Profile of Dave Garroway on Famous Like Me

Dave Garroway (July 13, 1913 – July 21, 1982) was the original host of NBC's Today Show from 1952 to 1961.

He was born in Schenectady, New York.

Garroway began his broadcasting career in 1939 as a disk jockey at WMAQ in Chicago, Illinois. His programs were called the ll:60 Club, the Dave Garroway Show, and Reserved for Garroway. Later he helped develop a television program known as Garroway at Large. He attempted to revive this last program while working the Today show, but did not have the time.

His shows reflected a very relaxed and informal style. In 1960 New York Times reviewer Richard F. Shepard wrote: "He does not crash into the home with the false jollity and thunderous witticisms of a backslapper. He is pleasant, serious, scholarly looking and not obtrusively convivial." He was known for his signoff: saying "Peace" with an upraised palm.

Along with Arthur Godfrey, Arlene Francis, and Jack Paar, Garroway was one of the pioneers of the television talk show. Television commentator Steven D. Stark traces the origins of the style to Chicago; Garroway, Studs Terkel, and Hugh Downs, all hosted relaxed, garrulous, extemporaneous shows in that city in the early fifties. Earlier radio and television voices spoke with an authoritative "announcer's" intonation, resembling public oration, often dropping about a musical fifth on the last word of a sentence. Garroway and others brought normal conversational style and intonation to the airwaves, beginning some broadcasts as though the viewer were sitting in the studio with him: "And how are you about the world today? Let's see what kind of shape it's in; there is a glimmer of hope." (Today, November 20, 1957)

Garroway was selected by NBC President Sylvester "Pat" Weaver to host Weaver's new morning news-and-entertainment experiment called Today in 1951. He was joined by news editor Jim Fleming and announcer Jack Lescoulie as television's first loose "family" of the airwaves when the show debuted on Monday, January 14, 1952. Though initially panned by critics, Garroway's style attracted many viewers who enjoyed his easygoing demeanor early in the morning. His seriousness in dealing with news stories and ability to clearly explain abstract concepts earned him the nickname "The Communicator" and eventually won praise from critics and viewers alike. His vast curiosity led the show wherever his ideas took it. To Paris in 1959 and Rome in 1960; to car shows and technology expos; to plays and movies; and even on board an Air Force B-52 for a practice bombing run--in short, everywhere in the world then accessible to television. When Today couldn't go outside to the world, the world was brought into the studio, evidenced by the parade of politicians, writers, artists, scientists, economists, musicians and many more who visited Garroway and company in the RCA Exhibition Hall, Today's then-home on 49th Street in Manhattan.

Garroway, however relaxed he appeared on the air, was in reality fighting his own inner demons on many fronts. His addiction to a concoction from his Chicago days called "The Doctor," composed of vitamin B-12 and codeine, began to affect his mental acuity and temper. Disagreements with staff members became more frequent, and some days Garroway would disappear in the middle of the show, leaving Lescoulie to finish the live program. His wife Pamela committed suicide in April 1961, sending Garroway further into a spiral of depression and mental instability which hampered his performance on camera. One morning in 1961, he lay down in the Today studio and refused to get up until NBC caved in to his contract demands. NBC called his bluff and fired Garroway; TV's first Communicator departed the genre he helped establish on June 16, 1961.

After his dismissal from the Today show, Garroway appeared sporadically on other programs, though never achieving the level of success or recognition he enjoyed on Today. The most many television viewers saw of him through the 1960s and 1970s was when he emerged from private life for Today anniversary shows. His last was the 30th anniversary on January 14, 1982; he made it clear he fully expected to be around for the thirty-fifth anniversary in 1987. He never made it.

Dave Garroway was found dead of a gunshot wound at his Philadelphia area home on July 21, 1982. Medical examiners say the fatal shot appeared to have been self-inflicted.

Dave Garroway had one son, David Jr. and a daughter, Paris. Because of Garroway's dedication to the cause of mental health, his second wife Sarah helped establish the Dave Garroway Laboratory for the Study of Depression at the University of Pennsylvania.

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