Arthur Godfrey

== Television ==
[[File:Agodfrey.jpg|right|thumb|1953 portrait of Godfrey with ukulele]]
In 1948, ''Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts'' began to be simultaneously broadcast on radio and television, and by 1952, ''Arthur Godfrey Time'' also appeared on both media. The radio version ran an hour and a half; the TV version an hour, later expanded to an hour and a half. The Friday shows were heard on radio only, because at the end of the week, Godfrey traditionally broadcast his portion from a studio at his Virginia farm outside of Washington, D.C., and TV cameras were unable to transmit live pictures of him and his New York cast at the same time. Godfrey's skills as a commercial pitchman brought him a large number of loyal sponsors, including Lipton Tea, [[Frigidaire]], [[Pillsbury Company|Pillsbury]] cake mixes and [[Liggett & Myers]]'s [[Chesterfield (cigarette)|Chesterfield cigarettes]]. By 1959, total advertising billings from Godfrey's TV shows were estimated at an industry-high $150 million, almost double those of second-place [[Ed Sullivan]].<ref>{{cite news |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=July 8, 1959|title=TV's Alltime Top 10 Grossers|page=1|url=http://www.archive.org/stream/variety215-1959-07#page/n64/mode/1up|access-date=May 20, 2019|via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref> 

Godfrey found that one way to enhance his pitches was to extemporize his commercials, poking fun at the sponsors (while never showing disrespect for the products themselves), the sponsors' company executives, and advertising agency types who wrote the scripted commercials that he regularly ignored. (If he read them at all, he ridiculed them or even threw aside the scripts in front of the cameras.) To the surprise of the advertising agencies and sponsors, Godfrey's flippancy during the commercials frequently enhanced the sales of the sponsor's products. His popularity and ability to sell brought a windfall to [[CBS]], accounting for a significant percentage of their corporate profits. While his willingness to mock the scripted commercials provided to him by sponsors' ad agencies angered those agencies, the sponsors, concerned only with improving their sales, were happy to let Godfrey tear apart those scripts (even physically on occasion).{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

In 1949, ''[[Arthur Godfrey and His Friends]]'', a weekly informal variety show, began on CBS-TV in prime time. His affable personality combined warmth, heart, and occasional bits of ''[[double entendre]]'' repartee, such as his remark when the show went on location: "Well, here we are in Miami Bitch. Hehheh." Godfrey received adulation from fans who felt that despite his considerable wealth, he was really "one of them", his personality that of a friendly next-door-neighbor. His ability to sell products, insisting he would not promote any in which he did not personally believe, gave him a level of trust from his audience, a belief that "if Godfrey said it, it must be so." When he quit smoking after his 1953 hip surgery, he began speaking out on the air against smoking, to the displeasure of longtime sponsor Chesterfield. When he stood his ground, the company withdrew as a sponsor in early 1954. Godfrey shrugged off their departure since he knew other sponsors would easily fill the vacancy.

Eventually Godfrey added a weekend "best of" program culled from the week's ''Arthur Godfrey Time'', known as ''Arthur Godfrey Digest''. He began to veer away from interviewing stars in favor of a small group of regular performers that became known as the "Little Godfreys". Many of these artists were relatively obscure, but were given colossal national exposure, some of them former ''Talent Scouts'' winners, including Hawaiian vocalist [[Haleloke Kahauolopua|Haleloke]], veteran Irish tenor [[Frank Parker (singer)|Frank Parker]], [[Marion Marlowe]] and [[Julius La Rosa]], who was in the Navy when Godfrey, doing his annual Naval reserve duty, discovered the young singer. He subsequently invited him on the show as a guest, offering him a job upon his discharge. La Rosa joined the cast in 1951 and became a favorite with Godfrey's immense audience, who also saw him on the prime-time weekly show ''Arthur Godfrey and his Friends''. Godfrey also had a regular announcer-foil on the show, Tony Marvin. Godfrey preferred his performers not to use personal managers or agents, but often had his staff represent the artists if they were doing personal appearances, which allowed him considerable control over their careers and incomes. In 1953, after La Rosa hired an agent, Godfrey was so angry that he fired him on the air.<ref>[https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7370527/singer-julius-la-rosa-fired-on-arthur-godfrey-show-dies-at-86 "Singer Julius La Rosa, Fired on Godfrey show, Dies at 86"], Billboard, May 15, 2016</ref>

Godfrey was one of the busiest men in the entertainment industry, often presiding over several daytime and evening radio and TV shows simultaneously. (Even busier was [[Robert Q. Lewis]], who hosted ''Arthur Godfrey Time'' whenever Godfrey was absent, adding to his own tight schedule.) Both Godfrey and Lewis made commercial recordings for [[Columbia Records]], often featuring the "Little Godfreys" in various combinations. In addition to the "Too Fat Polka", these included "Candy and Cake"; "Dance Me Loose". "[[I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover]]"; "Slap 'Er Down Again, Paw"; "[[Slow Poke]]"; and "[[The Thing (song)|The Thing]]". In 1951 Godfrey also narrated a nostalgic movie documentary, ''Fifty Years Before Your Eyes'', produced for [[Warner Brothers]] by silent-film anthologist [[Robert Youngson]].

Godfrey had been in pain since the 1931 car crash that damaged his hip. In 1953, he underwent pioneering [[hip replacement surgery]] in Boston using an early plastic [[artificial hip]] joint. The operation was successful and he returned to the show to the delight of his vast audience. During his recovery, CBS was so concerned about losing Godfrey's audience that they encouraged him to broadcast live from his Beacon Hill estate (near [[Leesburg, Virginia]]), with the signal carried by microwave towers built on the property.

Godfrey's immense popularity and the trust placed in him by audiences was noticed not only by advertisers but also by his friend U.S. President [[Dwight Eisenhower]], who asked him to record a number of public service announcements to be played on American television in the case of [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]]. It was thought that viewers would be reassured by Godfrey's grandfatherly tone and folksy manner. The existence of the PSA recordings was confirmed in 2004 by former CBS president [[Frank Stanton (executive)|Dr. Frank Stanton]] in an exchange with a writer with the web site CONELRAD.