The Paper • Page 2 • April 23, 2015
‘Cavett’ Cont. from Page 1
his quest for increased show biz experience.
He took up magic as a hobby. In eighth grade, he both directed a live Saturday-morning radio show sponsored by the Junior League and played the title role in The Winslow Boy.
“About that time there was this scripted show from Storytime Playhouse in New York. We did the radio show in the Lincoln (NE) Summer Theatre (known as the Hayloft Theatre). Someone called and said they needed a young lad who could speak with a British accent. So, I got that part. That was at age 15.” Cavett had already begun learning magic tricks . . . a hobby that he continues to study to this day. He is good enough that, if he chose, he could make a couple of quid performing as a magician. Recently, in fact, he performed two out of the five parts of the genius rope machine on the NBC Jimmy Fallon show. He is also a Lifetime Member of the Magic Castle in Hollywood. He is quite proud of the fact that several of his television shows helped rescue the work of the great magician, “Slydini.” His real name was Quintino Marucci. He died about 10
Give Us This Day Our Daily Chuckle This week, a compendium of wit, wisdom and neat stuff you can tell at parties. Enjoy! Phone Pole Installers
Bell needed to hire a team of telephone pole installers for Fort McMurray and the boss had to choose between a team of two guys from Newfoundland and a team of two Irish guys.
The boss met with both teams and said "Here's what we'll do. Each team will be installing poles out on the new road for a day. The team that installs the most phone poles gets the job."
Both teams headed right out. At end of the shift, Pat and Mike, the Irish guys, came back and the boss asked them how many they had installed. They said that it was tough going, but they'd put in twelve.
years ago. In addition to his television shows, Cavett also wrote about him in his blog(s) in the New York Times. For a fascinating read, check out http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes. com/2009/03/27/conjuring-slydini/ and the follow-up column: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes. com/2009/04/10/conjuring-slydini-part-2/. Both blog entries and the accompanying video clearly fascinated Cavett as he viewed stunning magic performed by a master.
Before Slydini . . . Cavett had met “The Great Carsoni,” only he wasn’t very famous at that time. In 1952 Cavett attended the convention of the International Brotherhood of Magicians in St. Louis and won the Best New Performer trophy. Around the same time, he met fellow magician Johnny Carson, eleven years his senior, who was doing a magic act at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Lincoln. He and Johnny were to become very close friends over the years, Cavett having dined at Carson’s house on a number of occasions. But, at this time it was just “Johnny Carson, the magician from Omaha,” (where he also worked on WOW-TV. But all of this happened after he had gone through his early childhood years, after having lost his mom, and then subsequently, being presented with a
new mom. His dad remarried. Dick’s new step-mom, Dorcas Deland, from Alliance, Nebraska, was, like his biological mom, an educator. It was a good match, it seems because on September 24, 1995, Lincoln Public Schools dedicated the new Dorcas C. and Alva B. Cavett Elementary School in their honor.
Asked if he had any difficulty adapting to a new stepmother after having been so close to his biological mom . . . “I was a bit ornery at first. But, in time, I came around and we became very close. I can’t tell you how many times I have had someone come up to me and say, ‘Your mom just changed my life at the University. She made me a teacher.’ Other people I remember came up to me, a former jock from Lincoln High School said about my dad, ‘I only lived for his class.’" One of Cavett’s classmates at Lincoln High School was the late actress, Sandy Dennis. Cavett was elected state president of the student council in high school, and, as mentioned at the beginning of this narrative, was a gold-medalist at the state gymnastics championship. “You grew up in Omaha,” he said to me, “do you know who we hated to play from Omaha?”
I guessed Omaha Tech(nical) High School. Then, when Cavett said they were from just
outside of Omaha, it hit me. “Boys Town,?” I said.
“Absolutely,” he said. “We had to bring in extra cops for the games against Boys Town. They were the rattiest gang. My dad always got angry when some wealthy widow died and left a lot of money to Boys Town. ‘That place is drowning in millions of dollars,’ he would say. Then, it was a nest of juvenile delinquents. That may not be true today . . . but it sure was then.” As to how he happened to apply to Yale University:
“I graduated in 1954. We had a family friend, Frank Rice, of the old Grand Island Baptist College where he became a teacher. Frank also taught in Omaha. He had a John Hay Fellowship to Yale. He came back and urged my parents to have me apply at Yale. Dad wanted me to study law or dentistry, but I was more interested in English, and, later, the Dramatic Arts. Then came that amazing letter from Yale. I became a member of the Class of 1958.” Before leaving for college, he worked as a caddy at the Lincoln Country Club. He also began doing magic shows for $35 a night. While
attending
Yale
‘Cavett’ Cont. on Page 3
Forty-five minutes later, Bud and Buddy, the Newfoundland guys came back in and they were totally exhausted.
over kids when God has to go do something else. -Mitchell, age 7
-Antonio, age 9
Bud, the team leader, wiped his brow and sighed, "Buddy and me, we got three in.”
Angels don't eat, but they drink milk from Holy Cows! -Jack, age 6
Some of the angels are in charge of helping heal sick animals and pets. And if they don't make the animals get better, they help the child get over it. - Vicki , age 8
The boss asked, "Well, how many poles did you guys install?"
The boss gasped, "Three? Those two Irish guys put in twelve!" "Yeah," said Bud, "but you should see how much they left sticking out of the ground!" Angels ... as explained By Children
I only know the names of two angels, Hark and Harold. - Gregory, age 5 Everybody's got it all wrong. Angels don't wear halos anymore. I forget why, but scientists are working on it -Olive, age 9 It's not easy to become an angel! First, you die. Then you go to Heaven, and then there's still the flight training to go through. And then you got to agree to wear those angel clothes. -Matthew, age 9 Angels work for God and watch
My guardian angel helps me with math, but he's not much good for science. -Henry, age 8
Angels talk all the way while they're flying you up to heaven. The main subject is where you went wrong before you got dead. - Daniel, age 9 When an angel gets mad, he takes a deep breath and counts to ten. And when he lets out his breath again, somewhere there's a tornado. - Reagan, age 10 Angels have a lot to do and they keep very busy. If you lose a tooth, an angel comes in through your window and leaves money under your pillow. Then when it gets cold, angels go south for the winter. -Sara, age 6 Angels live in cloud houses made by God and his Son, who's a very good carpenter. -Jared, age 8
All angels are girls because they gotta wear dresses and boys didn't go for it.
My angel is my grandma who died last year. She got a big head start on helping me while she was still down here on earth. -Ashley, age 9
What I don't get about angels is why, when someone is in love, they shoot arrows at them. - Sarah , age 7 Random Thoughts As We Age...
Wouldn't it be great if we could put ourselves in the dryer for ten minutes; come out wrinklefree and three sizes smaller! Last year I joined a support group for procrastinators. We haven't met yet! I don't trip over things, I do random gravity checks!
I don't need anger management. I need people to stop pissing me off!
‘Chuckles’ Cont. on Page 3