A sidekick, a head of hair and a freak show?
Envelope please.
What were Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson?
That’s what Carnac the Magnificent, played by Johnny Carson on the old Tonight Show, might have said to the deaths this week of three icons of entertainment.
Ed McMahon, of course, was Johnny’s sidekick who became just as well known for hawking the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes.
Farah Fawcett was the young blonde bombshell who sold millions of posters posed in a red swimsuit, stared in ”jiggle TV’s” “Charlie’s Angels” and married a Six-Million-Dollar-Man.
Michael Jackson was the cute front man of The Jackson Five who went on to thrill millions of fans with his top selling “Thriller” album and followed it up with “Bad.”
Say what you want about the later lives of all three. When they were at the top of their game, they were American entertainment at it’s best. For that reason, alone, they will be missed.
