Linkletter says the darndest things
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The Emmy-winning TV personality and best-selling author, who is still going strong at 91, talked about his early years, recalling he got into show business because of a radio show he heard while at school in depression-era California.
“I heard a couple of young guys doing a show that had never been done before,” Linkletter said, “and that was called, ‘The Man on the Street Show.'”
Linkletter said this format intrigued him since it fit his innate skills.
“I wasn’t a singer, I wasn’t an actor, I wasn’t a musician. None of the things they were looking for, but I was a talker, and when I heard that show I said, ‘That’s what I can do.’ And I came up with talk shows, stunt shows, quiz shows, game shows, magazine shows, and that was the reason for my success. I can talk to people. I’m curious.”
Linkletter had several successful and long-running programs over the years, including “House Party” and “People are Funny,” but said his personal favorite was a show involving a segment of the population with which he has a great affinity: children.
“My favorite show probably was the show ‘Kids Say the Darndest Things,'” Linkletter said.
But, oddly enough, Linkletter said his next favorite type of show featured the opposite end of the age spectrum: old people.
“People over 75 say the darndest things just like kids,” Linkletter said with a grin, but added they do so for very different reasons.
“The way I put it is this,” he said. “Kids don’t realize what they’re saying, and the old folks don’t care. That’s the secret. Both of them are saying unexpected things in unexpected ways. For instance, if I ask a child when his birthday is, he says August 5th. And if I say to him, ‘What year?’ then he’ll say, ‘Every year.”
Linkletter said he is pleased, but a bit surprised, to have survived into his ninth decade.
“I cannot think that I could have lived this long and been this lucky, and worked this hard, and done this much,” he said. He recalled a conversation with good friend and fellow entertainment legend, Bob Hope, that seemed to say it all.
“I said, ‘Bob, how would you like to live your life over again,’ and he said, ‘There wouldn’t be time.’ And that’s exactly what I say now.”
Still, with all the fame and success, Linkletter has had his share of tragedies, including the death of his daughter, Diane, while she was under the influence of LSD. But instead of trying to hide this, Linkletter decided to go public and start a crusade against drug abuse. He has since served on the President’s National Advisory Council for Drug Abuse Prevention, as well as several other drug abuse prevention organizations, and said this aspect of his life is one of the most satisfying to him.
“There’s a saying that what you get is a living, and what you give is a life,” he said. “And that’s my life now.”