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Johnny Carson
When Johnny Carson retired from the Tonight Show in 1992, I felt it as a bleak and bitter personal loss, and that sense of loss returned last week with the unexpected news of his death. His retirement then, and his death now, are especially bitter for two reasons: he was a uniquely great and talented figure in the world of entertainment, providing so much enjoyment over the years; and his withdrawal from the scene represented the decisive end of the older American popular culture, of the entertainers from the World War II generation with their exuberant yet disciplined and upright qualities, and their replacement by a low culture of sleaze. After he retired, television in particular, and the larger popular culture generally, basically died as far as I was concerned. Of course, there have been notable exceptions here and there, but I’m describing my overall sense of things. In a tv interview last week, Doc Sevrenson, Johnny’s band leader, said a lovely thing that captured the essence of Carson: “What Fred Astaire was in his part of the entertainment world, and what Cary Grant was in his part of the entertainment world, Johnny Carson was in his part of the entertainment world.” Higher praise cannot be given. And it is deserved.
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