Good afternoon and welcome to The Ann Colone Show .

The Ann Colone Show virtually opened a window to the world for thousands of loyal fans in the tri-state area.

It became the show in Fort Wayne.

Anyone and everyone seeking publicity would jump at the chance to appear on The Ann Colone Show .

You come on Ann Colone Show, number one show.

You get free PR and Ann gets her interview.

... Van Dyke Show , which you are a member of.

Ann, I feel like I've been in show business close to 40 years.

My... doesnt he look young for being so old - clean living, folks.

Here.

I don't drink, smoke or run around with women, Lloyds of London, laying 10 to 1.

I'm dead.

It was a must.

Whoever came to town, it was a must to appear on Anns show.

It's been real nice seeing you again, Bob.

Thank you, Ann.

Its so nice to see you.

I heard about you, and it's nice to see you.

What do you mean, you heard about me?

I heard about you and your show and everything.

Yeah.

Yeah, well.

This is one of the most famous dresses.

Beautiful Marlene Dietrich as a jewel thief with Gary Cooper.

I mean, it was very glamorous, and.

Ann Colone was a glamorous figure.

Once you met her, you never forgot her.

Bless you.

Thank you very, very much.

Very interesting to have an interview and look over and see such a pretty face.

Oh, you're so kind.

I'm smart.

You're smart, too.

Thank you.

She loved the stage, people, and adventure.

Her determination to explore and share the unusual and exciting engaged audiences for nearly two decades.

Ann was out to to show Fort Wayne that, you know, there is life beyond here.

Ann's mission was quite simple: present viewers information and education through entertainment.

It's easier to learn if you're entertaining at the same time.

And I don't mean you have to jump up and down for joy or laugh or crack jokes or anything of that nature.

But I think if everybody's comfortable and you learn one thing about either the person of the subject matter, that's all that you needed to do.

But of course, I always want to do more and learn more the easy way.

Ann Colone takes great pride in her very large and loving Italian family and in her hometown, Fort Wayne.

This is where Ann became Ann Colone.

Im one of ten children.

The ninth of the 10th.

My father had a little Italian grocery store and all of us and my dad worked in the grocery store.

Every single one of us.

Not that we wanted to.

My mother worked in it sometimes, but most of the time, as you can imagine, she took care of us, ten children.

They were very kind and loving people without even recognizing it was a wonderful experience.

Taught you a little about customer...serving the customer relationship.

So forth.

I didn't know what I was learning, but I feel that was the basis for a lot of my thinking.

All of my sisters and brothers were very supportive and are.

My sister, Jo, Jo Colone Cavacini, always seemed to have the same interests and I probably got that from her through the years perhaps, and she would be very helpful to me.

Very helpful.

This supportive upbringing eventually helped Ann land her first job in broadcasting as a secretary at WGL radio.

In no time at all, the top brass discovered her poise and energy and put her on the air.

I got into the media after high school and started to work primarily at WGL, and one day I was in traffic, which of course a scheduling announcements and programs, you know, for the announcers and the engineers.

And one day Norm Wiegandover came up to me and said, “Ann, how would you like to be a disc jockey?” I said, “Sure.” Not knowing what I was getting into, obviously.

We would write scripts.

Lynn Davis would spin the records, and after a while the scripts went out the window.

I played my own turntables and ad-libbed.

That was it.

I was on the air for eight years.

As the first female disc jockey at WGL radio, Ann gained a solid reputation and a devoted following.

However, none of this prepared her for the dramatic change she was about to experience.

In the early days of television, it was suggested or recommended that you have what they call a “woman's program” because part of your FCC license was to broadcast in the public interest.

And in order to broadcast in the public interest, you had to reach out into the community and find out what the community wanted to hear and see on the screen and on radio.

The women played a very important part of our audience.

There was a show which was Marcia Sicard, who is now Marcia Adams, and her show was strictly cooking and household suggestions and ideas.

And there was a show at WLW-TV in Cincinnati, and it featured Ruth Lyons.

And Ruth Lyons was a new was a new breed of host for a for a womans show.

She was vibrant, she was funny, she was loud, and she had a lot of interesting guests.

But it became quite famous in the in this part of the country and began to gain a lot of notoriety.

And so we were looking around for somebody that could could be different than just the regular women's director.

My salesman came to me and said, you know, we think we've found who you ought to have for this women's show.

And I said, Who is it?

And they said, Ann Colone.

So we auditioned her.

It was on a Saturday.

And I, frankly, was more concerned about catching a plane to Chicago because I was going to meet a friend and we were going to see some shows and whatever.

But they sent me into the studio and they'd asked me questions very informally, and I answered very informally.

And right in the middle of that audition, a fly drove me bananas.

It was swirling around me.

I thought, I'll never I'll never make it.

I never make it.

Well, finally I just stopped and got the fly.

What are you going to do?

She had kind of a a loud voice in a way, and she had a loud laugh.

[Laughing] We could hear her laugh all over the building.

[Laughing] She had that something that that we said, this is it.

At the time of the of the interview with them, I said, “Now, gentlemen, there's one thing I really want you to understand.

I am not a home economist.

I, you know, and I admire home economists, dont misunderstand me.

I that's not my bent.

I just want to entertain and inform the viewers at home.

That's all I want to do.” And so it began in 1958, Ann Colone began her employment with WANE-TV 15, hosting The Woman's Page .

Wasting little time, she was on the air on her first day.

I didn't know one camera from the other, and I certainly wasn't all that aware of time cues either.

Yeah, I thought they were just saying “hi, Ann.” It was called The Woman's Page originally.

And again, that didn't really thrill me.

I didn't I didn't want it just to thrust anything on people.

Like, okay, here's The Womans Page .

You gotta to watch this to learn.

I didn't feel that way at all.

I just I just wanted to be part of a learning.

I wanted to share that with me and be comfortable and laugh if you felt like laughing.

So we just call it The Ann Colone Show .

She was... she was immediately, I would say just almost immediately, the talk of the town.

Each afternoon from 1 to 1:30 Ann Colone brings her own brand of entertainment, information, and general all around hijinks.

Most anything could happen on The Ann Colone Show and it usually did.

This was a time when television was live, so naturally the unexpected was expected.

And in Ann's illustrious style, she took advantage of that live spontaneity.

She designed her show to be aggressive, new and exciting.

And she knew she couldn't bring this new format to life without a supportive crew.

My crew, those crazy guys.

This came in later years.

Our main goal was to get Ann to break up.

That was our challenge to do that and was so good.

She was so poised.

Okay.

Yeah.

I got to be honest, it was sawed a little bit on the back Ann had a little clown in her.

She loved to see those red lights come on.

Close your eyes.

Don't be scared.

And Steve and I at times, All we had to do was go run back to the camera and look at it like this, and we'd crack her up.

I want talk to you about that coat one these days,.

What coat, this one?

Right back, Charlie.

What's the matter with this coat?

Very good.

It's very informal.

I didn't think we're going to get this in.

They ought to see it from the knees on down.

Don't you dare, Harold.

Oh, I would go and I would drag a foot.

Three, two, one.

Hi, this is Ann Colone speaking to you from Hollywood, California, where we chatted with such... [inaudible] They get me in more trouble.

It was a lot of times you get that 30, 40 seconds, you know, we're coming out and we weren't ready to come out.

But by the grace of God, something would happen.

we'd come out and it flew.

Good afternoon and welcome to The Ann Colone Show .

We would do everything that we could to make because if Ann looked good, we look good.

I mean, it was that simple, you know.

Of course, Ann was the type, if you came on, you had a problem, you could tell her to fill for 17 minutes.

She could.

You get a lot of guys.

You got 2 minutes to fill it.

Go.

I can't do it.

But she had an act of a tell jokes or sing a song or you name it, and she could do it.

Actually, I did two years of filming on The Donna Reed Show , where I played the next door neighbor, Doctor Kelsey.

And at the end of two years, I said, I don't want to do any more of this.

This is fine.

It's been great experience, nice exposure, but I want to do something a little bit more what I am because I'm a guy and I really couldn't be as flip or a hip.

I played a doctor.

The American Medical Association approve The Donna Reed Show , but not me And they said watch that next door neighbor.

He looks like trouble.

I don't know what kind of a doctor he is.

That could be trouble, too.

So we did it.

They never establish exactly what I specialize in.

You know, that kind of like Medicare.

I don't care who she'd be interviewing.

Vincent Price, Bob Hope, Judy Collins, Eddy Arnold, just to name a few off the top of my head.

After the show, she would always bring you over to the guest and introduce them.

This is Dick Lewis.

This is Bob Cowan.

This is Ron Harmeyer.

This is Ed Austinschoch.

You really felt honored and thrilled to meet these people.

We love to work.

We loved what we were doing.

It was new and it was exciting.

I'm the villain.

I'm going to accost her in the park.

Okay.

Putting my arm around her, I got to see this out front.

I want to see how it's done.

Hi, honey.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, how could you do that to a handsome guy like that?

I think I'd just let him with accost me.

Yes, it would seem to come.

The studio would come to life, I mean, and would walk in the room, and it's just like it would literally lighten up a room to literally lighten up.

I mean, Anns here, here we go.

We don't know what we're going to do, but here we go.

If the following 60 seconds look just a little wild and it's because it's wildcat bleep in honor of our own wildcat Ann Colone.

So join Annie.

Hey, look us over [Music] It's frolicking Roland Smith and Bill Jenner [Music] Channel 15 News on the air with Don Rockwell and Bill Allen [Music] The people behind the scene.

[Music] People on the scene.

[Music] And in the scene.

So join us wildcats at WANE TV and strike oil with channel 15, your station for top TV entertainment.

Now that Ann and her crew were settled in with one another, her biggest challenge was to nourish her new womans show format, keeping it fresh and new.

Now that her audience was hooked, there was no turning back.

Where did the leads come from?

Anywhere I could get it.

I would read that somebody was coming into the city or I'd think about ideas of just everyday life or activities that were fun-related, newspaper, other television, radio, just anywhere would pop in my mind.

This scene is repeated in our Channel 15 studios five days a week, 52 weeks a year.

Ann Colone making last minute preparations for her daily half hour with viewers in the tri-state area, a ritual that is now ten years old and yet is always fresh, new, exciting and as unpredictable as Ann Colone herself.

Ann produced her show, and she wouldn't have had it any other way.

She meticulously researched, coordinated and planned every second of the show, taking advantage of every resource available to her.

CBS would arrange what they called junkets and a group of about 16 of their celebrities and their stars would go to the junkets eight in each day.

And that that was kind of tough doing eight interviews in one day.

Believe me when I tell you that.

But at any rate, they arranged it with their stars.

Good morning and welcome to Star Talk with Ann Colone .

This morning Ann interviews, more of your favorite CBS series stars.

Now here's Ann.

Thank you, Dan.

And hello, everybody.

And thank you very much for joining us for another session of Star Talk.

Well, Andy, in addition to playing an instrument here, you're a great singer, too.

No, I'm not a great singer.

She was a matter of fact.

Now, your biography says that you wanted to go into opera.

I did.

I did.

But I told this joke on myself a lot of times.

And it's true.

I went out to an audition one time as a singer, and guess what?

I sang, “Dancing In the Dark.” And after it was over, now my wife, she sang something that she sang “In the Still of the Night,” and she was the only one there that did get to sing all the way through.

It was a big open audition, about 225-50 people.

After it was over the fellas told me, he says, You didn't sing too good, said, Your voice is over-brilliant.

Almost unpleasantly so.

And I started telling jokes right that minute.

When you write a play, do you have someone in mind to do the roles as you're writing it?

Much later?

No, Don' Drink the Water was written for.

I wrote it specifically for Lou Jacoby and Kay Medford, because Lou is one of the funniest men that I've ever seen.

Lou originally played the father in Come Blow Your Horn on Broadway and was sensational.

And Kay Medford played the mother in Bye Bye Birdie , and the two of them were both such standouts in those shows that I thought to combine them as a husband and wife in that situation would be funny.

So I wrote it for them.

And so we've got these TV junkets and I love that because as we're waiting, you had a chance to listen to other people interviewing, and some of the questions were so trivial and then Ann would come and she would get down to the core of things.

In your youth, as I understand you had a severe problem stammering, stuttering.

I still do.

Yes.

I am a stutterer.

Have been since the age of eight, adding that the move from the south to the north.

I was born in Mississippi, raised in Michigan.

That move was traumatic for me.

You'd think that a young black person would say, Well, “the Promised Land.” No, For me it was an uprooting.

She researched heavily.

She I know she spent weekends just going through.

She would come into work on Mondays.

You'd see her come walking in.

She does have a stack of things, but when you and I constantly discuss contemporary events in terms of wars and riots and dollars with cancer and race restiveness and ugliness, when it's the exceptional, the misfit, the offbeat, the demagogue which preoccupies the front page, then it then it's not a proper reflection of our “America the Beautiful.” It's a funhouse mirror.

I wanted to know as much as I possibly could about the person and or the subject matter.

And of course, there was plenty I had to learn to misunderstand, but I'd give it a lot of thought.

What traits and or talents would you say one must possess to be a good actor or actress?

Well, I think, first of all, one must have the talent to act.

Uh, but the thing that one must have, if one wants to be in the theater, is the ability and the desire and the passion to work.

Cliff, it's very obvious to me the one of your favorite subjects at the moment, and probably will be for a couple of months to come, is a movie called J.W.

Coop, which you wrote, directed, produced and which you star.

And what is it all about?

Well, what's J.W.

Coop all about.

Yeah, right.

Uh, it's about all of us.

It's a story about a rodeo cowboy and his attempts to catch up with a lost decade.

But in that story, we can all identify because we're all involved in what's happening to all of us, which is change.

Ann knew how, what questions to ask, when to get a response.

Make a smooth interview.

No matter whether they were tired, they were grumpy.

She could pull it off.

Bob Hope and I were just talking about the I think the last trip to Fort Wayne that you made, Bob, was one of the first acts to open our coliseum there.

That's right.

That's right.

With Marilyn Maxwell.

Right, right, right.

And you packed them in all 10,000 seats.

And there's been only one other person to do that in the past ten or 12 years.

And that's been Liberace when you come.

Well, we work a lot like, Liberace and I.

Say?

Yes, we do.

You plan on coming back soon?

Oh, I hope so.

Now listen, invite me.

And he knew a couple of people in Fort Wayne, which helped a great deal.

He liked Fort Wayne, of course, he played the Coliseum and place was jammed.

And, you know, Ann, I go back a little with Emboyd Theatre then years years ago was sort of a stepping stone for me when I was on my way up.

The Emboyd Theatre, yes.

I was master of ceremonies for four weeks and got me a little bread when I needed it.

Do you care to say how many years ago that was?

It was a few.

It was a few.

I know that Crosby was going west on the original wagon train at the time.

That long ago.

Thank you, Mary Tyler Moore, Mary Tyler Moore, Mary Tyler Moore, and Ed Asner.

It's a great pleasure.

Thank you.

Thank you.

One reason I have to go back right away is I'm designing a dress for Elizabeth Taylor, who is going to present one of the big major awards.

Mm hmm.

Mm hmm.

Can you tell us anything about it?

It is soft, Shivani.

Floaty.

Beautiful, long, clear to the floor and very simple.

No beads, no feathers, no lace, no trimming, no nothing.

Just a beautiful dress.

Very soft.

It's the return I think, of what I call pretty clothes rather than flamboyant, knock em dead, street clothes.

Cause she's so beautiful.

She doesn't need [inaudible] clothes.

Anybody else?

I working with Myrna Loy, Katharine Ross.

Oh, a whole group of the girls.

My goodness.

The background of that woman, how many stars she's clothed, so to speak.

And I think also I was get a little hung up on hems going up and down and up and down.

Just let me clear out of my mind.

You know why?

Because they no sooner get them up, then they're bringing them down again.

Well, that's going to cost me dough.

And a lot of inconvenience.

Don't you think it's good, it's a good way to help the financial condition for the world?

Some of these girls cant afford some of these changes like that.

Really?

Do what I do.

Wear short dresses for a while.

Dont go home and burn your clothes.

Right.

Don't stay home.

And when fall comes with longer dresses, try one and see what happens.

Try one.

What do you like to do for entertainment, Tony?

Oh, I'll have a couple of friends in.

Oh, there isnt nightclubbing or any of that?

Oh, God, no.

I can't go to a nightclub.

I don't smoke and the atmosphere in a nightclub is just my idea of agony, of hell, of being tortured to have to sit in a room full of smoke like that.

However, Jimmy Durante is playing, or Ella Fitzgerald, I will make the exception.

That was Robert Morley.

Robert Morley, who has become a very close friend of mine.

Is that right?

Made this movie with him in England.

And he was he was in New York about two weeks ago.

And Jimmy Durante was playing.

Oh, we've got to go see old Schnauzer there.

You are billed is the grand old man of show business.

But I can truthfully say this, Jimmy, that well, watching you in the press conference a few minutes ago, you may be a little older than some people in years, but your heart is very, very young indeed.

That must be a real policy with you, right, sir?

Yes, because and that's why I love the lyrics to a song which I do in the act, and which I just put in an album I just made for Warner Brothers called “September Song.” There's a song called “Young at Heart.” Oh, that's a lovely And I think it's one of the greatest lyrics ever written.

It's so true, you know, it's not how old we are, it's just how you feel.

I think I asked him about his nose.

I don't know whether I should have done that.

Anyway, I would think that the word retirement is not in your vocabulary.

No.

And so thinking I wish you would pass along some advice to some of the senior citizens who might be watching concerning your theories of older age and working.

And what have you.

Well, I, I don't believe in complete retirement and I wouldn't want to retire completely unless, you know, God forbid, you know, or something could work.

I do a lot of different things, keeps me interested.

And I imagine if I were in a business selling neckties, I think I'd want to retire.

Yeah, now that he's great.

You've interviewed so many people, as you say.

All right.

You know, there just aren't too many left that you have not interviewed.

Does this discourage you in future shows coming in?

No, no, no, because our emphasis in the past has always been and I hope it will continue in the future.

The discovery of new people.

That's what's been exciting.

And everywhere you look on television, there are discoveries working everywhere.

Sullivan has been on for years.

He's got a variety show, 8 to 9.

You are following him with another variety show.

Absolutely different.

Ed Sullivan is sort of like “the International Showtime of America.” He gets on the top acts.

You got to say that the top acts the best, biggest names.

I think he has jugglers.

He'll have the whole bit for our show is more of a format of the Danny Kaye, Red Skelton, where we have more music than they do the music and our comedy sketch work where it's altogether different, you know, and our uniqueness and our glory.

It's like, you're so sweet.

Has anybody walked up to you and just want to kiss you like a mother?

No, not near enough.

Dick, you've got three children and you make your home in California or here now.

California.

Tom, you're single.

Single.

Thank you, gentlemen, very much.

He's not doing anything after the show.

I'll see you later, Tom.

Bye, Dick.

You just wanted to put your arms around him because that was his whole demeanor.

You know, he's just a sweetheart.

I want to tell you something Telly, but I mean this sincerely.

I love to watch acting.

I like movies a great deal of stage.

And I would watch a B-movie.

I mean, I just love to watch it.

But if I know that you're going to be in a television show or a movie, I would try very earnestly to watch it, because I think you are one of the finest actors I've watched.

You know, and interrupt you doing all that dialog.

That's perfectly alright.

I didn't want you to.

He was very interesting because of his travels throughout the world, being a spokesperson almost for this country.

Good actor, fine actor.

He always intrigued me whenever he did a role.

May I say in all the years in showbusiness, I have never worked with a happier, nicer bunch of people, not only Dick and our whole cast, but Johnny Rich, our director, Carl Reiner, the producer, Sheldon Leonard, the executive producer, and Danny Thomas, who was our old master.

You know, there was a thing in the paper about him selling out a lot of the production to Four Star.

We were driving him nuts.

We were running around saying, Don't sell us, master.

You know, he's a wonderful guy.

We got a great group on our lot by the way, a gal by the name of Rose Marie has long been a favorite of mine.

I think she's one of the finest singers I've ever heard.

Thats the big trouble, you know, she doesn't sing enough, but we have we've had her sing in two of the show so far and we've had so many requests.

We're going to have to let her sing more.

But she's great.

We're grateful to our Fort Wayne Art Museum, particularly for bringing you and speak to us this evening.

Absolutely super, really.

know.

If I may grab on to the subject of movies.

Do you have any comments about the current trend of nudity and the almost explicit...yeah...sex acts, pretty explicit sex acts.

I got to tell you, some Red Skelton told me the other night I was pretty sure.

That's going to be a dandy.

Then he said that he said that he read that these pictures were excused on the basis that they were sex education.

He said when he was in school, sex education was called recess.

Now you hit on somebody.

Vincent Price, a lovely person.

You don't think for one minute the evil person he is on the role he's played.

Well, awfully gentle, gracious person.

I enjoyed meeting you.

By the late sixties, The Ann Colone Show was a well-established hit, garnering critical praise, audience loyalty and consistently high ratings.

This success combined with Ann's natural charisma and charm, commanded respect within all social circles, It was very much looked up to by the people in the political world.

They loved to be on her show and she knew how to make them feel relaxed and how to talk to them.

And get out of them what whatever they wanted to tell the public.

We found corruption and dishonesty on the part of more than 50 companies and corporations.

We found dishonesty on the part of members of the Bar Association that many of these deals that we uncovered had been set up by lawyers in the United States, and yet no bar association, with the exception of one, have taken any action to deal with the corrupt attorney.

No management group has taken any action to deal with more than 50 companies and corporations.

The only group that has taken any action to deal with corruption and dishonesty has been the AF of L-CIO.

So I say that this is all a reflection on all of us as American citizens that no one group can point to another and say [inaudible] that the legislation is a step forward.

I don't think it's perfect legislation.

I think in part it is unfair to organized labor where no corruption has been found.

But what we reveal is a reflection on us as American citizens, just as the quiz scandals, The television quiz scandals again are a reflection on us.

It wasn't just Charles Van Doren, but the fact that everybody who was approached to make a deal made a deal.

The sixties and seventies were times of monumental firsts from the British invasion, when the Beatles forever changed the course of rock music to Neil Armstrong landing on the moon.

Ann was there.

The Beatles.

Well, I just think Paul McCartney's a dream boat.

Ringo was very friendly.

I thought John Lennon was a little aloof.

But, you know, these guys were on tour who were tired.

But I, I just kind of had the feeling that John wanted to be someplace else other than where he was.

Did you have a chance to watch the moonwalk on TV.

I watched it on the farm in Bippus.

Did ya?

Yeah.

And my mother said that that telecast beat our Mexican Olympic telecast.

No kidding.

Well, only the moon.

I was down for this launching last Wednesday morning.

I went down to Cape Kennedy.

I took my grandson to see it.

Who knows a lot more about it than I do.

And I also went down for the launching of Apollo 9.

And I know a lot of the scientists I met them, Werner von Braun, and a few of them, and anything they say now, I believe I asked von Braun about this one just before it went up.

But about 5:30 that morning, if he felt that this one was secure, if this was safe, he said, well, I'm not worried about this Apollo 11 at all.

I'm now working on Apollo 18, 18, 18.

So that's the one I'm worried about.

Good heavens.

When you watch the moonwalk, what went through your mind?

Well, what went through my mind was the extraordinary achievements that man is capable of, because that was the final end point and the work of thousands of people who accumulated so much knowledge to make this possible was pretty close relative to your discovery of the the vaccine.

No, that's a very, very tiny little thing.

This marks this is a landmark in the history of man.

No, what I meant, sir, were there many others who contributed?

Always, always, always, always.

No one person makes an important contribution to anything.

It's always the work of many that prepare the ground.

The infrastructure it's called a very great achievement is the work of many, many people.

And how many years did you work on that vaccine?

Only 30.

Think of the lives they've saved and the and the knowledge they have So much learning to check in on the current trends happening in the CBS newsroom and went to the experts.

Walter Cronkite and Mike Wallace.

Walter Cronkite had and does have such a presence of a real authority in my mind.

We have done a great deal more investigative reporting than I would have dreamed we might have accomplished in just a year and a half.

And we're going to a great deal more of that.

Well, that's interesting.

You can get into a ton of trouble, too.

Oh, sure, we spend as much time with the CBS lawyers as they do with our news staff on some of these pieces that are revelations on doctors and goofballs, amphetamines, barbiturates, which are still going on and won't stop until we get some legislation which is required.

And that created a great deal of furor in Washington, a revelation of gun sales, the ease with which one can buy heavy weapons.

It's followed the UN attack by the Castro Cubans with the mortar shell.

These things have created a great deal of furor and a great deal of interest.

I'm not absolutely certain forgive me, Walter, that television is best able in a short four or five minute feature form, which we can do on television to do investigative reporting.

So you think it should be a special in itself?

I think the story is worth it.

Yes.

For instance, back in 1959, 58, 59.

I was working for another channel here in New York, and we did the first take out in a black Muslim.

And this was before anybody really knew about the black Muslims and Negro reporter Louis Lomax by name was since that time got a good deal of writing, came to me and said he had a story.

What I care to do with it was the black Muslim story.

Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad and so forth.

And we had an opportunity to spend a good deal of time and for a local station, a considerable amount of money.

And we did an hour's take out on it took us two or three months to put it together.

That was investigative reporting and ladies and gentlemen, we are now about to approach the climax of this wonderful evening.

Anybody was anybody that came to town, Ann got them on that show.

That was a must.

And one of the individuals or one of the acts that you got on the show early on was the Rolling Stones that were appearing at the I think it was at the Coliseum.

And boy, when the word got out that they were going to be on her show, it was unbelievable.

I think we had people climbing the walls trying to get in out there.

And here here's Ann with the microphone and here's Mick Jagger was hand on his knee, rolling back and just laughing and and was able to and was able to to maybe get a person out of their stereotype context.

Oh, my.

She had so much talent on that show.

We actually we had people that.

Well Liberace, we had anybody that came to the Embers.

The Embers was a nightclub, which it's now the bypass.

And now Carlos OKelly's is in in that area area there.

They bring in these acts.

So it was a win-win situation.

You come on Ann Colones show, number one show you get free PR and Ann gets her interview.

Count Basie and his band is playing to a packed house at The Sands Restaurant here.

I don't think they could get another individual in for dinner and it is no surprise because this gentleman sitting next to me has had one of the greatest bands - he still does ever since 1935, Count.

I believe you're right.

I think it's 1935, but I've had some other beautiful years before my band where they were Walter Page's Blue Devils, and also with the [inaudible] orchestra in Kansas City.

And I really think that's where really things got started.

When you started your first band, Count, long time ago, were you a little scared of it all?

Afraid of?

Well, I tell you actually the truth about it.

I have no idea about of the little thing that we were doing that it would grow and materialize into anything really.

All I want to get a little combination and be happy in a club called Reno in Kansas City.

I mean, you have the Deep River Boys, the Tunesmen with Jack Teagarden and it just goes on.

And Dorothy Donegan.

Oh, my goodness, what a pianist she was.

And the list just keeps going on and on and on.

Sitting next to the very distinguished classic guitarist, Mr. Andras Segovia, who is the guest star for the subscription concert for the Philharmonic here in Fort Wayne.

Well, is the guitar extremely difficult to master?

Mm hmm.

Maybe on account of the influence of the feminine curves.

The feminine curves.

Do you like it?

Right, right, why?

Because, women have it very difficult.

One of the greatest classical guitarists in this world was such a lovely guy.

Oh, I was just in awe of him.

And it was in the studio, if my memory serves me.

Yeah, that's such a talented man.

So humble.

You just want to hug him.

And I might have.

He was great.

By far, Anns favorite interview was with the famous vaudeville entertainer Sophie Tucker.

Sophie's shrewd advice continues to inspire and even today.

We were in Indianapolis and I was in the pace car.

We did something at the races and we stopped somewhere.

Ken, Ken Seaman had to use the phone, and he did.

And I picked up an Indianapolis newspaper and saw that Sophie Tucker was playing in Indianapolis.

I said, okay, I got a I got to talk to her.

I got I love this woman.

We have got to get that interview.

I've just got to do it.

So he got on the phone and called her.

She says, okay, come on over.

Sophie, you have in the business a long time.

58 years to be exact.

58 years.

Don't you ever get tired of it?

You never get tired of doing things you like to do, darling.

You only get tired when you're bored.

When you're old.

Well, how do you continue to enjoy it?

Theres no such question of how you do it.

You do it because you love it.

You just do it.

That's correct.

Because you love doing things.

Love doing things.

That's good.

Your philosophy in life is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.

It covers so much, you know, but I just repeat it again.

Just do what you want to do and do what you love.

In the middle of it, she turned around, says, Boy, you're a nosey broad, aren't you?

I see.

Yes, Sophie.

But I love you.

So.

So I just kept going.

It was fun.

I love that woman.

Something about her always inspired me, and I couldn't tell you what.

Because before then, I never met her.

I always loved her music and her singing.

But she.

I guess it was her seemingly her independence.

And I'm going to perform the way I want to perform.

And I love everybody, but I'm going to do it my way.

Be as big as the world you live in and all that you say and do.

Even though Ann rubbed elbows with the nationally famous, she never overlooked her own community.

Anything that was going on in the community, Ann knew about it ahead of time and was making arrangements to see that they that they got on show.

Tonight is the world premiere o Night of Evil and the producer director of that movie is sitting right next to me.

And his name is Dick Galbreath, and he's known to many of you.

Dick, this is the first theatrical movie that you've made, right?

Yeah.

So why did you choose Fort Wayne as the locale for this?

That's really backwards.

I had a soundstage here and my crew lives there, so I really picked a property that was workable in Fort Wayne.

Rather than choosing Fort Wayne as a location to produce a picture.

It is a true story and her name is Dixie, and her beauty was her passport to friendship and fame.

How would you like to be Miss America?

The winner is number three, Miss Dixie Ann Dikes...and her moment of glory brought explosively exciting romance.

Glib and glamor were his gift to her.

Night of Evil has just had its world premiere.

And we are approaching people as they come out of the theater after having seen it.

And the first person we walked into right away is Chief Clark.

Chief, how are you this evening?

Fine, thank you, Ann.

Could we have you a real quick comment concerning Night of Evil ?

I think it's a wonderful picture.

I think it does justice to Mr. Galbraith.

The it's a very interesting picture in my mind.

It was real interesting, Mrs. Clark, to see scenes and people we know in Fort Wayne, isn't it?

It certainly was wonderful.

Did you like it?

I enjoyed it very much.

All right.

Good.

Thank you very much.

I don't know that Fort Wayne had ever had a premiere of a movie before or since, perhaps.

So, it was a big night.

Felt important.

In order to keep her show fresh, exciting and unpredictable and was not above including her own adventurous spirit.

After all, anything on The Ann Colone Show could happen, and it usually did.

Like the campaigning politician who will go anywhere and do anything, Ann is always ready to try new experiences like skiing.

Okay, here we go.

Straight arms.

Back and to the side.

There you go!

Thats the way to do it.

Now did that hurt?

Boar hunting in Indiana?

Ann Colone found it.

The Ann Colone Show reached new heights when friends talked her into parakiting.

Oh my.

Oh my.

Oh, my.

Why is it swaying back and forth fellas?

Not supposed to do that.

It you didn't tell me that's what was going to happen.

It was it was more for variation than anything that I wanted to do, particularly as a matter of fact, after the parakite I had read where someone was killed doing that.

And I thought, Oh Lord, thank you.

I mean, you were up 80 feet.

It was so great up there.

I don't think you could ever be closer to God.

At least I felt that way and I was praying to.

But it was quite it was an experience.

It was exciting.

And I wanted to excite the viewers, too.

As a manager, the station, I sometimes would shake my head and wonder, you know what?

What do I have a hold of here?

But we just kind of turned our heads the other way and let her go.

On Wednesdays and Fridays we had Audience Participation Day.

We'd have 100 guests in there.

Usually these were women's groups from all over the viewing area.

They would come in and they would have a buffet and Ann would walk in about 45 minutes before air time.

And she worked the audience.

People loved her.

People wanted her autograph, pictures taken with her.

I mean, she was just so charming.

Ann and her crew worked hard to produce a strong and entertaining program, making it one of the highest rated and longest running shows in WANE-TV 15's broadcasting history.

I can remember our sales department complaining because there was so many local commercials wanted to play on her show and everybody wanted Ann to do the commercials.

There are only so many minutes in a half hour show, so the sales department would have to turn away business.

She was an amazing individual.

She was the right person at the right time for us, and she was in she got started in television at the right time, the right person to be there.

She was a Carol Burnett, a Lucille Ball, one who took a challenge and saw a possibility of making something out of it and went for it.

It was in this spirit that Ann became a pioneer setting a standard of excellence in the local broadcasting industry without even realizing it.

She became a strong role model.

I'm one of your fans over here.

A great actor.

I intend to see everything you do.

You do a very good job yourself.

Well, thank you very much.

Everything that she was doing from the way she conducted the show to the way that she interviewed the people was a little bit different and was accepted.

And it was like, I mean, the ratings proved it because it was year after year that that she had she had it just plain great show.

She was a woman on television.

And so that it was out there, you know, in your head that it was a natural thing to want to do because Ann Colone had done it.

And so it was not something that seemed at all odd to me.

You know, as a little girl, I think it was a strong image, my mind, that that women could be on TV and it was very natural for them to do so.

How could Ann not set a standard, a standard in the variety, a standard in the excitement, a standard in the spontaneity and, man, was she spontaneous.

Oh, my goodness.

I'm sure there was a standard to set, and it was a high standard.

They had a they had a woman's director and all their other stations.

They had a women's director at Indianapolis, and they had one at Tulsa at their other station.

And they eventually had a station that they bought and brought on the air and in Houston and in Sacramento.

But none of those of those individuals were an Ann Colone.

In this day of the Larry Kings and the Barbara Walters and they were all very good interviewers.

Back in its heyday, she could easily stand shoulder to shoulder with both those people and do a very good job.

I think that a lot of the shows that followed Ann Colones show, you know, their genesis was in that show.

When I think just in terms of a mindset, The Ann Colone Show was really a model for a lot of the the live line or the lifestyle shows that that were to follow.

For over 17 years The Ann Colone Show was a daily part of the household routine.

Her show, just as she designed it, entertained, informed and helped us from household hints and cooking to the current issues of the day, we counted on Ann to keep us informed.

We would talk about, oh my goodness, what are we going to do if Ann leaves?

Serious.

What are we going to do if Ann would leave and it would be a big hole in all of our lives.

I mean, yes, for the show, for the people around Fort Wayne.

But what would we do?

I mean, we really grew to like that lady, you know.

Well, I had some opportunities to go nationally but, no, I wanted to continue what I was doing and I did not want to leave my family.

Well, perhaps that was a selfish motive on my part, but I just didn't want to leave my family.

No matter what money was dangled in front of me or fame.

It was a decision I've reached several times and I'm glad I did.

I do.

Who knows what might have been.

She probably would have made a... as I look back on that...she probably would have made a very good newsperson, probably a little opinionated, but then a good newsperson.

And I remember Reid Chapman many years ago making a comment that Ann Colone is WANE-TV.

Ann was Ann.

And then when they were all a camera, she was ready to go.

And she put on a good show and everybody when theyd leave the studio.

We'll be back to see you, again, Ann, and hug her then, you know, it was over with and stayed with her.

All I knew was I wanted to be myself good, better and different and do good work and hope and prayed the viewers watched and enjoyed it.

Other than that, I had no idea it would run that long, for one thing, and it was a joy.

The magic of The Ann Colone Show was simply Ann, and she will forever be remembered by her devoted fans.