RIP: MU's own Tom Snyder

[Avenue Commons]

I don't know if he ever earned a Marquette diploma, but Tom Snyder attended Marquette and was very proud of his association with the university.

Tom Snyder of 'Tomorrow Show' dies at 71 25 minutes ago

Talk show host Tom Snyder, whose smoke-filled interviews were a staple of late night television, has died after a struggle with leukemia. He was 71.

Snyder died Sunday in San Francisco from complications associated with leukemia, his longtime producer and friend Mike Horowicz told The Associated Press on Monday.

Known for his improvised, casual style and robust laughter, Snyder conducted a number of memorable interviews as host of NBC's "The Tomorrow Show." Among his guests were John Lennon, Charles Manson and Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols.

Snyder began his career as a radio reporter in Milwaukee in the 1960s, then moved into local television news. He anchored newscasts in Philadelphia and Los Angeles before moving to late night.

"He loved the broadcast business," said Marciarose Shestack, who co-anchored a noontime newscast with Snyder at KYW-TV in Philadelphia in the 1960s. "He was very surprising and very irreverent and not at all a typical newscaster."

In 1972, Snyder left news to host "The Tomorrow Show," which followed "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.

His catch phrase for the show was: "Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air." Snyder smoked throughout his show, the cigarette cloud swirling around him during interviews.

He gained more fame when Dan Ackroyd lampooned him in the early days of Saturday Night Live.

In 1995, he returned to late night television as the host of "The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder" on CBS. The program followed David Letterman's "Late Show" until 1998, when Snyder was replaced by Craig Kilborn.

Snyder announced on his Web site in 2005 that he had chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

"When I was a kid leukemia was a death sentence," he wrote then. "Now, my doctors say it's treatable!"

Horowicz met Snyder in 1982 and worked with him at WABC in New York before producing the "Tom Snyder" television show.

"He was a great guy and very talented," Horowicz said.

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[77ncaachamps]

The Wikipedia bio reports he graduated from MU AND MUHS...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Snyder

EDIT: But that's why Wikipedia can be so untrustworthy...

Snippet from JS columnist, Tim Cuprisin's blog on Tom Snyder:
http://blogs.jsonline.com/cuprisin/

"I worked so much on the radio that's one of the reasons I never got my degree from Marquette University," Snyder tells Inside TV & Radio.

He might have gotten a ceremonial degree...but I can't confirm that.

The Blog is a good read...

[SoCalwarrior]

This is from Screenwriter/baseball announcer Ken Levine's blog. (Mash, Cheer, etc.)...


I saw Tom Snyder the day he got the offer to host the TOMORROW SHOW on NBC. It was 1972, Tom had been a local news anchor on KNBC in Los Angeles (with his weatherman Pat Sajek) and the big brass at the network wanted to seal the deal over a power lunch. Tom selected the place.

And that's where I saw him – standing in line with me at Cassell's hamburgers in Koreatown. Now granted, they're the best burgers in Los Angeles, but still, it ain't the Palm or Spagos.

It was a riot seeing the top executives of the National Broadcasting Company, all in their expensive suits, holding trays, being chided by the counter guys for not yelling out their orders loud enough.

But that was Tom Snyder. Never taking himself or anything too seriously – even his "big break".

In many ways, Tom was the Jack Paar of the boomer generation. An eccentric personality who wasn't afraid to show his emotions on national television, he was a master of the conversational in-depth interview. And he did his homework. Unlike Larry King recently, he would never get his Beatles mixed-up.

You would tune into the TOMORROW SHOW one night and Julie Andrews would be his guest. The next night it was Charles Manson. And again, unlike Larry King, he didn't ask them both the same questions.

There was a touch of Edward R. Murrow in Tom Snyder. He would sit back in a chair, cigarette dangling in one hand, and very formally inform the audience that his guest that night was "Mr. Johnny Rotten".

Dan Ackroyd enhanced his popularity with a dead-on impression on SNL, exaggerating all of Tom's quirks, his boisterous laugh, and comb-over that seemed to wrap around his head twice. Tom apparently loved it. Imagine if it were Bill O'Reilly.

In the mid 90's Tom had a late night talk show on CBS as well as a syndicated radio program. I was his guest once on the radio show, pimping my book. To my amazement he had actually read it (thus making him one of five). The interview was relaxed and fun. No wonder Charles Manson felt so at ease. Off the air I reminded him of the Cassell's incident and heard that loud boisterous laugh for real. He said he had all his best meetings there.

Tom Synder will be long remembered, especially in Los Angeles, where his back-up news anchor from the KNBC days, Paul Moyer, has been imitating him for thirty years. 

[79Warrior]

Commons,

Tom and MU were at odds for years. I worked with him at ABC Radio in the early 80's. He never graduated. Tom did bring the Tomorrow Show to The Helfaer Theater for a week. other than That, he grew didtant from MU.