Hello... I'm only learning of this story now... your cousin was an interesting Italian-American...I wonder if his ethnicity had anything to do with it...
This is my grandfather . .....sadly I am not known to this family as I was adopted .....my grandmother Patricia Joyce had my father Mark & he was adopted as well ....I have many pictures of them together in my great grandfather's home in Camden when they were together ....I tried to reach out to his daughter Maria ..drove from NC to her home in CT & spoke with her but she shut me down because she did not want to upset her elderly mother which I understand......I just want to prove this
I guess you do not have the full stort on the firing sorry to say. There was anther high profile story going on at the time that he was involed in and dont you think that was part of the reason he was fired. What he did was not exceptable socily at the time. That was the main reason he was fired. The other stuff made part of the reasons taking itbsll in yes he was fired
I worked with Julie at WNEW Radio (as a relative flunky) in the early 70s. He was a dear, gentle man singing at his prime then, and never treated me as a flunky. I never mentioned Godfrey's name, because I thought it would be a verboten topic. One afternoon he showed up aglow and smiling and said "Guess who I just ran into! Godfrey, on 5th Avenue. We haven't seen each other in decades, and he gave me a hug...and I hugged him back" It was like he held no anger for the vicious firing in 1953.
I heard that after Godfrey let Julie go, Julie bore him no ill will. In fact Julie repeatedly thanked Godfrey for all the opportunities he'd given him.
Unfortuneately..Arthur and Julius..had a second meeting in Arthur's office..prior to their appearing on a tv special..and Arthur's mean attitude didn't change..and Julius..left that office..and he never saw Arthur..again
I wished that I had met..La Rosa..when he was still with us..Don..from what I saw of him on many tv specials..including..Mr.Jerry Lewis' MDA Telethons..and on The "Biography"tv tribute to Mr.Godfrey? That talented and sweet singer..was a kindly gentleman..to use a Yiddish phrase..he was a mensch(A nice, caring and intelligent human being)...(Crying)I still miss you..Julie.
Julius LaRosa was a class act until the end of his life. ALWAYS kind to his fans and one of the best singers ever. He had the respect of Frank Sinatra. God bless.
I had the honor of being on-stage with Julius LaRosa, along with about 30 other 4th graders in the 1950's in Mount Vernon, New York. He made a surprise appearance during our Saint Patrick's Day play. I guess someone invited him but we didn't know about it until he walked onto the stage with us and sang a song. That was a great surprise. R.I.P. Julius.
What a shame A&E doesn't have shows like this, on their schedule anymore. Tune in to them now, and what do you get? Endless episodes of Storage Wars, Live PD, First 48, and movies that don't have much to do with why they went on the air in the beginning.
@@nancymilawski1048 *I don't think it's necessary for A&E to change their name just because they don't air any other new shows and cancel previous and past shows.*
The firing of LaRosa showed the world what the 'real' Arthur Godfrey was like and it began the slide downhill of the public's love affair with Godfrey.
Mark .... I remember it like yesterday although I was a lad and hated him for what he did. Julius was not only incredibly talented and handsome but he was a really sweet, kind and sensitive young man. We lived in NYC. All the adults around me spoke very highly of him as we had connections to many people in theatre and the new television. What Godfrey did was brutal and abusive. Julius did not deserve it. They didn't mention how Godfrey tried to ruin any possibility of a career for Julius. Something I learned years later from friends in the music industry and also from Luann Simms with whom I became close friends 1969.
The firing Of Julius Larosa showed everyone that Arthur Godfrey not really a nice or an honest one..and The viewers and the listerns would never forgive him for doing this terrible thing.
Yes Julius Larissa, October 9th 1953, I was only five years old, and all I remember is that my mother and Aunt Millie were fit to be tied, when he was fired.
I first saw and Heard Julius while in Hi School. He had just gotten out of the service and was in a Concert. Love at first sight and sound. Playing also was Johnny Puello on the Harmonica. In my memory forever. (78 now)
When I was in the Navy I was in Millington, TN going to Navy Aviation Electronics school. One evening a friend and I went to a military only club in Memphis that catered specifically to the Navy guys from the base. It was the USO, a place that many cities near military bases had to support the members in the service. We had gone there a few times but it was not very popular because there was not really much to do there, at least in Memphis. But on this particular night in 1965 there was someone there at the piano and when we walked in he started playing and singing. He introduced himself as Julius LaRosa. I'd never heard of him. All together there were 3 or four people, all sailors, in the club and we sat and listened to Julius sing and in between songs he had conversations with us and we talked about various things. I just remember Julius to be very personable and friendly. He did not seem arrogant at all. He spent several hours talking to us and singing even though there were only 3-4 of us there. It was only years later I found out about his fame which he certainly didn't flout at that time. I guess it made an impression on me since I remember this like it was yesterday. Thanks Julius for taking time for us.
Don't feel too bad for Julius. He had a nice little career, and a varied one. He was a respected crooner, appeared on Broadway in musicals including Boeing, Boeing. He had a long tenure at the old, great AM music station, WNEW (1130 on the AM dial) as a disc jockey, and had a very interesting inside patter between records. It was made even more interesting because he knew all the great singers and orchestra leaders of the day. He seemed to be a good guy. I ran into him a couple of times...once literally, coming out of an elevator. I recognized him, said 'hi, Mr. LaRosa," and he stepped off the elevator to shake my hand because he thought he knew me. I apologized and told him we didn't know each other and that I was just saying hi, but he stood there and struck up a conversation with me instead of just hitting the elevator button again to get back on. Big smile for everyone. I guess that's just showbiz, but he was good at it.
No, for him it wasn't just showbiz. You saw the real Julius. Some people are smart enough to know that they need to retain their real persona, no matter how famous they may become. Godfrey was not one of those people.
Ed Sullivan DID invite Julius to appear on 'TOAST OF THE TOWN" several times during the 1953-'54 season, because a) he KNEW booking him would generate curiosity and ratings, and b) he disliked Arthur Godfrey, and was on LaRosa's side. Sure enough, Julius helped Sullivan achieve higher ratings than his Sunday night rival, NBC's "COLGATE COMEDY HOUR" [and was the beginning of the end for that program].
I was the editor on this A&E Biography. Godfrey was a great subject, and the show was fun to work on. From this sequence, I particularly loved LaRosa's repetition of "I wasn't on." This particular sequence took a lot of work. In our earliest edits, we did not yet have the interview with the now late, great Andy Rooney, and the story of LaRosa's firing was told by Phyllis McGuire, who thought Godfrey did the right thing and Julius deserved the firing. Finally, Rooney (who was present at the famous firing) agreed to talk to my producer, Bob Waldman, and we replaced McGuire's account of the firing with Rooney's. Andy totally recaptures the astonishment of that long ago moment. Thanks for posting...brings back great memories.
And in April 1955, Godfrey would fire several more members of his cast [off camera, this time], including three of his writers.....Andy Rooney among them.
That's very interesting. I noticed they showed Phyllis McGuire in this clip, but omitted the fact that to this day she sides with Godfrey. Of course, she was a moll for a Las Vegas mafioso...so not the best judge. Can't believe La Rosa, Rooney and so many others are gone now.
+Lee Martin do you know this as a fact that she was a lesbian? Because she was a friend of my mother's and I knew her well. She was many things but I never saw her intimate with women. Sam of Chicago was well known. I was with she and another boyfriend, Michael something in their bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He had just given her a pair of earrings which she showed my mother, cost .... $250,000.00. She did like money and expensive things and she knew how to get them from men and her singing talent. . When Sam was in jail she always had a back up man. If there were women it was certainly well hidden. She was beautiful and even her speaking voice could charm birds from trees. Her sisters were often a tad jealous, one could feel that. They were more down to earth and Phyllis was the opposite. That she sided with Godfrey showed her way of playing both ends against the middle. It was only inspired by self interest and perhaps stupidity.
Was there some kind of reconciliation that was aired between the two not long before Godfrey died? I don't recall if they were interviewed together or separately about the incident but I have a vague memory about it...
Julius died in 2016. I wouldn't say he got the last laugh. His career was significantly negatively affected when he got fired from the Arthur Godfrey Show. He still had work, but his career was never really the same.
he was a scoundrel. John Henry Brown has lived a life of honor while serving with nobility. the fluff boy cheated showing him the ultimate disrespect. larosa was nothing in comparison. John is still gracing/serving this country with a backbone of steel.
Unbelievable that Arthur Godfrey fired Julius La Rosa for missing a dance class required for cast members. Also, I thought that the firing was in 1956 after La Rosa had been with Godfrey a few years, but learned that everything, including La Rosa being hired by Godfrey, took place in 1953. So La Rosa hadn't been on the show very long in spite of his skyrocketing popularity with viewers. Had to have been both shocking and dumbfounding for both La Rosa and everyone. Thank you for presenting this video clip.
I wasn't just missing the dance class that ticked off Mr.Godfrey..he was also jealous of Mr.LaRosa becoming more successful and popular than he was..and when Mr.LaRosa needed help in dealing with Mr.Godfrey's abusive and controlling behavior? Mr.LaRosa hired an talent agent, a talent manager and a lawyer to handle Mr.Gdofrey..that is what really Mr.Godfrey angry(He had an unwritten rule for anyone who worked on his radio & tv Shows..you never hired an agent,a manager or a lawyer to negotiate with him) and after.."Consulting with the top brass at CBS"..they allowed him to fire Mr.LaRosa on the air..which he did..and..after that..Although his tv shows stayed on the air for a few more years..The public never forgave Arthur Godfrey for being a controlling,selfsh and mean bully.
I remember Arthur Godfrey having an affair with an Ice Capades Star in 1962. He would come to each city and meet her for their rendevouz and he'd bring her a fur coat, jewels are more. What a friggen bastard.
My late mother and her sister loved Julius Larosa. Neither ever again tuned into The Arthur Godfrey Show after the firing. I was a teenager before I realized that the firing occurred FIVE YEARS before I was born. My dad felt the same way and thought that "Godfrey kicked himself in his own pompous @$$ ". That must have been a really huge thing back then. I found that Larosa was very handsome and sang beautifully. I get why they liked him.
I was 16 at the time this happened. I hated godfrey for doing this to one of my favorite singers on his show. karma came IN AND HIS RATINGS DROPPED WHEN JULIUS LEFT EVERYBODY KNEW WHO JULIUS LAROSSA WAS THEY DIDN'T KNOW GODFREY PEOPLE LIKE HIM LOVED THE POWER
A DECENT human being would have done ANY “firings” in PRIVATE.The young man that was PUBLICLY FIRED while LIVE ON THE RADIO was NOT verbally AND/OR physically behaving violently towards ANYONE.IF you had talent OR talents that your boss did not have,WOULD you want to be fired in front of your fellow co-workers because you “had no humility”? An even BETTER question,Would YOU treat ANY of your employees in this SAME MANNER? Is this an example of: IT is o.k. to do this to anyone else,BUT nobody better to the same TO ME!
Godfrey's mania seems a bit like J Edgar Hoover's. Hoover made sure he was the face and only face of the FBI while his agents did all the work. It seems Godfrey had the same idea. "There are no stars here," he told LaRosa, but it was obvious Godfrey was to be the only star .
+Peter Hemming I think the fact he was badly injured in a car crash in the early 1930s is what caused him to be so moody and act like an asshole. He was in a great deal of pain for the rest of his life.
This may sound funny, but I think that everyone needs to experience a "Boss-Zilla" at least once in a career. It teaches you to spot the devious ways and schemes these people use to creep ahead, if indeed they do. Most will eventually see their evil come home to roost...I'll work fine with a tough, fair boss-but I will not work for a petty, Napoleonic tyrant!
@@postatility9703 I'm very sure that that demented clown joined in the Dems chorus accusing DJT of being a Narcissist. Well, look who the real Narcissist is. Add to that, senile, bumbling fool and pathological liar. America's greatest disaster since 9/11. Back to Godfrey, I think he and the Pennsylvania Avenue occupant share huge amounts of narcissism.
@@tuberobotto The real narcissist is still Trump. Senile? Check. Bumbling? Check. Fool? Double-check. Liar? OMG. Willing to support with video! And now, back to Godfrey.
@@trainer1158 If Trump wasn't a narcissist, he never would've survived the brutal treatment he received from the news media and DNC who tried to bury him, using a fake "Russia Collusion" scandal. I'll stack Trump’s achievements against "Brandon's" tyrannical mandates, reckless disregard of US Immigration Law, and calculated destruction of everything from our national sovereignty to our economy and energy independence. As for Arthur Godfrey - I find his personality was more like Richard Nixon.
Godfrey was an extremely limited talent whereas LaRosa had it in spades. If you've ever seen the film "A Face in the Crowd", well that film was based entirely on Godfrey--he was a true ogre and as this documentary points out, his balloon was punctured beyond repair after his firing of LaRosa.
+Eliezer Pennywhistler Actually, it may have been based on a composite of entertainers (Ronald Reagan, Will Rogers and Arthur Godfrey), but Patricia Neal had understood Godfrey to be the inspiration for the film (among other reports from cast and crew).
Eliezer Pennywhistler Where are A Krenwinkle's comments here re Arthur Godfrey? Have they been deleted? If you have them I would very much appreciate seeing them. Jan janwintz@gmail.com
Being fired on air must have been terribly embarrassing. In my opinion it made Arthur Godfrey look bad. If he felt, he had to fire someone, it should have been done in the privacy of his office/dressing room. The doors should have been closed.
I was aghast at the termination of former Navy Band singer (Julius LaRosa) from his broadcast as having "lost his humility". This from the least humble of people - Arthur himself. Godfrey proved himself to be an insecure tyrant unworthy of following.
Phyllis McGuire weighs in on Godfrey's rules. Probably a different set of rules for Phyllis, considering that her 'boyfriend' was the most powerful crime boss in the world.
It makes me wonder if Arthur Godfrey was on some sort of medication for his hip issues that changes his personality. At any rate it was a horrible and petty thing to do to a young man.
This is excellent, thank you for posting. Would you consider posting the rest of the A & E bio on Godfrey? It seems to be unavailable generally. Thanks!
Even though I was only a child, I hated Arthur Godfrey for this. There was no reason to publicly humiliate Julius like that. It severely damaged Julius LaRosa's career. He was the equal to Dean Martin, Al Martino or Perry Como, but he never achieved the popularity he had on the Godfrey show. Sad.
Yup. The firing did not hurt La Rosa's career in the short run. Ed Sullivan immediately signed La Rosa for appearances on his CBS Toast of the Town TV variety show. La Rosa's first appearance on Toast of the Town following the firing got a 47.9 Trendex rating, and La Rosa would appear 12 more times on Sullivan's show that year. Shortly after he left Godfrey, La Rosa's third recording, "Eh, Cumpari", hit #1, and La Rosa got an award as the best new male vocalist of 1953. "Eh, Cumpari" was followed by another major hit, "Domani". For thirteen weeks during the summer of 1955, La Rosa had a three-times-a-week television series, The Julius La Rosa Show. The show aired in an hour-long format in the summers of 1956 and 1957 at 8 p.m. Eastern on Saturdays on NBC as a seasonal replacement for The Perry Como Show. I count EIGHTEEN hits after Cumpari. He appeared on television and film and La Rosa eventually moved on to a long-time disk jockey position at New York's WNEW and continued to sing and occasionally record. NO DAMAGE, son. No damage.
Vince Lombardi did something along these lines in 1963:His All-Pro center,Jim Ringo,brought an agent to a contract negotiation.Lombardi excused himself,went into another office and traded Ringo to the Eagles.The Packers,back to back NFL Champs,had great difficulty replacing Ringo,losing the next two years.Were it not for the cowardice of the goal line officials-maybe they feared the Mob?-,two years running,we'd have the Landry Trophy.
+Yanni It is not a mistake to not allow someone to call your bluff. Yes, there is give back for being strong like that, but you overlook the avalanche of agents that would have followed Ringo's agent in that scenario. Lombardi was ahead of his time, he saw the peril of relinquishing control of the game's economic balance to outsiders. You could not push Lombardi around or intimidate him. More power to him, I say.
Pussy Lombardi would rather ruin his team than win. What a pussy. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones taught Coach Jimmy Johnson a Lesson about any coach winning a Superbowl. He was right with Barry "Snort" Switzer whitelining Jimmy's team. But for the next 30 years? Nothing but FAIL for Jerry's Kids.
Arthur probably recognized his rising star was ready for the road on his own. He was a talent scout after all. I wasn't born for three more years but I do look at this and wonder about it.
Well....Arthur's show was a launching pad for new stars it seems and Julius' star status had been established long before he left the show and his presence there overshadowed Arthur, and we all know that there is room for only one at the top. I honestly think Arthur was polite and considerate in the way he released his star. He didn't hurt Julius at all. My mother went to one of his concerts when she was a teen ager.
A 1981 attempt to reconcile with LaRosa for a Godfrey show reunion record album, bringing together Godfrey and a number of the "Little Godfreys," collapsed. At an initially amicable meeting, Godfrey reasserted that LaRosa wanted out of his contract and asked why he had not explained that instead of insisting he was fired without warning. When LaRosa began reminding him of the dance lesson controversy, Godfrey, then in his late seventies, exploded and the meeting ended in shambles.
Even looking back, I find it very hard to believe that the CBS brass (whoever they were) actually OK'd what Godfrey proposed. Godfrey was the CBS cash cow. They had to know what would result.
Yeah, I'm also surprised that CBS would give the go ahead for this unless they felt that Godfrey had run its course and thought maybe La Rosa had a career in TV in front of him, who knows.
CBS President Bill Paley apparently told Godfrey he should fire Julius LaRosa if he thought the guy such a problem, little imagining Godfrey would choose to do so on live television. Or maybe he did; Paley hated Godfrey, too.
Sad that there is not more film of the shows with Julius and Luann Simms .... These were unique times and people never to come again. I remember it as it were yesterday. I was a lad but loved that show. In fact when Luanne left replaced by Molly Bee I never liked her as much. Without Julius and Luann the show had lost something special. With recent technology we will have the mediocrity and talentless perfectly captured for all time. But the origins of television and some remarkable and natural talents are lost.
The great team of Bob and Ray did a deadly radio sketch about Godfrey, involving a substitute announcer who keeps saying (because he's heard the show so many times) "That's right, Arthur." This gets on Godfrey's nerves because it points out the obvious, even to his fans, that he runs that kind of an operation, depending on groveling, sycophantic support from the crew. The sketch is preserved on tape. I can't seem to locate it here on UA-cam, but it's around and worth a listen.
lenspaulding The only one here who seems interested -- obsessed, in fact -- with the concept of "sex with Arthur Godfrey" is you. Time to draw the Arthur Godfrey face on your right fist (unless you're left handed) again and go to town on yourself.
No question an ego without duplicate. Really stupid act. He did however really help Miami beach with all his shows there . He brought in lots of business and it has grown since those days
I'm sorry to say that Trump is today's Arthur Godfrey: Gore Vidal predicted the US would eventually fall to a dictator who would be a media star like Arthur Godfrey.
Today the Arthur Godfrey-Julius LaRosa incident would have gone down much differently. ... Consider our beloved president, Donald Trump ... He made his "comeback" via a program which featured as its tagline, "YOU'RE FIRED!" ... And the public gave the program outstanding, money-making ratings. Back in 1997, there was a book written by Nicolaus Mills entitled, *"The Triumph of Meanness: America's War Against Its Better Self"* -- and the title says it all! ... There is an undertone of meanness and cynicism in America today that did not exist back in the 1950s. The general public back then was genuinely outraged by Godfrey's actions, and those in power responded to that outrage by punishing Godfrey and promoting La Rosa. Here is a good example of what I mean. ... Do you remember the show "Married With Children"? ... "Married With Children" was the first show to be explicitly vulgar and distasteful. And, as a result,the producers of the show and the network, I think it was ABC, received a great many letters objecting to the show. ... And what happened? ... Did the show refrain from being vulgar and distasteful? ... No, quite the contrary! The show DOUBLED DOWN on its vulgarity and distastefulness! And, evidently, no one in power objected. Nor did most of the public, the show having gone on for a number of years with high ratings. How can this be accounted for? ... Well, one might say , "Oh, people are just lousy nowadays!" ... But, no, there are REASONS, why people behave the way they do; there are CAUSES for why people's behavior differ from one generation to another. ... Today there is a "breakup of civility" because the communities that existed back in the 1950s -- the things that restrained vulgar, obnoxious, objectionable behavior -- have been eroded or otherwise undermined. ... What are the communities, the institutions, that have been undermined? What are the communities that existed back then that gave people a sense of "cohesiveness," a sense of community, that don't exist today? ... The family (now much different than it was in the past); the neighborhood (neighborhoods of the past now shattered, if not completely destroyed); religion; one's job; one's sense of personal history. All these communities, all these social dynamics that brought people together and otherwise restrained and "civilized" their behavior either been undermined or totally destroyed. And so without a sufficient number of "communities" to regulate or otherwise restrain behavior, individuals -- especially in America which is known for its "runaway individualism" -- without communities, individuals feel that they can act anyway they want ... and who cares? ... The people where they live, who would otherwise their neighbors, don't know them, don't know anyone in their family. So who cares?... The people at their job are pretty much strangers to them, in fact, may be gone or fired in a few months. So who cares?... Go to work in cars nowadays, as opposed to getting to work by bus or train in the past, means that people are that much more remote from personal, civilizing interaction. So, what we have here in this little "slice of life, circa the 1950s" is not just about Arthur Godfrey and Julius LaRosa, it's a good example of how the communities that existed in the 1950s in America that produced a reaction in defense of Julius LaRosa simply do not exist anymore in America. ... And the difference can't simply and judgmentally be dismissed by saying, cynically: "Oh, people nowadays are just lousy. Gimme back the good ole days. you know, when America was 'great.'" No, things change for a reason; there are CAUSES that account for people's behavior. Judging ("People stink nowadays!") is one thing, but UNDERSTANDING is something quite different. ... Listen, in 2017 America, listen for how many times you hear or see people JUDGE others rather than trying to UNDERSTAND them. Ironically, it is often the people who long for "the good ole days" -- the ones who want to "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN" -- who are the most judgmental, i.e., the least understanding of the dynamics that account for personal and societal behavior. Judging is like an asshole. Everybody has one. But ... understanding ... is something quite different. The societal reaction in the 1950s to Julius La Rosa being fired was one of empathy and understanding. Whereas today, "YOU'RE FIRED!" has catapulted a con man to the presidency ... with millions of people cheering him when he fired people. Sadly -- and, in fact, tragically -- meanness, cynicism and "judging" have triumphed in America. And until that's reversed, the democratic-many will blindly go around "blaming each other," while those in power, the oligarchic-few, will continue to go about exploiting them.
This was,perhaps,one of the most interesting and insightful responses that I've ever read on UA-cam.(And I've read many)If you have written any books-seriously-I would like to read them.Well done!
Petty despot I met one teaching at a university. I was offered a full time position but declined. That guy had everyone walking on eggshells and was an alcoholic who offered me a drink from his hip flask during the job interview. I can just see in Arthur Godfrey exactly what kind of person he was. Why can’t everyone see it or do they ignore it?
+Kathi Papaleo Do the names Mario Lanza or Enrico Caruso ring a bell? How about Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett? Louie Prima? Jimmy Durante? I think you get my point . . . that road was paved long before Julius.
Nothing. Julius was great, but the real trailblazers came before him and deserve that credit, in my opinion. No disrespect intended from this Calabrese.
what I find SO interesting here is how the T.V. segments were short and then the shows went on and continued via radio! I wonder why this was done (?) I'm guessing it was because T.V. in '53 was fairly new to many parts of the country and radio audiences were still huge....Anyone know about this? Thanks!
+mrob75 : Exactly! TV was still new and not everyone had one, and radio was still a big deal. And here you had a star with both a big TV and radio following that just owned the air waves. It was easy because there was nothing else on. There were only three or four networks and, and not that many TV shows/stars to compete agains like today. So shows like Godfrey's just stayed on for hours, and for years, and just dominated.
+Igaveyoumyfakename In the original "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951), the boardinghouse where Klaatu lives has both a radio and TV, but everyone listens to the news on the RADIO, at the breakfast table. TV was still VERY NEW, indeed...
You hit the nail on the head! I'm a 76-yr former radio/TV producer etc. Big-time network radio equaled movies in importance for decades. The last radio network shows limped all the way to 1960, with TV first being available in limited places in '49! Groucho Marx did "You Bet Your Life" on both radio and TV for quite a while, and the episodes were all separate and different. As long as radio shows could produce a profit with their incredibly smaller production costs than TV, they stayed on. Groucho's show was dirt cheap to produce, for example, compared to scripted multi-cast-member dramas or comedies. Today, radio is but a fading shadow of the giant medium it once was. Station owners scramble to cut costs, because even one local "live" DJ costs more than they want to pay. Prepare for the introduction of AI radio announcers in your town...it's already starting!
Is that Mort Crim narrating? I’ve fallen in to quite the UA-cam hole: 1. Conan O’Brien singing Yea Boo on his podcast, which uses the White Stripes “We’re Going to be Friends” as the intro to the guest interview. 2. Looking up the original version of Yea Boo, finding out about Arthur Godfrey 3. Wikipedia diversion for Arthur Godfrey 4. Reading about this incident 5. Looking up any audio/video of the incident, finding this clip 6. If Mort Crim is the narrator here, he also narrates the intro to the White Stripes song “Little Acorns.” 7. The White Stripes song on the Conan podcast…repeat.
The popularity of Arthur Godfrey's radio and TV shows took a big hit after Julius LaRosa got the axe. While his TV shows (for most of the 1950's, he had three---a daytime talk/variety show, a prime time variety show, both using the same cast of regulars, and a prime-time talent show, several winners of which would eventually become regulars on Godfrey's other shows)---their ratings were never again what they were prior to L'Affaire LaRosa. Godfrey stayed on TV until 1959 when he took a leave of absence to undergo kung surgery, v which was very successful. While Godfrey didn't return to his CBS television programs, he did resume his CBS radio program, which continued until 1972.
This story never ceases to amaze me given how much history has a way of repeating itself. Remember back in 2018 when we learned that Doug Walker and the higher ups at Channel Awesome mistreated their talent and did a non-apology afterwards? It’s almost the same way as Arthur Godfrey did to his talent back in the 1950s. Both men did a lot of good for their respective fields in the early days of internet reviews and television broadcasts, but it still doesn’t help them being absolute jerks too.
Not quite true. When Godfrey returned from surgery he found Julius had hired an agent and insisted all business dealings be through his lawyer. Godfrey saw this as disloyal and let him go. You may say it was simply a good business decision and a small thing to be fired over, but it was also too small, apparently, to be mentioned here.
He did play the ukulele well, a decidedly minor accomplishment. He also had a talent for concealing his arrogant, controlling personality behind a congenial, affable image.
lenspaulding well, just how popular was his show? Could being a regular guest on his show have possibly lead to major stardom? Minor stardom? Many unanswered questions.
RIP My cousin....you were a great singer and upstanding man!
Hello... I'm only learning of this story now... your cousin was an interesting Italian-American...I wonder if his ethnicity had anything to do with it...
This is my grandfather . .....sadly I am not known to this family as I was adopted .....my grandmother Patricia Joyce had my father Mark & he was adopted as well ....I have many pictures of them together in my great grandfather's home in Camden when they were together ....I tried to reach out to his daughter Maria ..drove from NC to her home in CT & spoke with her but she shut me down because she did not want to upset her elderly mother which I understand......I just want to prove this
I guess you do not have the full stort on the firing sorry to say. There was anther high profile story going on at the time that he was involed in and dont you think that was part of the reason he was fired. What he did was not exceptable socily at the time. That was the main reason he was fired. The other stuff made part of the reasons taking itbsll in yes he was fired
🥃👴🏿 JULIE SUCKED
@@joemartines3545👱🏻♂️ YEP
I worked with Julie at WNEW Radio (as a relative flunky) in the early 70s. He was a dear, gentle man singing at his prime then, and never treated me as a flunky. I never mentioned Godfrey's name, because I thought it would be a verboten topic. One afternoon he showed up aglow and smiling and said "Guess who I just ran into! Godfrey, on 5th Avenue. We haven't seen each other in decades, and he gave me a hug...and I hugged him back" It was like he held no anger for the vicious firing in 1953.
Don Paul that was a really nice story..
I heard that after Godfrey let Julie go, Julie bore him no ill will. In fact Julie repeatedly thanked Godfrey for all the opportunities he'd given him.
Unfortuneately..Arthur and Julius..had a second meeting in Arthur's office..prior to their appearing on a tv special..and Arthur's mean attitude didn't change..and Julius..left that office..and he never saw Arthur..again
I wished that I had met..La Rosa..when he was still with us..Don..from what I saw of him on many tv specials..including..Mr.Jerry Lewis' MDA Telethons..and on The "Biography"tv tribute to Mr.Godfrey? That talented and sweet singer..was a kindly gentleman..to use a Yiddish phrase..he was a mensch(A nice, caring and intelligent human being)...(Crying)I still miss you..Julie.
@@kevinbutler1955NYC Arthur Godfrey 'She's too fat for me' rules btw.
Julius LaRosa was a class act until the end of his life. ALWAYS kind to his fans and one of the best singers ever. He had the respect of Frank Sinatra. God bless.
he was a scoundrel & a cheater & will forever be known as such.
Godfrey was a devil.
"Julius has lost his humility."" Boy, that's a hot one coming from a creep like Godfrey!
I had the honor of being on-stage with Julius LaRosa, along with about 30 other 4th graders in the 1950's in Mount Vernon, New York. He made a surprise appearance during our Saint Patrick's Day play. I guess someone invited him but we didn't know about it until he walked onto the stage with us and sang a song. That was a great surprise. R.I.P. Julius.
What a shame A&E doesn't have shows like this, on their schedule anymore. Tune in to them now, and what do you get? Endless episodes of Storage Wars, Live PD, First 48, and movies that don't have much to do with why they went on the air in the beginning.
Yes A&E should change their name.
They have one show when they look for abandoned toilets that still have feces in them. It's a real low.
@@nancymilawski1048 *I don't think it's necessary for A&E to change their name just because they don't air any other new shows and cancel previous and past shows.*
They should change their name to Bread & Circuses.
The firing of LaRosa showed the world what the 'real' Arthur Godfrey was like and it began the slide downhill of the public's love affair with Godfrey.
Mark .... I remember it like yesterday although I was a lad and hated him for what he did. Julius was not only incredibly talented and handsome but he was a really sweet, kind and sensitive young man.
We lived in NYC. All the adults around me spoke very highly of him as we had connections to many people in theatre and the new television.
What Godfrey did was brutal and abusive. Julius did not deserve it. They didn't mention how Godfrey tried to ruin any possibility of a career for Julius. Something I learned years later from friends in the music industry and also from Luann Simms with whom I became close friends 1969.
@Justin Stewart No blacks, either. Nor was Julius LaRosa invited to sing.
Justin Stewart not correct
eventually became more like a freefall than a downward slide..
The firing Of Julius Larosa showed everyone that Arthur Godfrey not really a nice or an honest one..and The viewers and the listerns would never forgive him for doing this terrible thing.
Godfrey was a jerk. Calling his entertainers "little Godfreys" highlights his sense of self importance.
RIP never heard of you before this, being just 18, but after watching this, i will remember this forever. x
Yes Julius Larissa, October 9th 1953, I was only five years old, and all I remember is that my mother and Aunt Millie were fit to be tied, when he was fired.
It was October 19, 1953.
I first saw and Heard Julius while in Hi School. He had just gotten out of the service and was in a Concert. Love at first sight and sound. Playing also was Johnny Puello on the Harmonica. In my memory forever. (78 now)
When I was in the Navy I was in Millington, TN going to Navy Aviation Electronics school. One evening a friend and I went to a military only club in Memphis that catered specifically to the Navy guys from the base. It was the USO, a place that many cities near military bases had to support the members in the service. We had gone there a few times but it was not very popular because there was not really much to do there, at least in Memphis. But on this particular night in 1965 there was someone there at the piano and when we walked in he started playing and singing. He introduced himself as Julius LaRosa. I'd never heard of him. All together there were 3 or four people, all sailors, in the club and we sat and listened to Julius sing and in between songs he had conversations with us and we talked about various things. I just remember Julius to be very personable and friendly. He did not seem arrogant at all. He spent several hours talking to us and singing even though there were only 3-4 of us there. It was only years later I found out about his fame which he certainly didn't flout at that time. I guess it made an impression on me since I remember this like it was yesterday. Thanks Julius for taking time for us.
But I thought he had lost his humility :-D
My husband and I were stationed in Millington, Tn. He was in the Naval Air Wing and went to school there. Thank you for your service.
Old men with power can crush the young. The audience doesn't like jealousy.
***** And they did. tnks for stating the obvious.
Don't feel too bad for Julius. He had a nice little career, and a varied one. He was a respected crooner, appeared on Broadway in musicals including Boeing, Boeing. He had a long tenure at the old, great AM music station, WNEW (1130 on the AM dial) as a disc jockey, and had a very interesting inside patter between records. It was made even more interesting because he knew all the great singers and orchestra leaders of the day. He seemed to be a good guy. I ran into him a couple of times...once literally, coming out of an elevator. I recognized him, said 'hi, Mr. LaRosa," and he stepped off the elevator to shake my hand because he thought he knew me. I apologized and told him we didn't know each other and that I was just saying hi, but he stood there and struck up a conversation with me instead of just hitting the elevator button again to get back on. Big smile for everyone. I guess that's just showbiz, but he was good at it.
No, for him it wasn't just showbiz. You saw the real Julius. Some people are smart enough to know that they need to retain their real persona, no matter how famous they may become. Godfrey was not one of those people.
As a kid, I first knew him from WNEW. I wonder if it ever frosted Godfrey that JL became successful as a broadcaster, too?
frosted godfrey's red nose & burned his big dupa ! Probably more so when Julius kept his good looks while growing old.
Ed Sullivan DID invite Julius to appear on 'TOAST OF THE TOWN" several times during the 1953-'54 season, because a) he KNEW booking him would generate curiosity and ratings, and b) he disliked Arthur Godfrey, and was on LaRosa's side. Sure enough, Julius helped Sullivan achieve higher ratings than his Sunday night rival, NBC's "COLGATE COMEDY HOUR" [and was the beginning of the end for that program].
I was the editor on this A&E Biography. Godfrey was a great subject, and the show was fun to work on. From this sequence, I particularly loved LaRosa's repetition of "I wasn't on." This particular sequence took a lot of work. In our earliest edits, we did not yet have the interview with the now late, great Andy Rooney, and the story of LaRosa's firing was told by Phyllis McGuire, who thought Godfrey did the right thing and Julius deserved the firing. Finally, Rooney (who was present at the famous firing) agreed to talk to my producer, Bob Waldman, and we replaced McGuire's account of the firing with Rooney's. Andy totally recaptures the astonishment of that long ago moment. Thanks for posting...brings back great memories.
And in April 1955, Godfrey would fire several more members of his cast [off camera, this time], including three of his writers.....Andy Rooney among them.
That's very interesting. I noticed they showed Phyllis McGuire in this clip, but omitted the fact that to this day she sides with Godfrey. Of course, she was a moll for a Las Vegas mafioso...so not the best judge. Can't believe La Rosa, Rooney and so many others are gone now.
+Lee Martin do you know this as a fact that she was a lesbian?
Because she was a friend of my mother's and I knew her well. She was many things but I never saw her intimate with women. Sam of Chicago was well known. I was with she and another boyfriend, Michael something in their bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He had just given her a pair of earrings which she showed my mother, cost .... $250,000.00. She did like money and expensive things and she knew how to get them from men and her singing talent. .
When Sam was in jail she always had a back up man. If there were women it was certainly well hidden. She was beautiful and even her speaking voice could charm birds from trees. Her sisters were often a tad jealous, one could feel that. They were more down to earth and Phyllis was the opposite.
That she sided with Godfrey showed her way of playing both ends against the middle. It was only inspired by self interest and perhaps stupidity.
Phyllis McGuire also thought missing ONE dance lesson because of a family matter was an offence needing firing? Wow, what a b*tch !
Was there some kind of reconciliation that was aired between the two not long before Godfrey died? I don't recall if they were interviewed together or separately about the incident but I have a vague memory about it...
I never liked Arthur Godfrey as a 12 year old but.my mother listened to him on radio. She quit when.he fired Juilius LaRosa.
When your boss thinks he is your family it really means he is the master of the plantation. You are a servant.
Julius got the last laugh - and thankfully he's still around to tell the story.
Julius died in 2016. I wouldn't say he got the last laugh. His career was significantly negatively affected when he got fired from the Arthur Godfrey Show. He still had work, but his career was never really the same.
he was a scoundrel. John Henry Brown has lived a life of honor while serving with nobility. the fluff boy cheated showing him the ultimate disrespect. larosa was nothing in comparison. John is still gracing/serving this country with a backbone of steel.
RIP Julius La Rosa, 86 years of age.
He lived longer then arther.
Unbelievable that Arthur Godfrey fired Julius La Rosa for missing a dance class required for cast members. Also, I thought that the firing was in 1956 after La Rosa had been with Godfrey a few years, but learned that everything, including La Rosa being hired by Godfrey, took place in 1953. So La Rosa hadn't been on the show very long in spite of his skyrocketing popularity with viewers. Had to have been both shocking and dumbfounding for both La Rosa and everyone. Thank you for presenting this video clip.
I wasn't just missing the dance class that ticked off Mr.Godfrey..he was also jealous of Mr.LaRosa becoming more successful and popular than he was..and when Mr.LaRosa needed help in dealing with Mr.Godfrey's abusive and controlling behavior? Mr.LaRosa hired an talent agent, a talent manager and a lawyer to handle Mr.Gdofrey..that is what really Mr.Godfrey angry(He had an unwritten rule for anyone who worked on his radio & tv Shows..you never hired an agent,a manager or a lawyer to negotiate with him) and after.."Consulting with the top brass at CBS"..they allowed him to fire Mr.LaRosa on the air..which he did..and..after that..Although his tv shows stayed on the air for a few more years..The public never forgave Arthur Godfrey for being a controlling,selfsh and mean bully.
What an SOB. Rest in peace, Julie.
I remember Arthur Godfrey having an affair with an Ice Capades Star in 1962. He would come to each city and meet her for their rendevouz and he'd bring her a fur coat, jewels are more. What a friggen bastard.
Arthur Godfrey got a lesson in humility....
My late mother and her sister loved Julius Larosa. Neither ever again tuned into The Arthur Godfrey Show after the firing. I was a teenager before I realized that the firing occurred FIVE YEARS before I was born. My dad felt the same way and thought that "Godfrey kicked himself in his own pompous @$$ ". That must have been a really huge thing back then. I found that Larosa was very handsome and sang beautifully. I get why they liked him.
What an utterly egotistical and inhumane thing to do to another person! And on the air too?
I was 16 at the time this happened. I hated godfrey for doing this to one of my favorite singers on his show. karma came IN AND HIS RATINGS DROPPED WHEN JULIUS LEFT EVERYBODY KNEW WHO JULIUS LAROSSA WAS THEY DIDN'T KNOW GODFREY PEOPLE LIKE HIM LOVED THE POWER
I hope somebody will upload the entire Godfrey episode. It was really good. It is not available on DVD but was on VHS many years ago.
Godfrey was a pompous ass and he lost his career to this. This should be a lesson for all those who think they are better than everybody else.
Amen - and agreed. it's a mental illness and FAR too accepted and prevalent. A pollution on an otherwise beautiful world....
My mother was outraged & never said another good word about Arthur Godfrey after that.
...I was only 3 years old but I remember the talk in my house and mom talking with the neighbors....
Julius was always a huge star to his Buffalo,NY fans . He did have an excellent singing voice
A DECENT human being would have done ANY “firings” in PRIVATE.The young man that was PUBLICLY FIRED while LIVE ON THE RADIO was NOT verbally AND/OR physically behaving violently towards ANYONE.IF you had talent OR talents that your boss did not have,WOULD you want to be fired in front of your fellow co-workers because you “had no humility”? An even BETTER question,Would YOU treat ANY of your employees in this SAME MANNER? Is this an example of: IT is o.k. to do this to anyone else,BUT nobody better to the same TO ME!
What what a classless, disgusting thing to do.
RIP Mr. LaRosa.
Godfrey's mania seems a bit like J Edgar Hoover's. Hoover made sure he was the face and only face of the FBI while his agents did all the work. It seems Godfrey had the same idea. "There are no stars here," he told LaRosa, but it was obvious Godfrey was to be the only star .
+Peter Hemming I think the fact he was badly injured in a car crash in the early 1930s is what caused him to be so moody and act like an asshole. He was in a great deal of pain for the rest of his life.
This may sound funny, but I think that everyone needs to experience a "Boss-Zilla" at least once in a career. It teaches you to spot the devious ways and schemes these people use to creep ahead, if indeed they do. Most will eventually see their evil come home to roost...I'll work fine with a tough, fair boss-but I will not work for a petty, Napoleonic tyrant!
It seems like we have one now in the White House
@@postatility9703
I'm very sure that that demented clown joined in the Dems chorus accusing DJT of being a Narcissist. Well, look who the real Narcissist is. Add to that, senile, bumbling fool and pathological liar. America's greatest disaster since 9/11.
Back to Godfrey, I think he and the Pennsylvania Avenue occupant share huge amounts of narcissism.
I'm sorry that I had to wax political with my comment, I hope I didn't offend anyone here today.
@@tuberobotto The real narcissist is still Trump. Senile? Check. Bumbling? Check. Fool? Double-check. Liar? OMG. Willing to support with video! And now, back to Godfrey.
@@trainer1158 If Trump wasn't a narcissist, he never would've survived the brutal treatment he received from the news media and DNC who tried to bury him, using a fake "Russia Collusion" scandal. I'll stack Trump’s achievements against "Brandon's" tyrannical mandates, reckless disregard of US Immigration Law, and calculated destruction of everything from our national sovereignty to our economy and energy independence.
As for Arthur Godfrey - I find his personality was more like Richard Nixon.
Godfrey was an extremely limited talent whereas LaRosa had it in spades. If you've ever seen the film "A Face in the Crowd", well that film was based entirely on Godfrey--he was a true ogre and as this documentary points out, his balloon was punctured beyond repair after his firing of LaRosa.
+Michael Klein Pish tosh. It was based - if anything - on Will Rogers.
+Eliezer Pennywhistler Actually, it may have been based on a composite of entertainers (Ronald Reagan, Will Rogers and Arthur Godfrey), but Patricia Neal had understood Godfrey to be the inspiration for the film (among other reports from cast and crew).
Where do you see Reagan in this movie?
Eliezer Pennywhistler
Where are A Krenwinkle's comments here re Arthur Godfrey? Have they been deleted? If you have them I would very much appreciate seeing them.
Jan
janwintz@gmail.com
How the hell should I know?
Being fired on air must have been terribly embarrassing. In my opinion it made Arthur Godfrey look bad. If he felt, he had to fire someone, it should have been done in the privacy of his office/dressing room. The doors should have been closed.
Jack Perkins was the narrator of many of the A & E Biography shows.
the voice sounds more like Bill Kurtis than Jack Perkins
+cluny It's definitely Jack Perkins.
Nope. For Biography, he's Jack Perkins.
Jack Perkins wore eyeglasses.
Jack Perkins was the narrator of this segment.
RIP Julius LaRosa
Godfrey and Simon Cowell.. Both.. large egos.!!
No wonder he was jealous of Julius, he was handsome, young, and talented. Godfrey blew it bigly
RIP Mr La Rosa. We don't have many of these greats left from this era.
I was aghast at the termination of former Navy Band singer (Julius LaRosa) from his broadcast as having "lost his humility". This from the least humble of people - Arthur himself. Godfrey proved himself to be an insecure tyrant unworthy of following.
RIP ! JULIUS... You were great!
RIP Julie....he died today.
Phyllis McGuire weighs in on Godfrey's rules. Probably a different set of rules for Phyllis, considering that her 'boyfriend' was the most powerful crime boss in the world.
It makes me wonder if Arthur Godfrey was on some sort of medication for his hip issues that changes his personality. At any rate it was a horrible and petty thing to do to a young man.
This is excellent, thank you for posting. Would you consider posting the rest of the A & E bio on Godfrey? It seems to be unavailable generally. Thanks!
Even though I was only a child, I hated Arthur Godfrey for this. There was no reason to publicly humiliate Julius like that. It severely damaged Julius LaRosa's career. He was the equal to Dean Martin, Al Martino or Perry Como, but he never achieved the popularity he had on the Godfrey show. Sad.
+carrotjuse How did this damage his career, exactly?
Wikipedia should help you with that question, Eli.
Yup. The firing did not hurt La Rosa's career in the short run. Ed Sullivan immediately signed La Rosa for appearances on his CBS Toast of the Town TV variety show. La Rosa's first appearance on Toast of the Town following the firing got a 47.9 Trendex rating, and La Rosa would appear 12 more times on Sullivan's show that year.
Shortly after he left Godfrey, La Rosa's third recording, "Eh, Cumpari", hit #1, and La Rosa got an award as the best new male vocalist of 1953. "Eh, Cumpari" was followed by another major hit, "Domani". For thirteen weeks during the summer of 1955, La Rosa had a three-times-a-week television series, The Julius La Rosa Show. The show aired in an hour-long format in the summers of 1956 and 1957 at 8 p.m. Eastern on Saturdays on NBC as a seasonal replacement for The Perry Como Show.
I count EIGHTEEN hits after Cumpari. He appeared on television and film and La Rosa eventually moved on to a long-time disk jockey position at New York's WNEW and continued to sing and occasionally record.
NO DAMAGE, son. No damage.
Wow thought I’d never see this heard about it all my life
I've known a couple bosses like that. Small world.
Vince Lombardi did something along these lines in 1963:His All-Pro center,Jim Ringo,brought an agent to a contract negotiation.Lombardi excused himself,went into another office and traded Ringo to the Eagles.The Packers,back to back NFL Champs,had great difficulty replacing Ringo,losing the next two years.Were it not for the cowardice of the goal line officials-maybe they feared the Mob?-,two years running,we'd have the Landry Trophy.
+Tom Dockery Big Lombardi mistake. Ringo was great.
+Yanni It is not a mistake to not allow someone to call your bluff. Yes, there is give back for being strong like that, but you overlook the avalanche of agents that would have followed Ringo's agent in that scenario. Lombardi was ahead of his time, he saw the peril of relinquishing control of the game's economic balance to outsiders. You could not push Lombardi around or intimidate him. More power to him, I say.
Pussy Lombardi would rather ruin his team than win. What a pussy. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones taught Coach Jimmy Johnson a Lesson about any coach winning a Superbowl. He was right with Barry "Snort" Switzer whitelining Jimmy's team. But for the next 30 years? Nothing but FAIL for Jerry's Kids.
---sadly, at Mr. Godfrey's funeral, hardly any one attended !!
Arthur probably recognized his rising star was ready for the road on his own. He was a talent scout after all. I wasn't born for three more years but I do look at this and wonder about it.
+Mike Miller So, when you looked it up, what did you find?
Well....Arthur's show was a launching pad for new stars it seems and Julius' star status had been established long before he left the show and his presence there overshadowed Arthur, and we all know that there is room for only one at the top. I honestly think Arthur was polite and considerate in the way he released his star. He didn't hurt Julius at all. My mother went to one of his concerts when she was a teen ager.
I was only a kid when he was on tv but I knew he was a rotten louse
I also have searched for the whole A & E Biography story about Arthur Godfrey. Has anyone discovered a link or a way to purchase this episode?
RIP Julius. At least we're you're going, Arthur won't be there.
I thought God was the judge of the living and the dead.
+norelco pc Lighten up and don't be so literal.
No, actually, God has decided to go democratic and let the majority rule.
Landondeel - Amen and well said!!!
GodFREY, you mean
RIP Julius La Rosa
What a shame!! I lost my respect for Godfrey on that day!! I wonder if he ever apologized to Julius?? :-(
A 1981 attempt to reconcile with LaRosa for a Godfrey show reunion record album, bringing together Godfrey and a number of the "Little Godfreys," collapsed. At an initially amicable meeting, Godfrey reasserted that LaRosa wanted out of his contract and asked why he had not explained that instead of insisting he was fired without warning. When LaRosa began reminding him of the dance lesson controversy, Godfrey, then in his late seventies, exploded and the meeting ended in shambles.
Even looking back, I find it very hard to believe that the CBS brass (whoever they were) actually OK'd what Godfrey proposed. Godfrey was the CBS cash cow. They had to know what would result.
Yeah, I'm also surprised that CBS would give the go ahead for this unless they felt that Godfrey had run its course and thought maybe La Rosa had a career in TV in front of him, who knows.
If the CBS brass DIDN'T okay Godfrey's wishes, the CBS cash cow would jump ship and become the NBC cash cow.
CBS has a long and storied history of executives who have no idea what they’re doing.
CBS President Bill Paley apparently told Godfrey he should fire Julius LaRosa if he thought the guy such a problem, little imagining Godfrey would choose to do so on live television. Or maybe he did; Paley hated Godfrey, too.
He did not do it on live television; it was the radio portion of the broadcast.
What song is La Rosa singing at 0:22?
You're Breaking My Heart, known in Italian as Mattinata.
Godfrey was a mean SOB - RIP Julius.
Sadly there aren't too many examples in showbiz of KARMA coming back and biting someone in the ass, but this is a rare exception.
Hoping to find the complete ep of this show. It's not available on A&E's store, and the odds of them airing it are slim.
Sad that there is not more film of the shows with Julius and Luann Simms .... These were unique times and people never to come again. I remember it as it were yesterday. I was a lad but loved that show. In fact when Luanne left replaced by Molly Bee I never liked her as much. Without Julius and Luann the show had lost something special.
With recent technology we will have the mediocrity and talentless perfectly captured for all time. But the origins of television and some remarkable and natural talents are lost.
The great team of Bob and Ray did a deadly radio sketch about Godfrey, involving a substitute announcer who keeps saying (because he's heard the show so many times) "That's right, Arthur." This gets on Godfrey's nerves because it points out the obvious, even to his fans, that he runs that kind of an operation, depending on groveling, sycophantic support from the crew. The sketch is preserved on tape. I can't seem to locate it here on UA-cam, but it's around and worth a listen.
A great sketch that was used a number of times, with variations. B and R were the best.
@@richarddowney1972 Do you remember B & R's "House of Toast?"
@@akrenwinkle Stan Freberg did "That's Right, Arthur"; Daws Butler (Hanna-Barbera's go-to voice specialist) is also on that recording.
As a kid, I remember Julius on our radio all the time. He had his own radio show.
I remember watching this live. Still get the same goosebumps!
Well, you mean listening, as it wasn't televised.
Sounds like you are liar
@@jamespfitzRight. It happened on the radio-only part of the show that day.
Respect for Julius...At least we heard of you Julius La Rosa in 2017, I've never heard of Godfrey before......
Arthur Godfrey's "mask" was torn off that day.
Jealous and petty.. Godfrey was a mean spirited man...
Rocky Missouri Rocky just because Arthur Godfrey refused to have sex with you doesn't make him mean jealous and petty!!!
lenspaulding
The only one here who seems interested -- obsessed, in fact -- with the concept of "sex with Arthur Godfrey" is you. Time to draw the Arthur Godfrey face on your right fist (unless you're left handed) again and go to town on yourself.
@Glen M "The Great Man" (1956) is a terriffic, underappreciated film. I'm sure Godfrey was mad as hell when it came out.
No question an ego without duplicate. Really stupid act. He did however really help Miami beach with all his shows there . He brought in lots of business and it has grown since those days
I can see this story being a movie.
3:37 is the sweet spot
A. Godfrey died a broken and lonely poor man.
Arther went from Hero to a freaking 0. If he would've done that today, networks would blacklist him quicker than quick.
I'm sorry to say that Trump is today's Arthur Godfrey:
Gore Vidal predicted the US would eventually fall to a dictator who would be a media star like Arthur Godfrey.
@Glen M
Does your shrink know you are off your meds again, you phuckin idiot ?
Why, because he doesn’t like rioting and killing? Go join BLM. They hate Jews as much as anyone!
Today the Arthur Godfrey-Julius LaRosa incident would have gone down much differently. ... Consider our beloved president, Donald Trump ... He made his "comeback" via a program which featured as its tagline, "YOU'RE FIRED!" ... And the public gave the program outstanding, money-making ratings.
Back in 1997, there was a book written by Nicolaus Mills entitled, *"The Triumph of Meanness: America's War Against Its Better Self"* -- and the title says it all! ...
There is an undertone of meanness and cynicism in America today that did not exist back in the 1950s. The general public back then was genuinely outraged by Godfrey's actions, and those in power responded to that outrage by punishing Godfrey and promoting La Rosa.
Here is a good example of what I mean. ... Do you remember the show "Married With Children"? ... "Married With Children" was the first show to be explicitly vulgar and distasteful. And, as a result,the producers of the show and the network, I think it was ABC, received a great many letters objecting to the show. ... And what happened? ... Did the show refrain from being vulgar and distasteful? ... No, quite the contrary! The show DOUBLED DOWN on its vulgarity and distastefulness! And, evidently, no one in power objected. Nor did most of the public, the show having gone on for a number of years with high ratings.
How can this be accounted for? ...
Well, one might say , "Oh, people are just lousy nowadays!" ... But, no, there are REASONS, why people behave the way they do; there are CAUSES for why people's behavior differ from one generation to another. ...
Today there is a "breakup of civility" because the communities that existed back in the 1950s -- the things that restrained vulgar, obnoxious, objectionable behavior -- have been eroded or otherwise undermined. ... What are the communities, the institutions, that have been undermined? What are the communities that existed back then that gave people a sense of "cohesiveness," a sense of community, that don't exist today? ... The family (now much different than it was in the past); the neighborhood (neighborhoods of the past now shattered, if not completely destroyed); religion; one's job; one's sense of personal history.
All these communities, all these social dynamics that brought people together and otherwise restrained and "civilized" their behavior either been undermined or totally destroyed.
And so without a sufficient number of "communities" to regulate or otherwise restrain behavior, individuals -- especially in America which is known for its "runaway individualism" -- without communities, individuals feel that they can act anyway they want ... and who cares? ...
The people where they live, who would otherwise their neighbors, don't know them, don't know anyone in their family. So who cares?... The people at their job are pretty much strangers to them, in fact, may be gone or fired in a few months. So who cares?... Go to work in cars nowadays, as opposed to getting to work by bus or train in the past, means that people are that much more remote from personal, civilizing interaction.
So, what we have here in this little "slice of life, circa the 1950s" is not just about Arthur Godfrey and Julius LaRosa, it's a good example of how the communities that existed in the 1950s in America that produced a reaction in defense of Julius LaRosa simply do not exist anymore in America. ... And the difference can't simply and judgmentally be dismissed by saying, cynically: "Oh, people nowadays are just lousy. Gimme back the good ole days. you know, when America was 'great.'" No, things change for a reason; there are CAUSES that account for people's behavior. Judging ("People stink nowadays!") is one thing, but UNDERSTANDING is something quite different. ... Listen, in 2017 America, listen for how many times you hear or see people JUDGE others rather than trying to UNDERSTAND them.
Ironically, it is often the people who long for "the good ole days" -- the ones who want to "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN" -- who are the most judgmental, i.e., the least understanding of the dynamics that account for personal and societal behavior.
Judging is like an asshole. Everybody has one. But ... understanding ... is something quite different. The societal reaction in the 1950s to Julius La Rosa being fired was one of empathy and understanding. Whereas today, "YOU'RE FIRED!" has catapulted a con man to the presidency ... with millions of people cheering him when he fired people.
Sadly -- and, in fact, tragically -- meanness, cynicism and "judging" have triumphed in America. And until that's reversed, the democratic-many will blindly go around "blaming each other," while those in power, the oligarchic-few, will continue to go about exploiting them.
Chris Cross It was FOX, actually, that aired Married With Children.
This was,perhaps,one of the most interesting and insightful responses that I've ever read on UA-cam.(And I've read many)If you have written any books-seriously-I would like to read them.Well done!
Petty despot I met one teaching at a university. I was offered a full time position but declined. That guy had everyone walking on eggshells and was an alcoholic who offered me a drink from his hip flask during the job interview. I can just see in Arthur Godfrey exactly what kind of person he was. Why can’t everyone see it or do they ignore it?
Arthur was a very small man in many ways
Thank you, Julius for paving the way for Americans of Italian descent in the Entertainment Industry!!
+Kathi Papaleo Do the names Mario Lanza or Enrico Caruso ring a bell? How about Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett? Louie Prima? Jimmy Durante? I think you get my point . . . that road was paved long before Julius.
MooPotPie I know the names you mentioned. What's wrong with acknowledge one more??
Nothing. Julius was great, but the real trailblazers came before him and deserve that credit, in my opinion. No disrespect intended from this Calabrese.
MooPotPie Whatever....
+Kathi Papaleo give it up loser
3:37 - hear the clip
His favourite words were bada bing
RIP Julius
Anybody know the name of the narrator? The voice is very familiar ...
The narrator of the Biography documentary was Jack Perkins.
eb dunn -- Nope, I meant the documentary narrator. Thanks!
Gene Davis I believe the narrator was Peter Graves.
Gene Davis Jack Perkins.
MrShobar Thanks!
Julius accepted his resignation with grace upon Retaking his seat with that last snapshot. (He waved goodbye but forgot to put up all his fingers🤣)
Ohhhh, I SOOOOO hope that really happened! 😂
what I find SO interesting here is how the T.V. segments were short and then the shows went on and continued via radio! I wonder why this was done (?) I'm guessing it was because T.V. in '53 was fairly new to many parts of the country and radio audiences were still huge....Anyone know about this? Thanks!
+mrob75 : Exactly! TV was still new and not everyone had one, and radio was still a big deal. And here you had a star with both a big TV and radio following that just owned the air waves. It was easy because there was nothing else on. There were only three or four networks and, and not that many TV shows/stars to compete agains like today. So shows like Godfrey's just stayed on for hours, and for years, and just dominated.
+Igaveyoumyfakename
In the original "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951), the boardinghouse where Klaatu lives has both a radio and TV, but everyone listens to the news on the RADIO, at the breakfast table. TV was still VERY NEW, indeed...
+CLASSICALFAN100 That was 2-3 years earlier.
You hit the nail on the head! I'm a 76-yr former radio/TV producer etc. Big-time network radio equaled movies in importance for decades. The last radio network shows limped all the way to 1960, with TV first being available in limited places in '49! Groucho Marx did "You Bet Your Life" on both radio and TV for quite a while, and the episodes were all separate and different. As long as radio shows could produce a profit with their incredibly smaller production costs than TV, they stayed on. Groucho's show was dirt cheap to produce, for example, compared to scripted multi-cast-member dramas or comedies. Today, radio is but a fading shadow of the giant medium it once was. Station owners scramble to cut costs, because even one local "live" DJ costs more than they want to pay. Prepare for the introduction of AI radio announcers in your town...it's already starting!
@@VoiceoverIsland Excellent comment / observation…Thank you for sharing.
Is that Mort Crim narrating? I’ve fallen in to quite the UA-cam hole:
1. Conan O’Brien singing Yea Boo on his podcast, which uses the White Stripes “We’re Going to be Friends” as the intro to the guest interview.
2. Looking up the original version of Yea Boo, finding out about Arthur Godfrey
3. Wikipedia diversion for Arthur Godfrey
4. Reading about this incident
5. Looking up any audio/video of the incident, finding this clip
6. If Mort Crim is the narrator here, he also narrates the intro to the White Stripes song “Little Acorns.”
7. The White Stripes song on the Conan podcast…repeat.
Arthur Godfrey was a hater.
He was presumed to be anti-Semitic.
+Juliaflo not presumed, he was. Also a supporter of that fascist McCarthy, one of the darkest, ugliest and most shameful parts of modern USA history.
Julius La Rosa was my favorite singer. Still is.
Wow!
This isn't why Godfrey was cancelled. The media went after him for reasons that had nothing to do with moving on from an employee. This is BS.
He was a radio DJ on WNEW 1130 NYC
The popularity of Arthur Godfrey's radio and TV shows took a big hit after Julius LaRosa got the axe.
While his TV shows (for most of the 1950's, he had three---a daytime talk/variety show, a prime time variety show, both using the same cast of regulars, and a prime-time talent show, several winners of which would eventually become regulars on Godfrey's other shows)---their ratings were never again what they were prior to L'Affaire LaRosa.
Godfrey stayed on TV until 1959 when he took a leave of absence to undergo kung surgery, v which was very successful.
While Godfrey didn't return to his CBS television programs, he did resume his CBS radio program, which continued until 1972.
he was my great grandfathers cousin
This story never ceases to amaze me given how much history has a way of repeating itself. Remember back in 2018 when we learned that Doug Walker and the higher ups at Channel Awesome mistreated their talent and did a non-apology afterwards? It’s almost the same way as Arthur Godfrey did to his talent back in the 1950s. Both men did a lot of good for their respective fields in the early days of internet reviews and television broadcasts, but it still doesn’t help them being absolute jerks too.
Not quite true. When Godfrey returned from surgery he found Julius had hired an agent and insisted all business dealings be through his lawyer. Godfrey saw this as disloyal and let him go. You may say it was simply a good business decision and a small thing to be fired over, but it was also too small, apparently, to be mentioned here.
You need to PAY ATTENTION! In the clip LaRosa CLEARLY states that he hired an agent AFTER being suspended by Godfrey for missing a dance lesson.
Just what talent does Godfrey have?
Self-promotion was his primary talent.
He did play the ukulele well, a decidedly minor accomplishment. He also had a talent for concealing his arrogant, controlling personality behind a congenial, affable image.
Chuckn....Arthur was a big stud who serviced at least 3 women per day....now what talents do you have ?
lenspaulding Lololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololol...
lenspaulding well, just how popular was his show? Could being a regular guest on his show have possibly lead to major stardom? Minor stardom? Many unanswered questions.
and today we have simon cowell
So true! Cowell is a vindictive monster also. His arrogance can be seen from space.
Too bad Godfrey couldn't be happy for someone else's success!
He continued.
Arthur was jealous of Julius LaRosa's immense talent and popularity!