1674-28 Arthur Godfrey THU MAR 17 1983 ED: FINAL
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: 1A LENGTH: 1231 LONG
ILLUST: photo: Arthur Godfrey (2 ) , with McGuire sisters
SOURCE: RICHARD WALLACE and MARY VOBORIL Herald staff writers
DATELINE:
MEMO:
TV, RADIO PERSONALITY ARTHUR GODFREY DIES 79-year-old
entertainer and aviator mad Miami a household word.
Arthur Godfrey -- the ukulele-strumming "Old Redhead" whose breezy,
irreverent manner and mischievous humor endeared him to millions of listeners
and viewers for decades -- died Wednesday in New York. He was 79 .
At the height of his popularity in the early 1950s, Godfrey broadcast
his national television variety show from Miami Beach, a promotional boost
that helped make Miami -- with or without Beach after it -- a household word.
A Miami Beach road is named for him.
Godfrey, entertainer, aviator, raconteur and phenomenally successful
commercial pitchman, died of pneumonia and emphysema after a 13-day stay at
New York' s Mount Sinai Hospital.
Over the years, he had suffered a succession of health problems,
including hip-implant surgery and lung cancer.
Upon learning of his death, President Reagan said, "In a long career, he
not only won national popularity, but triumphed over illness and physical
disability in a way that was an inspiration to his fans. " Godfrey' s death, the
President added, marked "the passing of an outstanding American. "
Speaking for Miami Beach Mayor Norman Ciment, publicity consultant Andre
Bialolenski said: "Although he was sometimes controversial, his value to Miami
Beach as a personality entertaining from this area was incalculable. . . . He
was a friend to Miami Beach, a charitable, amiable man, a very talented
artist, and he shall certainly be missed. "
Longtime South Florida publicist Hank Meyer, who met Godfrey in the late
1940s, recalled Godfrey' s first Wednesday night broadcast from Miami Beach:
"He went out in about a 35-foot boat. We had big, big searchlights on the
beach. He went out 100 yards, 75 yards, dived in the water and swam to shore.
All the entertainers, the McGuire sisters, the Tony Marvins, were sitting on
the beach with a campfire. There were lights on them and on the food. He swam
to shore. He was afraid of being electrocuted by the microphone.
"But he said, 'This is absolutely beautiful. Look at those stars. Look
at the moon over Miami. This is wonderful. '
"Everywhere else, it was cold and blizzardy and miserable, and here was
Arthur Godfrey raving about Miami, . . . " Meyer said.
In 1954, Godfrey became a part owner of the old Kenilworth Hotel in Bal
Harbour. He already had helped make the hotel famous by using it as base for
many of his broadcasts.
Recently, though, Meyer said, Godfrey' s contact with South Florida was
limited. "He didn't have too many friends down here. Most of them are no
longer here, I 'm sorry to say, " Meyer said. "They have died.
"He bought a house in Bal Harbour about two years ago, but he was not
there much . . .
"In recent years, he was not in good shape. He would say, 'Oh, God, if I
could just breathe. ' He had only one lung and a bad hip, " Meyer said.
During most of the 1950s, Godfrey starred in two weekly prime-time TV
programs for CBS, as well as a daily radio show.
His personal trademarks were the omnipresent ukulele and the ebullient
greeting "Howa'ya, howa'ya. "
He also did well for other people ' s trademarks: The show business
publication Variety reported that Godfrey was responsible for $150 million in
advertising for CBS in 1959.Kidded his sponsors
His commercial success was an apparent contradiction. Godfrey frequently
kidded his sponsors, sometimes was sarcastic, occasionally scornful.
Once, he told his vast radio audience of how they could take advantage of
a sponsor' s special offer. "All you do is send in the front half of the
package and 50 cents, " Godfrey said. "If you bought a knife like this in a
store, it would cost you at least 35 cents, " he added.
On another show, he received advertising copy for a Washington department
store about "filmy, clingy, alluring silk underwear in devastating pink and
black. " Godfrey got off some satirical quips -- and the store was swamped with
buyers.
By the late ' 40s, Godfrey had arguably become the best known personality
in the history of U.S. radio. He transferred much of that popularity to
television.
Godfrey made a personal relationship with his audience a part of his
life.
Always interested in flying, Godfrey plugged aviation to the extent that
pioneer flyer Eddie Rickenbacker said the entertainer had done more for the
industry than anyone since Charles Lindbergh.
( In June 1966, Godfrey, then 62 , and three other pilots -- including the
late Dick Merrill of Miami -- took off from New York' s La Guardia Airport and
flew around the world in 87 hours in a twin-engine executive jet. )
Godfrey sharply reduced his broadcasting in 1959 after removal of a
cancerous lung. "It would have been easier if I 'd known more about cancer, "
he once said. "What I didn't know was that the fear is worse than the
reality. "
In a tearful farewell to his daytime audience, Godfrey said he didn't
want viewers to see him waste away. His successful battle with the disease
brought an avalanche of letters and public support.
His career, however, was not all adulation. His public firing of singer
Julius LaRosa on live television raised an outcry.
And when his shows ' ratings slipped in the late ' 50s, other firings of
staffers and entertainers by the patriarch of a huge TV "family" caused some
disillusionment.The airport buzzing
He also generated unfavorable headlines with his private plane by
"buzzing" the control tower at Teterboro, N.J. In 1954 , the Civil Aeronautics
Board suspended his pilot' s license for six months in the incident.
In 1948, Godfrey made his TV debut with "Talent Scouts. " He followed
that the next year with the long-running "Arthur Godfrey and His Friends. "
In March, 1981, Godfrey brought some of his friends together for a
television special. Among them were Teresa Brewer, Frankie Laine, Patti Page,
Guy Mitchell, Rosemary Clooney and The Four Lads.
He had, at that time, mixed emotions about television:
"Some of it is excellent, " Godfrey said. "M*A*S*H, for instance, is
terrific. Some of it stinketh. "Voice was his fortune
Godfrey' s distinctive baritone voice was a key to his fortune -- along
with his offbeat outlook. He parlayed those assets into a personal wealth in
the millions.
Born Aug. 31, 1903, in New York City, Godfrey was raised in Hasbrouck
Heights, N.J. He left home at 15 enlisting in the Navy. He later joined the
Coast Guard and, during service, appeared as an amateur banjoist on a
Baltimore radio station. He eventually got a job as an announcer, launching a
storied career.
In 1945, Godfrey gave the radio commentary on the funeral procession for
President Franklin D. Roosevelt. When he saw Roosevelt' s vice president and
successor, Godfrey broke into tears and cried out, "God bless President
Truman. "
Godfrey was married in 1938 to the former Mary Bourke. They had three
children, two sons, Richard and Mike, and a daughter, Pat.
This report was supplemented by Herald wire services.
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