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Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Dan Rowan (left) and Dick Martin (right), 1968.
Also known as	Laugh-In
Genre	Sketch comedy
Created by	Ed Friendly George Schlatter
Directed by	Gordon Wiles Mark Warren
Starring	Dan Rowan Dick Martin Gary Owens Goldie Hawn Ruth Buzzi Henry Gibson Arte Johnson Alan Sues Jo Anne Worley Lily Tomlin Judy Carne
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	140 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	45–48 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	January 22, 1968 (1968-01-22) – March 12, 1973 (1973-03-12)
Chronology
Preceded by	Pilot (September 9, 1967)
Followed by	Laugh-In's 25th Anniversary (February 7, 1993) Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Christmas Present (December 2, 1993) Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In: A Valentine's Day Special (February 14, 1994)[1]
Related shows	Turn-On

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to May 14, 1973. It was hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin and was broadcast by NBC. It originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, 1967 and was such a success that it was brought back as a series, replacing The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Mondays at 8 pm (EST). The title of the show was a play on the "love-ins" or "be-ins" of the 1960s hippie culture, terms that were, in turn, derived from "sit-ins", common in protests associated with civil rights and anti-war demonstrations of the time.

In 2002, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In was ranked #42 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.^[2]

Background[link]

Laugh-In had its roots in the humor of vaudeville and burlesque, but its most direct influences were from the comedy of Olsen and Johnson (specifically, their free-form Broadway revue Hellzapoppin'), the innovative television works of Ernie Kovacs, and the topical satire of That Was The Week That Was. The show was characterized by a rapid-fire series of gags and sketches, many of which conveyed sexual innuendo or were politically charged. The co-hosts continued the exasperated straight man (Rowan) and "dumb" guy (Martin) act which they had established as nightclub comics. This was a continuation of cartoonist Chic Young's "Dumb Dora", and acts from vaudeville, best popularized by Burns and Allen.

Episodes[link]

Each episode followed a somewhat similar format, often including recurring sketches. The show would start with a short dialogue between Rowan and Martin. Shortly afterward, Rowan would intone: "C'mon Dick, let's go to the party". This live-to-tape segment comprised all cast members and occasional surprise celebrities dancing before a 1960s "Mod" party backdrop, delivering one- and two-line jokes interspersed with a few bars of dance music (later adopted on The Muppet Show, which had a recurring segment that is similar to "The Cocktail Party" with absurd moments from characters). The show would then proceed through rapid-fire comedy bits, pre-taped segments, and recurring sketches.

At the end of every show, Dan Rowan turned to his co-host and said, "Say good night, Dick", to which Martin replied, "Good night, Dick!" (varying a bit from the Burns and Allen old-time radio show). The show then featured cast members opening panels in a psychedelically-painted "joke wall" and telling jokes. As the show drew to a close and the applause died, executive producer George Schlatter's solitary clapping continued even as the screen turned blank and the production logo, network chimes, and NBC logo appeared.

Although most episodes included most of the above segments, the arrangement of the segments would often be changed, so that the audience couldn't predict what was next.

The show often featured guest stars. Sometimes the guest had a prominent spot in the program, other times the guest would pop up in short "quickies" (one- or two-liner jokes) interspersed throughout the show. While the guest was available, other bits were recorded, and would be added to other episodes of the series.

Cast[link]

Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Larry Hovis, Arte Johnson and Jo Anne Worley were originally in the pilot special from 1967. Gary Owens (announcer), Eileen Brennan, Roddy Maude-Roxby, and Goldie Hawn came on in the show. Most of the cast members were not in all 14 episodes from the season. Only the two hosts, announcer, and Judy, Henry, and Arte were in all 14 episodes. Eileen only appears in half of the episodes. She, Larry, and Roddy left after the first season.

The second season saw a handful of new people, including Alan Sues, Dave Madden, and Chelsea Brown. All of the new cast members from the second season left at the end of that season, except Alan Sues who stayed on until 1972.

Goldie Hawn and Ruth Buzzi in a 1968 Halloween skit.

At the end of the 1968–1969 season, Judy Carne chose not to renew her contract, though she did make appearances during 1969–1970; producer George Schlatter blamed her for breaking up the "family." The show also survived the departures of Goldie Hawn and Jo Anne Worley to remain a top-20 show in 1970–1971. Schlatter tried to replace Hawn with other wide-eyed starlets acting dumb: first Pamela Rodgers, then Sarah Kennedy, and finally Donna Jean Young, but Hawn's ditzy characterization proved inimitable.

The third season saw several new people who only stayed on for that season, Teresa Graves, Jeremy Lloyd, Pamela Rodgers, and Stu Gilliam. Lily Tomlin joined in the middle of the season. Jo Anne Worley, Goldie Hawn, and Judy Carne left after the season.

New faces in the 1970–1971 season included tall, sad-eyed Dennis Allen, who alternately played quietly zany characters and straight man for anybody's jokes; comic actress Ann Elder, who also contributed to scripts, tap dancer Barbara Sharma, who would later appear on Rhoda, and beefy Johnny Brown, who played the superintendent Nathan "Buffalo Butt" Bookman on Good Times.

Arte Johnson, who created many characters, insisted on star billing, apart from the rest of the cast. The producer mollified him, but had announcer Gary Owens read Johnson's credit as a separate sentence: "Starring Dan Rowan and Dick Martin! And Arte Johnson! With Ruth Buzzi ..." This maneuver gave Johnson star billing, but made it sound like he was still part of the ensemble cast. Johnson left the show after the 1970–1971 season. NBC aired the pilot for his situation comedy Call Holme, but it never became a series.

Henry Gibson also departed after the 1970–1971 season. He and Johnson were replaced by Richard Dawson and Larry Hovis, both of whom had appeared occasionally in the first season. Both of them were on Hogan's Heroes. However, the loss of Johnson's many characters caused ratings to drop farther. The show celebrated its 100th episode during the 1971–1972 season, with Carne, Worley, Johnson, Gibson, Graves, and Tiny Tim all returning for the festivities. John Wayne was also on hand for his first cameo appearance since 1968.

Rita Hayworth reprised her Sadie Thompson character on the show in 1971.

For the show's final season (1972–1973), Rowan and Martin assumed the executive producer roles from George Schlatter (known on-air as "CFG", which stood for "Crazy Fucking George") and Ed Friendly. Except for holdovers Dawson, Owens, Buzzi, and only occasional appearances from Tomlin, a new cast was brought in. This final season featured future Match Game panelist Patti Deutsch, folksy singer-comedian Jud Strunk, and ventriloquist act Willie Tyler and Lester. Deutsch, Strunk, and Tyler caught on to the spirit of the show and made valuable contributions (Deutsch did celebrity impressions — in the presence of the celebrity — and took over Worley's role in "The Farkel Family"). The shows were still amusing, but without the usual gang, viewers didn't respond as they once had.

These last shows never aired in the edited half-hour rerun syndicated (through Lorimar Productions) to local stations in 1983 and later aired on Nick at Nite. The cable network Trio started airing the show in its original one-hour form in the early 2000s, but only the pilot and the first 69 episodes (extending to the fourth episode of the 1970–1971 season) were included in Trio's package. Two "Best-of" DVD packages are also available; they only contain six episodes each.

Of over three dozen entertainers to grace the cast, only Rowan, Martin, Owens and Buzzi were there from beginning to end. However, Owens was not in the 1967 pilot and Buzzi missed two first-season episodes.

Lily Tomlin and Goldie Hawn later became noted film stars (Hawn won an Academy Award while still a member of the cast; Tomlin was later nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1975 for Nashville). Henry Gibson later co-starred in the Robert Altman film Nashville and was nominated for a Golden Globe. Ruth Buzzi became a regular on the Sesame Street children's television series. Dave Madden, whose trademark was to throw confetti (representing an unspoken impure thought) while keeping a dour expression at the punchline of a joke, played Reuben Kincaid on the television sitcom The Partridge Family. Richard Dawson, who previously had a regular supporting role on the sitcom Hogan's Heroes, went on to success on the game shows Match Game and Family Feud. Larry Hovis, also a regular on Hogan's Heroes, appeared on Laugh-In during the first and the fifth seasons. Teresa Graves parlayed her season on the show into the title role of the police drama Get Christie Love! Flip Wilson took Geraldine and his other characters to his own variety show from 1970 through 1974.

Cast tenures[link]

• All seasons: Dan Rowan, host; Dick Martin, host; Gary Owens, announcer; Ruth Buzzi
• Season 1 (1968): Eileen Brennan, Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Larry Hovis, Arte Johnson, Roddy Maude-Roxby, Jo Anne Worley.
• Season 2 (1968–1969): Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Arte Johnson, Jo Anne Worley, Alan Sues, Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall ("The Fun Couple"), Chelsea Brown, Dave Madden, Pigmeat Markham, Dick "Sweet Brother" Whittington, Byron Gilliam (uncredited),
• Season 3 (1969–1970): Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Arte Johnson, Jo Anne Worley, Alan Sues, Lily Tomlin, Byron Gilliam, Teresa Graves, Jeremy Lloyd, Pamela Rodgers, Stu Gilliam, Johnny Brown.
• Season 4 (1970–1971): Henry Gibson, Arte Johnson, Alan Sues, Lily Tomlin, Johnny Brown, Dennis Allen, Ann Elder, Nancie Phillips, Barbara Sharma, Harvey Jason, Richard Dawson.
• Season 5 (1971–1972): Lily Tomlin, Larry Hovis, Alan Sues, Byron Gilliam (dancer only), Johnny Brown, Dennis Allen, Ann Elder, Barbara Sharma, Richard Dawson.
• Season 6 (1972–1973): Lily Tomlin, Richard Dawson, Moosie Drier, Tod Bass, Brian Bressler, Patti Deutsch, Lisa Farringer, Sarah Kennedy, Jud Strunk, Willie Tyler, Donna Jean Young.

Regular guest performers[link]

John Wayne and Tiny Tim help celebrate the 100th episode, 1971.

• Jack Benny (1968–1970, 1972)
• Johnny Carson (1968–1970, 1971, 1973)
• Sammy Davis Jr. (1968–1970, 1971, 1973)
• Zsa Zsa Gabor (1968–1970)
• Peter Lawford (1968–1971)
• Tiny Tim (1968–1970, 1971–1972)
• John Wayne (1968, 1971–1973)
• Flip Wilson (1968–1970)
• Henny Youngman (1968–1969, 1971–1973)

Series writers[link]

Laugh-In writers included: George Schlatter, Jack Mendelsohn, Lorne Michaels, Phil Hahn, Jim Mulligan, Jack Hanrahan, Gene Farmer, Jim Abell, Bill Richmond, Don Reo, Allan Katz, Jack Wohl, Larry Siegel, John Rappaport, Allan Manings, Jack Margolis, Bob Howard, John Jay Carsey, Richard Goren (also credited as Rowby Greeber and Rowby Goren), Chris Bearde (credited as Chris Beard), Chet Dowling, David Panich, Marc London, Paul Keyes,^[3] Dave Cox, Jack Kaplan, Stephen Spears, Hugh Wedlock Jr., Coslough Johnson (Arte Johnson's twin brother), Hart Pomerantz, Barry Took, Digby Wolfe, Jeremy Lloyd.

Musical direction and production numbers[link]

The Musical Director for Laugh-In was Ian Bernard. Ian Bernard wrote the opening theme music, plus the infamous "What's the new across the nation" number. Ian Bernard also wrote all the cute musical "play-ons" that introduced comedy sketches like Lilly Tomlin's little girl character who sat in a giant rocking chair, and Arte Johnson's old man who always got hit with a purse. Ian Bernard also appeared in many of the cocktail scenes where he directed the band as they stopped and started between jokes. Composer-lyricist Billy Barnes, who wrote all of the original musical production numbers in the show. Barnes is the creator of the famous Billy Barnes Revues of the 1950s and 1960s, and composed such popular hits as "(Have I Stayed) Too Long at the Fair" recorded by Barbra Streisand and the jazz standard "Something Cool" recorded by June Christy.

Post-production[link]

The show was recorded at NBC's Burbank facility using two-inch quadruplex videotape. Since computer-controlled online editing had not been invented at the time, post-production video editing of the montage was achieved by the error-prone method of visualizing the recorded track with ferrofluid and cutting it with a razor blade or guillotine cutter and splicing with video tape, in a manner similar to film editing. This had the incidental benefit of ensuring that the master tape would be preserved, since a spliced tape could not be recycled for further use. Laugh-In Editor Arthur Schneider won an Emmy Award in 1968 for his pioneering use of the "jump cut" – the unique editing style in which a sudden cut from one shot to another was made without a fade-out.

Recurring sketches and characters[link]

Sketches[link]

Frequently recurring Laugh-In sketches included:

Rowan and Martin with Judy Carne in 1967

• Judy Carne was often tricked into saying "Sock it to me", which led to her being doused with water or otherwise assaulted. ("It may be rice wine to you, but it's still sake to me!")
• "The Mod, Mod World" segment, with its own signature tune, comprised brief sketches on a theme interspersed with film footage of female cast members go-go dancing in bikinis, their bodies painted with punchy phrases and pithy wordplay. The dancers were usually Goldie Hawn, Judy Carne and Chelsea Brown; Ruth Buzzi and Jo Anne Worley popped up rarely, as did frequent guest Pamela Austin. In the 1969/1970 season, the chore was handled briefly by new cast members Teresa Graves and Pamela Rodgers, before the go-go dancing became the domain of uncredited extras.
• The Farkel Family, a couple with many kids —all of whom had flaming red hair and freckles like neighbor Ferd Berfel (played by Dick Martin). Head of the family Frank Farkel never questioned this fact when Ferd visited. Most plots were excuses to force the cast into alliterative tongue-twisters ("That's a fine-looking Farkel flinger you found there, Frank"). Bespectacled baby daughter Flicker Farkel (played by Buzzi) had no lines except screaming "Hiiii!!!" Two of the kids were twins named Simon and Gar Farkel (played by cast members of different races; originally Goldie Hawn and Chelsea Brown, later Pamela Rodgers and Teresa Graves).
• The Judge. Originally portrayed by British comic Roddy Maude-Roxby as a stuffy magistrate with black robe and powdered wig. Each "Judge" sketch would feature an unfortunate defendant brought before the court. Guest star Flip Wilson introduced the sketch with "Here come de judge!," the venerable catchphrase of black nightclub comedian Pigmeat Markham. Markham was surprised that his trademark had been appropriated, and he petitioned producer George Schlatter to let him play The Judge himself. Schlatter complied and Markham sat atop the bench for one season. The sketches were briefly retired until another guest star, Sammy Davis, Jr., donned the judicial robe and wig. Davis immediately made The Judge his own, using a drawling dialect reminiscent of "Kingfish" Tim Moore, and enthusiastically playing every courtroom scene broadly. Davis even introduced his own sketches, strutting across a bare stage in Judge regalia and chanting in couplets ("If your lawyer's sleepin', better give him a nudge! Everybody look alive, 'cause here come de judge! Here come de judge!" – followed by a cutaway of the entire cast announcing "Order in the courtroom – here come de judge!").
• "Laugh-In Looks at the News", a parody of network news, introduced by an unjournalistic song and dance chorus line including the female cast members, and often a female guest celebrity (or on one occasion, Don Rickles in a tutu). This commented on current events. The segment often included "News of the Past" which lampooned historical events, and "News of the Future", predicting unlikely or bizarre future stories to comic effect. Rowan actually nailed some, mentioning "President Ronald Reagan" in a story from "1988, 20 years from now", eliciting laughter.^{[citation needed]} Another prediction, that the Berlin Wall would be destroyed in 1989^{[citation needed]}, also came true, although the follow-up gag that it would be "quickly replaced by a moat full of alligators" obviously did not. The news segment was reminiscent of BBC's earlier That Was the Week That Was and in turn, was echoed a few years later by Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" segments. Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels was a Laugh-In writer early in his career.
• New Talent Time, introducing oddball variety acts. The most famous of these performers was Tiny Tim. Comedian Paul Gilbert, father of actress Melissa Gilbert, appeared as inept "French" juggler "Paul Gilbert" (pronounced "jheel-bare" in the French manner). Comic Art Metrano appeared as "The Great Metrano," a so-called magician who had no skill at all. Laugh-In writer Chris Bearde liked the "New Talent" concept and later developed it into The Gong Show.
• The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award, saluting actual dubious achievements by the government or famous people, such as the announcement of a new Veterans Administration hospital to be erected in Southern California shortly after another such facility was destroyed in the Sylmar earthquake of 1971. The trophy was a gilt, outstretched finger atop a square base. "The flying, fickle finger of fate" was already a familiar catchphrase on the show (Dan Rowan would use the phrase when ushering "new talent" like Tiny Tim on stage).
• Henny Youngman would appear to tell one-liner jokes for apparently no reason. Often, corny one-liners would be followed by the line, "Oh, that Henny Youngman!"

Characters[link]

• Dan Rowan, in addition to hosting, had a recurring character known as General Bull Right, a far-right-wing representative of the military establishment and outlet for political humor.
• Announcer Gary Owens standing in an old-time radio studio with his hand cupped over his ear, making announcements, often with little relation to the rest of the show, such as (in an overly-dramatic voice), "Earlier that evening..."
• Arte Johnson, whose recurring characters included:
  • Wolfgang the German soldier – Wolfgang would comment on the previous gag by saying "Verrry interesting", sometimes with comments such as "...but shtupid!" He eventually would close each show by talking to Lucille Ball as well as the cast of Gunsmoke — both airing opposite Laugh-In on CBS; as well as whatever was on ABC. Johnson would later repeat the line while playing Nazi-themed supervillain Virman Vundabar on an episode of Justice League Unlimited.
  • Tyrone F. Horneigh (pronounced "hor-NIGH," presumably to satisfy the censors) – A dirty old man coming on to Gladys Ormphby (Ruth Buzzi) seated on a park bench, who almost invariably clobbered him with her purse. (Both Tyrone and Gladys became animated characters in the "Nitwits" segments of the 1977 animated television show, Baggy Pants and the Nitwits.) A sample exchange:

    Tyrone: Do you believe in the hereafter?

    Gladys: Of course I do!

    Tyrone: Good. Then you know what I'm here after!

  • Piotr Rosmenko, the Eastern European Man – Piotr stood stiffly and nervously in an ill-fitting suit while commenting on differences between America and "the old country," such as "Here in America, is very good, everyone watch television. In old country, television watches you!" This predated a similar schtick by Yakov Smirnoff. Occasionally guest star Sammy Davis, Jr. teamed with Johnson as "The Rosmenko Twins."
  • Rabbi Shankar (a pun on Ravi Shankar), an Indian guru – Dressed in a Nehru jacket dispensing pseudo-mystical Eastern wisdom laden with bad puns. He held up two fingers in a peace sign whenever he spoke.
  • An unnamed "man in a yellow raincoat" and hat, riding a tricycle. The image of him pedaling, then tipping over and falling, was frequently used between sketches. (Judy Carne was once reported to have said that every member of the cast took turns riding the tricycle at one time or another.)
• Ruth Buzzi, whose recurring characters included:
  • Gladys Ormphby – A drab, though relatively young spinster who was the eternal target of Arte Johnson's Tyrone; when Johnson left the series, Gladys retreated into recurring daydreams, often involving marriages to historical figures, including Christopher Columbus and Benjamin Franklin (both played by Alan Sues). She would typically hit people repeatedly with her purse. The character was re-created, along with Tyrone, in Baggy Pants and the Nitwits. Buzzi also performed as Gladys on Sesame Street and The Dean Martin Show, most notably in the Celebrity Roasts.
  • Doris Swizzle – A seedy barfly paired with her husband, Leonard Swizzle, played by Dick Martin.
  • Busy Buzzi – A Hedda Hopper/Louella Parsons-style gossip columnist.
• Henry Gibson, with recurring roles as:
  • The Poet – The Poet would hold an oversized flower and read offbeat poems. He pronounced his name "Henrik Ibsen".
  • The Parson – A character who made ecclesiastical quips and, in 1970, officiated at a near-marriage for Tyrone and Gladys.

The Tasteful Lady entertains Rita Hayworth, 1971.

• Lily Tomlin, whose characters included:
  • Ernestine/Miss Tomlin – An obnoxious telephone operator with no concern for her customers ("'Fair'? Sir, we don't have to be fair. We're the phone company.").
  • Edith Ann – A child who ended each of her short monologues with: "And that's the truth", followed by "Pbbbt!" . Tomlin performed her skits in an oversized rocking chair that made her appear small.
  • Mrs. Earbore. A "tasteful" society matron, Mrs. Earbore would express quiet disapproval about a tasteless joke or remark, and then rise from her chair with her legs spread, and sometimes got doused with a bucket of water.

Lily Tomlin later performed Ernestine for Saturday Night Live and Happy New Year, America (hosting the latter in character), and Edith Ann on children's shows such as Sesame Street.

• Judy Carne. In addition to being the "Sock it to me" girl, Carne had two characters known for their robotic speech and movement:
  • Mrs. Robot in "Robot Theater" – A female companion to Arte Johnson's "Mr. Robot", both equally inept. Mr. and Mrs. Robot were a satire of Shields and Yarnell (popular mimes of the period) who performed a routine as a robotic couple called, "The Clinkers".
  • The talking Judy Doll, usually played with Arte Johnson who never heeded her warning: "Touch my little body, and I hit!"
• Alan Sues as Big Al – A clueless and fey sports anchor who loved ringing his bell, which he called his "tinkle", and as hungover children's show host "Uncle Al, The Kiddies' Pal." Uncle Al's tag line was, "Oh kiddies, Uncle Al took too much medicine."
• Goldie Hawn was best known as the giggling "dumb blonde", stumbling over her lines, especially when she introduced Dan's "News of the Future".
• Jo Anne Worley sometimes sang off-the-wall songs using her loud operatic voice, but is better remembered for her mock outrage at "chicken jokes" and her melodic outcry of "Bo-ring!". Many times, during the Cocktail Parties, she talked about her boyfriend Boris (a married man).
• Barbara Sharma as the dancing meter-maid who ticketed anything from trees to baby carriages, and often praised vice president Spiro Agnew, calling him 'Pres-ee-dent Agnew.'
• Richard Dawson appeared as Hawkins the Butler, who would always start his piece by asking "Permission to...?" and proceed to fall over.
• Flip Wilson, whose character, the female Geraldine, originated the catchphrases "What you see is what you get" and "The devil made me do it". Geraldine would often use them to excuse her quirky behavior. Wilson and his alter ego had their own variety show in the early '70s.

Memorable moments[link]

The first season featured some of the first music videos seen on network TV, with cast members appearing in films set to the music of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Bee Gees, The Temptations, the Strawberry Alarm Clock and The First Edition.

The show gave prominence to singer Tiny Tim, a large man with long dark hair, a prominent nose and a cheap suit. He sang in falsetto while accompanying himself on ukulele. Tiny Tim was Herbert Khaury, a serious scholar of Tin Pan Alley tunes who hit upon this strangely humorous characterization. Thanks to appearances on the show, he recorded a piercing version of the 1920s song "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" which became a Top-40 hit. Tiny Tim was later married on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson to Victoria Budinger, who was known as Miss Vicki. Martin would often refer to Tim's appearances by asking Rowan with some concern, "You're not gonna bring back Tiny Tim, are you?"

During the September 16, 1968 episode, Richard Nixon, running for president, appeared for a few seconds with a disbelieving vocal inflection, asking "Sock it to me?" Nixon was not doused or assaulted. An invitation was extended to Nixon's opponent, Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, but he declined.^[4] According to George Schlatter, the show's creator, "Humphrey later said that not doing it may have cost him the election", and "[Nixon] said the rest of his life that appearing on Laugh-In is what got him elected. And I believe that. And I've had to live with that."^[5]

Catchphrases[link]

In addition to those already mentioned, the show created numerous catchphrases:

• A six-note pattern preceding a code-word or punchline to an off-color joke, such as "do-doo-doo-da-do-doo ... smack!" or "... family jewels!" (sometimes extended to 18 notes by repeating the GGGDEC pattern two more times before the code-word). This same musical phrase had been used as a "signature" at the end of many pieces played by Spike Jones and his City Slickers.
• "I didn't know that." (Dick Martin's occasional response to what happened on an episode)
• "Easy for you to say!' (Dan Rowan's reply whenever Dick Martin tripped on his tongue during a joke)
• "Ohhh, I'll drink to that." (Martin's response to something Rowan said that he liked.)
• "I was wondering if you'd mind if I said something my aunt once said to me." A phrase that Dick Martin would always say to interrupt Dan Rowan's announcements on what would happen during their next show; this phrase was followed by a story about a bizarre situation that his aunt went through.
• "Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls! (a lesser-known set of reference books whose phonetically funny name helped both Laugh-In and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson to poke fun at NBC censors)
• "Go to your room."
• "Uncle Al had to take a lot of medicine last night" (line by Uncle Al, the Kiddies' Pal, played by Alan Sues)
• "You bet your sweet bippy!"
• "Here come de judge!" (reprising comedian Pigmeat Markham and further popularized by guest stars Flip Wilson and especially Sammy Davis Jr.)
• "Beautiful downtown Burbank" (various actors/characters, referring tongue-in-cheek to the Los Angeles suburb in which the NBC studios (and thus the program) were located; the same term was frequently used by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson).
• "'Ello, 'ello! NBC, beautiful downtown Burbank" (the response to calls received by a switchboard operator played by Judy Carne). When the series was syndicated in 1983, the NBC logo and the network's name were edited out.
• "And that's the truth." (Edith Ann, summarizing whatever she just said, and capping it with a juicy raspberry)
• "One ringy-dingy...two ringy-dingies..." (Ernestine's mimicking of the rings while she was waiting for someone to pick up the receiver on the other end of the telephone lines)
• "A gracious good afternoon. This is Miss Tomlin of the telephone company. Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?" Ernestine's greeting to people whom she would call
• "I just wanna swing!" Gladys Ormphby's catchphrase
• "Is that a chicken joke?" Jo Anne Worley's outraged cry, a takeoff on Polish jokes
• "Here comes the big finish, folk!" (usually before the last of a series of a star's bad puns)
• "Sock it to me!" experienced its greatest exposure on Laugh-In although the phrase had been featured in songs like Aretha Franklin's 1967 "Respect" and Mitch Ryder's 1966 "Sock It To Me, Baby!"
• "Oh, that Henny Youngman"
• "Marshall McLuhan...what're you doin'?" (Henry Gibson)
• "I don't know. I've never been out with one!" (First introduced by guest star Marcel Marceau, this catch-all punchline would be uttered by any guest star. Goldie: "Are you of the opposite sex?"
  Tiny Tim: "I don't know, Miss Goldie, I've never been out with one.")
• "Blow in my ear and I'll follow you anywhere."
• "Now, that's a no-no!"
• "Tune in next week when Henny Youngman's wife burns Jell-o!"
• "If [so-and-so] married [what's-his-name], divorced him and married {etc.}" The purpose being to try to set up a tongue-twister, involving the last names of celebrities. Example: "If Rosemary Clooney married Regis Toomey, divorced him and married Mickey Rooney, divorced him and married Paul Muni, divorced him and re-married Regis Toomey, she'd be Rosemary Clooney Toomey Rooney Muni Toomey!" Sometimes, the punchline results would be take-offs of songs or plays or products: "If Kaye Ballard married former astronaut Wally Schirra, divorced him, married his brother, she'd be [singing "Que Sera, Sera"] Kaye Schirra Schirra."
• "Morgul the Friendly Drelb" (a pink Abominable Snowman-like character that appeared in the first episode and bombed so badly that his name was used in various announcements by Gary Owens for the rest of the series (usually at the end of the opening cast list, right after Owens himself: "Yours truly, Gary Owens, and Morgul as the Friendly Drelb!") and credited as the author of a paperback collection of the show's sketches)
• "That's the most beautiful thing I ever heard."
• "Ring my chimes!"
• "Want a Walnetto?", was a pick-up line Tyrone would try on Gladys, which always resulted in a purse drubbing.
• "We have to stop meeting like this. My wife's getting suspicious." (or some other variant form of the phrase)

Merchandise tie-ins and spin-offs[link]

A humor magazine tie-in, Laugh-In Magazine, was published for one year (12 issues: October 1968 through October 1969--no issue was published December of 1968), and a syndicated newspaper comic strip was drawn by Roy Doty and eventually collected for a paperback reprint.

The Laugh-In trading cards from Topps had a variety of items, such as a card with a caricature of Jo Anne Worley with a large open mouth. With a die-cut hole, the card became interactive; a finger could be inserted through the hole to simulate Worley's tongue. Little doors opened on Joke Wall cards to display punchlines.

On Letters to Laugh-In, a short-lived spin-off daytime show hosted by Gary Owens, cast members read jokes sent in by viewers.

The comedy film The Maltese Bippy featured several actors from the series.

The General Motors Corporation produced a specially modified Pontiac GTO called "The Judge" to capitalize on the phrase's popularity. "The Judge" was available in 1969, 1970 and 1971.

In 1969, Sears, Roebuck and Company produced a 15-minute short, Freeze-In, which starred series regulars Judy Carne and Arte Johnson. Made to capitalize on the popularity of the series, the short was made for Sears salesmen to introduce the new Kenmore freezer campaign. A dancing, bikini-clad Carne provided the opening titles with tattoos on her body.^[6]

Between 2003 and 2004, Rhino Entertainment released two Best Of releases of the show, each containing six episodes. Unlike other shows released back in those years, the DVDs are still in print.

Ratings[link]

TV season, ranking, average viewers per episode

• 1967–1968: #21 (21.3)^[7]
• 1968–1969: #1 (31.8)^[8]
• 1969–1970: #1 (26.3)^[9]
• 1970–1971: #13 (22.4)^[10]
• 1971–1972: #22 (21.4)^[11]
• 1972–1973: Not in the Top 30^[12]

Revival[link]

In 1977, Schlatter and NBC briefly revived the property as a series of specials – entitled simply Laugh-In – with a new cast, including former child evangelist Marjoe Gortner. The standout was a then-unknown Robin Williams, whose starring role on ABC's Mork & Mindy one year later prompted NBC to rerun the specials as a summer series in 1979. Rowan and Martin, who owned part of the Laugh-In franchise, were not involved in this project. They sued Schlatter for using the format without their permission, and won a judgment of $4.6 million in 1980.

Full list of celebrity guest performers[link]

1968[link]

1969[link]

1970[link]

1971[link]

[edit] Shows similar to Laugh-In

• NBC's Laugh-In inspired CBS's Hee Haw, which debuted in 1969.
• ABC's Turn-On is perhaps the most infamous imitator of Laugh-In. Produced by Friendly and Schlatter, Turn-On was even faster paced and more raunchy than Laugh-In, to the point where ABC cancelled the series after only one episode (in fact, some stations pulled it from the air halfway through).
• The animated show, Groovie Goolies, was influenced by Laugh-In, most notably in their version of the Joke Wall called "Weird Window Time" in which the denizens of Horrible Hall, would tell jokes and one liners from various windows, doors, etc.
• You Can't Do That On Television was heavily influenced by Laugh-In for having the use of slime poured on people's heads when they say "I don't know" (like "sock it to me" on Laugh-In) as well as using school lockers as a device similar to Laugh-In's joke wall. Ruth Buzzi was also a regular on its short-lived prime-time spinoff, Whatever Turns You On (which in itself is one of the many recurring comedy taglines of Laugh-In fame).
• In one episode of Here Come the Double Deckers, Man's Best Friend, they put on a show which is clearly a spoof of Laugh-In.

Awards and nominations[link]

TV Land Awards[link]

• Nominated: Favorite Variety Show (2003)

Logie Award[link]

• Won: Best Overseas Show (1969)

Golden Globe Award[link]

• Won: Best Supporting Actress – Television, Ruth Buzzi (1973)
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actress – Television, Lily Tomlin (1972)
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor – Television, Henry Gibson (1971)
• Nominated: Best TV Show – Musical/Comedy (1970)
• Won: Best TV Show (1969)
• Nominated: Best TV Show (1968)

Emmy Awards[link]

• Nominated: Outstanding Achievement by a Performer in Music or Variety, Ruth Buzzi (1972)
• Nominated: Outstanding Achievement by a Performer in Music or Variety, Lily Tomlin (1972)
• Won: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety or Music, Mark Warren (For episode #4.7, 1971)
• Won: Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement – Individuals, Goldie Hawn (1970)
• Won: Special Classification Achievements – Individuals (Variety Performances), Arte Johnson (1969)
• Nominated: Special Classification Achievements – Individuals (Variety Performances), Ruth Buzzi (1969)
• Nominated: Special Classification Achievements – Individuals (Variety Performances), Goldie Hawn (1969)
• Won: Outstanding Musical or Variety Program, George Shlatter (For the September 9, 1967 special, 1968)
• Won: Outstanding Musical or Variety Series, George Shlatter (1968)
• Won: Outstanding Writing Achievement in Music or Variety, Chris Bearde, Phil Hahn, Jack Hanrahan, Coslough Johnson, Paul Keyes, Marc London, Allan Manings, David Panich, Hugh Wedlock, Jr., Digby Wolfe (1968)

International broadcasts[link]

• The Series was broadcast on BBC2 From January 1969–1974
• The series was broadcast on RTÉ One
• The series aired on Nine Network
• CTV aired the series at the same time as the NBC run

See also[link]

• Turn-On

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Category:Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

• Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In at the Internet Movie Database
• WFMU Article on the Laugh-In writers relationship with Richard Nixon
• FBI review of an episode devoted to the agency, quoted by Harper's Magazine in 2006
• FBI file on Rowan and Martins Laugh-In TV Show

Larry Wayne Fischer (November 6, 1944 – June 16, 2011), better known as Wild Man Fischer, was an American songwriter in the outsider genre. He was notable for being responsible for Rhino Records' first release, Go To Rhino Records (1975). Fischer's highly unusual style had developed a cult following.

Early life and career[link]

Born Larry Wayne Fischer in Los Angeles, California, United States, Fischer was institutionalized at age 16 for attacking his mother with a knife. He was later diagnosed with two mental disorders — severe paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (manic depression). Following his release from the hospital, Fischer wandered Los Angeles singing his unique brand of songs for 10¢ to passers-by. Discovered by Frank Zappa, with whom he recorded his first album, Fischer became an underground concert favorite, earning him the title "godfather of outsider music." Zappa was responsible for Fischer's initial foray into the business of music, an album called An Evening with Wild Man Fischer, contains 36 tracks of "something not exactly musical." Zappa and Fischer remained close, until Fischer threw a jar at Zappa's daughter Moon Unit Zappa, barely missing her.^[2] Due to this falling out, Zappa's widow Gail Zappa has not yet released An Evening with Wild Man Fischer on CD.

In the 1980s, Fischer worked with Art and Artie Barnes (actually Bill Mumy, of Lost in Space/Babylon 5 fame, and Robert Haimer), to produce two albums, Pronounced Normal (1981) and Nothing Scary (1984).

Fischer appeared on national television (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In) and was the subject of a comic book (The Legend Of Wild Man Fischer).^[3]

In 1986, Barnes and Barnes also wrote and produced "It's A Hard Business", a duet featuring Fischer and Rosemary Clooney. The song was the result of a telephone friendship that began after Clooney heard Fischer's song "Oh God, Please Send Me A Kid To Love." In 1987, Fisher performed his only East Coast performances at the Mass College of Art and Design.

Rediscovery[link]

In 1999, Rhino released The Fischer King, a two-CD package comprising 100 tracks and a 20-page booklet, which sold out within weeks. The limited-edition album comprises his entire Rhino catalogue, including the albums with Barnes and Barnes and Wildmania (1977), along with his duet with Clooney. Fischer also appears as guest vocalist with the noise band Smegma on their album Sings Popular Songs.

In 1998 Robert Williams (drummer) (former Captain Beefheart) "Date with the Devils Daughter" album includes Hello Robert, which consists of messages that Larry "Wild Man" Fischer left on Robert Williams phone.

In October 2004, Fischer appeared on ABC-TV's late-night talk/comedy show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!. He sang "Monkeys vs. Donkeys" while tapping on a backwards acoustic guitar, and also sat for a chat with the host, wherein he explained what it means to have "the pep" (i.e., when the spirit is in him and he's singing happily).

In 2005, Josh Rubin and Jeremy Lubin, collectively known as The Ubin Twinz premiered their documentary about Wild Man Fischer, entitled Derailroaded: Inside The Mind Of Wild Man Fischer, at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. An Evening With Wild Man Fischer remains unreleased on CD. The awareness brought to Fischer by Derailroaded did, however, bring all three Rhino albums back in print on CD through Collectors' Choice Music.

Fischer made his final appearance on August 16, 2006, at the Trunk Space in Phoenix, Arizona.

He was mentioned in Thomas Pynchon's 2009 novel Inherent Vice (pg. 155).

He was mentioned by Eric Clapton in the opening of the 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival, "Wild Man Fischer lives...", in reply to Bill Murray's introduction.

Fischer died in Los Angeles, on June 16, 2011 after heart problems.^[4]

Discography[link]

• May 1968 - Laminas (rare 7" 33rpm project of UCLA art students, 3 tracks by Larry, miscredited as "Fisher")
• 1969 - An Evening with Wild Man Fischer, Bizarre Records
• 1975 - "Go To Rhino Records" (single), Rhino Records
• 1977 - Wildmania, Rhino Records
• 1981 - Pronounced Normal, Rhino Records
• 1981 - "Don't Be A Singer"/"I Got A Camera"/"Do The Salvo" (single), Rhino Records
• 1983 - Nothing Scary, Rhino Records
• 1999 - The Fischer King, Rhino Records (compilation of all Rhino recordings)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Wild Man Fischer, Outsider Musician, Dies at 66 Los Angeles Times obituary
• Wild Man Fischer, Outsider Musician, Dies at 66 New York Times obituary
• A discography page.
• Derailroaded: Inside The Mind Of Wild Man Fischer a documentary.

Goldie Hawn
Hawn in February 2008
Born	Goldie Jeanne Hawn (1945-11-21) November 21, 1945 (age 66) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Occupation	Actress, producer, director
Years active	1967–present
Spouse	Gus Trikonis (m. 1969-1976) Bill Hudson (m. 1976-1980; 2 children)
Partner	Kurt Russell (1983-present; 1 child)
Children	Oliver Rutledge Hudson (1976-09-06) September 6, 1976 (age 35) Kate Garry Hudson (1979-04-19) April 19, 1979 (age 33) Wyatt Russell (1986-07-10) July 10, 1986 (age 25)
Relatives	Erinn Bartlett (daughter-in-law)

Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Shampoo, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She is the mother of actors Oliver and Kate Hudson. Hawn has maintained a relationship with actor Kurt Russell since 1983.

Early life[link]

Hawn was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Laura (née Steinhoff), a jewelry shop/dance school owner, and Edward Rutledge Hawn, a band musician who played at major events in Washington. She was named after her mother's aunt.^[1] She has a sister, Patricia; her brother, Edward, died before she was born. Through her father, Hawn is a direct descendant of Edward Rutledge, the youngest signatory of the Declaration of Independence.^[1] Hawn was raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she went to Montgomery Blair High School. Her father was Presbyterian and her mother was Jewish, the daughter of immigrants from Hungary;^[2] Hawn had a Jewish upbringing.^[1][3][4][5]

Hawn began taking ballet and tap dance lessons at the age of three, and danced in the chorus of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo production of The Nutcracker in 1955. She made her stage debut in 1961, playing Juliet in a Virginia Shakespeare Festival production of Romeo and Juliet. By 1964, she ran and taught in a ballet school, having dropped out of American University, where she was majoring in drama. In 1964, Hawn made her professional dancing debut in a production of Can-Can at the Texas Pavilion of the New York World's Fair. She began working as a professional dancer a year later, and appeared as a go-go dancer in New York City.^[1]

Career[link]

1960s[link]

Hawn with Carl Reiner on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, 1970.

Hawn began her acting career as a cast member of the short-lived situation comedy Good Morning, World during the 1967-1968 television season, her role being that of the girlfriend of a radio disc jockey, with a stereotypical "dumb blonde" personality.^[1] Her next role, which brought her to international attention, was as one of the regular cast members on the 1968-1973 sketch comedy show, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. On the show, she would often break out into high-pitched giggles in the middle of a joke, and deliver a polished performance a moment after. Noted equally for her chipper attitude as for her bikini and painted body, Hawn personified something of a 1960s "It" girl.

Hawn's Laugh-In persona was parlayed into three popular film appearances in the late 1960s and early 1970s: Cactus Flower, There's a Girl in My Soup, and Butterflies Are Free. Hawn had made her feature film debut in a bit role as a giggling dancer in the 1968 film The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, in which she was billed as "Goldie Jeanne", but in her first major film role, in Cactus Flower (1969), she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Walter Matthau's suicidal fiancée.

1970s[link]

After Hawn's Academy Award win, her film career took off. She starred in a string of above average and successful comedies starting with There's a Girl in My Soup (1970), $ (1971), and Butterflies Are Free (1972), as well as proving herself in the dramatic league with the 1974 satirical dramas The Girl from Petrovka and The Sugarland Express, and Shampoo in 1975. She also hosted two television specials: Pure Goldie in 1971 and The Goldie Hawn Special in 1978. The latter was a sort of comeback for Hawn, who had been out of the spotlight for two years since the 1976 release of The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox, while she was focusing on her marriage and the birth of her son. On the special she performed show tunes and comedy bits alongside comic legend George Burns, teen matinee idol Shaun Cassidy, popular television star John Ritter (during his days on Three's Company), and even the Harlem Globetrotters joined her for a montage. The special later went on to be nominated for a primetime Emmy. This came four months before the feature film release of Foul Play (with Chevy Chase), which became a box office smash and revived Hawn's career in the film industry. The plot centered around an innocent woman in San Francisco who becomes mixed up in a murder plot. Hawn's next film, Mario Monicelli's Lovers and Liars (1979), was a box office bomb. In 1972 Hawn recorded and released a solo country LP for Warner Brothers, titled Goldie. It was recorded with the help of Dolly Parton and Buck Owens. Allmusic gives the album a favorable review, calling it a "sweetly endearing country-tinged middle of the road pop record".^[6]

1980s[link]

Hawn's popularity continued into the 1980s, starting with another primetime variety special alongside actress and singer Liza Minnelli, Goldie and Liza Together (1980), which was nominated for four primetime Emmys. In the same year, Hawn took the lead role in Private Benjamin, a comedy she produced. Private Benjamin, which also stars Eileen Brennan and Armand Assante, garnered Hawn her second Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Actress.^[1] Hawn's box office success continued with comedies like Seems Like Old Times (1980), Protocol (1984), and Wildcats (1986) — Hawn also served as executive producer on the latter two — and dramas like Best Friends (1982) and Swing Shift (1984).

At the age of thirty-nine, Hawn posed for the cover of Playboy's January 1985 issue. Hawn posed in a giant martini glass wearing nothing but a white collar shirt, a loosened black tie, and a pair of red stilettos. Her last film of the 1980s was opposite partner Kurt Russell for the third time in the comedy Overboard (1987).

1990s[link]

Hawn at Grand Hôtel in Stockholm 1981

Hawn's career slowed down after leaving Hollywood in the late 1980s, but revived somewhat in 1990 with the action comedy Bird on a Wire, a critically panned but commercially successful picture that paired Hawn with Mel Gibson. Hawn had mixed success in the early 1990s, with the thriller Deceived (1991), the drama CrissCross and opposite Bruce Willis and Meryl Streep in Death Becomes Her (both 1992). Earlier that year, she starred in HouseSitter, a screwball comedy with Steve Martin, which was a commercial and critical success. Hawn was absent from the screen again for four years while caring for her mother who died of cancer in 1994.^[1] Hawn made her entry back into film as producer of the satirical comedy Something to Talk About starring Julia Roberts and Dennis Quaid, as well as making her directorial debut in the television film Hope (1997) starring Christine Lahti and Jena Malone.^[1]

Hawn returned to the screen again in 1996 as the aging, alcoholic actress Elise Elliot in the financially and critically successful The First Wives Club, opposite Bette Midler and Diane Keaton, with whom she covered the Lesley Gore hit "You Don't Own Me" for the film's soundtrack. Hawn also performed a cover version of the Beatles' song, "A Hard Day's Night", on George Martin's 1998 album, In My Life. She continued her tenure in the 1990s with Woody Allen's musical Everyone Says I Love You (1996) and reuniting with Steve Martin for the comedy The Out-of-Towners (1999), a remake of the 1970 Neil Simon hit. The film was critically panned and was not successful at the box office.^[7][8] In 1997, Hawn, along with her co-stars from The First Wives Club, Diane Keaton and Bette Midler, were recipients of the Women in Film Crystal Awards.^[9]

2000s[link]

In 2001, Hawn was reunited with former co-stars Warren Beatty (her co-star in $ and Shampoo) and Diane Keaton for the comedy Town & Country, a critical and financial fiasco. Budgeted at an estimated US$90 million, the film opened to little notice and grossed only $7 million in its North American theatrical run. In 2002, she appeared in The Banger Sisters opposite Susan Sarandon and Geoffrey Rush.

In 2005, Hawn's autobiography, A Lotus Grows in the Mud, was published.

Personal life[link]

Relationships and family[link]

Hawn's first husband was dancer (later director) Gus Trikonis, who appeared as a Shark in West Side Story; his sister Gina played Graziella, Riff's girlfriend. Her second husband was Bill Hudson, of the Hudson Brothers; the couple married in 1976 and divorced in 1980. They have two children, actor Oliver Hudson (born September 1976) and actress Kate Hudson (born April 1979).

Hawn has been in a relationship with actor Kurt Russell since 1983. They had first met while filming The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968), but became involved with each other only after meeting on the set of Swing Shift. The couple have a son, Wyatt Russell (born 1986).^[10]

Hawn is the stepmother of Kurt Russell's son Boston, and she became a grandmother in 2004 when her daughter gave birth to son Ryder Russell Robinson. Her second grandson, Wilder Brooks Hudson, was born to her son Oliver and his wife, actress Erinn Bartlett, in 2007.^[11] In 2010, Oliver and his wife had another boy, whom they named Bodhi Hawn Hudson. Hawn announced it via her Twitter.^[12] Her daughter Kate gave birth to her fourth grandson, named Bingham Hawn Bellamy, in July 2011.^[13][14]

Religion[link]

Hawn became involved in Eastern philosophy in 1972. She is a practicing Buddhist and has raised her children in both Buddhist and Jewish traditions. She stated on the Larry King Show that she is a Jewish Buddhist, but neither more Jewish nor more Buddhist;^[15] in interviews, she also detailed that she never had to forsake her Jewish heritage to embrace Buddhism^[3] and that her Jewish religion and heritage come before Buddhism.^{[citation needed][16]} Hawn travels to India annually, and has visited Israel, stating that she felt a strong identification with its people.^[3] She has been criticized by pro-Palestinian activists for her support for Israel and the Jewish National Fund.^[17] In 1997, she was one of a number of Hollywood stars and executives to sign an open letter to then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, published as a newspaper advertisement in the International Herald Tribune, which protested the treatment of Scientologists in Germany.^[18]

Mindfulness[link]

Hawn founded and funds The Hawn Foundation,^[19] which teaches the Buddhist technique of mindfulness training; where fourth- through seventh-graders are instructed in mindful awareness techniques and positive thinking skills, then tested for changes in behavior, social and emotional competence, and moral development.^[20] A study by the University of British Columbia indicated that children who participated in the program increased significantly in the areas of optimism and positive emotions, while decreasing in aggression.^[21] Hawn was in negotiation with the British Conservative Party (before the country's 2010 general election) to set up a school in Britain where her MindUp technique would be taught.^[22] Hawn realizes that many parents oppose bringing Buddhist methods into public schools, and stated: "There will always be people who see this as scary, or as some kind of Eastern philosophy that they don't want for their kids." Hawn adds, "Mindfulness gives kids a tool for understanding how their brain works, for having more self-control."^[23]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Goldie Hawn

• Goldie Hawn at the Internet Movie Database
• Goldie Hawn at the TCM Movie Database
• The Hawn Foundation

Interviews[link]

• "Hawn: From 'Cactus Flower' to 'Lotus'" USA Today (May 4, 2005)
• "Goldie Hawn A Wallflower?" .60 Minutes. CBS News (May 1, 2005)
• "The Banger Sisters". BBC News Online (January 17, 2003)