Customer Reviews

Inventing Late Night: Steve Allen and the Original Tonight Show

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I normally read a book in about one week. It took me a day and a half to read "Inventing Late Night" - I could not put it down! Ben Alba's book is hilarious, insightful, impeccably researched, sensitive and portrays an accurate accounting of the genesis of late night TV. He gives full credit to the genius of Steve Allen and is loaded with transcripts from many of Allen's side-splitting comedy bits. As a fan of Allen for over fifty years, I've read every accounting possible concerning his numerous contributions to TV. None is more poignant, dead on precise, humorous and intelligent than Alba's "Inventing Late Night".

Ben Alba has written a masterpiece that magically brings you back to the roots of television entertainment.
I beleive that this book will not only remind older readers why they enjoyed Steve Allen & Company (what company!) but young readers will be left with a new appreciation of all those who have followed. It won't be long into this book before you realize that Leno, Letterman & Conan and many others did learn from the master.. Steve Allen.
The musical talents that were part of this show from the beginning all went on to long successful careers. This powerful musical ensemble included Doc Severinsen, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme' and Andy Williams...
In Summary: A must read book will remind us how much enjoyment Steve Allen brought to our era and bring a hightened appreciation for all the shows that have followed.

"Inventing Late Night: Steve Allen and the Original Tonight Show," by Ben Alba evokes an exceptionally rich chapter in the history of popular culture even as it restores recognition to the accomplishments of host Steve Allen and his many gifted collaborators. "Inventing," is indeed the operative term. At that time, there were many blank areas in the tv program schedule, including late night; and the "national" network, in an early stage of growth, had yet to extend beyond the Eastern Seaboard. Under Steve Allen's direction, the Tonight Show was the first network program to create a late night viewership; the revenues it brought in encouraged the spread of the network across the nation. That same success afforded host Allen much creative freedom in both the format and content of his show. The former has pop culture iconic status: opening monologue; celebrity interviews at the desk; roaming cameras; insane stunts. However, the content of the show, rarely imitated, has arguably never been matched by any tv program in the range of its appeal to the mind.

A decade ago, the Lounge revival in music inspired a healthy reassessment of artists like Louie Prima, Keely Smith, as well as towering icons as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. It is intriguing to read about performers who were every bit as spontaneous, witty and jazzy as the rat packers; but who were from another world - that of New York City when high culture was still vibrant, every other layer of culture had its own appealing energy; and central to it all was nightlife. Many of the most stimulating artists of the 20th century appeared on Allen's prototypical Tonight Show. Jazz immortals like Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Thelonius Monk did extended sets. Occasional programs were devoted to a particular songwriter, with the composer himself at the piano -- including Richard Rodgers, Johny Mercer and others. Vocals were provided a fabulous small group of resident singers that included Andy Williams, Steve Lawrence, and Eydie Gorme. Though Steve Allen was a young man during his Tonight Show years, he displayed inspired judgment time and again. He is revealed as an exceptionally creative person who was intrigued by the immediacy and intimacy of the television medium - especially its stastonishing capacity to transmit an addictive antic energy. He also comes through as a fully principled individual unafraid to take on serious issues like capital punishment and organized crime.



Author Alba writes in an engaging, transparent style. He has a mindful yet breezy perspective perfect for his subject matter. His book is filled with interviews with key figures from the early Tonight Show in which they are candid and fresh and sharp in their recollections. Though recurring editing problems are a minor annoyance, the book is a fully refreshing history of a show that provided virtually everybody connected with it with the best time in their lives.

Anyone who is old enough to remember the zany antics of the original Tonight Show with Steve Allen is sure to enjoy this wonderful book. Steve was a person with so many talents--comedian, writer, lyricist, composer--and we saw all of them in those early days. This book does a great job of showing how the Tonight Show--even today--has a heritage that goes back to the marvelous genius of Steve Allen!

A great read. As a long time fan of Steve Allen... having been a fan from the very beginning of his show... I believe this marvelous book will delight those who were around back then.. and will help those who were not around back then to know and appreciate Mr. Allen's very special and wonderful talents. Ben Alba's book is a flashback to the glorious, live television days of Steve Allen and the original and best Tonight Show. It not only caused me to recall fond memories but helped me to refresh memories starting to fade... and to fill in details not previously known. Such a shame that the great Steve Allen's Tonight Show film history was not saved. But... so great that this book was written to tell the story. I have already purchased multiple copies to give to family and friends this Christmas.

Ben Alba captures the real essence of Steve Allen's talent and how important he was to the Tonight Show. I learned so much about the whole Tonight Show format and what made it so imporatnt to America's TV culture. Ben Alba is a captivating and clever writer.

Steve Allen's contributions to late night television are delivered with great writing which flows across generations. This is a book for many adult age groups. I highly recommend it.

Mr. Alba's "Inventing Late Night" gives a wonderful insight into the genuis that was Steve Allen. It is rare book that can be so meticulously researched, yet remain an entertaining page-turner. The fabulous interviews are especially enjoyable. I felt I learned something new about the genesis of the Tonight Show on every page. Mr. Alba is a superb writer with a clever sense of humor.

Steve Allen invented the late-night TV talk show as we now know it. The whole rigamarole was his creation, the desk, the band, the opening monolgoue, the tacky skits, the going up into the audience to answer questions, the guest chatter, according to Ken Tucker in an 'Entertainment Weekly' article tribute in 2000. Steve Allen was born in New York City on St. Stephen's Day and named for the first Christian martyr. His parents were vaudeville performers. Mother was from an Irish family in Chicago. His first job at the age of seventeen (same as me) was as a salesman at $15 per week. He in Chicago, me in backward Knoxville. Neither of us was doomed to be the world of sales. His first job in the entertainment business was as d.j. at KOY as a staff announcer and d.j. on KFAC on Wilshire Blvd. in L.A. He had gone to high school one year in Hollywood.

Allen wrote a lengthy autobiographical poem in '38 then rewrote it in '56 after his success on television for 'Chicago' magazine. Men know much less for certain than they think they do. How much intelligence does it take to play records? He started writing songs but found Tin Pan Alley to be a 'myth' for success financially; $5,000 or $6,000 as royalties was considered "peanuts" back then in the magic world of music.

He grew jaded and considered t.v. a passing phenonmon. How wrong he was! Some of the musicians/singers who performed on his Tonight Show included Alan Jones, John Scott Trotter, Paul Desmond, Eddie Fisher, Dorothy Collins, Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians, Buddy Rich, Lester Young, Victor Young, Bob Crosby, Eddie Heywood, George Shearing, Johnny Desmond, Polly Bergen, Dinah Shore, and Vaughn Monroe. A plethora of actors also agreed to be interviewed including Marjorie Lord, William Bendix, Andy Devine, Sal Mineo, Natalie Wood, Cornel Wilde, Gordon MacRae, Judy Holiday, Andy Griffith, Rhonda Fleming, and Ray Bolger. Some public figures were Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Truman, and Countess Alexandria Tolstoy. Writers on t.v. to promote their books include Tennessee Williams, Dorothy Kilgallen, James Michener, Carl Sandburg, and Herman Wouk. Some of the composers were Aaron Copland, Adolph Green, Bob Merrill, Don Costas, Jimmy Van Heusen, and Jimmy McHugh. Comedians Pinky Lee and Ernie Kovacs were regulars as were some people in the audience.

One of his early books was "Mark it and Strike it" meaning a direction to stagehands used in t.v., a command to the crew to mark the position of the scenery and then remove it. He claims he used that title due to the "impermanence" of the medium. He says he didn't ever let television become his whole life becaues of its "here-today-gone-tomorrow" existence'.

These were the magic years of television for the above listed stars. They were actual stars of their time, and now their time has past. We are the here-and-now. His show was on NBC from 1956 to 1960 and introduced the world to Steve Lawrence and Edyie Gorme, for whom he wrote a song, and furthered their individual careers and as a team. In 1986, Allen was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame for his lifetime contributions to t.v. He died on October 30, 2000 and is sorely missed by his fans, family and friends.

While this book contains some interesting information about Allen and his pioneering television work, it is mostly a mish-mash of stories that are not written particularly well. And I must admit that when I read one particular anecdote -- about Mrs. Sam Snead's inadvertent double entendre to Allen during a broadcast -- I began to wonder just how inaccurate the book might be. The story has also been told about Mrs. Arnold Palmer and Johnny Carson, and the urban legends web site Snopes.com says that it's not a true story. If the author of this book included urban legends, one wonders just what parts of the book are true and what parts are made up.

I didn't want this book to end. I really felt like being back in a time tunnel. This book makes you feel as if you are right there backstage with Steve Allen. So many inside stories and quotes. Steve Allen was one of a kind and this this book really gives a behind the scenes look at what went on in the making of the shows.
I can't wait to read it again!!!
A Must have for any Steve Allen fan as well as anyone interested in early TV.
ENJOY!!!!!