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May 27, 2010
Art Linkletter Passed Away At 97 R.I.P. Thank You For The Laughter Art!
Art Linkletter died yesterday at the age of 97. Linkletter was a household name TV Host for decades, known for his segment on “House Party,” called “Kid’s Say the Darndest Things.” The video gives a good taste of what Linkletter was like.
These kids are soooo adorable, I laughed all the way through the video. ! Wild Thing
Art Linkletter, the genial radio and television host who spent more than two decades interviewing children and getting them to say "the darndest things," has died. He was 97.
He died today at his home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles, the Associated Press reported, citing his son-in-law, Art Hershey.
Linkletter gained fame as a sympathetic interviewer on "House Party," a daytime variety show that aired on CBS radio and TV from 1945 to 1969. In the show's best-known segment, "Kids Say the Darndest Things," Linkletter would draw amusing answers from schoolchildren by asking who did the housework at home, or whom they wanted to marry.
He capitalized on the popularity of the routine through a series of books, including "Kids Say the Darndest Things" (1957), which topped the best-seller list for two straight years. CBS revived the concept and title for a primetime show in 1998, with Bill Cosby as host and Linkletter as a contributor.
Linkletter also hosted the NBC program "People Are Funny," which ran from 1954 to 1961. The show put ordinary people into extraordinary situations to capture their varying reactions. Some critics now call it one of television's first reality shows.
Linkletter said his first radio interview with a child was in 1943 with his son Jack, then 5. Asked about his first day at school, Jack said he wasn't going back.
"I said, why not? He says, 'Well, I can't read and I can't write and they won't let me talk.'"
More than 25 years of such interviews followed. "Kids under 10 and people over 70" were best on the show, Linkletter said. "The old people don't care, and the kids don't know what they're saying," he said.
Asked what's good about aging, Linkletter gave the answer he once got from a 100-year-old woman: "There's so little peer pressure.'"
Posted by Wild Thing at May 27, 2010 05:49 AM
Comments
One of a kind. There won't be another like him, for sure.
Posted by: Mark at May 27, 2010 10:08 AM
I can't imagine a tv host asking kids about adam and eve on tv today. It's a shame. Teriffic clip WT. Thanks You.
BTW, I think the girl in orange that wanted to be a nun and have 22 kids is the woman I'm married to. haha
Posted by: Jim at May 27, 2010 07:55 PM
