On the day of his 100th birthday, a special episode of Vintage Variety looks back at Johnny Carson’s early career trajectory and his rise to becoming a television icon, as chronicled in the pages of Variety.
From variety magazine January 8, 1958 issue
Carson first mentioned Variety magazine in the October 20, 1952 issue. By early 1953, his name was appearing on our pages several times a month. For the next year, and for the next 40 years, Carson worked tirelessly so that not a week went by without at least one reference, and usually more. He hosted “Carson’s Cellar” in Los Angeles and worked as a screenwriter on “The Red Skelton Show.” He, like other up-and-coming comedians at the time, did nightclubs, solo appearances, telethons and charity gigs.
Throughout the 1950s, Carson hosted a number of local and network series for CBS, including “The Platter Panel” and “Earn Your Vacation.” The latter was a quiz show where contestants told Carson their personal reasons for wanting to travel to a particular location. Carson then asked trivia questions related to the location, and if he answered enough questions correctly, he won the trip. By the late ’50s, Carson had steady work as the host of ABC’s daytime game show “Who Do You Trust?,” which involved marital competition. He was also a regular on talk shows and was very personable.
From Daily Variety magazine October 20, 1952 issue
Carson’s debut film was outrageous. He ran a short article at the top of page one noting the program’s jab at the heated political battle between then-presidential candidates Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson over the disclosure or non-disclosure of income tax returns, and in particular Eisenhower’s running mate, Richard Nixon. In that context, here is the full text, published on October 20, 1952, two weeks before Eisenhower was elected to the first of his two terms in the White House.
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