Linkletter: Back when television was really funny

The more you hang around kids, the more you learn. It may be weird stuff, but it also may be profound. When I was a kid, and television was in two colors only — black and white — there were several shows that we made sure we never missed. One thing about television in those days: we only had it on when there was a show that we watched. Of course there were only three channels, and the TV was small. We planned ahead to watch a television show, and would sit down as a family to watch together. And when it was over, if there wasn’t another show coming on that we planned to see, then the television was off.

I remember several shows that we wouldn’t miss: The Andy Griffith Show; My Three Sons; The Dick Van Dyke Show; The Beverly Hillbillies; Lassie; Mister Ed; The Lawrence Welk Show; The Linkletter Show. You know what us old folks like to say: “They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore!”

Art Linkletter had the funniest shows that made that statement true. I think his shows of interviewing children were truly the funniest shows ever on television. In 1952 he started The Linkletter Show which ran on CBS radio and TV for 25 years. His candid interviews with kids were hilarious, mostly because of what the kids said but also because of Linkletter’s reaction. I’m sure someone would be offended nowadays with the conversations, but Linkletter had a knack for keeping a straight face as the kids would say the darndest things. That was so true that, in 1998, it became the name of his show.

A little known fact about Art Linkletter: He saw children as children, regardless of race. In a time when most black people on television and movies were played as fools, Linkletter insisted on having children of all races on his show. The network didn’t want to, but he said he would walk away if they couldn’t have kids of other races. When parents of some kids gave the ultimatum, “my kid won’t be there if ‘those’ kids are” he said “don’t come.” The first year of multi-race kids the ratings dropped; the next year, ratings soared.

But his life was far from funny. In 1969, his youngest daughter, Diane Linkletter, committed suicide by jumping out of a window of her high-rise apartment. Art blamed LSD and became very outspoken against drugs. Several reports at the time showed that LSD played no role, but Art continued to speak out against the psychedelic drug movement for many years. Only three months prior to Diane’s death, Art’s daughter, Dawn, lost her husband when he committed suicide by a gunshot over his failing insurance business. His son, Robert Linkletter, was killed in a car accident.

I have one thing in common with Art Linkletter: our day of birth, July 17. We share that birthday with Disneyland, where Art hosted the grand opening in 1955 (on my FIRST birthday!).

He was the only person in television history to have five shows running concurrently on network TV. In addition to The Linkletter Show for 25 years, he also hosted People are Funny on NBC radio and TV for 19 years, and Kids Say the Darndest Things. His interviews with children on these shows led to a successful series of books quoting children.

One more little known fact about Linkletter: He owned vast acreage in Australia, where he maintained herds of 40,000 sheep and 15,000 cattle.

I like this personal quote: “Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things work out.”

Art Linkletter was truly one of a kind. The funny kind.