The news of Johnny's death so upset me yesterday that I wasn't able to do much more than read and watch the tributes on TV - and fight with my husband, who didn't understand why I was so mopey. I was surprised by that too - but that didn't stop me from defending myself.
ME: I used to work for the man.
HIM: You barely knew him.
ME: I talked to him every day on the phone.
HIM (incredulously): Oh yeah?
ME: Yeah. Every day, he'd call and say "This is Johnny. I need to speak to Ray." And then I'd have to track Ray down and get him on the phone. (Ray was the head writer, my immediate boss at the Tonight Show.)
I remember one time when he didn't identify himself and was calling from his car, so I didn't recognize his voice. And I refused to put him through. Finally, he said "This is Johnny Carson, dear. Please let me talk to Ray." So, of course, I did.
HIM: You never told me that before. That's a pretty good one.
And then he let me be. But I ended up Tivo'ing the Dateline special so he and Megan could watch something else. I watched it late last night, and seeing footage of NBC, Studio 1, Fred de Cordova (deceased), director Bobby Quinn (also deceased), and stage managers Kevin Quinn (Bobby's son - nepotism was alive and well there) and Mike Gray (who was a truly nice guy)... well, the occasion of Johnny's death is prompting a lot of memories of that time in my life - not necessarily ones that deal with Mr. Carson, because after all, as a lowly writers' assistant, the exchange described above and in my other post pretty much summed up my personal dealings with our star.
I need to get this stuff "on paper" and out of the way so I can continue living my very different life today. So the next few posts will be anecdotes from my years at The Tonight Show.
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