Garry Moore (January 31, 1915 – November 28, 1993) was an American entertainer, game show host and comedian best known for his work in television. Born Thomas Garrison Morfit, III, Moore entered show business as a radio personality in the 1940s and was a television host on several game and variety show programs during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
After dropping out of high school, Moore found success as a radio host and then moved on to the television industry. He hosted The Garry Moore Show, and the game shows I've Got a Secret and To Tell the Truth. He became known for his bow ties and his crew cut,[2] though he refrained from both fashions later in his career.
After being diagnosed with throat cancer in 1976, Moore retired from the television industry, making a few rare television appearances. He spent the last years of his life in South Carolina and at his summer home in Maine. He died on November 28, 1993.
Early life and radio career
Moore was born Thomas Garrison Morfit on January 31, 1915, in Baltimore, Maryland.[2][1] He attended Baltimore City College but dropped out to pursue a career in radio and writing.[2][3] Starting in 1937, he worked for Baltimore radio station WBAL as an announcer, writer, and actor/comedian. He used his birth name until 1940, when, while on the air hosting "Club Matinee", he held a radio contest to find a more easily pronounceable one.[1][4] "Garry Moore" was the winning entry, which was submitted by a woman from Pittsburgh who received a prize of $100.[4] In the years that followed, Moore appeared on numerous network radio shows. He started out as an announcer and then as support for broadcast personalities, one of whom was Jimmy Durante.[2] From 1943–1947, Durante and Moore had a joint show, with Moore as the straight man.[5] Impressed with his ability to interact with audiences, CBS offered him his own show. Starting in 1949, the one-hour daytime variety show The Garry Moore Show aired on CBS.[2] Moore briefly returned to radio as host of NBC's "Monitor" in 1969.
Television career
Between 1947 and 1950, Moore began to make tentative steps into the new medium as a panelist and guest host on quiz and musical shows. On June 26, 1950, he was rewarded with his own 30-minute CBS early-evening talk-variety TV program The Garry Moore Show, which was a shorter version of his radio show.[1][6] Until September 1950, it was also simulcast on radio.[6] During 1950 and 1951, he hosted prime-time variety hour summer replacements for Arthur Godfrey and his Friends.
During his run as a variety show host, Moore was tapped to host CBS's weekly prime-time TV panel show I've Got a Secret. It premiered on June 19, 1952.[2] It was on this show that Moore began his friendships with comedian Henry Morgan and game show host and panelist Bill Cullen, with whom he also had a long working relationship.[7] Morgan himself stated had Moore helped him keep his job as a celebrity panelist on the show.[8] Moore became known for his involvement in the variety of stunts and demonstrations of the show's contestants. The popularity of I've Got a Secret led to a cameo in the 1959 film It Happened to Jane. In the film, Doris Day's character was a contestant on the show, with Moore as well as the panel playing themselves.[9][10]
Moore's variety program was moved to the daytime slot, where it ran until June 27, 1958.[4][6] Within three months of the end of the daytime show, he and his longtime colleague Durward Kirby moved the revived The Garry Moore Show into prime time as a Tuesday night comedy and variety hour that ran from September 30, 1958, to June 14, 1964.[6]
Although the show was a bigger hit in prime-time, Moore himself always preferred the daytime housewife audience.[4] He thought that it gave the lonely housewives something to listen to and watch while they worked.[4] The show provided a break into show business for many performers, including Alan King, Jonathan Winters, Carol Burnett, and Dorothy Loudon.[1][2][3] The Garry Moore Show featured regular supporting cast members Durward Kirby,[6] Denise Lor, and Ken Carson, as well as a mixture of song-and-dance routines and comedy skits, and introduced the public to comedienne Carol Burnett. After the show ended, Burnett became a star in her own right, hosting The Carol Burnett Show for many years.[6]
The Garry Moore Show was cancelled in 1964,[2][7] and in the summer of that year, after having been on radio and television for 27 uninterrupted years, Moore decided to retire, saying he had "said everything [he] ever wanted to say three times already."[2] He gave up hosting I've Got A Secret and was replaced by comedian Steve Allen, who would host the show until the end of its run in 1967, even after Moore's subsequent return to television.[7][2] Moore's main activity during his hiatus was a trip around the world with his wife.[7]
After two years, The Garry Moore Show returned to the CBS prime-time lineup in the fall of 1966.[6] The week of the premiere, Moore appeared as the celebrity guest on I've Got A Secret to promote it.[7] The new show was canceled mid-season because of low ratings against NBC's highly rated western Bonanza.[6] The successful Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour replaced The Garry Moore Show in the CBS time slot.[11] Moore then made sporadic guest television appearances, appearing as a panelist on various game shows, before Mark Goodson asked him to host another show.
He became the host of the syndicated revival of To Tell the Truth (1969–1977).[1] Moore often took part in the show's silly and goofy stunts, as he had done on I've Got a Secret, performing magic tricks and cooking. This led to the show's reputed similarity to I've Got a Secret.[2]
Retirement and death
Moore became ill in 1976 and was diagnosed with throat cancer.[1][2] He left To Tell the Truth shortly before Christmas 1976 to undergo surgery,[1][2] turning the show over to panelist Bill Cullen. Semi-regular panelist Joe Garagiola also acted as the host for several weeks, claiming he was "pinch-hitting" for Moore.[12] Moore soon announced his retirement from television. He explained on his final episode of To Tell the Truth that his throat cancer was a sign that he was "just being greedy". He said he decided he had overstayed his welcome as a television and radio entertainer, and was making one last appearance to say farewell to the viewers.[12] Garagiola hosted the program for the rest of the season, which was the show's last.
Moore retired to Hilton Head, South Carolina, where he spent his time sailing, and also at his summer home in Northeast Harbor, Maine.[2] He made one final television appearance in a late 1980s television tribute to Carol Burnett. Moore recounted the time circumstances forced him and Burnett to share a dressing room for one show. After many years, Moore said he had a confession to make: "I peeked." Burnett replied, "So did I."
Garry Moore died of emphysema at Hilton Head, South Carolina, on November 28, 1993 at the age of 76.[2] He was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Northeast Harbor, Maine.[13] He was named one of the 15 greatest game show hosts of all time by Time Magazine.[14]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j ""Moore, Garry"". Museum.tv. http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/mooregarry/mooregarry.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Garry Moore, 78, the Cheery Host Of Long-Running TV Series, Dies". New York Times. 1993-11-29. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7D81039F93AA15752C1A965958260. Retrieved 2007-12-08.
- ^ a b "Garry Moore". Variety. 1993-11-29. http://www.variety.com/article/VR116143.html?categoryid=25&cs=1. Retrieved 2007-12-08.
- ^ a b c d e "Moore for Housewives". Time. 1953-02-02. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,817877,00.html. Retrieved 2007-12-08.
- ^ "The Jimmy Durante And Garry Moore Show", NBC (1943), CBS (1943-1947): "Episodic log". The Vintage Radio Place. http://www.otrsite.com/logs/logj1003.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-08.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "The Garry Moore Show / The Garry Moore Evening Show". CBS, listed at Classic TV Hits; profile of Garry Moore at Who2.com. http://www.classictvhits.com/show.php?id=832. Retrieved 2007-11-10.
- ^ a b c d e "I've Got a Secret". Goodson-Todman Productions, syndicated. http://ivegotasecretonline.com/main.php?section=about&name=show. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ Morgan, Henry (1994). Here's Morgan! The Original BAD BOY of Broadcasting. Barricade Books. pp. 213–214. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/1569800014 "One night I was doing my own local TV show and, in lighting a cigarette, I remarked that I was creating my own cancer. It didn't occur to me, of course, that 'Secret' was sponsored by Winston, the w.k. cancer purveyors. But it did occur to a viewer, a well-wisher who got in touch with Winston- Salem so fast that they fired me at dawn. Garry flew down to North Carolina and talked them out of it. What can you do with a guy like that? More to the point, what can you do without him?"|1569800014 "One night I was doing my own local TV show and, in lighting a cigarette, I remarked that I was creating my own cancer. It didn't occur to me, of course, that 'Secret' was sponsored by Winston, the w.k. cancer purveyors. But it did occur to a viewer, a well-wisher who got in touch with Winston- Salem so fast that they fired me at dawn. Garry flew down to North Carolina and talked them out of it. What can you do with a guy like that? More to the point, what can you do without him?"]].
- ^ "Bill Cullen: Unusual Appearances". The Bill Cullen Homepage. http://userdata.acd.net/ottinger/cullen/more.html. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ "It Happened to Jane". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052933. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
- ^ "Smothering censorship thank the 'Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour' of the '60s for today's braver TV world". New York Daily News. 1998-09-29. http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/entertainment/1998/09/29/1998-09-29_smothering_censorship_thank_.html. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
- ^ a b "To Tell The Truth 1977". Goodson-Todman Productions, syndicated. http://tttt.home.att.net/tttt1977-78.html. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
- ^ "Garry Moore". findagrave.com. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7445. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
- ^ "Garry Moore - 15 Best Game Show Hosts - TIME". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1624580_1624566_1624411,00.html. Retrieved 2007-12-08.
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