HUCKLEBERRIES: A cautionary tale from Art Linkletter

Art Linkletter is no longer a household name.

From the 1940s through Elvis and The Beatles, however, his “House Party” variety show on radio and then television was mega popular. The “Kids Say the Darndest Things” segment, featuring funny responses from children interviewed by Linkletter, had audiences in stitches.

Linkletter drew crowds.

That was the case in the fall of 1973 when “An Evening with Art Linkletter,” sponsored by the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce, was the hottest ticket in town.

The chamber was trying something new for its Oct. 11 banquet and installation of officers. The chamber’s Commodores, under co-chairmen Hugh Coats and Bob Myklebust, decided to invite a national personality as a speaker to hike interest in the banquet.

And it did. Advance tickets sold out. The Press ran drawings for coveted free tickets.

More than 500 tickets were sold, and all four bays of the old North Shore Convention Center were packed to hear Linkletter. His 90-minute presentation didn’t disappoint. The Press reported that the crowd laughed, cried and clapped so much that “many were unable to finish their dinners.”

“I’m delighted to be here,” said Linkletter (who was then 61). “At my age, I’m delighted to be anywhere.”

As an example of quips from his “Kids Say the Darndest Things” show, Linkletter remembered asking a little boy what his parents had told him when they learned he was going to be on TV. The boy said his father told him, “Don’t scratch no matter WHERE it itches.”

Linkletter displayed his self-deprecating humor when he described how flustered people get in the presence of celebrities. One person rushed up to him and said, “You look better alive than on television.” And another wondered, “Didn’t you used to be Art Linkletter?”

The evening took a somber turn when Linkletter discussed his daughter, Diane. The 19-year-old had killed herself four years before while under the influence of drugs. Linkletter and his wife refused to be silent about the tragedy, as so many others were doing in those days.

“My daughter’s death changed my life drastically and forever,” he said. “We had to decide whether to make a public announcement. We decided it was time for someone known throughout the United States to tell the American public that drugs were on their doorstep.”

Art Linkletter would live another 37 years after the speech that delighted Coeur d’Alene, dying at age 97 in 2010. He brought laughter into many lives. And a cautionary tale that we still need to heed.

A mighty mentor

Today, Jim Putman is senior pastor of the rapidly expanding Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Coeur d’Alene, Hayden and Athol.

But 25 years ago, he had but 70 followers and plans to move into the old Post Falls Cinema 6. And a dozen years before that he was a red-shirt freshman with a drinking problem, wrestling for hall-of-fame coach John Owen and powerful North Idaho College.

The role Owen played in the future padre’s redemption was reported by the Press on Sept. 20, 1998.

After Jim spent a forgettable year grappling and boozing, Owen laid down the law: “If you want to wrestle here,” he said, “you’ve got to get your life straight.” In the 1998 article, Owen described his former wayward wrestler as “one tough customer.”

During his prodigal period, Jim turned to atheism and tried to disprove Christianity to his father, a minister and church planter. But he didn’t get far: “Whether I liked it or not, it was provable,” Pastor Jim told the Press. He was transformed by a verse that is now his favorite: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." — Ephesians 2:8.

Renewed, Jim won All-American wrestling honors for NIC twice (from 1986-88).

How he got from the wrestling mat to the pulpit is a story for another day.

But his respect for Owen remains. “I was really in awe of him,” Jim said. “He ended up one of two or three people in my life that made the most difference.”

John Owen, 75, died in January, after impacting young men’s lives for decades.

And horses, too

Most of you know that the Yates family of Coeur d’Alene has been in the funeral business for decades. And that son Dexter was part of a popular high school band formed in 1963, The Shadows. But did you know the Yateses were also horse people?

Mrs. and Mrs. Yates, son Dexter, then 13, and daughters Patty, 9, and Pamela, 7 — and their horses Coyote and Cactus — were featured in the Press on Sept. 20, 1958.

The horses had joined the Yates Riding Club in 1954. Coyote, a registered Appaloosa, was Gil’s horse. But all members of the family rode him. Cactus, half Arabian and half quarter horse, was Dexter’s. Coyote brought prestige to the family stable when he won a blue ribbon at a Pullman horse show.

One note in the article proved to be a spot-on prediction of the future: “The Yates have found it necessary to become a two-piano family in order to satisfy their children’s desire to practice. Dexter, who shows a marked musical talent, has his own second-hand, though well-tuned, piano in his room.”

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: Germs are quite tiny/and yet they are bold;/they’ll give you the flu/or maybe a cold — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Seasonal Health Warning”).

• Roadblock — Transforming Appleway from two lanes to four in the fall of 1973 didn’t go off without a hitch. Seems City Hall forgot to acquire the right of way for the two properties owned by Robert Hauptmann at 611 and 613 Appleway. City Engineer Marlin Green wrung his hands when the Press sought comment. We may have to condemn, he said. Obviously, it all worked out.

• According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the fish in Lake Coeur d’Alene are safe to eat. The Press announced the decree in a banner headline on Sept. 24, 1998. So, what’s the big deal? Not long before that the EPA had threatened to designate Lake Coeur d’Alene as a superfund site due to the heavy metals at the bottom. So, eat up. Glow later.

• On This Day — in 2003, Dennis Franz, who played Detective Andy Sipowicz on the hit “NYPD Blue” TV cop show was sighted downtown. Rumors swirled that he was searching for property at Black Rock. By late fall, Franz and wife Joanie had bought the old Camp Neewahlu on Kidd Island Bay from the Camp Fire Girls. And the Franzes did a great job fixing it up.

• Jaw Breaker — Some weren’t happy that North Idaho College renamed Fort Sherman Park “Cheamkwet” (CHEE-em-kwet) during NIC’s 80th anniversary Sept. 18, 2013. It means "at the headwaters,” a reference to the tribe’s traditional gathering place at the mouth of the Spokane River. It’s hard to say, chirped detractors. But the change stood. Perhaps we should give the college site back to the Coeur d’Alenes. They’d run the place better than we do.

• Ribbon Cutting — Recreation Director Doug Eastwood scraped together funding for Ramsey Park with bubble gum and baling wire. At one point, he sent state officials a photo of Mayor Ray Stone dressed as a mobster brandishing a fake gun and bag of money, indicating Hizzoner would do anything to get park funding. Coeur d’Alene beat out 14 other proposals to become the state’s top parks project of 1991. On Sept. 23, 1993, Mayor Stone cut the ribbon to open our fine park.

Parting shot

Bethine Church was so involved in husband Frank’s U.S. Senate career (1957 to 1981) that many considered her to be Idaho’s third senator. Once, when asked whether he checked with his wife before voting, the senator responded: “I say the accusation is true,” adding that Idaho was lucky to have her. Why am I telling you this? Twenty years ago (Sept. 17, 2003), Bethine Church visited North Idaho College to introduce her book, “A Lifelong Affair: My Passion for People and Politics.” The book told of her life with Sen. Church and her political family. The daughter of Democratic governor Chase Clark and granddaughter of the first mayor of Idaho Falls, Bethine wanted young people to share her love of politics and know it is “very honorable.” Where have all the statesmen — and women — gone?

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D.F. (Dave) Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com.