I was eating dinner when my mother told me that Art Linkletter had passed away at 97. She'd found out via the 5:00 news just before I came home from work.
Most of us will remember that Linkletter was doing commercials for some insurance company, if my memory serves me correctly, during the 70's & 80's, but he's better known for his radio & television work. Specifically, a pair of iconic series that ran concurrently during the 40's, 50's, and into the 60's. House Party, a daytime series, ended its CBS run in 1969. I barely remember ever seeing any episodes of that series, if at all. One popular feature of Party would later be revived as a stand-alone series, Kids Say the Darndest Things, and hosted by another TV icon, Bill Cosby, with Linkletter as a contributor, during the 90's.
All I can remember of People Are Funny is how it was parodied (as People Are Phony) in one of those Bugs Bunny-Daffy Duck cartoons during the era when the two iconic Looney Tunes characters were more adversaries than friends, with Daffy jealous of Bugs' uncanny talents.
As a collector of old-time radio programs, I haven't seen either Party or People released on CD (radio) or DVD (television) as yet, and I think that would be because Linkletter held the rights to both himself, rather than the networks. We'll see if there's any sort of CD/DVD release in memorium down the road.
Rest in peace, Art. You will be missed.
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