Douglas Caddy Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 Mort Sahl on JFK https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBINnEpNu5u7tdX0bXFBCzKFSL_ehDaWQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Brancato Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 I walked by the small theater in Mill Valley CA where he still speaks on Thursday evenings. A friend of mine says he's kind of losing from old age. I'm thinking I should go meet him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 A really good guy who risked everything over the JFK case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 (edited) I accessed the You Tube link Doug provided and listened to the entire interview of Mort Sahl. Sahl is a very interesting and intelligent fellow, obviously well read, quick witted funny and refreshingly opposite of politically correct in his disposition for seeking and telling the truth as he sees and feels it, no matter how much heat, criticism and career damage he suffered for doing so. Sahl's take on Bill Cosby 47 years ago ( relative to what we now know about Cosby's true character ) was amazingly prescient. And I also appreciated Sahl's sharing about Herb Caen the San Francisco journalist revealing a clearer picture of this man's true character and political bent. Highly recommend others listen to the Mort Sahl interview via the link Doug provides. Edited October 22, 2017 by Joe Bauer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Gallaway Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 I remember Mort Sahl as largely political comedian from a very early age before I cold understand the meaning of his jokes. As any political humorist of his day, he was never really a huge commercially successful comedian. His heyday was when he was a frequent on the Smothers Brothers show, during the Viet Nam War period. I remember, he would use the exclusive "we" a lot, pertaining to be of the liberal movement of that day, which I related to. Though I thought it spanked of a "we are the other people" sort of snobbishness. I have heard his 70's foray into the Kennedy assassination on FM radio at the time and there's no doubt, he held to his beliefs. In the early 80's he became an avid follower of Ronald Reagan and alluded to being a close personal friend of Nancy Reagan. My friends and I at the time thought that was a real 180. I saw a TV interview where the interviewer remarked that came as a surprise to him as he had always thought Sahl as a Liberal, which sort of embarrassed Sahl, and he denied any real political affiliation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Brancato Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 Very surprising second paragraph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted October 24, 2017 Share Posted October 24, 2017 He ended up really resenting the liberals for abandoning Kennedy's assassination. Especially McGovern who said words to the effect to him that JFK really wasn't that good of a president anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Brancato Posted October 24, 2017 Share Posted October 24, 2017 Well, I'd have to agree with him on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Larsen Posted October 24, 2017 Share Posted October 24, 2017 9 hours ago, James DiEugenio said: [Mort Sahl] ended up really resenting the liberals for abandoning Kennedy's assassination. Especially McGovern who said words to the effect to him that JFK really wasn't that good of a president anyway. 8 hours ago, Paul Brancato said: Well, I'd have to agree with him on that. You agree with whom? Mort Sahl or McGovern? (The former, I hope.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted October 24, 2017 Share Posted October 24, 2017 10 hours ago, James DiEugenio said: He ended up really resenting the liberals for abandoning Kennedy's assassination. Especially McGovern who said words to the effect to him that JFK really wasn't that good of a president anyway. Wow...didn't know this about McGovern ( whom I always respected in so many ways ) but it makes sense in regards to Sahl who to this day still embraces with all his passion the JFK assassination as the most important and injurious crime against America and it's constitutional soul ... ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted October 24, 2017 Share Posted October 24, 2017 Two other points about Mort Sahl. I don't know if you saw my interview with David Giglio at Our Hidden History about the Press and the JFK assassination, but it was Mort who got Garrison his spot on The Tonight Show. The Sarnoffs were not about to let that be any kind of a real, exploratory, informational kind of interview. So, they prepped Carson and the NBC lawyers also interviewed Garrison. Carson then had cards he was supposed to follow in his--I won't even call it an interview--inquisition. Well, the audience saw through this fairly soon, and when Garrison accused LBJ of fomenting a cover up, Carson asked, "But why would he do that?" Garrison replied, "I don't know, why don't you ask him John?" That brought down the house and Carson was humiliated. After the show, Mort was in the wings. When Carson walked off he pointed at him and said, "You will never be on this program again!" And he was not, not until Jay Leno took over was Mort back on the Tonight Show. And that hurt his career. Secondly, at a conference I was at last summer, a former government investigator said that McGovern told him that somehow Kennedy was in on the Castro plots. Which today is ridiculous and I don't know why McGovern would say something like that. Because in addition to the IG report, we now have the declassified interview of the co author with the Church Committee. And Bill Davy used this in his VMI talk. He says in all the months he worked on the report, there was never any hint that the plots had presidential approval. Helms did not like the result and he did not allow any copies to be made. He kept the original in his safe so no one could see it. That is the kind of stuff Mort really got disenchanted with. And that is why he ended up concluding the liberals were really not much good for anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted October 24, 2017 Share Posted October 24, 2017 (edited) 29 minutes ago, James DiEugenio said: Two other points about Mort Sahl. I don't know if you saw my interview with David Giglio at Our Hidden History about the Press and the JFK assassination, but it was Mort who got Garrison his spot on The Tonight Show. The Sarnoffs were not about to let that be any kind of a real, exploratory, informational kind of interview. So, they prepped Carson and the NBC lawyers also interviewed Garrison. Carson then had cards he was supposed to follow in his--I won't even call it an interview--inquisition. Well, the audience saw through this fairly soon, and when Garrison accused LBJ of fomenting a cover up, Carson asked, "But why would he do that?" Garrison replied, "I don't know, why don't you ask him John?" That brought down the house and Carson was humiliated. After the show, Mort was in the wings. When Carson walked off he pointed at him and said, "You will never be on this program again!" And he was not, not until Jay Leno took over was Mort back on the Tonight Show. And that hurt his career. Secondly, at a conference I was at last summer, a former government investigator said that McGovern told him that somehow Kennedy was in on the Castro plots. Which today is ridiculous and I don't know why McGovern would say something like that. Because in addition to the IG report, we now have the declassified interview of the co author with the Church Committee. And Bill Davy used this in his VMI talk. He says in all the months he worked on the report, there was never any hint that the plots had presidential approval. Helms did not like the result and he did not allow any copies to be made. He kept the original in his safe so no one could see it. That is the kind of stuff Mort really got disenchanted with. And that is why he ended up concluding the liberals were really not much good for anything. So interesting. I watched the Carson interview of Garrison. I think I remember giving a "RIGHT ON" shout with a celebratory fist pump when Garrison made Carson look like a fool with the perfect answer to Carson's stupid question asking "why would he do that?" regards the assertion of LBJ's complicity in the JFK event cover-up. Carson finally revealed his often reported true reality mean spirited tone and demeanor while losing his cool and his audience's blind trust, respect and belief of him as a higher authority of the truth versus Jim Garrison. I never trusted Carson again after that Garrison hatchet job interview. There was truly something bad about Johnny Carson and his character beyond even the exposes written about him...IMO. Edited October 24, 2017 by Joe Bauer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted October 24, 2017 Share Posted October 24, 2017 At that time, I don't think Carson had done his famous contract hold out. As I recall, his lawyers found a loophole in his contract later. And this put NBC over a barrel. It was after this that Carson got a lot of control over the show, e.g. he moved it to Burbank, cut it back to one hour, only worked four nights week etc. But at this time, I think he was strictly an NBC employee. Therefore, whatever the Sarnoffs said he had to comply with or lose his job. Since NBC and the Sarnoffs had formally backed the Walter Sheridan hatchet job that summer, they were not going to let Garrison appear in any kind of fair or objective forum on their network. So I agree with you on Carson not being a really neat guy, but IMO, he really did not have much of a choice here. He had been given a really great gift with the Tonight Show. Now, if you ask me, Jack Paar would not have gone along with this charade. He was a different sort of TV personality who really wanted control over what he did and did not mind butting up against management. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 (edited) Jim D. Did Jack Paar ever express his thoughts regards the JFK assassination including the Warren Commission conclusion? Publicly or even privately? Edited October 25, 2017 by Joe Bauer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 That is one I don't know the answer to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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