Friday, June 5, 2009

Archive of legendary Laugh-In Producer George Schlatter on the block today? You bet your sweet bippy!

The creator of Laugh-In, George Schlatter, is offering television treasures from his own archive right now here at Heritage in Dallas, as well as online at Heritage LIVE!. If you're child of the 70s, or didn't live under a rock during the whole latter part of the 1960s, then you know Laugh-In and you know George. He's a pioneer of the first order. Best of all, a portion of the proceeds will benefit The Hawn Foundation and the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center.

“George felt it was time to share some of his amazing entertainment treasures with the world,” said Doug Norwine, our resident Music & Entertainment genius, “and to help the charities of Goldie Hawn and Barbara Sinatra, two of his dearest friends.”

The collection includes a great array of stuff that defines the halcyon days of 1970s television dominance: Schlatter’s Laugh-In 25th Anniversary American Television Award; American Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement statuettes from Johnny Carson, Lucille Ball and Jack Lemmon; Comedy Hall of Fame Awards from Richard Pryor and Red Skelton; transcripts and scripts from specials and events Schlatter developed, including a 1967 Colgate Comedy Hour script, a script from the 1965 The Best On Record Grammy Awards Show and his own personal Laugh-In series syndication notebook.

Also in the archive are a host of awards, scripts, contracts and production books, all bearing the names and/or the signatures of some of the greatest figures in Hollywood history.

George Schlatter – the catalyst behind television innovations of the 1960s and 1970s – launched careers and re-shaped broadcast comedy. Where would America be without Laugh-In? The political and topical satire, gags, and catchphrases fueled America from 1967-1973 with comic relief and fresh opinions when it was most needed. In 1979, with Real People, Schlatter once again set the standard and paved the path for the slew of reality shows which followed. He has produced, literally, hundreds of hours of television series and specials and received five Emmys, out of 25 nominations, and has received Lifetime Achievement awards from virtually every important entertainment guild in existence.

He was undeniably instrumental in starting the careers of a variety of famous performers including names like Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, Roseanne Barr, Robin Williams and Ellen Degeneres, and the specials he produced include names like Frank Sinatra, Muhammad Ali, Judy Garland, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Diana Ross, Nat ‘King’ Cole and Richard Pryor, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The history of his accomplishments reads like an encyclopedia of late 20th Century Pop Culture.

What can you say about this other than that it's just simply cool stuff. I'd love nothing more than to have a couple of these sitting on my desk...


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- Noah Fleisher

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