But Seriously: Steve Allen Speakes His Mind Review

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(More customer reviews)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.
He 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! He was a name dropper" Eddie Cantor, George Gobel, Sid Scesar, Grocho Marx ("You Bet Your LIfe"), Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Burns and Allen (no relation), Victor Borge, and Danny Kaye, among others. Eddie Fisher was the king of t.v. in the Fifties, but Steverino left him off his list for success. Poor Eddie, the was the best performer of his time.
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' that was, before he became the original "Tonight" show host.
Radio is here forever; so is television. Will Rogers Quote is "We are all ignorant, only on different subjects." As Shakespeare put it:
"Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Savior's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long,
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch has power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is that time."
It was 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.

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As its title suggests, "But Seriously ..." offers readers a superb sampling of Steve Allen's articles, personal correspondence, speeches, book excerpts, and forewords written to introduce the work of important writers. Whether Allen is serving up some tongue-in-cheek advice on "How to Attack a Liberal" in which he identifies himself as the liberal and then advises conservatives on how best to confront his beliefs ethically, or is offering his views on Chinese nuclear capability, his razor-sharp insights always cut to the core of the issue. This cornucopia of well-reasoned discussion is filled with good humour, irony, and a deep concern for the human condition. Whether he's offering "Concluding Remarks at the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice", an excerpt from "The Courage of Conviction", or expressing his views on Native Americans, labour relations, the lessons to be learned from Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, or presenting an open letter to Frank Sinatra, Allen's devotion to common sense and serious social involvement carves a path for others to follow.

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