David Letterman credits Paul Dixon for inspiring his choice of career as talk-show host. Dixons pet expressions This is the most beautiful, youngest group weve ever had on this television show! (usually said right before grabbing his binoculars to check out Kneesville) Hold it, weve got a live one here, Gordy! (referring to someone in the audience who had something to say to Dixon. Gordy was director Gordon Waltz) (singing) ...and the angels lit the candles! Isnt this the dumbest television show you ever saw in your life??? How come youre not at home watching Uncle Al?? (Dixon sometimes asked this of kids who appeared on the show) Paul Dixon Show Circa 1965. ”This Dumb Show”[edit] By 1955, Dixon was hired on at WLWT to host a daytime show originally geared to housewives, but ultimately appealed to people in all walks of life. Over time Dixon himself would refer to the show as this dumb show. Every morning the show would start with Paul, using a pair of binoculars (one of what would become many of Dixon’s trademarks), to examine what came to be called “Kneesville”, which consisted of ladies sitting in the front row, all wearing either short skirts or “hot pants”. He would then award the best looking knees by either putting a garter on the ladys leg, or attaching a knee tickler to the hem of her skirt. Some of his other trademarks included, but were not limited to: His nickname. Everyone who knew Dixon or watched his show took to calling him Paul Baby. (Dixon acquired the nickname from a prop boy, Al Bischof, who replied to a request by Dixon saying, Okay, Paul Baby! The nickname stuck with Dixon for the rest of his life.)[1] A spray bottle, used to spritz the audience upon asking how many of them took a bath that morning, which was usually a segue into a commercial for bath soap. Dixon would strike a runway pose during a shampoo or hair care commercial (or some instance that might require him to take off his jacket), and the band played the first few bars of A Pretty Girl is Like A Melody. By the 70s, Dixon had taken to giving T-Shirts to ladies in the audience, with Dixon putting them on the ladies himself, doing it in such a way that would work itself into an embrace between the two. On almost every show, Dixon would give an Osherwicz Kosher Salami to at least one member of the audience (usually a lady) after chatting with them or when they gave him something. (David Letterman would later incorporate a variation of this into his own show, instead giving canned hams to people in the audience for their participation in a skit.) At the mere mention of the word letters (referring to fan mail), Bruce Brownfield and the Band played a quick rendition of the song Im Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself A Letter. Despite the fact that Dixon did basically the same thing every day, viewers would continually watch his show, many of them admitting, often with varying degrees of embarrassment, that they were hooked on Paul Baby. Guest appearances by celebrities were a rarity at best. Among those who did make appearances were comedienne Imogene Coca, actor David McCallum, Senator Robert Kennedy, and even Bob Hope showed up on occasion. Hope was close friends with Dixon and wrote the foreword for Dixons first book.
Posted on: Tue, 13 May 2014 04:56:27 +0000
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