I was on a national radio show about 1947 when Art Linkletter came to Spokane, Washington. I remember the show as being called Ladies Be Seated. But Google claims it as House Party. My event preceded “Kids Say the Darndest Things” where he interviewed 23,000 children.
The show began normally enough with a moderately filled movie theater, I think it was the Orpheum theater. I was sitting at the center about ten rows back when Art said they needed someone to sing a song for the crowd to sing along with. Suddenly, everyone was looking at me. I shrank and practically slid under the folding seat, only to look up and see all of these women pointing down at me. “Here he is! Her he is!” they all shouted as I crawled deeper under the seats.
They pried me loose, and soon I was standing there on the stage with Art asking me dumb questions. He asked me to sing a song. I never knew many songs, and still don’t, but I did know “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean,” so that’s what I sang, and the audience chimed in.
My pay for that experience was about five 78 rpm records with some opera singer. I might have listened to them once. A baseball mitt would have pleased me, but old opera records was a definite NO THANK YOU!
Another career opportunity down the drain.
