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OBIT: Steverino is Dead, alas....
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Subject: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Peter T. Date: 31 Oct 00 - 03:42 PM Steverino, the idol of my youth, is dead. Steve Allen, creator of Les Band and his Brown of Renown, and all around Renaissance funny man, and just genius. I sure hate this news. For him, this could be the start of something big, but for the rest of us, it is the end of something big. Ratfink. Hi, ho, Steverino. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Gern Date: 31 Oct 00 - 03:52 PM I'm real sorry to hear this. He had talents in many directions, including musical skills as a pianist and composer, as well as comic, writer, TV producer, etc. Gave TV exposure to early adventurers like Bob Dylan and Frank Zappa. Used to do a routine started by saying "They say modern poetry is dead, but just listen to these lyrics from today's music." Then in sternest deadpan he would recite "Hound Dog" or "Who Wears Short Shorts" as if they were Lord Byron's best. Steve Allen was spearheading a drive to "clean up" popular TV programming in his later years, which is an easily defended position to take and one he seemed sincere about.As his career demonstrated, there is a place in popular entertainment for intelligence and good taste. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: wysiwyg Date: 31 Oct 00 - 03:54 PM Aw... I hate it when that happens. Some of those old dudes... you don't really mind seeing them go, but others... aw crap. I'll think of him next time someone starts up on how unremittingly awful a curse TV is. We still have Jonathan Winters, Alan Sherman, and Richard Pryor? It's getting hard to keep track. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Amergin Date: 31 Oct 00 - 04:04 PM Not sure about the others, but we still have Richard Pryor, though I'm thinking not for much longer.... |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Wesley S Date: 31 Oct 00 - 04:04 PM I'll miss him too. One of my favorite parts of his show was when he would invite people up from the audience to selsect 3 or 4 random notes on the piano keyboard and then improvise a melody around those notes. Well Steve - here's hoping that everythings coming up roses. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Jim Dixon Date: 31 Oct 00 - 04:12 PM Didn't Steve Allen also have Lenny Bruce on his show when no one else would? (Lenny was called a "sick comic" in those days.) Lenny would be considered relatively clean by today's standards. How ironic that Steve was recently working on cleaning up TV. Yesterday's liberal becomes today's conservative, and it wasn't him who changed. I happened to see Bob Dylan on Steve Allen's show. I believe he sang "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll." |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: jeffp Date: 31 Oct 00 - 04:17 PM Steve Allen was one of the few people who truly deserve the label genius. A true renaissance man who contributed greatly to the golden age of television. I remember seeing his afternoon television show when I was a kid and I absolutely loved it. We had a book of his called "Bop Fairy Tales" I believe. It had the stories of Goldilocks and the Three Gone Bears, The Three Swinging Pigs, and something else, told in beatnik jive. If I can ever run across another copy of it I will snap it up. Farewell Steve. You will be greatly missed by all who appreciate intelligent humor. jeffp |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Ebbie Date: 31 Oct 00 - 04:20 PM Ah, this is sad. He was the first tv persona I really followed. Wrote well, too. He'd have something funny, ironic or whimsical to say if he knew our reaction to his death. I think he really understood human nature. Ebbie |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: SINSULL Date: 31 Oct 00 - 05:01 PM "Bebopalula She's my baby Bebopalula, I don't mean maybe..." Funny, wonderful man. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: celticblues5 Date: 31 Oct 00 - 05:04 PM And we can't forget "Meeting of the Minds," a great & painless way to stimulate thought on history and personality - and history changed by personality. One of my all-time favorite tv experiences. Praise, I'm pretty sure Allen Sherman died quite a few years ago. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: catspaw49 Date: 31 Oct 00 - 05:09 PM "Hello....Big A Cleaners." "Yes, How much would it cost to clean my big A?" A legend......all the many he helped and loved. Trmendous musical talent, author, and a funny, intelligent man. His series on the greats of various historical periods getting together for roundtables........what a concept and so well done. "Jacques Brel is alive and well; Seymour Glick is alive but sick." Now Seymour is gone......Thanks Steve, you had one helluva' ride and you leave us laughing. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: catspaw49 Date: 31 Oct 00 - 05:15 PM Sherman has been gone a long time. Glad someone else enjoyed "meeting of the Minds"....Like I said, what a concept! Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Roger in Baltimore Date: 31 Oct 00 - 05:15 PM Steve Allen kept me up very late on many a Friday night. My friends and I would gather at someone's house and watch it together. We also bought whistles and went around yelling "Smock, smock" one of Allen's on-going bits. I was amazed to find later on that he was involved in some many creative endeavors. In addition, he seemed to be a truly "nice guy". Our loss is heaven's gain. Big RiB |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Jim the Bart Date: 31 Oct 00 - 05:56 PM He was the best. A joy-filled man. Who else writes a song called "The Gravy Waltz?" Guys like Steve Allen die and the world gets a little smaller. Luckily, it appears he infected a lot us with his wit - and hopefully some (at least)of his taste. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: GUEST,George Needham Date: 31 Oct 00 - 06:14 PM Allen Sherman died on November 21, 1973, according to the Dead People Server (http://dpsinfo.com/index.shtml), a truly useful site. I met Steve Allen about ten years ago. he was a speaker at a convention and I worked for the sponsor of the convention. I got to escort him from the ready room to dinner and to have dinner at his table. We were waiting in one of the exhibit halls for his introduction, and a bunch of stage hands were tossing a football around. He put up his hand in the universal signal for "toss me the ball." One of the stagehands tossed it to him, and he reared back and threw that ball the length of the exhibit hall. A wise and funny man, he will be missed. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Art Thieme Date: 31 Oct 00 - 06:23 PM I have several viedos of Steve in conversation with Jack Kerouac. They became pretty good friends mostly because they respected the others talents. Some of the things on video are the two of them working together in concert. Steve on piano playing melloish jazz -- quiet appropriate music while Jack read his prose and poetry. Great stuff. Respectful and blended well because it was. A good man. Art Thieme |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Little Hawk Date: 31 Oct 00 - 06:49 PM We didn't have a TV, so I know almost nothing about Steve Allen, but he sounds like an interesting figure all right. Sorry to hear he's gone, but I trust he's doing well in other "fields" of endeavour now. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: LDave Date: 31 Oct 00 - 07:16 PM Is it true that Allen made a jazz piano album, and knowing it would get lousy reviews because he was a white TV celebrity, he put his maids' picture on the cover with a fictitous biography, and the album ended up getting 5 stars in Downbeat? |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: thosp Date: 31 Oct 00 - 07:59 PM Hi Ho Steverino!!! RIPeace (Y) thosp |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: WyoWoman Date: 31 Oct 00 - 08:13 PM He actually helped form my tastes in men. I loved that combination of humor, intelligence, warmth, musical talent and clean clothes. Haven't ever really found it in the flesh, but at least my ideal existed. So sorry to hear of his passing, but happy to have spent many hours in my young days enjoying his art. ww |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: WyoWoman Date: 31 Oct 00 - 08:13 PM He actually helped form my tastes in men. I loved that combination of humor, intelligence, warmth, musical talent and clean clothes. Haven't ever really found it in the flesh, but at least my ideal existed. So sorry to hear of his passing, but happy to have spent many hours in my young days enjoying his art. ww |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: catspaw49 Date: 31 Oct 00 - 09:00 PM Isn't it interesting that everyone has a different memory of a particular thing? Great men can do that can't they? Funny you say that WW....As a kid I remember wanting to be Steve Allan......Always loved the quickness. Allen Sherman weote what I believe to be a must read classic book titled, "The Rape of the A.P.E."......Absolutely one of the funniest books ever written. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: rangeroger Date: 31 Oct 00 - 09:06 PM I too will miss him. I absolutely loved his shows ans antics. He had one routine where he had a bunch of naes in two different hats and would pick one out of each hat, put them together and make a band name. My favorite was "Stark Naked and the Car Thieves" rr |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Peter Kasin Date: 31 Oct 00 - 11:09 PM "Biff Barnes reporting!" Seen that bit where he went into uncontrollable laughter? One of his all-time routines. Apparently there was some strange stuff going on off-camera, off-stage, like someone exposing himself, which accounted for him losing it on-camera. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Sandy Paton Date: 31 Oct 00 - 11:29 PM Steve Allen's mother-in-law lived here in Sharon, CT, in a colonial house down by the village green where, during the anti-Vietnam War protests, we held a peace vigil every Saturday. Whenever Steve was in town to visit, we could count on him to join us in that silent vigil. I was proud to stand next to him, while William Buckley's sister drove around the green with her headlights on in a massive counter-demonstration. Farewell, good man. We'll miss you. Sandy |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: JamesJim Date: 01 Nov 00 - 01:25 AM Genius IS truly the best description of this man; and a another reminder to us all that we are only "Passing Through." I knew him in the days of my youth, when I could never imagine growing older. Yet, here I am and there he goes. When listing the "good things in life," he ranks high on my list. So long Steve! Jim |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: BDtheQB Date: 01 Nov 00 - 01:38 AM Steve was a Renaisance Man, I just think that in the end of his life, he tried too hard to censor television. I agree with the thought that tv was turning to sh't but it sure isn't censorship which will save it. My personal favorite Steve bit was the rotating piano bit. I still don't know how he did it but I really liked the innovative way that he did do it. Loved the "meeting of the Minds" stuff too. If I tossed a coin for the "best of the TV minds, it would come up with three sides, Jackie Gleason, Steve Allen,and Ernie Kovacs. All are gone, along with Alan Sherman. RIP to all. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Peter Kasin Date: 01 Nov 00 - 01:47 AM Well, at least we still have...uh.....oh, you know...uh.......never mind. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Troll Date: 01 Nov 00 - 07:16 AM Rest in Peace, Steve. At least you went easy. We'll miss you. troll |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Naemanson Date: 01 Nov 00 - 08:23 AM I just want to add my voice to the mourners here. I remember Meeting Of The Minds as being one of the most thought provoking TV programs I'd ever seen. And it still ranks up there in the VERY short list of good TV programs. I haven't read any of is books, only know a few of his songs, and vaguely remember any of his TV appearances with the sole exception of MOTM. Still he was IMHO one of the greats and I shall miss him very much. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: L R Mole Date: 01 Nov 00 - 08:32 AM JeffP: are you talking about "A lovely bunch of Al Jazzbo Collins and the Banditoes", which I think S.A. presented? I have that (Collins was a D.J., I think) I own that on vinyl, and I'll be glad to tape it for you, if we can figure out shipping. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Peter T. Date: 01 Nov 00 - 08:56 AM And let us not forget that stellar pianist Buck Hammer. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: GUEST,Wolfgang Date: 01 Nov 00 - 10:53 AM And I'll never forget his book 'Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking', a book arguing well articulated against superstitions of all kinds, against sloppy thinking, for science,... "Concede ignorance when you are ignorant...rethink your religion...familiarize yourself with the commonly accepted scientific view of the universe...consider the possibility that your tastes in music are related to your degree of overall intelligence." Wolfgang |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: jeffp Date: 01 Nov 00 - 11:50 AM No, Mole, it was a book. My sister still has it, but if I ever run across another copy, I'll get one for myself. Thanks for the offer, though. I heard on the radio yesterday that Andy Williams said that Steve Allen had so many talents that he was on every page in the Yellow Pages. So true. jeffp |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Jim Dixon Date: 01 Nov 00 - 12:00 PM I've read the obituaries that appeared in today's paper, but I have been dissatisfied with the lack of detail. So I turned to the Library of Congress Online Catalog and found that they have these 104 items attributed to Steve Allen. (In a few cases, someone else is listed as the principal author, and Steve only wrote the introduction, or something like that.) I have sorted them by date.
? - Jazz story [sound recording] : as told by Steve Allen / created by Leonard Feather and Steve Allen. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: annamill Date: 01 Nov 00 - 01:22 PM I'm sorry to hear of Steve's passing on. I loved his show when I was younger. He was great. I loved his man on the street routines. These routines became a big part of American society. "Are you nervous"..."NEWWWW", Hi Ho Steverino. Loved the man! Bye! Love, annamill |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Songster Bob Date: 01 Nov 00 - 01:48 PM I remember getting a book called "But Will They Get It In Des Moines?" which was a novel about TV producing. Didn't notice till I'd read part of it that it was written by Steve Allen. And he wrote a number of standard songs in those pre- r 'n r days, as well. I used to watch the Tonight Show regularly, and always tuned in at the first because they regularly had odd ways of opening the show. Once he had himself placed into a large papier-mache "wrecking ball" and swung into the side of a building. Not much happened, but it was funny anyway. That laughing at his own jokes once resulted in his announcer doing the same thing. They had a hypnotist on, who put his announcer "under," along with two or three others. Told them all to imagine they were watching the funniest thing they'd ever seen, and they all laughed. Then told them it was the saddest thing, and all but the announcer started crying. The announcer (wish I could remember his name) kept laughing, just rolling with it. The hypnotist suggested that the announcer had had to keep from laughing so much, in order to do his job, that, once released from that self-control, he couldn't stop. They let him laugh it off, off-stage, and he was still giggling when it came time to do his next announcement. Allen was all right in my book. Better than all-right, to be honest. He'll be remembered for a lot of things, and being a nice guy is one of them. Bob Clayton |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Fortunato Date: 01 Nov 00 - 02:47 PM "All seriousness aside..."
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Dani Date: 01 Nov 00 - 03:22 PM For the life of me I can't remember what book it was, but when I was a kid I got one of his out of the library and laughed and laughed and laughed. He was the first writer I discovered who could be meticulously clever with the language, which is my favorite form of humor. Well, almost. A line I've never forgotten from that book 20-odd years ago: " A titter ran through the audience. I whipped out my titter pistol and shot it!" Dani |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Bill D Date: 01 Nov 00 - 05:39 PM and, most amazing of all, I saw an interview with Steverino once in which he admitted that he slept at least 12 hours a night, and could barely function with less! He had an outlook on humor that made him a class unto himself....and no one was ever classier....... |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Jacob B Date: 01 Nov 00 - 06:09 PM Keeping his spirit alive is his son, Steve Allen Jr., M.D. He regularly does performances for the staffs of hospitals, telling them about the importance of a sense of humor to medicine (and every other human endeavor.) As part of the performance, he teaches the entire audience to juggle. |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: catspaw49 Date: 01 Nov 00 - 07:11 PM Jim Dixon's list...........As I read through it, I was really taken aback at how much of his works I've read and seen. The talent he head and the way he put it to use...........simply phenomenal. The combination of ingredients that made up Steve Allen and the way they mixed within him is quite singular. He had one of those rare minds we see too little of in the present day. I think I'll go to the library this weekend and enjoy him once again. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 01 Nov 00 - 07:23 PM Be that as it may...and I'm not sure that it ever was; By the way, whatever that means.. Thanks Steve. Seamus |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: catspaw49 Date: 04 Nov 00 - 05:47 PM One last note here.........Tonight, Saturday, 4 November at 7 PM Eastern ...Those of you who get A&E.....A&E is showing a Biography Special on him. There stuff is generally pretty well done and I'm sure they'll have lots of clips. I'll be watching. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Steverino is Dead, alas.... From: catspaw49 Date: 04 Nov 00 - 07:03 PM |
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