Don Lane (November 13, 1933 – October 22, 2009[1]), born Morton Donald Isaacson, was an American-born talk show host and singer. Lane became best known for his television career in Australia, especially for hosting The Don Lane Show which aired on the Nine Network from 1975 to 1983.
Don Lane was born at the Manhattan "Flower Hospital" in New York City to a Jewish father (Jacob) and a Catholic mother (Dolly), who later converted to Judaism. Jacob "Jack" Isaacson was a sergeant in the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and Dolly was a homemaker. He was raised in The Bronx, where he attended DeWitt Clinton High School and was classmates with Judd Hirsch and Garry Marshall. By his mid-teens, due to his mother's influential personality, Lane had decided he wanted to be in show business. He even placed a star on his bedroom door. He started to entertain at parties he attended with his parents, usually doing a mixture of singing and comedy. He also played varsity football and basketball for DeWitt Clinton and attained a football and basketball scholarship to Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan where he spent three years.
After leaving college, Lane formed a double act with his best friend Manny Glasser called “Donny and the Duke”. The duo worked in local Ney York nightclubs for a few months before Lane was drafted into the US Army at age 21. He was commissioned as an officer and served in the artillery. While in the army he formed a double act with fellow soldier Murray Levine, Lane usually played the comic while his partner was the straight man. The double act went on to win the all-army entertainment contest and earned them appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1955. One year later Lane won the all-army entertainment contest again as a solo act. After his mandatory service in the army, he later toured for two years entertaining troops all over the United States.
After touring the country entertaining the troops as a solo performer, Lane started to work his act in the New York nightclubs. It was at this time that he adopted the stage name of "Don Lane", after fellow entertainer Frankie Laine. Lane worked his act in nightclubs throughout New York, Los Angeles and the showrooms in Las Vegas. During his stint in Las Vegas, he worked alongside Wayne Newton and was often a supporting act for names such as Sammy Davis Jr.. While in Los Angeles, Lane also worked as an actor and featured in national commercials for Coca-Cola, which Lane said "paid the bills for years".[2] He then returned to New York and performed at weddings, nightclubs and parties.
In 1964 Lane was offered a contract to be the headline act at the Dunes Nightclub in Honolulu, Hawaii. This was his first offer to become a headliner and first guaranteed contract as a solo performer. Due to the lucrative offer the Dunes Nightclub made to him, he quickly relocated to Honolulu where he first started to enjoy success as a headline performer. It was in Hawaii that he met his first wife, Gina, who was an exotic dancer.
[edit] Tonight with Don Lane: 1965-1969
In 1965 the Irish comedian Dave Allen presented a talk show on Sydney television for TCN-9. He was eventually sacked[1] and Nine producer John Collins looked for replacement hosts to fill in for the rest of the season. After a series of temporary hosts, Collins found Lane working in the well-known nightclub The Dunes in Hawaii. While in the United States, Collins asked Las Vegas performer Wayne Newton if there was anybody he should consider as a replacement; Newton's answer was "Don Lane".
Lane was offered the job after filming and sending in an audition tape for the TCN-9 executives. He was given the host's chair for six weeks. He planned to base his version of the show on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. Lane's run was variously referred to as The Tonight Show, Tonight with Don Lane and Sydney Tonight. Within a month, Nine settled on Lane as permanent host. After four weeks, his original six-week contract was extended to forty weeks.[3]
Tonight with Don Lane featured comedy sketches, interviews with visiting entertainers and musical numbers often performed by Lane with the Tonight Show Orchestra. The announcer for the show was Mike Walsh who later went on to host his own successful variety show.
Due to technical restrictions Lane's tonight show was only broadcast throughout New South Wales, just as In Melbourne Tonight(IMT) was restricted to Victoria. Work on a coaxial cable linking Melbourne with Sydney had begun in June 1959 and was completed on 5 February 1963. On 7 July 1965, Lane appeared on a then-innovative live split-screen link with Graham Kennedy via the cable. Lane and Kennedy sang the song "76 Trombones" as a duet. They took full advantage of the new technology and the duet included the performers throwing jugs of water and Kennedy holding up a sign saying "Go Home Yank" to which Lane laughed. Lane also performed another duet with Kennedy at the Logies ceremony in 1967.[4]
In March 1968, Lane was charged with importing marijuana into Australia. He was arrested at Sydney Airport and remanded in custody. He strenuously protested his innocence, claiming that the drugs were planted into his jacket pocket by a former business associate who wanted revenge. He was found not guilty on all charges, being defended by barrister Marcus Einfeld.
When Lane's tonight show ended in 1969 he returned to the United States and the Las Vegas showrooms, this time appearing as a headline act. While in Las Vegas he played Professor Harold Hill in the Las Vegas production of The Music Man. The songs "Trouble" and "76 Trombones" became his signature tunes, both from the musical The Music Man. He also appeared in the American comedy series Wow, hosted by Ken Berry, which also featured Cheryl Ladd and Steve Martin. The Wow show was a sketch comedy series similar to the format of Saturday Night Live and was the summer replacement show for The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Lane was a regular cast member on the show which lasted three months.
[edit] The Don Lane Show: 1975-1983
In 1975, Lane returned to Australia and appeared at a benefit concert for the victims of Cyclone Tracy. The concert was held at the Sydney Opera House and Lane sang and performed a sketch with Toni Lamond.
While in Sydney in 1975, Lane was chosen to replace Ernie Sigley as host of the Melbourne-based The Ernie Sigley Show. The night before, after filming for the first show of the season was completed, Sigley had criticised Nine Network boss Kerry Packer. Packer contacted Lane and the two flew down to Melbourne. Sigley was fired that afternoon and Lane took his place.[5] Lane's replacement of Sigley was to result in continuing resentment, culminating in a fight in which Lane punched Sigley at the Logies ceremony in 1986.[5] Lane was to host two specials revamping the old In Melbourne Tonight. The producers wanted a "barrel boy" sidekick for Lane. Lane suggested Bert Newton:
"I used to watch him and Graham working on IMT, and look at them with great envy. So I said 'what about Bert Newton?' If I’m going to work with somebody I want to know that he’s as sharp as anything and a real pro." [6]
Newton had hitherto been strongly identified with Australian TV presenter Graham Kennedy. Both Lane and Newton maintain that the first time they met was on-air, during the first episode of the Don Lane Show. Each describes that there was instant "chemistry" and that they never made any deliberate attempt to build the relationship; that it just happened. Lane described the onscreen chemistry during an interview in 2003:
‘‘We were magic from the time he walked out from the curtain …you don't try to explain those things. You just take them and you use them and you enjoy them and most of all you appreciate them, because they don't happen often, they happen once in a rare while.’’[7]
The IMT special was a ratings success. The show was renamed The Don Lane Show and ran until 1983. Like its predecessor, the show was produced at the studios of GTV 9 in Melbourne and aired over the Nine Network. In absolute terms, Lane's stint on the show was to make him the most highly paid performer on Australian television and The Don Lane Show is still the highest rating variety program in Australian television history.[8]
The Don Lane Show featured big musical numbers, notable guests and comedy sketches. It was produced by Peter Faiman who went on to produce Crocodile Dundee and the 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony. Also featured was the 18-piece "Don Lane Orchestra" conducted by musical director Graeme Lyall and announcer Pete Smith. The show went live-to-air twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays, usually running for two hours from 9:30pm. Although depending on the length of interviews and "the wheel" segment, the show could finish around 1 am. One particular time the program ran two hours late while Sammy Davis Jr. was escorted by a police car from his concert to the studio in a surprise for Lane. Lane and Newton also did infomercials in which they were given free rein to improvise.
The show broke down Australia's "distance barriers" and used innovative technology to conduct satellite interviews with prominent entertainers overseas. Most visiting major recording artists visiting Australia from overseas were guests on the show. Among the live performances and interviews were Jerry Lee Lewis, Kiss, Tom Waits, Abba, Village People, Stevie Wonder, Hall & Oates, Elton John, Cliff Richard, and Duran Duran. Robin Williams made his first talk show appearance on the show and Lane once played tennis with Charlton Heston and also performed in a sketch with The Osmonds and performed duets with people such as Vic Damone, Cilla Black, Debbie Reynolds and Lane's idol, Sammy Davis Jr..
Although The Don Lane Show featured major acts from around the world, it was also known for helping young local entertainers to establish themselves. John Farnham was featured on numerous occasions and attributes Lane to helping his career:
‘‘He helped me over my nerves on being on live TV, he always had something positive to say and always gave me much-needed advice, which I still rely heavily on today.’’ [9]
Uri Geller, Doris Stokes and broadcaster Kevin Arnett regularly appeared on The Don Lane Show discussing psychic and paranormal themes. On one occasion in 1981, the skeptic James Randi was a guest on the program. After Randi criticised one of the shows regulars, a heated exchange occurred at the end of the interview, which led to Lane saying, "we're going for a commercial break and you can piss off. We'll be back with Diana Trask".[citation needed] Lane then walked off the set, sweeping the props from the small table, to audience applause. The aftermath of the event led to a national and personal apology to Randi, which was televised on the Nine Network.
Due to new management at Channel 9 and its expensive budget, the show was cancelled despite still having strong ratings. During its time on air the show often gained a 30 percent share of all viewers in the ratings.[10] The Don Lane Show ended on 13 November 1983, Lane's 50th birthday. His final episode ran for two and a half hours and featured such stars as Billy Connolly, Phyllis Diller and David Bowie as well as musical appearances by John Farnham and Colleen Hewett. After tributes from Bert Newton and many guests, Lane ended his final show with an emotional performance of Peter Allen's "Once Before I Go". He then took a final bow with "The Don Lane Show" written in lights behind him and the screen faded to black.[11]
When The Don Lane Show finished, Lane took time off from television and moved to Los Angeles. In 1987 he was back in Australia and was under contract as a personality for Network Ten.
Don hosted the program You've Got to Be Joking, which was a practical joke comedy show. You've Got to Be Joking was on the air for twelve months[citation needed], but was repeated frequently over the next five years.[citation needed] Don was also the host of the 1987 presentation of the TV Week Logie Awards.
In 1988, he hosted his own late night talk show for the network entitled Late Night Australia, later changed to Late Night Oz. The program aired five nights a week at 10:30pm and was up against Graham Kennedy's News Show on the Nine Network, and Clive Robertson's Newsworld on the Seven Network. Late Night Oz was cancelled after just six months.
Lane's career surged again in 1991, this time in the role of a sportscaster. Lane's passion for American football and basketball found a home on the ABC, where he continued to win fans and a new audience for the sports he loved. ABC sports boss David Salter was interested in televising NFL games from the United States with a host that could transcend both American football and rugby league. When learning of Lane's love for both codes, he put him in the host's chair where he would stay for nearly six years.[12]
Lane hosted American NFL broadcasts twice a week and would give enthusiastic weekly reviews of all games with explanations of the rules for the Australian audience. Don was flown to the United States to host live broadcasts from Super Bowl XXVII and Super Bowl XXVIII, which was the first time an Australian broadcaster had done live coverage from a Super Bowl.
In 1993 the sports department expanded at the ABC, and Don hosted NCAA basketball and football for the network for the following two years. Don was also a color commentator for NBL telecasts on the ABC and Foxtel.
Lane made a guest appearance on the very last episode of The Late Show on the ABC in 1993. Lane closed the show singing "Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week". When finished with the song, the Late Show big band played the theme for The Don Lane Show and Lane went behind the camera to film audience members, just as he ended most Don Lane Show's.
In 1994, Lane hosted two specials for the Nine Network of The Best of The Don Lane Show. Each special was two hours dedicated to the most memorable moments from The Don Lane Show. In an interview in 1994, Lane explained that coming back to The Don Lane Show environment was very emotional:
"The eight and a half years of that television show is firmly embedded in the minds of many people, and firmly branded into the heads of us. Those were very special years, and to have that all come together meant so much to all of us."[13]
Lane was honoured in a 1996 episode of This Is Your Life dedicated to him and his career in television. The episode featured tributes from John Farnham, Billy Connolly, Bert Newton, and Garry Marshall.
Lane was also involved in a special entitled Don Lane's America and hosted such programs as The Mad Mad World of Sports and 40 Years of Television. He also hosted a special for Channel 9 titled The Best of Studio 9. The special highlighted the shows and memorable moments that were filmed in Studio 9 in Melbourne.
Lane also returned to sportscasting in 2001 to broadcast the Super Bowl on SBS.
During his time on The Don Lane Show, Lane also hosted a morning radio program with Bert Newton on radio station 3UZ in Melbourne. Newton tells a story of how he and the producer pretended to be on-air and gave out Lane's home address to the listeners. Newton claims that the joke was worth it to see Lane's reaction but that Lane repaid him for the practical joke.[14] The program on 3UZ had many guests who had also appeared on the television show the night before. When moving to Sydney in 1987, Lane hosted a morning show on 2UE for two years. After ending his affiliation with 2UE, he moved to 2KY and hosted a competing breakfast program in 1989. His radio programs usually involved music and interviews with visiting entertainers.
Because of his Las Vegas nightclub background, Lane would work in clubs and theatres throughout Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast. He would work nightclubs, theatres and theater restaurants when he was not working on television. When first arriving in Australia and hosting his tonight show, an agent named Richard Gray saw the appeal that Lane had and asked him to come and do his "act" at South Sydney Junior Rugby League Club, which was one of Sydney's premier venues. Lane then worked in clubs all over Sydney when his show was not in season, perfecting his act and carrying on from his early nightclub experience.
During the era of The Don Lane Show, Lane would perform at Melbourne's premier theatre venues such as The Princess Theatre and Her Majesty's Theatre. Don Lane in Concert was a television special in 1980 which showed Lane's 90 minute stage act live on Channel 9. The musical director for The Don Lane Show, Graeme Lyall, was under contract with the network, so any song which Lane liked was made into an arrangement for an 18-piece orchestra with three backing vocals. During the Don Lane in Concert television special, Lane performed his signature tunes such as "76 Trombones" and "Trouble". But Lane also performed songs that were new at the time such as; "I Still Call Australia Home", "They're Playing Our Song" and "'She's Out of My life"'. Each song was arranged to accommodate Lane's "crooning" style by musical director Graeme Lyall. Entertainment reporter Peter Ford of radio 2UE described Lane's club act as such:
"Don was a terrific television personality. But when you saw Don doing his floor show, whether in clubs or theaters, when he had a live audience and band he really owned that stage. Don Lane knew how to work a room and gave us Las Vegas 'pizazz' whenever he performed."[10]
Lane was responsible for the name of the original club entertainment awards, the "MO" Awards. Originally named the New South Wales Star Awards, the awards took on the name coined by Lane when they went national. His suggestion not only proved to be a popular name for the awards, it also honours the memory of one of Australia's greatest clowns and comics - Roy Rene, who became a legend in the entertainment industry using the stage name of "MO" McCackie. Lane was a recipient of five Mo Awards.
Lane was a patron of the Australian Club Entertainment (ACE) Awards, and was honored in 2006 when he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the ACE Awards ceremony.
Lane was still performing in 2005 in nightclubs all over Sydney.
Lane married Jayne Ambrose, a talent agent, with whom he had a son, Phillip Jacob "P.J." Isaacson.[15] His son moved to the United States to further his basketball career, although he later became an entertainer in his own right using the name "P.J. Lane". He moved back to Sydney in 2009 to look after his ailing father.
Although Lane and Ambrose later divorced, they remained good friends and she was his agent for the rest of his life.
In 2007 Lane released his "tell all" autobiography entitled Never Argue With a Mug. The book follows Lane's career and explains in details show-business scandals which he had personally experienced.
In June 2008, it was announced that Lane was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and had been living in a care facility. News of Lane's condition was saddening for the entertainment community in Australia who viewed him as a TV legend. The news explained the lack of public appearances that Lane had made since his induction into the Logie Awards Hall of Fame in 2003.
The Logie Awards were made in each state separately during the 1960s and early 70s, since it was technically difficult to broadcast live programming interstate. Lane performed in Sydney while Graham Kennedy held the same timeslot in Melbourne.
New South Wales Logies:
- 1966: Most Popular Male and Most Popular Live Show (Tonight with Don Lane)
- 1967: Most Popular Male and Most Popular Live Show (Tonight with Don Lane)
- 1968: Best Male Personality and Best Show (Tonight with Don Lane)
- 1969: Best Male Personality and Best Show (Tonight with Don Lane)
- 1970: Best Male Personality and Best Local Show (Tonight Show with Don Lane)
- 1974: Most Popular Male and Most Popular Show (The Don Lane Show)
National Logie awards:
- Gold Logie
- Most Popular Male Personality
- Victoria: Most Popular Male
- Most Popular Show
In 2003, Lane was inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards Hall of Fame. In 2010, after his death, his son performed a tribute to him.
- Lane was the head basketball coach at Sydney's St Aloysius' College from 1989 to 2001, earning a Combined Associated Schools (CAS) championship in 1999.
Lane died from a dementia-related illness caused by Alzheimer's disease on 22 October 2009.[16] During the last eighteen months of his life, due to his deteriorating health, he was forced from his Sydney apartment into Montefiore Nursing Home in Randwick in Sydney's east.[17] A private Jewish funeral ceremony attended by close family and friends was held at Macquarie Park Cemetery a day after his death.[18]
On 5 November 2009 a public memorial was held for Lane at the South Sydney Junior Rugby League Club.[19] The memorial was open to all members of the public, asking only for a donation to Alzheimer's Australia. Over 1100 people crammed into the showroom at the club which had a usual capacity of only 600. Other members of the public viewed the memorial on televisions around the club. The memorial celebration featured live performances and speeches from Lane's close friends, such as Rhonda Burchmore, Bert Newton, Mike McColl-Jones, Mike Cleary, Toni Lamond and Helen Reddy. Lane's son opened the memorial with "They're Playing Our Song", which was his father's opening number, and earned a standing ovation for his performance. Lane was remembered as a generous performer who possessed a matching personality off the television screen as he did on. During Bert Newton's tribute, he removed his toupee, to reveal largely bare-terrain underneath.[20] The memorial ended with a recording of Lane's performance of "Once Before I Go" on the final Don Lane Show which received a standing ovation to audience tears and applause.[20]
- ^ a b "TV legend Don Lane dies, age 75". news.com.au. October 22, 2009. http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,28383,26245571-10229,00.html. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=don%20lane&docid=1364947436068&mid=AD4F0B02DCC223ED321AAD4F0B02DCC223ED321A&FORM=LKVR
- ^ "Entertainer Don Lane dies". The Sydney Morning Herald. October 22, 2009. http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/don-lane/2009/10/22/1256147836422.html.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJRh4-bqh_Q
- ^ a b Murphy, Jim (November 20, 2008). "The retiring type? Not our little Aussie battler". The Age (Melbourne, Australia): p. 12.
- ^ http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=don%20lane%20a%20current%20affair&docid=1364947436068&mid=AD4F0B02DCC223ED321AAD4F0B02DCC223ED321A&FORM=LKVR
- ^ Cooper, Mex (October 22, 2009). "TV legend Don Lane dead". The Age (Melbourne). http://www.theage.com.au/national/tv-legend-don-lane-dead-20091022-hamw.html.
- ^ http://www.wickedthemusical.com.au/cast/cast3.html
- ^ Duck, Siobhan; Vickery, Colin; Langmaid, Aaron (October 23, 2009). "Veteran television entertainer Don Lane laid to rest". The Advertiser. http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,26245577-5006301,00.html.
- ^ a b The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/multimedia/national/a-great-character-remembered/20091023-hcms.html.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lDP5ibSOPs
- ^ "Tributes flow for Don Lane, the 'lanky Yank' who became a legend". news.com.au. October 23, 2009. http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/television/tributes-flow-for-don-lane-the-lanky-yank-who-became-a-legend/story-e6frfmyi-1225790246633.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbfy6gvtO_s
- ^ http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=don%20lane&docid=1364980466741&mid=FD850A94E1DEEB20FD93FD850A94E1DEEB20FD93&FORM=LKVR28
- ^ Spider PJ and his life as the Fast Lane, Steven Deare, Hornsby and Upper North Shore Advocate, April 9, 2009.
- ^ Cooper, Mex (2009-10-22). "Legendary TV Presenter Don Lane dead". Melbourne: www.theage.com.au. http://www.theage.com.au/national/tv-legend-don-lane-dead-20091022-hamw.html?autostart=1. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
- ^ Warne-Smith, D. & Jackson, S. (October 23, 2009). "Song's over for the Lanky Yank Don Lane". html. The Australian. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,26248156-7582,00.html. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
- ^ Robinson, N. (October 24, 2009). "Don Lane's farewell of tears and laughs". html. The Australian. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26252634-5006784,00.html. Retrieved October 24, 2009.
- ^ "Don Lane farewelled in Sydney". The Age (Melbourne). November 5, 2009. http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/tv--radio/don-lane-farewelled-in-sydney/2009/11/05/1257247695928.html.
- ^ a b Tabakoff, Nick (November 5, 2009). "Bert Newton's hair-raising tribute to Don Lane". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/television/bert-newtons-hair-raising-tribute-to-don-lane/story-e6frfmyi-1225794746187.
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