Dave Garroway

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David Cunningham Garroway (July 13, 1913 – July 21, 1982) was an American television celebrity.

He was the founding host and anchor of NBC's Today from 1952 to 1961.

His upbeat and relaxing style belied a life-long fight against depression.

With a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, as well as the St. Louis Walk of Fame, the city where he spent a portion of his teenage years and early adulthood, Garroway has been lauded for his contributions to radio and television.

Early life

Garroway was born in Schenectady, New York, and he was of Scottish descent. By the time Garroway was 14 years old, he had moved with his family 13 times, eventually settling in St. Louis, Missouri, where he obtained a degree in abnormal psychology from University City High School and Washington University. Garroway worked as a Harvard University lab assistant, book salesman, and piston ring salesman before heading into broadcasting. After not being able to sell either, Garroway decided to try his hand at radio.

Personal life

Garroway has been married three times and had three children. Adele Dwyer, who married in 1945, was his first marriage. Before divorcing the following year, the couple had a daughter, Paris. In 1956, he married former actor and ballerina Pamela Wilde. In 1958, the family had a son, David Cunningham Garroway, Jr. Michael Wilde's son Michael from her first marriage was adopted by Garroway later. Wilde died of a prescription drug overdose on April 28, 1961. In February 1980, Garroway married astronomer Sarah Lee Lippincott. They were married until Garroway's death in 1982.

Garroway was keen on astronomy, and he met his third wife, astronomer Sarah Lee Lippincott, on a tour of Russian telescopes. He attended astronomy symposia at Swarthmore College and spent time at Sproul Observatory in his remaining years.

Garroway was also a car enthusiast, and one of his pastimes was restoring and restoring vintage luxury and sport cars. He was particularly fond of his 1938 SS Jaguar 100, which he also raced in his spare time. In several automobile ads, including the first Chevrolet Corvette in 1953 and the Ford Falcon in 1964, Garroway was featured.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Garroway, a music enthusiast and amateur drummer, lent his name to a collection of recordings of jazz, classical, and pop music. Wide World of Jazz, 1957-1959's Some of My Favorites and 1958's Dave Garroway's Orchestra: An Adventure in Hi-Fi Music were among them.

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Career

In 1938, Garroway began his broadcasting career as a page; he graduated 23nd in a class of 24 from NBC's school for announcers. Following graduation, he accepted a job at Pittsburgh's KDKA in 1939. He gathered reports from a hot-air balloon, a US Navy submarine in the Ohio River, and a coal mine deep inside. And in unusual situations, Garroway's early reporting efforts earned him a reputation for obtaining a good story. As he was known, the "Live Announcer" was able to become the station's special events manager while still attending to his on-air duties. Garroway left for Chicago after two years with KDKA.

Garroway enlisted in the United States Navy when the United States entered World War II in 1941. When stationed in Honolulu, he hosted a radio show when he wasn't off duty, playing jazz songs, and reminiscing about the old days of Chicago. Garroway went back to work at WMAQ (AM) in Chicago as a disc jockey. Over time, Garroway hosted a number of radio programs, including The 11:60 Club, The Dave Garroway Exhibition, and Reserved for Garroway. On his radio shows, Garroway was surprised that the studio audience responded not by applauding but by clicking their fingers. In 1947, Garroway began to program jazz concerts, establishing a "Jazz Circuit" of local clubs, reigniting local clubs' enthusiasm in the jazz genre. In the 1948 and 1949 Billboard polls, his fellow disc jockeys voted him the best in the country's best. In 1951, he received the award again.

When the program first aired on NBC Radio's Monitor on June 12, 1955, Garroway was the first "communicator." From 1955 to 1961, he served as the Sunday-evening host of the news and music program. In 1964 and early 1971, Garroway appeared on WCBS radio and briefly hosted the afternoon rush-hour shift at KFI in Los Angeles.

When Garroway hosted the experimental musical variety show Garroway at Large in Chicago, he was introduced to the national television audience. From June 18, 1949, to June 24, 1951, NBC carried it.

When on the air, Garroway's relaxed, informal style became part of his brand. "He does not crash into the house with the false jollity and thunderous witticisms of a backslapper" in 1960, according to reviewer Richard F. Shepard of The New York Times. He is a pleasant, thoughtful, scholarly, and not ostensibly sociable." Garroway's name was known for his signoff on television, saying "Peace" with an upraised palm.

Arthur Godfrey, Arlene Francis, Steve Allen, and Jack Paar, Garroway was one of the television talk show pioneers. Steven D. Stark, a television commentator, traces the origins of the style to Chicago. In the early 1950s, Garroway, Studs Terkel, and Hugh Downs all hosted relaxed, garrulous, extemporaneous shows in that city. On the last word of a sentence, older radio and television voices developed an authoritative "announcer" intonation, resembling public oration. As in this November 20, 1957, introduction for the Today show, Garroway was one of the television presenters who brought conversational style and tone to television, beginning some shows as if the viewer were sitting in the studio with him. Let's see how it's in; there's a glimmer of hope."

The Today show that pioneering NBC president Sylvester "Pat" Weaver selected Garroway as the host of his new morning news-and-entertainment experiment in 1952. When the show debuted on Monday, January 14, 1952, he was joined by news editor Jim Fleming and announcer Jack Lescoulie. Despite being initially panned by critics, Garroway's style attracted a large audience that adored his easygoing presence early in the morning. His amiable "cohost," a chimpanzee with J. Fred Muggs' snarky name, did not offend his genial demeanor, but his continued interest in writing news and his ability to articulate abstract ideas earned him the nickname "The Communicator" and later gained acclaim from critics and viewers alike.

Garroway hosted The Dave Garroway Show on Friday night from October 2, 1953 to June 25, 1954, at the same time as he did Today. He began hosting NBC's live Sunday-afternoon documentary Wide Wide World on October 16, 1955, and he stayed with the show until June 8, 1958. Dave's Place, another Friday-evening variety show, was on the radio in 1960. Dial Dave Garroway, a radio show, also appeared on the radio, and it soon became available as Today wraps up each morning. Dial Dave Garroway began in 1946 while working for WMAQ in Chicago.

During his tenure, Garroway took today to various locations - Paris and Rome in 1959; automobile shows and technology exhibitions; theatre and films; and an Air Force B-52 for a practice bombing run. Garroway introduced viewers to a variety of people, including politicians, writers, scholars, economists, and musicians via television. Garroway served as host of several of the show's sponsors in his role as a pitchman. Among them were Admiral television sets, Alcoa, and Sergeant's dog food. The bulk of the publications were in the form of newspaper and magazine advertisements. "Dave Garroway's Today Game" was also published by 1960.

Billy Graham's crusades from 1949 to 1960 were chronicled in Garroway's special filmed program for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

On television, Garroway's relaxed demeanor masked his sadness. He began having disagreements with staff members at the end of his career; some days, Garroway would fade in the middle of the Today show, leaving colleagues to finish the live broadcast. When Garroway's second wife, Pamela, died of a prescription-drug overdose on April 28, 1961, the city fell into a deeper emotional slumbery. Garroway resigned in late May 1961, announcing his intention to leave today, either as soon as his deal was ended or sooner, if possible — to spend more time with his children. Garroway, a pioneer, died in 1961, on June 16, 1961.

After leaving Today, Garroway returned to television on National Educational Television (the forerunner of PBS) with a science series called Exploring the Universe in late 1962. Later, he returned to radio, serving on "split-shift" shows like Garroway AM (midmornings) and Garroway PM (midafternoons) for WCBS (AM), New York). National FM-Radio, Garroway's journal, also began. The venture, unfortunately, was costly, with Garroway realizing he was not cut out to be a businessman. When he was in the publishing industry, Garroway began reading numerous law books to try to figure out what his lawyer was saying. His counsel told him that he had enough legal knowledge to pass the New York State bar exam. Garroway sat for and passed the written examination on a bet.

In April 1969, Garroway founded Tempo Boston, a daytime talk show on WNAC-TV, which he hoped would be picked up for national syndication. Stations in New York and Philadelphia had volunteered to attend the exhibition, but the small-scale syndication had ended and Tempo was cancelled by early 1970. The show had a promise, but instead of more expensive local programming, the show's team decided to fill its time slot with old movies. After leaving the Boston airwaves, Garroway moved to Southern California, hosting a music-and-talk show on KFI radio in Los Angeles. He wanted to return to television with a CBS summer replacement program, Newcomers, but the show never made it to the summer of 1971. Garroway began acting lessons in Los Angeles, and he appeared in an episode of the Western film Alias Smith and Jones as a judge in 1972.

Without achieving the success and fame on Today, Garroway appeared on other television shows less often. He remained out of the public eye for the remainder of the 1960s and 1970s, although he did resurfaced for Today anniversaries. On January 14, 1982, he made his final appearance on the 30th anniversary of the show.

In 1956, Garroway narrated a collection of romantic songs performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra, Getting Friendly with Music. He also appeared on several albums, including 1964's The Great Campaigners, 1928–1960, and 1960's Names From the Wars.

In 1960, Garroway wrote Fun on Wheels, an activity book for children on road trips. In 1962 and 1964, the book was rewritten and reissued.

Garroway planned to write an autobiography toward the end of his life. The book never made it to the publishing stage; to former Today researcher Lee Lawrence, the survived notes, manuscripts, audio tapes, and news clips were sent. Following Lawrence's death in 2003, the boxes were donated to the University of Maryland Libraries, where they remained as of 2009.

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