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| The paperback cover of King of the Night, by Laurence Leamer. King of the Night was originally published in 1989. This is the updated edition, published in 2005, that contains a short afterword covering Carson's life from 1989 until his death in 2005. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor.) |
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| Johnny Carson doing what he loved best, sometime during the 1970's. |
In my summer-long quest to learn everything about Johnny
Carson, I read Laurence Leamer’s 1989 biography of Carson, King of the Night: The Life of Johnny Carson. Even though it was
published more than 25 years ago, Leamer’s book is the definitive biography of
Carson. Leamer did his homework on Carson, as he interviewed hundreds of people
who knew him.
King of the Night gives
the reader a fascinating portrait of Johnny Carson, a man who was able to
connect with millions of Americans every night as the host of The Tonight Show, but who found it
difficult to connect with people in his private life. Carson was married four
times, had difficult relationships with his three sons, and had very few longtime
friends.
Leamer dissects Carson’s life in detail, and the reader is
fully immersed, for better or worse, in the various investments and lawsuits
that Carson was embroiled in. King of the
Night makes an interesting counterpoint to Henry Bushkin’s 2013 memoir, Johnny Carson, which I reviewed here.
Bushkin, who was Carson’s lawyer for many years, also handled many of Carson’s
investments, and according to Bushkin, those investments were quite
successful. However, Leamer paints a different picture, and after reading King of the Night it sounds like Bushkin’s
investments were not very successful at all. Now I wonder how much of Bushkin’s
book was an attempt to change his image from King of the Night.
Honestly, reading King
of the Night made me a little sad for Johnny Carson. I hope he was a happy
man, and yet I have the feeling, from all that I’ve read about him, that it was
a challenge for him to find happiness. He brought such joy to so many people
for so many years, and yet, like so many entertainers, it seems as though he had
a difficult time finding a similar joy in his private life. Also, like so many
entertainers, Carson was happy and fulfilled when he was doing The Tonight Show, but the other hours of
the day were more difficult for him to fill.
Carson was brutally honest in a 1986 interview in which he
said, “If I had given as much to marriage as I gave to The Tonight Show, I’d probably have a hell of a marriage. But the
fact is I haven’t given that, and there you have the simple reason for the failure
of my marriages. I put the energy into the show.” (p.352)
One of the most insightful quotes from King of the Night comes from Jeanne Prior, who was Carson’s
secretary in the 1960’s. She told Leamer, “Except for the beginning years of
his life, I don’t think Johnny has ever been rejected. Just think of the fact
of going around for thirty years and never being rejected by almost anybody,
not waiters, not anybody. What do you think would be easier to live with, his
life or the life most of us live? There is a cost, and that’s why he insulates
himself.” (p.160) I think that gives the reader some idea of what it would have
been like to be Johnny Carson, and why success can be so difficult to deal
with.
Whatever he was like off the screen, on screen Johnny Carson
projected warmth and a likability that came through the television set. Shelly
Schultz, a talent coordinator for The
Tonight Show in the 1960’s, said of Carson, “I think that he is one of
those rare phenomenal people who understood the medium.” (p.143) That’s very true,
and Carson’s understanding of television served him well during his long
career.
Johnny Carson presided over a media landscape that is
totally different from 2016. King of the
Night opens in 1987, as Carson is celebrating the 25th anniversary
of his hosting The Tonight Show. Yet
even then, as Leamer writes, “The networks had begun to decline, viewers lost
to cable networks and video recorders. It was unlikely that any other performer
would ever have the same hold over the American night.” (p.2) Of course that’s
even more true now, as no one on late night television has the same reach that
Johnny Carson did. Carson’s career is unique in late night television history,
and it will remain so. Johnny Carson is the man who set the standard; he is the
late night host that all others are measured against.
Johnny Carson was one of television’s biggest stars, and King of the Night allows us a look at
his private and professional life. If you’re interested in Johnny Carson, King of the Night is the book that
paints the most complete picture of Carson’s life.
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