I Wish It Was Christmas Today - Part 14

It's time to resume our review of the holiday flotsam and jetsam on my 20th and most recent seasonal compilation, "I Wish It Was Christmas Today."  Today's focus is on yet another clip from Johnny Carson's iteration of The Tonight Show, along with a track from the 1960s that got included by accident because I'd forgotten I'd used it once before. Oh, well, let's get started!

Track 37
Christmas Gift for Janet De Cordova, Johnny Carson from The Tonight Show (1985) 

Fred De Cordova

This is the third of three clips on this year's mix from the gold standard of late night television, The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. This one is from 1985 and involves Fred De Cordova, the show's legendary producer. 

Fifteen years older than Carson, De Cordova had accomplished a lot before joining The Tonight Show. After graduating Harvard Law School, he joined the Schubert organization in New York — not as a lawyer, but rather as a director, stage manager and performer. He eventually left New York for Hollywood, where he directed a series of low-budget films, including "Bedtime for Bonzo," starring Ronald Reagan, who became a good friend. He later focused on television, directing hundreds of programs ranging from the Jack Benny Show to My Three Sons and Leave It to Beaver. He joined The Tonight Show as producer in 1970 and became executive producer in 1984. According to De Cordova, his role was to serve as "chief traffic cop, talent scout, No. 1 fan and critic all rolled into one," and, for the most part, he did his job well. He won five Emmys for his work, and the show was a great success. Jay Leno installed his own producer after succeeding Carson as host in 1992, but he was smart enough to keep De Cordova around for an additional five years as a consultant. 

De Cordova was a hands-on producer who remained readily accessible to Carson throughout most of each night's broadcast, sitting just outside of camera range. For the most part, he made sure things stayed on time and provided Carson with feedback during commercial breaks. Occasionally, however, Carson would pull De Cordova into the actual on-air conversation as a disembodied voice from beyond the set. This arrangement was parodied by SCTV in a very funny sketch called "The Fred De Cordova Show." In later years, Carson had a light installed over De Cordova's chair so the camera could pick him up when Carson called on him. You can catch a glimpse of him in this clip, when he and Johnny discuss what Mrs. De Cordova's Christmas gift request:

Janet De Cordova in Gracie's Mexican home

I've heard many stories about about Fred's wife, Janet, over the years, which is why I found this short clip about her gift request so compelling. From what I know of her, the idea of Mrs. De Cordova asking for Halley's Comet isn't so far-fetched — if not on a ring, then maybe on a broach or a necklace.  And from what I know about her husband, he might very well have tried to procure it for her. (For background, Halley's Comet is visible from earth once every 75 years or so. It was due to appear shortly after this clip was filmed, so it was in the news then. The previous showing Carson and De Cordova referenced was in 1910, so the joke was a knock on the producer's age.) 

Fred and Janet didn't want for much during their  heyday as one of Hollywood's highest-profile power couples. While Fred kept the Tonight Show running in Burbank, Janet was typically spending money on Rodeo Drive or lunching with wealthy girlfriends like Nancy Reagan, Betsy Bloomingdale or Joanna Carson. “The De Cordovas’ raison d’être,” said Dominick Dunne, “was to live an A-list life.”

The marriage and lifestyle of this rich and famous couple was detailed in the 2011 Vanity Fair profile "Once Upon a Time in Beverly Hills," by Matt Tyrnauer. It's a fascinating read.

Janet Thomas was a Kentucky native ten years Fred's junior. She relocated to Hollywood in the early 1940s with hopes of getting into the movies, and while that didn't pan out, her good looks earned her a place on the social circuit and she had little difficulty meeting suitable escorts. Her first four marriages ended in divorce, but her fifth, to De Cordova, lasted for 38 years, until his death in 2001. It was not, by many accounts, an extraordinarily loving marriage. But the two proved useful to one another, and they enjoyed all of the many privileges that came from Fred's position at Carson's side, including a gorgeous home, lavish gifts, the latest fashions and the constant support of talented domestic help.

For those who knew the De Cordovas or attended their parties, the secret to Janet's reputation as a hostess was her longtime housekeeper, Gracie Covarrubias. It was Gracie who tended to all the details and all of Janet's many needs. Through good times and bad, it was Gracie who absorbed all of the bumps and shocks that threatened Janet's home life, smoothing everything over so she could enjoy her daily pursuits without worry or fear. This wasn't unique among the denizens of Beverly Hills. Many of the rich and famous had hired help upon whom they depended. But Gracie grew to become much more than that to Janet De Cordova.

Following Fred's death in 2001, Janet discovered that her financial resources were far more limited than she'd imagined. Yes, Fred had earned a decent wage, but Janet's clothing and jewelry alone ate up a good chunk of that. And while they never had children, the entertainment and household expenses hadn't allowed for much in the way of a financial cushion for the lean times. Janet was forced to sell their home and started to look for a new place to live. 

Things began to look even worse for Janet when her loyal housekeeper announced she'd decided to return to Mexico to live in the house she had built with the savings from her tireless service to the De Cordovas. Janet was devastated. How would she ever survive without Gracie? It was then that the two women agreed to an arrangement that stunned Janet's Beverly Hills friends. Gracie agreed to bring Janet with her to live out her final years in her housekeeper's Mexican home. It's an incredibly sweet story, well detailed in the Vanity Fair piece I commend to your attention. I understand HBO has had the rights to Janet's story for a number of years and is working to develop something from it. I know I'd be more interested in seeing that than seeing Halley's comet on a ring.

Here's a clip of Fred as an actual guest on the Tonight Show:

Did You Know:  Fred De Cordova played late-night TV producer Bert Thomas in Martin Scorsese's brilliant film The King of Comedy (1983). In the film, Robert De Niro plays a disturbed aspiring comedian who kidnaps talk show host Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis) in order to appear on his nightly show. I've set the clip, below, to open on one of De Cordova's scenes, but if you haven't seen it, I encourage you to watch the whole movie, which is terrific. 

Track 38
She's Coming Home, The Wailers (1965)

Several weeks ago, I mentioned the terrific 1965 album "Merry Christmas from The Sonics, The Wailers and the Galaxies," on which you'll find the third track from this year's compilation, "Santa Claus," by The Sonics. You'll also find this track — "She's Coming Home," by The Wailers. This isn't the first time I've featured this tune on one of my mixes. It also appears on my 2020 mix, "All Alone on Christmas," making it one of only a small handful of tunes to appear more than once. Why the second showing? I don't know, I guess I just really like the song. And, to be honest, I'd forgotten I'd used it previously. I haven't listened to or thought much about my 2020 collection since I put it together and when I heard this song again while playing the Sonics, Wailers and Galaxies record this fall I was thinking more about how much I liked it than whether I'd used it previously. I guess I must also really like The Wailers, as I included another of their terrific tunes, "Christmas Spirit," on my 2018 mix, "My Christmastime Philosophy."

The band was originally formed in 1958 as "The Nightcaps" by five high school friends in Tacoma, Washington. They had an early break when a demo of one of their earliest original songs, an instrumental called "Tall Cool One," caught the attention of the New York-based Golden Crest label and they were offered a recording contract. "Tall Cool One" hit Billboard's Top 40 under the group's new name and their first album, "The Fabulous Wailers" was well reviewed. Unfortunately, they were dropped by their label after refusing to relocate to New York and returned to the Seattle area for good. 

Over the next nine years, the band established itself as a local favorite in the Pacific Northwest. They performed frequently and released a number of fine albums on their own record label. They also helped to promote other area bands, including The Sonics and The Galaxies, with whom they collaborated on the 1965 album on which "She's Coming Home" appears.

This really is a great song — one that captures all of the hopefulness, excitement and bittersweet feelings that can arise among young people reuniting over the holidays after time away at school:

 

We've only got three more tracks to examine this year, and I expect to get to them sometime over the next day or two. Hang in there, everybody — Christmas is coming!