Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
To honor the great interviewer Phil Donahue upon his passing, here is a video I put together, clips taken from a recording of a show of his that I have in my collection. This episode of "Donahue" aired on WNBC (channel 4, out of New York City, on which the show appeared from 1977 to 1995). This was Monday, May 2nd, 1989. I've left in some commercials and promos, mainly of local interest.
Controversial talk show host Morton Downey was the main guest, defending his truthfulness less than a week after he claimed to have been attacked in the San Francisco Airport. The assault was not corroborated by any witnesses, many of Downey's details didn't quite add up, and several acquaintances said that Downey had hinted earlier that something was going to happen that day. No suspects were ever identified, and Downey, to my knowledge and research, never confessed to any chicanery.
Here is what you'll see in this video:
--a promo for "Another World" with Anne Heche (two of her, actually), don't recognize the actors;
--an unmiked Chuck Scarborough delivering a news update and a "Live at Five" promo;
--"Donahue" begins, Downey and his supporters (including his daughter) are introduced, and video of him offering his account (and some skeptical police) is shown;
--the first commercial break has "Me and My Girl" playing on Broadway (although no theater is mentioned), and Easy Spirit shoes ("Looks like a pump, feels like a sneaker") were available at A&S to basketball-playing gals everywhere;
--next, there's free ticket info, questions from the audience, and Morton flipping his snappy wig;
--more ads, for Seaman's Furniture and Connecticut tourism;
--after more show, the same Live at Five promo (oops), then a Foodtown ad for their 34th anniversary (my local supermarket at the time) and a train safety PSA with Phoebe Cates, sponsored by the Long Island Rail Road;
--more show, transcription offer and next-show tease, then the final moments, credits, and promotional considerations (thanks, The Drake!), with a final brief say from Lori Krebs, Downey's future wife (until his death in March of 2001);
--a LILCO lineman talks appliances before the opening to Live at Five with Jack Cafferty and Sue Simmons anchoring, then Magee Hickey reports from the hospital where the Central Park rape victim was recovering (with a brief explanation of the Glasgow Coma Scale, or GCS). Then Donald Trump, being Donald Trump, weighs in with his opinion, calling for the death penalty--with no doubt that the accused teens were guilty (and, despite his insistence to this day that they be executed, they were all later exonerated). The last story I left in has Sue telling of the Illinois couple, Robert and Paula Sims, who claimed that their two baby daughters were abducted, three years apart. Paula later confessed to murdering them.
No rights held or implied. (If you'd like this video removed for copyright reasons, please contact me rather than notifying YouTube, I will gladly take it down from this channel.) This is on compilation 99 at oldtvads.blogspot.com...
To honor the great interviewer Phil Donahue upon his passing, here is a video I put together, clips taken from a recording of a show of his that I have in my collection. This episode of "Donahue" aired on WNBC (channel 4, out of New York City, on which the show appeared from 1977 to 1995). This was Monday, May 2nd, 1989. I've left in some commercials and promos, mainly of local interest.
Controversial talk show host Morton Downey was the main guest, defending his truthfulness less than a week after he claimed to have been attacked in the San Francisco Airport. The assault was not corroborated by any witnesses, many of Downey's details didn't quite add up, and several acquaintances said that Downey had hinted earlier that something was going to happen that day. No suspects were ever identified, and Downey, to my knowledge and research, never confessed to any chicanery.
Here is what you'll see in this video:
--a promo for "Another World" with Anne Heche (two of her, actually), don't recognize the actors;
--an unmiked Chuck Scarborough delivering a news update and a "Live at Five" promo;
--"Donahue" begins, Downey and his supporters (including his daughter) are introduced, and video of him offering his account (and some skeptical police) is shown;
--the first commercial break has "Me and My Girl" playing on Broadway (although no theater is mentioned), and Easy Spirit shoes ("Looks like a pump, feels like a sneaker") were available at A&S to basketball-playing gals everywhere;
--next, there's free ticket info, questions from the audience, and Morton flipping his snappy wig;
--more ads, for Seaman's Furniture and Connecticut tourism;
--after more show, the same Live at Five promo (oops), then a Foodtown ad for their 34th anniversary (my local supermarket at the time) and a train safety PSA with Phoebe Cates, sponsored by the Long Island Rail Road;
--more show, transcription offer and next-show tease, then the final moments, credits, and promotional considerations (thanks, The Drake!), with a final brief say from Lori Krebs, Downey's future wife (until his death in March of 2001);
--a LILCO lineman talks appliances before the opening to Live at Five with Jack Cafferty and Sue Simmons anchoring, then Magee Hickey reports from the hospital where the Central Park rape victim was recovering (with a brief explanation of the Glasgow Coma Scale, or GCS). Then Donald Trump, being Donald Trump, weighs in with his opinion, calling for the death penalty--with no doubt that the accused teens were guilty (and, despite his insistence to this day that they be executed, they were all later exonerated). The last story I left in has Sue telling of the Illinois couple, Robert and Paula Sims, who claimed that their two baby daughters were abducted, three years apart. Paula later confessed to murdering them.
No rights held or implied. (If you'd like this video removed for copyright reasons, please contact me rather than notifying YouTube, I will gladly take it down from this channel.) This is on compilation 99 at oldtvads.blogspot.com...
