Burbank to the Pacific time zone stations at 11:30 pm Pacific time. Since only two feeds originated from Burbank, Central time zone stations received the Eastern feed one hour earlier at 10:30 pm local time, and Mountain time stations received the Pacific time zone feed one hour later at 12:30 am local time.

In 1980, at Carson's request, the show cut its 90-minute format to 60 minutes on September 16; Tom Snyder's Tomorrow added a half-hour to fill the vacant time. Joan Rivers became the "permanent" guest host from September 1983 until 1986. The Tonight Show then returned to using rotating guest hosts, including comic George Carlin. Jay Leno became the exclusive guest host in fall 1987. Leno joked that although other guest hosts had upped their fees, he had kept his low, assuring himself more bookings. Eventually, Monday night was for Leno, Tuesday for The Best of Carson—rebroadcasts usually dating from a year earlier, but occasionally from the 1970s.

Although Carson's work schedule became more abbreviated, Tonight remained so successful that his compensation from NBC continued to rise; by the mid-1970s, he had become the highest-paid personality on television, earning about $4 million a year ($ today), not including nightclub appearances and his other businesses. He refused many offers to appear in films, including title roles in The Thomas Crown Affair and Gene Wilder's role in Blazing Saddles. He also declined director Martin Scorsese's offer to co-star with Robert De Niro in the 1983 film The King of Comedy, with the role of a TV talk-show host then going to Jerry Lewis.

In recognition of his 25th anniversary on The Tonight Show, Carson received a personal Peabody Award, the board saying he had "become an American institution, a household word, [and] the most widely quoted American." They also said they "felt the time had come to recognize the contributions that Johnny has made to television, to humor, and to America."

Uri Geller
In 1973, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic Uri Geller appeared on The Tonight Show. In the NOVA documentary, James Randi – Secrets of the Psychics, magician and skeptical activist James Randi says that Carson "had been a magician himself and was skeptical" of Geller's claimed paranormal powers, so, prior to the date of taping, Randi was asked "to help prevent any trickery." Per Randi's advice, the show prepared their own props without informing Geller, and did not let Geller or his staff "anywhere near them." When Geller joined Carson on stage, he appeared surprised that he was not going to be interviewed, but instead was expected to display his abilities using the provided articles. Geller said "This scares me." and "I'm surprised because before this program your producer came and he read me at least 40 questions you were going to ask me." Geller was unable to display any paranormal abilities, saying "I don't feel strong" and he expressed his displeasure at feeling like he was being "pressed" to perform by Carson. According to Adam Higginbotham's November 7, 2014, article in The New York Times:

However, ironically, this appearance on The Tonight Show, which Carson and Randi had orchestrated to debunk Geller's claimed abilities, backfired. According to Higginbotham,

Comic characters

Carson played several continuing characters on sketches during the show, including:
 Art Fern was the "Tea Time Movie" announcer, whose theme song was "Hooray for Hollywood". Carson once admitted on camera that this was his favorite character, based on late-afternoon TV hosts who would deliver commercials throughout the movie. Each sketch usually featured three long commercials interrupted by silent, four-second clips from antique films. When the camera returned from each clip, Art was always caught off-guard and immediately reminded viewers that they were watching a film favorite. The movies always had unlikely casts and even less likely titles: "Slim Pickens, Patti Page, 'Duke' John Wayne, and Charlton Heston in another classic Western: 'Kiss My Saddle Horn'!" Carson originally played the fast-talking huckster in his own voice (as Honest Bernie Schlock or Ralph Willie), and finally settled on a nasal, high-pitched, smarmy drone, reminiscent of Jackie Gleason's "Reginald Van Gleason III" character. The character, now permanently known as Art Fern, wore a lavish toupee, loud jackets, and a pencil mustache. Actress Carol Wayne became famous for her 100-plus appearances (1971–1984) as Art's buxom assistant, the Matinée Lady. While Art gave his spiel, she would enter the stage behind him. Art would react to her attractive body by wincing, loudly shouting "Ho — leeeee!" and turning almost everything she said into a sexual double entendre. After Carol Wayne's death in 1985, Carson kept Art Fern off the air for most of the next year, and finally hired Danuta Wesley and then Teresa Ganzel to play the Matinée Lady. Carson also used these sketches to poke fun at the intricate Los Angeles interstate system, using a pointer and map to give confusing directions to shoppers, often including points where he would unfold the cardboard map to point out, via the appropriate picture, when the shopper would arrive at "the fork in the road". Another freeway routine in the same theme centered on the "Slauson Cutoff", a slang term Carson popularized to describe the truncated Marina Freeway (which ended abruptly at Slauson Avenue in Culver City). Art Fern would advise drivers to take a series of freeways until they reached the Slauson Cutoff, and would then advise them to "Get out of your car, cut off your slauson, get back in your car," often followed by peals of laughter from the audience, led by McMahon.
 Carnac the Magnificent, a turbaned psychic, could answer questions before seeing them. Carnac had a trademark entrance in which he always turned the wrong direction when coming onstage and then tripped on the step up to Carson's desk. (In one episode, technicians rigged Carson's desk to fall apart when Carnac fell into it.) These comedic missteps were an indication of Carnac's true prescient abilities. McMahon would hand Carson a series of envelopes containing questions, said to have been "hermetically sealed and kept in a mayonnaise jar on Funk & Wagnalls' porch since noon today." Carson would place each envelope against his forehead and predict the answer, such as "Gatorade". Then, he would read the question: "What does an alligator get on welfare?" Some of the jokes were feeble, and McMahon used pauses after terrible puns and audience groans to make light of Carson's lack of comic success ("Carnac must be used to quiet surroundings"), prompting Carson to return an equal insult. Pat McCormick wrote some of the zaniest Carnac material. The one that had McMahon and Carson nearly rolling on the floor with sustained laughter was "Sis boom bah". Answer – "Describe the sound made when a sheep explodes." McMahon would always announce near the end, "I hold in my hand the last envelope," at which the audience would applaud wildly, prompting Carnac to pronounce a comedic "curse" on the audience, such as "May a flock of wild geese leave a deposit on your breakfast!", "May your sister elope with a camel!", "May a diseased yak take a liking to your sister", or the most famous: "May the bird of paradise fly up your nose!" The character was taken from Steve Allen's essentially identical "Answer Man" segment, which Allen performed during his tenure as host of The Tonight Show in the 1950s. As Allen acknowledged in his book The Question Man, this bit had been created in Kansas City in 1951 by Bob Arbogast and used on The Tom Poston Show in New York where it eventually ended up on The Steve Allen Show, much to the surprise of both Bob and Steve. The Carnac character and routine also closely resemble Ernie Kovacs' "Mr. Question Man".
 Floyd R. Turbo American (with no pause between words) was a stereotypical common working man, wearing a plaid hunting coat and cap, who offered "editorial responses" to left-leaning causes or news events. Railing against women's rights in the workplace, for example, Turbo would shout: "This raises the question: kiss my Dictaphone!"
 Aunt Blabby, a cantankerous and sometimes amorous old lady, was invariably interviewed by straight man Ed McMahon about elder affairs. McMahon would innocently use a common expression like "check out", only to have Aunt Blabby warn him: "Don't say 'check out' to an old person!" Aunt Blabby was an obvious copy of Jonathan Winters' most famous creation, Maude Frickert, including her black spinster dress and wig.
 El Mouldo, a mentalist, would attempt to perform mind-reading and mind-over-matter feats, all of which failed. Often, his tricks would include an attempt to bilk money from Ed McMahon or would end with his begging the audience for a dollar, or at least bus fare.
 The Maharishi, whose theme song was "Song of India", was a frizzy-haired "holy man" who spoke in a high-pitched, tranquil tone, greeted announcer McMahon with a flower, and answered philosophical questions. This was a take-off on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Carson uncensored on satellite
Although Carson's program moved to Burbank in 1972, NBC's editing and production services for the show remained in New York, requiring that the program be transmitted between the two cities. In 1976, NBC used the Satcom 2 satellite to achieve this, feeding the live taping (which started around 5:30 pm local time) directly to New York, where it would be edited prior to the late-night broadcast. This live feed lasted usually for two to two-and-a-half hours a night and was both uncensored and commercial-free. During the slots for commercial breaks, the audio and picture feed would continue, capturing at times risqué language and other events that would be edited out before transmission.

At the same time, satellite ground stations owned by individuals began appearing, and some found the live feed. Satellite dish owners began to document their sightings in technical journals, giving viewers knowledge of things they were not meant to see. Carson and his production staff grew concerned about this and pressured NBC into ceasing the satellite transmissions of the live taping in the early 1980s. The satellite link was replaced by microwave transmission until the show's editing facilities were moved to Burbank.

Filmography

Television work as character

Carson played himself in the 1964 film Looking for Love. Carson also played an assassin of comedians in the 1970s Bob Hope television special Joys! Guests on the broadcast included Groucho Marx, George Burns, Telly Savalas, Milton Berle, Red Buttons, Don Adams, and Steve Allen.

Controversies and feuds
Carson often made jokes at the expense of other celebrities. In 1980, Carson backed out of a deal to acquire the Aladdin Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, and a competing group led by Wayne Newton successfully bought the property. According to lawyer Henry Bushkin, Carson became annoyed that he was often portrayed by the media as having "lost" the deal and reacted by telling jokes on his show about Newton, who had spent a great deal of effort building a masculine image. This created something of a high-profile feud between Carson and Newton. Years later, Newton appeared on Larry King Live, declaring that "Johnny Carson is a mean-spirited human being. And there are people that he has hurt that people will never know about. And for some reason at some point, he decided to turn that kind of negative attention toward me. And I refused to have it." Newton has often told of personally confronting Carson; after the final straw, Newton barged into Carson's office at the NBC studios and threatened to beat him up unless the jokes stopped. They did; but only after Carson, who had compiled a 10–0 record as a boxer in the Navy, laughed at him.

On February 27, 1982, Carson was arrested for drunk driving on La Cienega Boulevard, near Beverly Hills; he was released on his own recognizance. Carson pleaded no contest to the charges, and in October 1982, received a sentence of three years probation, a fine of $603 and was required to attend a driver's education alcohol program. Carson's driving privilege was restricted to driving only to and from work and the alcohol education classes for a period of 90 days.

Perry Mason actor Raymond Burr became angry over Carson's continuing fat jokes about him and he only appeared on The Tonight Show twice, in 1968 and 1976.

On July 2, 1969, Carson launched an on-the-air attack on The New York Times after his nightly monologue, assailing the newspaper for an article saying that he was the highest-paid performer on television, earning $75,000 a week. He denied that was so, while declining to reveal his compensation in a subsequent interview with the newspaper, and called the article "damned unfair." The Times published a follow-up article saying that its initial reporter "erred", and that $75,000 a week was unlikely.

Carson reportedly loathed what he perceived as disloyalty, and he was furious when former frequent Tonight Show guest hosts John Davidson and Joan Rivers began hosting their own talk shows. Rivers' show on the Fox Network directly competed with Carson during the 1986–1987 season before being cancelled. On June 24, 2009, following Ed McMahon's death, Rivers lauded McMahon on Larry King Live, but said that after she got her own show, Carson never spoke to her again.

In December 1973, Carson joked on Tonight about an alleged shortage of toilet paper. Viewers believed the story and panic buying and hoarding ensued across the United States as consumers emptied stores, causing a real shortage that lasted for weeks. Stores and toilet paper manufacturers had to ration supplies until the panic ended. Carson apologized in January 1974 for the incident, which became what The New York Times called a "classic study" of how rumors spread. Carson called references in the article to him "very unfair".

Carson successfully sued a manufacturer of portable toilets that wanted to call its product "Here's Johnny".

Carson performed a parody of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Rogers noted, "I've told Johnny that I like humor as much as anybody. But what concerns me is the takeoffs that make me seem so wimpy! I hope it doesn't communicate that Mr. Rogers is just somebody to be made fun of. Only people who take the time to see our work can begin to understand the depth of it." Carson later apologized to Rogers for making fun of him.

Business ventures
Carson invested $500,000 in the DeLorean Motor Company. Additionally, Carson was head of a group of investors who purchased and operated two television stations. The first was KVVU-TV in Henderson, Nevada, an independent station serving Las Vegas, acquired by the Carson group in 1979. Shortly after buying the station, KVVU was rumored to be acquiring an NBC affiliation as then long-time affiliate KORK-TV was in the process of being replaced by KVBC (and now KSNV), but it never happened. Carson's second station, independent KNAT-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was purchased in 1982. Unlike the Las Vegas operation, KNAT faced stiffer competition for top-quality, syndicated programming. Carson sold both of his stations in 1985 and 1986 with KVVU-TV (FOX 5) going to the Meredith Corporation and KNAT being sold to Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Carson's other business ventures included the successful Johnny Carson Apparel, Inc.—his turtlenecks became a fashion trend—and a failed restaurant franchise.

Retirement

Carson retired from show business on May 22, 1992, at age 66, when he stepped down as host of The Tonight Show. His farewell was a major media event, often emotional for Carson, his colleagues, and the audiences, and stretched over several nights. In tribute to Carson and his enormous influence, several networks that had late-night variety talk shows "went dark" for the entire hour he did the last show. After 13 tries, The Tonight Show finally won the Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series later that year, buoyed by the penultimate broadcast, which featured Johnny's final two guests: Robin Williams and Bette Midler.

NBC gave the role of host to the show's then-current permanent guest host, Jay Leno. Leno and David Letterman were soon competing on separate networks.

Post-retirement appearances

At the end of his final Tonight Show episode, Carson indicated that he might, if so inspired, return with a new project. Instead, he chose to go into full retirement, rarely giving interviews and declining to participate in NBC's 75th-anniversary celebrations. He made an occasional cameo appearance, including voicing himself on the May 13, 1993, episode of The Simpsons ("Krusty Gets Kancelled"), telephoning David Letterman on a November 1993 episode of Late Show with David Letterman, and appearing in the 1993 NBC special Bob Hope: The First 90 Years.

On May 13, 1994, Carson appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. During a week of shows from Los Angeles, Letterman was having Larry "Bud" Melman (Calvert DeForest) deliver his "Top Ten Lists" under the guise that a famous personality would be delivering the list, instead. On the last show of the week, Letterman indicated that Carson would be delivering the list. Instead, DeForest delivered the list, insulted the audience (in keeping with the gag), and walked off to polite applause. Letterman then indicated that the card he was given did not have the proper list on it and asked that the "real" list be brought out. On that cue, the real Carson emerged from behind the curtain (as Letterman's band played "Johnny's Theme"), an appearance that prompted a 90-second standing ovation from the audience. Carson then asked to sit behind Letterman's desk; Letterman obliged, as the audience continued to cheer and applaud. After some moments, Carson departed from the show without having spoken to the audience. He later cited acute laryngitis as the reason for his silence. This turned out to be Carson's last television appearance.

Carson played tennis throughout his retirement.

Carson also reviewed clips of the Tonight Show included in DVD compilations, and had humor pieces published in The New Yorker.

Letterman
Prior to his death, Carson occasionally sent jokes to David Letterman. Letterman would then use these jokes in the monologue of his show, which Carson got "a big kick out of", according to Worldwide Pants Inc. senior vice president Peter Lassally, who formerly produced both men's programs. He also said Carson had always believed Letterman, not Leno, to be his "rightful successor". In his first broadcast after Carson's death, Letterman delivered a monologue compiled entirely of jokes sent in by Carson, a fact the host revealed a short time later in the program.

Influences
Carson's influences included Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Fred Allen, Bob Hope, Groucho Marx, and Jack Paar.

Legacy and impact on popular culture
Carson's show launched the careers of many performers, especially comedians and musicians. For a comedian appearing on the show, getting Carson to laugh and being invited to the guest chair were considered the highest honors. Notable among these were David Letterman, Robin Williams, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Arsenio Hall, Jeff Foxworthy, Ellen DeGeneres, Rodney Dangerfield, Joan Rivers, David Brenner, Tim Allen, Drew Carey, Howie Mandel, Roseanne Barr and Don Rickles. Carson was successor to The Ed Sullivan Show as a showcase for different types of talent, as well as continuing a vaudeville-style variety show.

In 1966, Carson popularized Milton Bradley's game Twister when he played it with actress Eva Gabor. Not widely known up to that time, the game skyrocketed in popularity after the broadcast.

Comedians who credit Carson as an influence include David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Dennis Miller, Bill Maher, Joan Rivers, Larry Wilmore, Ray Romano, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Angie Dickinson, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Dick Cavett, Norm Macdonald, David Steinberg, Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, Garry Shandling, Steve Martin, Ray Combs, Arsenio Hall, Craig Ferguson, Orson Bean, and Jimmy Fallon.

Brian Wilson was an avid fan of the show and in 1977 wrote a song titled "Johnny Carson" as a tribute. It was released on the Beach Boys Love You album.

Personal life
Despite his on-camera demeanor, Carson was introverted and shy off camera. He was known for avoiding most large parties and was called "the most private public man who ever lived." Dick Cavett recalled, "I felt sorry for Johnny in that he was so socially uncomfortable. I've hardly ever met anybody who had as hard a time as he did." In addition, George Axelrod once said of Carson, "Socially, he doesn't exist. The reason is that there are no television cameras in living rooms. If human beings had little red lights in the middle of their foreheads, Carson would be the greatest conversationalist on Earth."

He normally refused to discuss politics, social controversies, his childhood, and his private life with interviewers, and offered a list of written answers to journalists who wanted to ask him questions. Among them were "Yes, I did," "No, I didn't," and "No. Kumquats."

Politics

Carson opposed the Vietnam War and capital punishment, favored racial equality, and was against criminalizing extramarital sex and pornography. He avoided explicitly mentioning his views on The Tonight Show, saying he "hates to be pinned down" as that would "hurt me as an entertainer, which is what I am." As he explained in 1970, "In my living room I would argue for liberalization of abortion laws, divorce laws, and there are times when I would like to express a view on the air. I would love to have taken on Billy Graham. But I'm on TV five nights a week; I have nothing to gain by it and everything to lose." He also seldom invited political figures onto the Tonight Show because he "didn't want it to become a political forum" and did not want the show used, by himself or others, to influence the opinions of the viewers.

In his book, Carson's former lawyer Henry Bushkin stated, he "was by instinct and upbringing definitely Republican, but of an Eisenhower sort that we don't see much of anymore ... Overall, you'd have to say he was anti-big: anti-big government, anti-big money, anti-big bullies, anti-big blowhards." Carson served as MC for Ronald Reagan's inaugural gala in 1981 at the request of Frank Sinatra.

Legal issue
In October 1982, Carson pled no contest to a misdemeanor count of driving with a blood alcohol level above the legal limit, while the charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving without a license were withdrawn by the prosecution. This case stemmed from an arrest in February 1982. After having been pulled over by police shortly after leaving an Italian restaurant with his wife, Carson was fined $603 and placed on three years of probation. Municipal Court Judge David Kidney ordered Carson to attend a driver's education alcohol program and restricted his license for 90 days to trips to and from work and those classes. Though his lawyer Robert Shapiro advised Carson to take his case to trial believing they had a winning case, Carson was looking to move on from the scandal and wanted to avoid the media attention that going forward with a trial would bring. Carson commented on the matter in a monologue of the Tonight Show saying, "I regret the incident, And I'll tell you one thing, You will never see me do that again."

Religion
As an adult, Carson was not a regular churchgoer, although during his childhood he was raised as a Methodist and during high school attended Christian Endeavor meetings at the local church.

Marriages
In October 1949, Carson married Jody Wolcott in North Platte, Nebraska. The marriage was volatile, with infidelities committed by both parties, and ended in divorce in 1963.

Carson married Joanne Copeland the same year, on August 17. After a second protracted divorce in 1972, Copeland received a settlement of $6,000 per month in alimony until she remarried or until Carson's death (she received it until his death in 2005). She also received "a pretty nice little art collection." She later had a second marriage that also ended in divorce, and died in California, aged 83, in 2015. She had no children.

At the Carson Tonight Show 10th-anniversary party on September 30, 1972, Carson announced that former model Joanna Holland and he had been secretly married that afternoon, shocking his friends and associates. On March 8, 1983, Holland filed for divorce. The divorce case finally ended in 1985 with an 80-page settlement, with Holland receiving $20 million in cash and property.

On June 20, 1987, Carson married Alexis Maas. The marriage lasted until his death in 2005.

Carson reportedly joked, "My giving advice on marriage is like the captain of the Titanic giving lessons on navigation."

Children

Carson had three sons with his first wife: Christopher (Kit) b. 1951; Richard (Ricky) b. 1952; and Cory, b. 1953. His middle son, Richard, died on June 21, 1991, when his car plunged down a steep embankment along a paved service road off Highway 1 near Cayucos, California. Apparently, Richard had been taking photographs when the accident occurred. On the first Tonight Show after his son's death, Carson paid tribute to Richard's photographic work by showing his nature slides, while Stevie Ray Vaughan's 1989 song "Riviera Paradise" played in the background. In addition, the final image of the show, as well as some "More to Come" bumpers, of Carson's last show on May 22, 1992, featured a photo Richard had taken.

Philanthropy
In 1981, Carson created the John W. Carson Foundation, dedicated to supporting children, education, and health services.  In August 2010, the charitable foundation created by Carson reported receiving $156 million () from a personal trust established by the entertainer years prior to his January 2005 death. Carson's foundation was now by far the largest of the Hollywood charities. The foundation continues to support charitable causes.

In November 2004, Carson announced a $5.3 million gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation to support the Hixson–Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Department of Theater Arts, which created the Johnny Carson School of Theater and Film. Another $5 million donation was announced by the estate of Carson to the University of Nebraska following his death, while a $1 million donation was announced on November 4, 2011, creating the Johnny Carson Opportunity Scholarship Fund. The foundation made another $5 million donation to the university on October 22, 2021, to augment the Opportunity Scholarship Fund.

Carson also donated to causes in his hometown of Norfolk, including the Carson Cancer Center at Faith Regional Health Services, the Elkhorn Valley Museum, and the Johnny Carson Theater at Norfolk Senior High School. Carson also donated to the Northeast Community College Lifelong Learning Center in honor of his favorite teacher, Miss Faye Gordon. Miss Gordon had appeared on his show a number of times. His last known visit to Norfolk was to throw the 100th-birthday party for Miss Gordon, which Carson had promised to do several years earlier.

Other interests
Carson, an amateur astronomer, was a close friend of astronomer Carl Sagan, who often appeared on The Tonight Show. The unique way Sagan had of saying certain words, like "billions" of stars, would lead Carson to ribbing his friend, saying "BILL-ions and BILL-ions". Carson was the first person to contact Sagan's wife Ann Druyan with condolences when the scientist died in 1996. He owned several telescopes, including a top-of-the-line unit. In 1981, the minor planet 1981 EM4 was named in his honor, 3252 Johnny. That year, a star was also nicknamed after Carson.

Carson was an amateur drummer and was shown on a 1979 segment of 60 Minutes practising at home on a drum set given to him by his close friend Buddy Rich, who was the jazz musician with the most appearances on The Tonight Show. Gore Vidal, another frequent Tonight Show guest and friend, wrote about Carson's personality in his 2006 memoir.

Carson was an avid tennis player. When he sold a Malibu house to John McEnroe and Tatum O'Neal, the escrow terms required McEnroe to give Johnny six tennis lessons. Carson's primary tennis teacher was Bob Trapenberg, who taught him for some time, and traveled with him to Wimbledon.

Carson regularly traveled to Tanzania during his retirement and learned Swahili.

Carson was also a private pilot; his flight logbook and jacket were donated after his death to the Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Final years, death and tributes

On March 19, 1999, Carson suffered a severe heart attack at his home in Malibu, California, and was hospitalized in nearby Santa Monica, where he underwent quadruple-bypass surgery.

Carson had been a heavy smoker for decades, and in the early days of his tenure on The Tonight Show, often smoked on-camera. He smoked four packs of Pall Mall cigarettes a day. It was reported that as early as the mid-1970s, he would repeatedly say, "These things are killing me." His younger brother recalled that during their last conversation, Carson kept saying, "Those damn cigarettes."

In 2002, he turned down an offer to appear at NBC's 75th anniversary.

In September 2002, Carson revealed that he had emphysema but denied he was terminally ill. On January 23, 2005, Carson died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of respiratory failure arising from emphysema. His body was cremated, and the ashes were given to his wife, Alexis Maas. In accordance with his family's wishes, no public memorial service was held. Carson was also survived by his younger brother, Dick, who was an Emmy Award-winning director of, among other things, the competing Merv Griffin Show and Wheel of Fortune.

Numerous tributes were paid to Carson upon his death, including a statement by then-President George W. Bush, all recognizing the deep and enduring affection held for him.

On January 31, Late Show with David Letterman paid tribute with former Tonight Show executive producer Peter Lassally and bandleader Doc Severinsen. At the beginning of this show, Letterman said that for 30 years, no matter what was going on in the world, whether people had a good or bad day, they wanted to end it being "tucked in by Johnny." He also told his viewers that the monologue he had just spoken, which was very well received by the studio audience, consisted entirely of jokes sent to him by Carson in the last few months of his life. Doc Severinsen ended the Letterman show that night by conducting and playing, along with Tommy Newsom and Ed Shaughnessy, one of Carson's two favorite songs, "Here's That Rainy Day" (the other was "I'll Be Seeing You"). The Tonight Show with Jay Leno also paid tribute to Carson with guests Ed McMahon, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, Drew Carey, and k.d. lang.

On his final Tonight Show appearance, Carson himself said that while sometimes people who work together for long stretches of time on television do not necessarily like each other, this was not the case with McMahon; he and McMahon were good friends who would have drinks and dinner together, and the camaraderie they had on the show could not be faked. Their friendship spanned 46 years.

The 2005 film The Aristocrats was dedicated to Carson.

The Simpsons, season 16, episode seven, "Mommie Beerest", was dedicated to his memory.

At the first Comedy Awards on Comedy Central, the Johnny Carson Award was given to David Letterman. At the 2nd Annual Comedy Awards on Comedy Central, the Johnny Carson Award was given to Don Rickles.

A two-hour documentary about his life, Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, aired on PBS on May 14, 2012, as part of their American Masters series. It is narrated by Kevin Spacey and features interviews with many of Carson's family, fellow comedians, and protégés.

A park is named in his honor in Burbank, across from the former NBC Studios.

References

Further reading

Accounts on work and life

Humor material collections

 Johnny Carson Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

External links

 Johnny Carson papers, 1970–1992 at the Library of Congress
Johnny Carson King of Late Night , an American Masters documentary

1925 births
2005 deaths
20th-century American comedians
American game show hosts
American male comedians
American stand-up comedians
American television talk show hosts
Comedians from Nebraska
Deaths from emphysema
Deaths from respiratory failure
Entertainers from Nebraska
Late night television talk show hosts
Military personnel from Iowa
Peabody Award winners
People from Clarinda, Iowa
People from Corning, Iowa
People from Pottawattamie County, Iowa
People from Red Oak, Iowa
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Respiratory disease deaths in California
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
United States Navy officers
United States Navy personnel of World War II
University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni
Kennedy Center honorees

Johnny Carson


The PNC Bank Arts Center (originally the Garden State Arts Center) is an amphitheatre in Holmdel, New Jersey. About 17,500 people can occupy the venue; there are 7,000 seats and the grass area can hold about 10,500 people. Concerts are from May through September featuring 45-50 different events of many types of musical styles. It is ranked among the top five most successful amphitheatres in the country. It is one of two major outdoor arenas in the New York City Metropolitan Area, along with Jones Beach Theater on Long Island. Both venues are managed by Live Nation.

History
The amphitheatre was originally called the Garden State Arts Center. The 1954 legislation that created the Garden State Parkway (at whose Exit 116 the Arts Center is located) also called for recreational facilities along the Parkway's route, and in 1964 Holmdel's Telegraph Hill was chosen as the site for "a cultural and recreational center ... that would be developed as a center for music and the performing arts."  The amphitheatre was designed by noted modernist architect Edward Durell Stone and featured open sides covered by a , saucer-like roof supported by eight large concrete pillars. It featured seating for 5,197 people with space for about 5,000 more on the lawn area outside the roof.  The facility is most easily accessible from the Parkway.

The Garden State Arts Center opened on June 12, 1968, with a program featuring pianist Van Cliburn, conductor Eugene Ormandy, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The Arts Center was operated in conjunction with the New Jersey Highway Authority, which also ran the Parkway.  On June 25 and 26, 1968, Judy Garland performed at this facility.

In the beginning, the Arts Center's programming featured a good deal of classical as well as popular music. In addition, a number of free daytime programs were provided for schoolchildren, senior citizens, and the disadvantaged and disabled. Beginning in 1971, the non-profit Foundation associated with the Arts Center also sponsored International Heritage Festivals before and after the regular season focusing on ethnicities such as Scottish, Slovak, German, Polish, African American, etc.; due to lack of attendance, these festivals were discontinued in 2015.

During off-season months the Arts Center is generally unused, except for a Holiday Light Spectacular show during the Christmas season.  A banquet hall is on premises but has not been occupied since 2013. In 1995, the Arts Center grounds saw the addition of the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial.

During the 1990s the philosophy of the Arts Center underwent a change. Classical music was almost completely phased out, and the venue's management wanted to expand the venue to compete against other, larger amphitheatres on the summer outdoor concert circuit.  Before the 1996 season, a substantial expansion added 2,000 seats (some now outside the roof, which was not altered) and doubled the lawn capacity by removing rows of trees and a surrounding walk and raising the bank around the facility much higher.

Renaming and expansion
In 1996, PNC Bank, a Pittsburgh-based bank, purchased naming rights for $8.5 million over a 10-year period. In 1998, as a result of the name change, and despite negotiations to keep the words "Garden State" in the new name, state Senators Joe Kyrillos and John O. Bennett introduced and passed legislation to remove all state funds from any PNC Bank accounts and redeposit them in other banks within the state.

Holiday Light Spectacular
PNC Bank Arts Center features one of the most extravagant drive through light displays in the tri-state area. The spectacular is a  drive through a forest of lights. Over 5 million lights were used over 225 displays and usually runs from the end of November through January 2. The display is set up in the parking lot around the Arts Center on a specially prepared road. In the premises of the light spectacular, a radio station plays Christmas carols as well as a Winter Village at the end of the display which features a snack bar, ice rink, and a Christmas decoration shop which sells smaller replicas of the displays in the light spectacular. Some large displays which are not visible from the parking lot or the amphitheater are left at their respective spots permanently. In 2008, it was announced the display would be discontinued, however, after a 7-year hiatus, the display returned for the 2014-2015 holiday season.

Performers and performances

Perhaps the most popular performer, over the years, has been James Taylor, who has appeared there almost every year (exceptions being 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, consecutively from 2009 to 2011, 2013, consecutively from 2015 to 2020 - the 2020 appearance being postponed to 2021 and 2022) and who has been one of the few acts to be booked there three nights in a row. Ironically, Bruce Springsteen, New Jersey's most famous musician, had never appeared (save for a 1989 walk-on, during a Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band show), until two performances in 2006, during the Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour and joining Beach Boy Brian Wilson for "Barbara Ann" and "Surfing U.S.A." on July 1, 2015.

Glen Campbell recorded his album, entitled Glen Campbell Live, on July 4, 1969, for Capitol Records. The album went to #2 on the Billboard Country Albums list and #13 on Billboard 200. The following year, Dionne Warwick hit #37 on the Billboard Hot 100 with a version of "Make It Easy on Yourself" recorded at the venue. Portions of Jackson Browne's landmark 1977 live album, entitled Running on Empty, were recorded here. The Allman Brothers Band performed and recorded their show, on August 16, 1994, which a portion was later included on their live album, entitled An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band: 2nd Set.

The amphitheatre has played host to music festivals, including The Area Festival, Crüe Fest, Crüe Fest 2, The Gigantour, Lilith Fair, The Mayhem Festival, Ozzfest, Projekt Revolution, The Uproar Festival and The Vans Warped Tour.

Sinéad O'Connor controversy
Sinéad O'Connor was scheduled to perform on August 24, 1990. The practice of the venue is to play a recording of the American national anthem prior to the beginning of a featured show. O'Connor, who said she was unaware of this practice until shortly before the show was to begin, refused to go on if the anthem was played. Venue officials acquiesced to her demand and omitted the anthem, and so O'Connor performed, but they later permanently banned her. O'Connor said she had a policy of not having the national anthem of any country played before her concerts and meant "no disrespect" but that she "will not go on stage after the national anthem of a country which imposes censorship on artists. It's hypocritical and racist." The incident made tabloid headlines and O'Connor received considerable criticism, including an embargo of her songs by several U.S. radio stations. Frank Sinatra, who performed at the center the following night, said he wished he could "kick her in the ass."

Phish controversy
On June 28–29, 2000, over 70 people were arrested, in connection with two concerts by jamband Phish. After their breakup, Phish's guitarist Trey Anastasio headlined shows at PNC several times, including a 2006 performance with "G.R.A.B." (Gordon.Russo.Anastasio.Benevento.), which included former Phish bassist Mike Gordon. Phish returned to the venue May 31 and June 1, 2011, for a two-night stand during their summer tour, and again on July 10, 2013.

2007 OzzFest incident

On 16 August 2007, controversy was generated as 83 attendees were arrested at the show, most of them underage, and most of them arrested prior to the 8:00 hour, reasons cited for underage drinking and distribution, and "aggressive dancing"; In addition, two men died, one after ingesting significant amounts of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine.

Underage drinking
On May 18, 2007, Gwen Stefani performed the opening show for the 2007 season at the venue. The show gained a lot of local media publicity due to the large amount of underage drinking that took place in the parking lot before the show and lack of police to maintain it. At least 27 people, mainly minors, were taken to two area hospitals. The venue announced a zero-tolerance policy to underage drinking, and it was also announced that for the next concert held at the arena, Fall Out Boy on June 6, between 60 and 80 state troopers would be on hand, up from the usual 10-15 and mostly undercover and plain clothed, to detain underage drinkers. Residents of the area claimed underage drinking has always been a problem at the venue, but gets worse every year.

In response to problems with underage drinking and in the wake of a number of alcohol-related injuries and deaths, drinking in the parking lots was banned at the PNC Bank Arts Center as of August 17, 2007. This policy has been since changed to allow tailgating and alcohol consumption in the parking lots for specific events.

PNC later published a list stating which events would allow tailgating; shows drawing a younger audience would have no tailgating while shows such as Kenny Chesney would allow it.

See also

List of contemporary amphitheatres
Live Nation
List of New Jersey music venues by capacity

References

Sources
Garden State Arts Center 25th Anniversary season program, 1992.

External links

PNC Bank Arts Center

Holmdel Township, New Jersey
Theatres in New Jersey
Music venues in New Jersey
Performing arts centers in New Jersey
Amphitheaters in the United States
Buildings and structures in Monmouth County, New Jersey
Edward Durell Stone buildings
Theatres completed in 1968
Event venues established in 1968
Tourist attractions in Monmouth County, New Jersey
Garden State Parkway
1968 establishments in New Jersey

PNC Bank Arts Center


Robert Rudolph Ivany (born February 4, 1947) is a retired major general in the United States Army, and was the eighth president of the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

Military career
Born in Austria to Hungarian war refugees, Ivany attended college at the United States Military Academy at West Point. In addition to earning a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy in 1969, he received a Doctor of Philosophy in History from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in May 1980. His doctoral thesis was entitled The Exploited Emigres: The Hungarians in Europe, 1853-1861 and his  thesis advisor was Theodore S. Hamerow.

Serving as the commandant (president) of the War College capped Ivany's 34-year career in the army. During his various commands as an armored cavalry officer, he led soldiers in the United States, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the Federal Republic of Germany and Vietnam where he was wounded in action and decorated for valor.

When not assigned to troop units, Ivany assisted several nations in the transformation of their armed forces, including stints in Hungary, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. Ivany also served in several unique positions, including serving as the Army Aide to the President of the United States from 1984 to 1986.

Ivany also served as an assistant professor of history and as a football coach at the Military Academy at West Point. As the Commanding General of the Military District of Washington from 1998 to 2000, he directed a diverse organization of 5500 civilian and military employees based on seven installations in three states and the District of Columbia.

Prior to his retirement from the Army with the rank of major general, Ivany had presided over one of the nation's most respected institutions for the education of strategic leaders: the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. There for three years, he instituted programs to develop the next generation of military and civilian leaders from the United States and 42 foreign countries to meet the challenges of cultural change, organizational transformation and a drastically altered national security environment.

Academia
After retiring from the army in October 2003, Ivany joined the faculty of the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University as an adjunct professor in Executive Education. He worked with senior executives in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States in leader development, strategic planning and cultural change.

On July 1, 2004, Ivany became the eighth president of the University of St. Thomas. He was formally installed into office in January 2005 at a reception which featured the presence of former United States President George Bush.  He resides in Houston with his wife, Marianne, and his children.

Ivany significantly increased the St. Thomas endowment during his short tenure. He has initiated several academic programs in an effort to increase the institution's prestige. He became president emeritus in 2017.

Athletics
During Ivany's tenure as president of the University of St. Thomas, he has made it a priority to develop intercollegiate athletics as a means to increase school spirit among students, alumni and donors. In the summer of 2005, Ivany called for the formation of the Athletics Advisory Council to study intercollegiate athletics at UST and make recommendations. The Council concluded that intercollegiate athletics would help the university's image and would not result in a reduction in funds for other programs. The program was initiated as the St. Thomas Celts.

Leadership Development Initiative
Ivany has spoken on the topic of leadership development to varied audiences, including:
 Cleveland City Club
 2002 Peter F. Drucker Conference for Nonprofit Management
 Union League of Philadelphia
 First Friday Club of Cleveland
 Atlanta Rotary
 Northeast Regional United Way Conference
 Quanex Corporation
 CenterPoint Energy
 Walt Disney Resorts
 Houston Junior Achievement
 Houston Partnership Board.

Ivany has been interested in the leadership challenges facing military and civilian leaders for several years. His article "Soldiers and Legislators: A Common Mission" appeared in Parameters in 1990 and received the General Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for Excellence in Military Writing. He is conducting research on the leadership attributes of 20 generals and admirals who have transitioned to corporate leadership.

Memberships and awards
Ivany belongs to the Leader to Leader Institute, the Army Football Club, Mental Health Association and the Knights of Columbus. He has received the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom, the Humanitarian Medal from the Chapel of the Four Chaplains Association, the Director's Award from the US Secret Service, the Admiral Thomas J. Hamilton Award for Leadership, and together with his spouse, the Aaron and Hur Award from the U.S. Army Chaplaincy. He was named a distinguished graduate of St. Ignatius H.S., Cleveland, Ohio and has earned numerous military awards.

Family
Ivany is married to the former Marianne O'Donnell; they have four children, daughter Julianne Sara and sons Brian Michael, Mark and Chris.

References

External links
 Dr. Ivany Biography
 Monday Morning Magyar: Major Gen. Robert Ivany

1947 births
United States Army personnel of the Gulf War
United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War
Catholics from Texas
Columbia University faculty
Living people
Military personnel from Cleveland
Military personnel from Houston
American people of Hungarian descent
Recipients of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal
Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal
Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)
Recipients of the Legion of Merit
United States Military Academy alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
University of St. Thomas (Texas) faculty

Robert Ivany


CTNow is a free weekly newspaper in central and southwestern Connecticut, United States, published by the Hartford Courant.

The previous iteration of CTNow was New Mass. Media, a privately owned weekly newspaper company until 1999, when its owners, including founding publisher Geoffrey Robinson, sold the company to The Hartford Courant for an undisclosed sum. A year later, Courant parent company Times-Mirror was bought by the Tribune Company, based in Chicago. In 2013, the Hartford Advocate, New Haven Advocate, and Fairfield County Weekly were merged with the Courants calendar section and website CTNow to create the weekly paper CTNow.

History
The company was founded in 1973 by Geoffrey Robinson and Edward Matys, then copy editors at The Hartford Courant.  Robinson, a native of New Haven, Connecticut, worked as wire service editor of the daily Lorain Journal of Ohio after his graduation from Yale University in 1971.  Matys had worked in editorial positions at several Massachusetts and Connecticut newspapers.

The pair began publishing the Valley Advocate, a bi-weekly serving Western Massachusetts, in September 1973 from small basement offices in Amherst, Massachusetts.  In September 1974, the Valley Advocate began publishing weekly; Robinson and Matys opened offices in Hartford and started publication of the Hartford Advocate.  A year later, in September 1975, the pair began publishing the weekly New Haven Advocate and in 1978 started publication of the Fairfield County Advocate (subsequently renamed Fairfield County Weekly to avoid confusion with the neighboring and unrelated Stamford Advocate).

In 1999, the four-paper chain was sold to Times-Mirror, which was itself acquired by Tribune in 2000. Tribune announced in December 2007 that it would sell the Valley Advocate, its only Massachusetts publication, to Newspapers of New England.

Former properties
Advocate  weeklies offered investigative journalism, national, state and local political coverage, commentary, and arts features and criticism, mostly from a liberal or countercultural point of view. They shared some editorial content, but each had regionally focused news and opinion pieces, restaurant reviews, event listings, and advertisements. The newspapers had annual "Best Of" write-in contests, and subsequent issues that featured the winning businesses.

The Advocates accepted a wider variety of advertisements than mainstream newspapers, including ads for strip clubs, erotic massage services, adult book and video stores, and the like, which columnists and readers argued conflict with the newspapers' avowed feminism.

Fairfield County Weekly
The Fairfield County Weekly was distributed throughout Fairfield County. Its average weekly circulation was 26,708 in 2011.

Hartford Advocate
The Hartford Advocate was published in Hartford, Connecticut and had a circulation of 37,779 in 2011.

The Hartford Advocate was founded in 1974 by Geoffrey Robinson and Edward Matys to fill a void in investigative and beat reporting in the capital city of Connecticut. For example, The Hartford Courant, where Robinson and Matys had previously worked, did not routinely cover one of the city's largest industries, insurance. The founding editors included managing editor Dick Polman, recruited from the New London Day, and city editor Bruce Kauffman, from the Courant where as a police and general assignment reporter he discovered that a heavily traveled bridge around the corner from the state capitol was being held up by a telephone pole.

Gail Collins reported on state government and politics; she is now an op-ed columnist at The New York Times. Another early reporter was David Lieberman, who was later an editorial writer for the Courant and covered the media business for USA Today.

Polman left the Advocate after some five years to become a columnist at the Courant and later joined The Philadelphia Inquirer as national political correspondent. He also taught at the University of Pennsylvania. Kauffman later worked for CNN, taught at Emerson College in Boston, Morehouse College in Atlanta and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He also worked for the North County Times, one of two daily newspapers in San Diego County, California.

In a history of the alternative media, A Trumpet to Arms, author David Armstrong described the Advocate as a bastion for the "new muckrakers."  The author explored the paper's examination of the behind-the-scenes power exercised by the corporate elite in Hartford. Kauffman had reported that top banks and insurance companies, including Travelers, were funneling the bulk of city pension fund money into companies that propped up the apartheid regime in South Africa.  The city of Hartford would end up divesting the South Africa–related investments.

Polman notes, in the acknowledgements for "Dateline: Connecticut," "I had originally hoped to thank the publishers of the Hartford Advocate for allowing me to reprint some of my 'Subject to Change' columns, but they denied me access to my work, citing my 'gravitation' to the Courant."

In the 1980s and '90s the paper included a full-time photographer, Nicholas Lacy, and an array of colorful editors and reporters, including Ric Hornung (who was known to eavesdrop on City Hall denizens by hiding in the lunch truck and taking notes on their conversations), Janet Reynolds (who later became publisher), Jayne Keedle, Susan White Patrick (ESPN Sports Center star Dan Patrick's wife), Leslie Riva, and Edward Ericson, Jr. The paper's reporting on city hall corruption in the early 1990s led to the City Manager's ouster and several criminal convictions. Later stories about High Sheriff Al Rioux helped lead to his conviction on federal wire and mail fraud charges and the abolition of the county sheriffs' offices statewide in 2000.

Valley Advocate
Advocate Weekly Newspapers formerly published the Valley Advocate, a similar alternative weekly, in Easthampton, Massachusetts, covering the greater Springfield area and the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. It began as an independent newspaper in 1973 and was sold in late 2007 to Newspapers of New England, parent of its competitor the Daily Hampshire Gazette of Northampton, Massachusetts.

References

External links

Newspapers published in Connecticut
Alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States
Mass media in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Mass media in Bridgeport, Connecticut
Mass media in Hartford, Connecticut
Mass media in Hartford County, Connecticut
Mass media in New Haven, Connecticut
Mass media in New Haven County, Connecticut
1973 establishments in Connecticut
Publishing companies established in 1973
Tribune Publishing

CTNow


The Adrar des Ifoghas is a sandstone high area in the Kidal Region of Mali.  Is has an area of about 250,000 km².

There are wide, shallow valleys, and many granite rocks.  The Tamesna Plain is to the east.  The Telemsi Fosse is to the west  The low, western part of the Azaouak Valley is to the south.  Tanezrouft is to the north.  Kidal, Aguel'hoc, Boughessa, Essouk and Tessalit are cities in this area.

The Adrar des Ifoghas is called "Adagh" in the local language.  "" is the Berber word for mountain, and "Ifogha" is the short name of a rich Tuareg family.  This family (the "Kel Ifoghas") has been very powerful in this area for a long time.  They are nomads and they eat and sell camels, goats and sheep.

The area has many old archaeological places.  The rock drawings showing men hunting, farming, and looking after cows are very important.  Asselar Man's bones were also found here by Théodore Monod.  Recently, the Adrar des Ifoghas has become popular for hiking.

References

Geography of Mali

Adrar des Ifoghas


The Battle of Québec was fought in October 1690 between the colonies of New France and Massachusetts Bay, then ruled by the kingdoms of France and England, respectively. It was the first time Québec's defences were tested.

Following the capture of Port Royal in Acadia, during King William's War, the New Englanders hoped to seize Québec itself, the capital of New France. The loss of the Acadian fort shocked the Canadiens, and Governor-General Louis de Buade de Frontenac ordered the immediate preparation of the city for a possible siege.

When the envoys delivered the terms of surrender, the Governor-General famously declared that his only reply would be by "the mouth of my cannons." Major John Walley led the invading army, which landed at Beauport in the Basin of Québec. However, the militia on the shore were constantly harassed by local militia until their retreat, while the expedition's ships, commanded by Sir William Phips, were nearly destroyed by cannon volley fire from the top of the city.

Both sides learned from the battle: the French improved the city's defences, while the New Englanders realized they needed more artillery and better support from England to take the city.

Background
The colony of New France claimed the largest area of North America, although by population it was numerically inferior to the neighbouring colonies of New England and New York. By 1689, there were only about 14,000 settlers in New France, but most of the population lived in towns protected by elaborate forts.

In 1690, Sir William Phips was appointed major-general by Massachusetts to command an expedition against French Acadia. He sailed with seven vessels carrying a 450-strong provincial "Foot Regiment", and Port Royal surrendered on 21 May. Its governor, Louis-Alexandre des Friches de Menneval, had only about 70 men, and no guns mounted, and would have been unable to resist. On 22 May, Phips recorded "We cut down the cross, rifled the Church, pulled down the High-Altar, breaking their images"; and on 23 May, "kept gathering Plunder both by land and water, and also under ground in their Gardens".

This shocked the French colonists, who feared that their capital city would be the next target. Québec did not have extensive fortifications in 1690, and the whole landward side of the city to the north and west was exposed, particularly at the Plains of Abraham. Count Frontenac returned to Canada for a second term as Governor-General, and ordered the construction of a wooden palisade to enclose the city from the fort at the Château Saint-Louis to the Saint-Charles River. Town Major Provost oversaw the construction of eleven small stone redoubts in this enceinte, which would have protected against cannon. Facing the plains on the west side was the strong point of the landward defences — a windmill called Mont-Carmel where a three-gun artillery battery was in place. The palisade line ended on the east side of the city, near the hospital. The batteries facing the river were also improved, with eight guns mounted beside the Château and six 18-pounders at the docksides. Temporary obstacles had also been put in place on the street leading up to the upper city.

Meanwhile, a mobile war party of 150 Albany militia and Iroquois warriors under Captain John Schuyler marched and canoed overland to Montréal, imitating the petite guerre tactics (long-range expeditions into enemy territory) perfected by the French colonists. Schuyler's expedition was designed to seize Montréal and pin French forces south of Québec, allowing the Boston fleet to sail against the capital unopposed. Smallpox, lack of supplies, and disagreements among the officers caused most of the militia and Iroquois to turn back in disgust, leaving Schuyler with a fraction of the 855 men promised by the New England authorities. On 4 September the English raiders attacked settlements south of Montréal, killing some 50 habitants in the middle of their harvests. Too weak to risk a battle with the town's garrison, Schuyler destroyed some houses and livestock and turned for home with 19 captives before the French militia could respond. Thus, when Phips was sighted off Tadoussac, Frontenac ordered the garrisons of Montréal and Trois-Rivières to make for the threatened capital with all haste. Four days later the Governor arrived in Québec with 200–300 troops made available by the failure of Schuyler's invasion, considerably lifting the capital's spirit of resistance.

Arrival of Phips
While the New England colonies and New York dispatched a force overland against Montréal, which accomplished virtually nothing, Massachusetts launched a separate expedition against Québec. The whole operation had been financed by issuing paper bonds set against the expected booty to be taken from the city. The expedition consisted of about 32 ships (only four of which were of any size) and over 2,300 Massachusetts militiamen, and was under the overall command of Phips, the victor at Port Royal. Its departure was delayed until quite late in the summer because it was waiting (in vain) for the arrival of additional munitions from England. Consequently, when Phips' expedition set out from Hull, Massachusetts on 20 August, it was inadequately supplied with ammunition. Bad weather, contrary winds, and the lack of pilots familiar with the Saint Lawrence River hampered progress, and Phips did not anchor in the Québec basin until 16 October.

Frontenac, a shrewd and experienced officer, reached Québec from Montréal on 14 October. When all the militia whom he had summoned arrived, he had nearly 3,000 men to defend the place. The New Englanders had been "quite confident that the cowardly and effete French would be no match for their hardy men", but in fact the opposite was the case. Frontenac had reason for confidence, as he possessed a force of three battalions of colonial regulars that were certainly superior to Phips's amateur companies—in the event the regulars were not needed as the Canadien militia succeeded in repulsing Phips' landing parties. Furthermore, the city was "sited on the strongest natural position they [the English officers] had likely ever seen." Not only did it have impressive cliffs and Cape Diamond, but the eastern shore was so shallow that ships could not approach and landing craft would be needed.

On 16 October, Phips sent Major Thomas Savage as an envoy to deliver a summons of surrender to Frontenac. The encounter has been described as an application of psychological warfare. Before the fighting, Frontenac led Phips' envoys blindfolded through roaring mobs in the streets of Québec in order to mask his numerical inferiority. Then, in the Château Saint-Louis, Frontenac and many of his officers in their best dress listened to the envoy as he demanded the city's surrender. Overawed by this "stately Hall full of Brave Martiall men", Savage did his best to deliver Phip's ultimatum. Drafted by Massachusetts Puritans, the document began severely:

The New Englander told them they had one hour to comply, and then pulled out his watch. The proud and temperamental Frontenac was so enraged that he wanted to have the envoy hanged before the full view of the English fleet, and it was only because of the Bishop of Québec, François de Laval, that he was calmed. Asked for a written response, Frontenac shot back:

Savage accepted his blindfold with relief and was led back to his ship. Phips' council of war was extremely vexed by the reply, having expected to fall upon a defenceless and panicked city. That evening, drums and fifes were heard approaching Québec, followed by heavy cheering from the town: Louis-Hector de Callière had arrived with the remaining Montréal militia, giving Frontenac numerical parity with the New Englanders.

Battle
The New Englanders saw that the only possible place to crack the defences was on the city's northeastern side, where the walls were weakest. Their plan was to land their main force on the Beauport shore east of the Saint Charles River, and have it cross the river in the fleet's boats, along with the field guns. When the landing force was on the heights west of Québec, the fleet would attack the city and land a second force there. Frontenac had expected the land attack to come from Beauport, and the banks of the river had already been built up with field fortifications on the southwestern side. He proposed to fight only a skirmishing action there, holding his regulars in reserve for a European-style battle on the open ground west of Québec.

However, the open battle never took place. The 1,200-strong English landing force under Major John Walley, Phips' second-in-command, never got across the Saint Charles. Frontenac had sent strong detachments of Colony of Canada militiamen under Jacques Le Moyne de Sainte-Hélène, along with some First Nation warriors, into the wooded areas east of the river. When the English landed on 18 October, they were immediately harassed by Colony of Canada militia, while the ships' boats mistakenly landed the field guns on the wrong side of the Saint Charles. Meanwhile, Phips's four large ships, quite contrary to the plan, anchored before Québec and began bombarding the city until 19 October, at which point the English had shot away most of their ammunition. The French shore batteries had also proved to be much more than a match, and the ships were pounded until the rigging and hulls were badly damaged; the ensign of Phips' flagship the Six Friends was cut down and fell into the river, and under a hail of musket shots, a daring group of members of the colony of Canada paddled a canoe up to the ships to capture it. Unscathed, they triumphantly brought the ensign back to the Governor.

During the bombardment, the land force under Walley remained inactive, suffering from cold and complaining of shortage of rum. After a couple of miserable days, they decided to carry the shore positions and try to overcome the French earthworks. They set out on 20 October "in the best European tradition, with drums beating and colors unfurled," but there was a skirmish at the edge of the woods. The New Englanders could not cope with the maintained heavy Colony of Canada fire, and the brass field guns fired into the woods had no effect. Although Sainte-Hélène was mortally wounded, 150 of the attackers had been killed in action, and were utterly discouraged. They retreated in a state of near panic on 22 October, even abandoning five field guns on the shore.

Aftermath
On 23 and 24 October, an exchange of prisoners was negotiated and effected, and the ships set sail for Boston. Although Phips' own account of the expedition admitted only 30 dead in combat, smallpox and marine accident claimed about 1,000 more. James Lloyd of Boston wrote in the following January, "7 vessels yet wanting 3 more cast away & burnt." Cotton Mather tells how one brigantine was wrecked on Anticosti; her crew maintained themselves on the island through the winter and were apparently rescued the following summer by a ship from Boston. Phips' defeat was complete and disastrous; fortunately for the French, since food was lacking to feed the large force assembled to defend Quebec in case of a prolonged siege. Phips himself had displayed no natural military talents to offset his lack of experience. However, it can be argued that it was the absence of trained soldiers and adequate supplies that had doomed the enterprise from the start. Governor of New York Henry Sloughter captured the mood in the English colonies when he wrote:

Canada exulted in its victory and survival; on 5 November the Te Deum was sung in Québec in the chapel of a new church that would be named Notre Dame de la Victoire, Our Lady of Victory. When news of the expedition reached Versailles, Louis XIV ordered a medal struck bearing the inscription: Kebeca liberata M.DC.XC–Francia in novo orbe victrix, or "Deliverance of Québec 1690–France victorious in the New World."

Jacques Le Moyne, who died soon after the battle, was mourned by the whole colony for his courtesy and valour. The Onondaga Iroquois sent a wampum collar as a token of sympathy, and released two captives to honour his memory. His brother, Charles Le Moyne, won fame for his part in the battle, and he later received an additional grant of land for his services and became the first Baron de Longueuil.

Both sides learned from the battle. The French victory showed the English that to take Québec, the cannon of "Old England would have to be brought in". Similarly, Frontenac realised the defences needed significant improvement, and in 1692, he gave Ingénieur du Roi Josué Berthelot de Beaucours the task of designing a fortress that could withstand a European-style siege. This was delayed by the Canadian winter, and work commenced in the summer of 1693 on an earth rampart with large bastions to enclose the city, and pointed wooden stakes to top the walls. A complete shore battery, known as the "Royal battery", was built immediately after the siege. It was shaped like a small bastion, and featured 14 gun embrasures to cover both sides of the Saint Laurence and the river itself.

Although another expedition was launched against Québec during Queen Anne's War, it failed to reach its target when transports wrecked with great loss of life in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The city's improved defences would not be tested until the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759.

Notes

References

External links

King William's War
Battles involving England
Battles involving Canada
Conflicts in Quebec
Conflicts in 1690
1690s in Canada
1690 in the Thirteen Colonies
Battle of (1690)
1690 in New France

Battle of Quebec (1690)


Teen Wolf is an American television series that airs on MTV. The series premiered on Sunday, June 5, 2011, following the 2011 MTV Movie Awards. Teen Wolf is a supernatural drama series that follows Scott McCall (Tyler Posey), a high school student and social outcast who is bitten by a werewolf. He tries to maintain a normal life while hiding his secret and dealing with supernatural dangers that plague the town of Beacon Hills. He is aided by his best friend, Stiles Stilinski (Dylan O'Brien), and mysterious werewolf, Derek Hale (Tyler Hoechlin).

Cast

Secondary characters

References

External links
 Eonline.com

Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf

List of Teen Wolf (2011 TV series) secondary characters


Kiddush Levanah () is a Jewish ritual, performed outside at night, in which a series of prayers are recited to bless the new moon.

History
The source of the Kiddush Levana is in the Babylonian Talmud:
 Rabbi Yochanan taught that one who blesses the new moon, in its proper time, is regarded like one who greets the Shechinah (Divine Presence).

The prayer, by its nature, is typically said outside at nighttime. Many synagogues post the text of the prayer in large type on an outside wall, for greater visibility. As such, the term "kiddush levana letters" has developed to refer to any text written in unusually large letters.

Timing
The Kiddush levana ceremony is performed on the first sighting of the new moon - performance at this time is deemed בזמנה - in its proper time, with some opining that only then is the blessing said while standing. Among the Mekubalim, Rabbi Chayim Vital likewise adopted the view of the ceremony being done on the first night of the new moon. However, the popular custom is to wait three complete days after the occurrence of the molad, or appearance of the new moon, with some waiting even seven days. The latest time for Kiddush Levanah is mid-month, i.e., fourteen days, eighteen hours and twenty-two minutes (some authorities extend this limit to fifteen full days) after the molad.

Ritual

It is customary to say Kiddush Levanah at the conclusion of Shabbat. The moon must be visible and not totally covered by clouds and the ceremony is normally performed outside. While it is customary to say the prayer with the large crowd after the Saturday evening services, or at least with a minyan, it can be also said without a minyan and in the middle of the week. In places where cloudy or rainy weather is very common, many people will recite the blessing as soon as they see the moon for the first time after the "three days".
In the month of Tishrei, it is usually delayed until after the conclusion of Yom Kippur; others have a custom to say it specifically before Yom Kippur. In the month of Av, it is traditionally postponed to following the fast of Tisha B'Av, as the beginning of the month is a time of mourning and the prayer should be said in a spirit of joy. If a holiday falls on Sunday, Kiddush Levanah is delayed until after that day.

It is customary to say additional passages that were added to this blessing in the 16th century by Rabbi Yitzhak Luria. These are Kabbalistic verses and it is difficult to understand their deeper meaning.

See also
Lunar phase
Jewish holidays
Jewish prayer service

References

External links

Text of Kiddush Levanah

Hebrew calendar
Jewish blessings
Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish prayers and blessings
Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law

Kiddush levana


This article is about the orchestral suite by Claude Debussy. For other musical compositions called "Nocturne", see Nocturne.

Nocturnes is a piece of music for orchestra by the French composer Claude Debussy.  There are three movements.  A female chorus also sings in the last movement.  Debussy finished writing "Nocturnes" on  15 December  1899.

The music
The three movements each have a title.  They are:
 I. Nuages ("Clouds")
 II. Fêtes ("Festivals")
 III. Sirènes ("Sirens")

A large portion of Debussy's music, including his nocturnes, is inspired by the works of the Impressionist painters.  The word nocturne (from the Latin nocturnus) usually describes a piece that is inspired by the night.  However, Debussy's Nocturnes do not follow this patter; rather, they capture the way light is shown in Impressionist paintings.

'Nuages' is about the clouds in the sky and the way they move slowly in grey colours with a little white.

'Fêtes' is a very lively picture of a group of people having a celebration and dancing.  A procession is heard arriving.  The music of the procession gradually gets louder,  mixes with the music of the dancing, then it gradually dies away as the procession disappears into the distance.

'Sirènes' describes the sea and the many rhythms that can be heard when we listen to it.  The moonlight shines on the sea, and the mysterious song of the Sirens is heard as they laugh.

First performances

The Lamoureux Orchestra conducted by Camille Chevillard gave the first performance of Nuages and Fêtes in Paris in 1900, and they played the first performance of all three movements the next year.  Some of the listeners found it hard to understand at first, but today "Nocturnes"  is one of Debussy's most popular works.

The music lasts for about 22 minutes.

Compositions by Claude Debussy

Nocturnes (Debussy)