GREAT SCOTT! 40 Years Behind A Mike - By Richard (Dick Scott) Pratz
CHAPTER: Tonite Not Tonight (Continued)
Younger readers may not be aware of the impact the 1973 motion picture “The Exorcist” had on movie goers of the day. The film was calculated to keep stomachs in knots from start to finish and it did. Even though theatre goers back then were not nearly as sophisticated as they are today, the film proved to still be controversial 28-years later when in April of 2001 the government in Victoria state of Melboume, Australia banned screenings of “The Exorcist” on Good Friday for fear the film might cause offence to Christians. The plot involves a 12-year old girl whose body is possessed by the devil. The film spawned two sequels and countless imitations. Everyone flocked to see it and many covered their eyes. Talk of demons, possessions and the devil proved a heyday for the media and the motion picture received tons of free publicity. The Tonite Show was no exception. The day after the film premiered in Sudbury, our guests included the station manager who had seen the film that night, two priests and a film critic from the Sudbury Star. It proved to be a very popular (if not spooky) broadcast as we sat around and discussed “could this really happen” interspersed with publicity stills from the film and movie posters and cardboard cut-outs borrowed from the local theatre.
For the most part, I had only local and area guests to interview on the show because that was all that was available day in and day out. But there were times when well-known guests stopped by. Nancy Greene, Canada’s ski queen and the nation’s sweetheart on and off the slopes, was just 29-years old when she was a guest on The Tonite Show. She was very personable and down-to-earth despite the fact she was an Olympic champion and Canadian icon. It was in 1968 that Greene, affectionately known as “Tiger” (emblazoned on her helmet) for her tenacious approach to racing, secured a permanent spot in the minds and hearts of Canadians. At the Olympics in Grenoble she earned a gold medal in giant slalom and silver in slalom. Those accomplishments alone made her a national hero but the combination of skiing success, quick smile and gamine hairstyle, and her ease in front of television cameras, made Greene one of the most recognized and revered of Canadian athletes. She capped her Olympic triumph with another World Cup overall victory in 1968 and retired at age 24. A year later, Canadians eagerly read about her impending marriage to ski coach Al Raine who “swept her off her skis”. Today, Greene and Raine are partners in a hotel in Sun Peaks Resort, B.C. near Kamloops. Because of her outgoing personality, she was a pleasure to interview and we had fun on camera as I (a non-skier) strapped on a pair of skis while she gave me ‘lessons’. On another show, we took the cameras to a ski hill and I actually tried my hand at the sport. Watching me struggle and fall down a lot on the bunny slope made for a lot of laughs.
While Nancy Greene was a pleasure as a guest, actor Michael Parks was the opposite. Born in 1940 in Corona, California, Parks, after a stint of performing in coffee houses and small theatrical productions, came to the notice of actor-director Dick Powell. He began to appear in many of the producer’s shows along with Jack Palance, James Arness, Bette Davis, George C. Scott and other familiar names. After performing and starring in movies such as “The Wild Seed” (1965) and “Bus Riley’s Back In Town” (1965) he was offered the leading role in a two hour NBC movie, “Then Came Bronson”, which became a weekly television series that remained in syndication for many years. In all, Parks starred in nearly 50 movies including his nude stint in the opening scene of John Houston’s 1966 epic “The Bible”. I can’t remember how he came to be booked on The Tonite Show but from the moment he arrived it was clear he didn’t want any part of ‘medium market TV’. He gave the impression it was all beneath him and became a nightmare with his curt “yes” and “no” answers to nearly every question I put to him. Getting him to talk was like pulling teeth as I anxiously awaited a commercial break and the end of his segment. The following interview that night with a local man who made pottery was by far more interesting. In my estimation, sitting at a pottery wheel and playing in wet pottery clay was actually more entertaining than listening to Parks. But in my business I had to take the bad with the good. During the life of The Tonite Show in 1973 and ‘74, ninety-nine percent of the programs were live and no one (including myself) had the foresight to record the shows for posterity. A few of the ‘remote’ broadcasts taped on location (on now-outmoded wide video tape) I still have stored in a dusty box somewhere in my garage, but they certainly aren’t indicative of the broad scope of the program. It’s a shame.
