This 1967 hit ain't got time to take a fast train.
Do you remember this great number one song America was singing the summer of
67?
Give me a ticket for an airplane.
Ain't got time for a fast train. Lonely days are gone, I'm going home.
My baby she wrote me a letter. Hey I don't care how much money I gotta spend.
Gotta get back to my baby again. Lonely days are gone, I'm going home.
My baby she wrote me a letter. My baby she wrote me a letter.
My baby she wrote me a letter. Natural fade out on that.
Natural fade out. I love it they've got the lingo, they got the rhythm.
Now they're grabbing our mics for us. Hey she had something going on.
Well the song on everyone's lips was the letter. It was by the Box Tops.
And with it we bring back a popular entertainment this week series from last summer
with all new stories the making of a hit. And first up as you heard is a song that's one of
the shortest songs ever to hit number one on the singles chart. A song that came out during a
difficult period and had an important meaning especially for servicemen in Vietnam.
In September of 1967 Americans everywhere were listening to the number one record in the states
owed to Billy Joe. But then along came a rather mysterious sounding song called the letter
and owed to Billy Joe's days were numbered. We came right on up and knocked it off.
Give me a ticket for an aeroplane. Ain't got time to take a fast train.
Lonely days are gone, I'm going home. My baby she wrote me a letter.
The group was the Box Tops and the only reason they got to cut a record at all was because a
local Memphis DJ championed their cause to American recording studios head Chips Momin
and his fledgling house producer Dan Penn. Though Penn didn't like the band's original lead singer
he made the other boys an offer. I said y'all come back Saturday morning and bring me a new singer
and we'll cut this record. Though nobody really expected anything to come of it the band
came back with 16 year old Alex Chilton. I started singing it really softly at first and
the producer came out and said no sing it really hard and kind of growl it like this and he kind
of demonstrated it for me and I did it as best I could. When she wrote me a letter said she couldn't
live without me no more. Some found it hard to believe such a soulful voice came from a 16 year
old. People tell me that oh they thought I was 50 and really fat you know or black and and we had a
hit record on a lot of black stations with that record because people thought we were black.
He sang his little heart out it wasn't really until I started over dubbing it I started listening to
his voice and realized that he did have a real good little funky voice. The letter stayed at
number one for four weeks and went on to sell a phenomenal four million copies worldwide.
It's impossible to describe it has some sort of movement and immediacy about it you know
give me a ticket for an airplane ain't got time to take a fast train it gives you a figure
ain't got time to take a fast train it gives you a feeling of movement and stuff. I think a lot of
people were in Vietnam at the time too and that was their their fondest dream was their ticket out
and back home. It was the first gold record for producer Penn who had the idea for the strings
and horns and airplane sound effects. Oh and one other touch he told us modestly. I had to say
aeroplane because the demo was give me a ticket for an airplane which didn't sound right so I
hadn't changed the aeroplane and that helped everything. One final note during the recording
session for the letter the group still didn't have a name so why the box tops? They were trying to
think of a name and one of the group members says well we're going to do a public contest and people
can get sending in a box top and 25 cents and help name the group is it box tops aha that's it
that's the name of the group. I thought it was horrible at the time but you know looking back
on it it's kind of a good name people remember. Wow now he looks different. Very different now.
He probably freaked out to see this video. You know the song is much shorter than the story we
just did about him the letter is only a minute 55 seconds that is very very short and the box tops
had only one other top 10 hit was cry like a baby then the group just disbanded in 1970. Well
actually the letter made it into the top 10 the top 20 rather twice after the box tops recorded
it another version by the arbors went to number 20 in 1969 and the most famous one other than the
original of course by joe cocker that went to number seven in 1970. Still to come what's the
real meaning behind george michael's provocative new song and what happened at sinatra's latest
headline making press conference it's a star studded entertainment this week as burl heartley
and dauber join us and chuck norris has a personal axe to grind so stay with us won't you we'll be
right back. New in entertainment news well let's start out with more work for kim basinger rob
she's been signed to replace shelly long in the feature film my stepmother is an alien
she'll star opposite dan akroyd and production begins late february. Harry bellafonte is back
in the recording studio that's his first album in almost 10 years the name skin to skin and alan
thick is about to make his american feature film debut in return of the kiwis it's a movie about
a fictional 60s rock group having a reunion and updating the entertainment headlines of the past
week.
So
celebrating birthdays this weekend first up on saturday director john carpenter focuses on
number 40 singer ronnie milstap is also 40 and singer jim stafford turns 44 now sunday's
birthdays wishes go out to boxer joe frazier he's 44 while in the other ring mohammed ali turns 46
ventriloquist conductor and writer sherry lewis is 54 james earl jones 57 vidal sassoon is looking
great at 60 and happy birthday to betty white a golden girl on her 66. Happy birthday to one
and all right lisa you bet you all right now george
well
welcome back to entertainment this week we're about ready to start the second half of the show
we should win a lot of awards as a result i would think i'm rob weller and i'm lisa gibbons that's
exactly what i was thinking rob yeah okay two or three emmy's there are new coming up next week on
entertainment this week share is moon strike maybe that's because her latest film just might earn
her an oscar nomination robin williams is as uncontrollable as ever guess who tries to keep
him in tow i can't wait to see that one also making of a hit cashes in on tommy james big one
moany moany and this coming monday on entertainment tonight we're on a collision course with comedian j
leno that's the name of a soon-to-be-released feature and he hopes tv fans will follow him to the movies
and follow us back to entertainment this week today the trail leads right here after these commercials
as co-host of the defunct cbs morning program mariette hartley lived life at the bottom of
the ratings barrel that was a letdown for the emmy and cleo winning actress but she left the show and
bounced right back into a new lead role in a new feature film mariette hartley is returning to the
big screen in 1969 a bittersweet family drama set in a small town during one of america's most
turbulent periods it feels exciting to be back doing a movie i'm i'm glad to to be back doing that
and i'm working with some of the best people in the business i played keifer southerland's mom and
um chris win's mom and the interesting thing her name is jesse and i i love her she's very hard for
me to play because she's very far away from who i am now she's not far away from who i used to be
but she's restricted she's repressed she has a tough time expressing her feelings she's in a sense
the mary tyler moore character in ordinary people but she has a chance to let down which mary never
got a chance to do um i adore her she's torn between two worlds her son one of her one son has
gone off to war chris win and keifer is has become a peace sympathizer with robert downey and not
even necessarily knowing what it's all about it is not a film just about vietnam or a small town's
reaction to vietnam it's a film about change and how people become socially and personally aware
of the world around them and their own world their own insides and i think jesse epitomizes that
and 1969 will be released this summer uncle milty mr television certainly milton burl is known by
many names and for many reasons he is the virtual father of tv comedy a comedian who some say has
borrowed jokes freely well the truth be told burl has been collecting stories and jokes for years
and he's turned his recollections into a book titled bs i love you he's had a career full of
laughs to draw from and is finding 1988 prime time to highlight his past america's number one
television star milton burl when milton burl went on tv in 1948 the medium was so new few thought
it would last but before long burl and his friends were in the forefront of a growing phenomenon
this was the first variety show ever to be on network it was the texco star theater and i was
the master ceremonies and i clown and kid around with each act of course let's face it
let's face it i was much younger it's over 40 years ago burl's texaco star theater was broadcast
live on nbc and never seen again until this week when a one-hour special featuring early television
appearances of such legends as elvis presley will be shown on independent stations around the country
you had to be right on these shows the first time you can get a second chance
there were no uh there were no telecomters no cue cards no phony laugh machine you got what you saw
and you saw what you got and if a joke died you stood there with egg on your face i'll take you
to the dance and then i'll take you to corny islands oh that sounds great
not funny but it's cool why not living i'm taking it a joke right out of my mouth
my mouth that's a switch somebody's dealing from burl i never heard of the phrase the thief of bad
gags was coined by walter winchell the columnist they said that i stole jokes not true i uh
just found them before they were lost that's all and at 79 burl is still delighting audiences
i've been on the stage since i'm five years old and i also have the material to prove it and uh
what keeps me going are those people out there the audiences
as long as they laugh and i'm there to make them laugh that's my happiness that's my life
that's my life
looking back at entertainment news this week in history 49 years ago
vivian lee signed on the dotted line to play scarlet o'hara in gone with the wind frankly rob
by 36 years ago this past week the today's show premiered on mbc with dave garroway hosting 15
years ago we saw the last sunset over the ponderosa as bonanza ended its 14 year run and just seven
years ago this past week critics hailed the arrival of hill street blues it arrested viewers' attention
too
rob you're probably wondering to yourself what did p.t barnum say well he said several things over a
course of a lifetime leaves it do you have one specific thing p.t barnum used to say that the
biggest problem in show business was just getting the audience into the tent good words like modern
day barkers opening titles for shows they tantalize and excite us and they lure us into the television
tent of today you know they spend millions to keep the titles inventive and fresh they got to hold
our attention week after week without becoming boring or old hat well the creation of titles has
developed into an art form and clint holmes talked with a master
sandy devore is at the top of his field as the creator of hundreds of designs we see every day
he keeps us entertained with his inventiveness and panache
devore prefers to be called simply an artist but 25 years ago art nearly went out the window
in 1964 after a number of years as a struggling commercial designer devore was about to leave l.a.
for a job with the oregon department of fish and game when fate intervened can you point to any one
job that was a pivotal job in your career i think it was a trade-out i did for the back page of the
hollywood reporter the subject matter was judy garland at carnegie hall i did it and then waiting
to get my money and just leave and a lot of people in town saw it
devore's opening for one of television's best loved programs managed to evoke the
home-spun spirit of walton's mountain and the family that lived on it
among the board's newest creations are the fresh look he gave nots landing last fall
and the recent mid-season show sable one of my favorites of your work that i've seen and known
was your work was the logo for the carol bernett whoopi goberg carl reiner robin williams how did
you come up with that i saw that concept in my head and i remember the first time i thought about
it i saw just eyes noses and mouths coming to life
uh
the titles for last year's carol bernett special not only came to life they brought to bore a well
deserved emmy award they let me put them in kabuki makeup white they sat there and makeup for two
hours a piece all of them had their heads wrapped and things put so that not one bit of black or
color anything was showing and i was able to get my initial photography live without a gimmick without
any you know tricks i was able to shoot those features and then i took i took an assortment
of those features and made made the thing work so that they all did an abbreviated bit of business
sandy devore making sure our tv viewing never gets monotonous clint holmes for entertainment this week
music loved that look at the faces that's great stuff yeah it really is you know i without being
self-serving i still think the opening of the show is always great all that animation that comes up
with you never bored still mesmerizes me after years leo even after you can sing that theme music
in your sleep till you want to die all right let's move from the opening titles let's go to the other
end of the spectrum and that's show logos the logo is the little trademark following the show's
credits that tell you who takes the credit or depending on how you feel who takes the blame
right logos are as varied as the shows they represent but all have significant meaning really
they are the final personal touch of the show's producers and have evolved into creative editions
well worth waiting to see
music
grant tinker created mtm and the logo which bears the initials of his then wife mary tyler more
and pays tribute to mgm's famous trademark the original kitten logo followed the mary tyler more
show from 1970 to 1977 and as mtm went on to produce new shows the logo took on new personality
as with remington steel
hill street blues
saint elsewhere and new heart meow sorry starry night the starry night productions logo follows
the closing credits of night court creator reinhold wiggy chose the name and logo because of his
affinity for the work of vincent van goh the logo incorporates the shooting star inspired by van goh's
starry night painting and the silhouette of wiggies hometown of chicago certainly any of us who come
up to hollywood are after some sort of uh fame and glory and so forth and the starry night painting
is has always reminded me of that that's why i put in my logo and after the star bursts over the city
there's a ding of a xylophone and my father's laugh my father is night court he is mr night court
my father comes to almost every taping i think he hasn't missed more than a couple in four years
he laughs from his heart my dad is a barrel chested belly laugher he laughs take after take
after take not just because it's his kid out there doing that show but he thinks it's funny
barbara corday was the only member of a vaudeville family who couldn't sing or dance
that inspired the name of her production company i decided it would be fun to call my production
company can't sing can't dance proving that even though you couldn't do either of those things you
could still make a living and so she has as a writer a producer and as co-creator of the highly
successful series cagney and lacy recently corday left her position as president of columbia embassy
television where she oversaw the production of such shows as designing women and who's the boss
i thought that my family would enjoy the fact that i was taking something that had been looked at as
a negative all my life and turned it into something positive i mean you have to understand
they walk on the other side of the street when i start humming steven jay cannell productions is
one of many companies to take the name of its creator for cannell it's his logo that makes a
personal statement when i was designing this logo i said well i like to have something
that would remind people that even though we're we're a company now and we're producing more
than one show and everything that it's that it's still my main job is writing ham dauber's pony
productions got its name from a joke about a boy's optimistic response to his christmas gift
of horse manure here's the joke father thank you in one's away comes back with a shovel and is
shoveling the horse manure out of the room whistling and the father says my son how can
you be so happy on christmas morning when this room is filled with horse manure and the son turns
to his father he says father i know there's a pony in here someplace the pony logo includes a photo
of a very special someone well there's this wonderful photograph of my dad probably taken in
1935 of my dad on this little pinto pony with his chaps and his little gun and actually it's
very much like the boy in the story too i mean it really fits family ties executive producer
gary david goldberg named his company after his dog ubu who accompanied him through college and
his travels in europe sit ubu sit good dog the logo which follows george schlatter's comedy club
was created in the same irreverent spirit as was one of his earlier shows laughing some of these
people spend a lot of money on those logos and do months of research well we did extensive research
with almost eight people and they uh none of whom agreed and this is the result with the help of a
highway flare and a hammer his logo sets the record straight that schlatter is spelled with
just two t's highway flare and 39 dollars it's not taking yourself too seriously whether taken
seriously or in jest these logos are the unique signature of each show's creator people who grew
up with one of the most well-loved logos of all time the one which sums it up best that's all folks
porky how about old porky oh porky must have a pretty good age and he's lasted a long time he
has in fact those great warner brother cartoons are still on abc every saturday morning they're
the longest running animation show on television laser well it looks like they're getting ready
to put our logo on the screen you know that familiar paramount mountain but before we go
please be sure to tune in next week beginning monday we have yoko ono in a series of the most
revealing interviews she has ever given it includes an exclusive presentation of a previously
unreleased song of john lennon's that's on entertainment tonight and entertainment this
week next week you have a good week we'll see you then bye
foreign
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