Happy Birthday Betty White

[1992casey]

Betty White turns 90 on Tuesday. Obviously, she's best known for her

roles as

"terminally naive" Rose Nyland (The Golden

Girls) and "nymphomaniac" Sue Ann Nivens

(The Mary Tyler Moore Show). But she made her

first TV appearance in 1939 and has been ubiquitous in the

medium since around 1950. Among other

things…

• She's been on at least four
  programs titled The Betty White Show, three in
  the 1950s and one in the 1970s.
• Her first significant TV job was as co-host with Al
  Jarvis on a local Los Angeles program called Hollywood on
  Television. This show was on for 5½ hours a day, six days a
  week. When Jarvis burned out, he was replaced by Eddie Albert. When
  Albert burned out, Betty took over the show herself.
• She hosted the Rose Parade for about
  two decades on NBC-TV, usually with Lorne Greene.
• She was a frequent sidekick of Jack Paar
  on Tonight Starring Jack Paar. Because she had
  such a close identification with Paar, it'd be a number of years before
  she appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny
  Carson. In the 1970s and 80s, she appeared in several
  classic sketches, including roles as a female reporter
  interviewing Johnny the locker room, as Eve opposite Johnny's Adam, and
  as Jane opposite Johnny's Tarzan.
• She was close friends with John Steinbeck.
• She played numerous TV game shows. She met
  her husband, Allen Ludden (who was from Mineral
  Point), while a celebrity panelist on his show,
  Password.
• She was the first woman to have complete
  creative control over a TV show, the first female TV talk show host, and
  the first female TV game show host.
• She turned down the Today
  Show hosting gig that ended up going to Barbara
  Walters.
  
• She
  and Ludden "discovered" David
  Letterman.

Here's some

video.

 

Since it's a good day for Betty White, here

she is singing It's A Good

Day.

 

 

Here's

an "incident" from Life With

Elizabeth.

 

 

Here's a full episode of the half

hour network version of

The Betty White Show in

1954.

 

 

Betty as Senator Bessie Adams in the

1962 film, Advise and

Consent.

 

 

Here she is on

Password in May, 1965. At about

the 2:15 point, she promotes a June, 1965, Milwaukee appearance in

the play, South Pacific. Even though she's

"only" 43 at the time, she implies that she's

old. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

 

Betty and Johnny Carson,

1978.

 

[Samurai Bucky]

I took a peek at the video of the Betty White show and the beginning reminded me of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood...

[ilovebeer]

There is a Betty White birthday special on nbc at 7pm tonight.

[hawing]

I wonder if she has considered being buried with Allen Ludden. That could make Mineral Point pretty popular.

(I feel I should make clear that I am in no hurry to find out how that will go.)

[thumperden]

I saw Betty White's "Off Their Rockers" last night. It was a cute elderly person's version of "Jackass". I don't know how long the show will last, but it was fun to watch. Rock on to 100 Betty!

[1992casey]

I took a peek at the video of the Betty White show and the beginning reminded me of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood...

 

I believe that hokey and corny were "in" back in the 1950s, and based on the episode posted above, it appears that the 1954 Betty White Show certainly qualifies. This was a "Wish Day" episode, where near the end of the show, a bunch of gifts were given to a 10 year old girl. At the end of the gift-giving, everyone sang "Happy Wish Day to You" to the tune of Happy Birthday.

 

I got a kick out of Betty's Catherine Piper character on Boston Legal. She played an employee of the law firm who happened to commit a homicide and a couple of convenience store holdups during her personal time.

[1992casey]

I intended to post this in the first bunch of videos, but I couldn't find the code that worked here.