November 2, 2000
A brilliant guy - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- There are a number of people, living and dead, that I admire. Perhaps one that I admire a great deal, died last Monday. I say perhaps, because I didn’t admire him nearly as much as I was appreciative of the lessons taught me by this man. Steve Allen, was a superb entertainer. A comedian by trade - hosting the first incarnation of NBC’s Tonight Show - more than that he was a towering force in the world of broadcasting.
I was very young, I’d say 11 or 12, when I first encountered Steve Allen. I had borrowed his biography: Hi-Ho Steverino from the library. Since, I followed his career intently. I borrowed the audio cassette of him reading it and was struck by the eloquence to which he spoke and how he genuinely told the stories of his life. Not long thereafter, I came across another book on tape: How to Make a Speech. Read again by Mr. Allen, I must have listened to that thing - over and over again - a dozen times. Little did I know, I learned a hell of a lot on how to approach public speaking, from one of the best. Come to think of it, probably more than just public speaking - life.
He was a comedian, but he wasn’t a joke teller like Henny Youngman or an insulter like Don Rickles, where to them they seem a natural to it. Not that Steve Allen wasn’t a natural, he just had a more intellectual sense of comedy. I think it was Carl Reiner who said a couple days ago, he used his amazing intellect to become the comedian he was.
His record stands and will probably never be rivalled. Steve Allen composed something like 4,000 songs, wrote over 40 books; he wrote plays, he acted and did a whole lot of television. Sadly, it will be for the television alone that he’ll be remembered when there’s a lot more.
This man had wit, talent and intellect. It wasn’t the kind of humour you could spot on a Jerry Lewis, nor the notability of composer Sammy Cahn. His intellect filled his jokes, his books and more importantly, in recent years, his work in trying to cleanse television of innuendo and gratuitous garbage. Vulgarity was not his cup of tea, and he fought vigorously to expels such classlessness from the medium he pioneered.
When history remembers Steve Allen, they’ll see an unassuming man. One that will be remembered for something that really wasn’t his best work. His whole career was a superb example of what brilliance is. Shame is the pity on the forgotten or lesser known side of Steve Allen, that charming talent and that intellect that was taller than his already tall enough frame.
His wife Jayne Meadows and he were a couple that Hollywood would have killed to have more of. She was a doting mother and a glamorous actress. He was the superb talent and brilliant comedian.
Hollywood never thought of Steve Allen as a star. They thought of him as a talented man, who didn’t fit the mould of “stardom”. And God bless him for that. Had Hollywood raped his talent and he sold out on his integrity, we’d have had a lesser man in our midst. Show business, being the contemptuous mistress that it is will only remember a fraction of a man, who was the best.
If I am at all regarded as being a reasonable public speaker, it is because of Steve Allen. I don’t think that I am, but I’m sure as hell learning. I’m actually giving a talk to my economics class this morning, so when I step up to the lectern, it’ll be Steve’s work - for Steve Allen. If nothing else, I am extremely greatful and frankly honoured to have been so lucky.
Rest in peace, Steve.
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