By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Larry Weiss has a scrapbook showing his family hobnobbing with Hollywood stars the likes of Bob Hope, Red Skelton and Rich Little. Of course that was a different era, when big name entertainers signed up to thrill a packed auditorium at Bowling Green State University for just $25,000.
Weiss, now retired from his job as BGSU vice president for university relations and governmental affairs, recently shared his brushes with stardom during a meeting of the Bowling Green Kiwanis Club.
Back in 1975, BGSU held its first Parents Day. It was a hit, with families joining their students for an afternoon football game. But BGSU president at the time, Hollis Moore, felt there was something missing. There was no activity to keep parents on campus for the evening after the game.
So Weiss presented the grand idea of bringing in entertainers for a show in the evening. Moore bought it.
“That’s a great idea. Go do it,” Weiss said Moore told him.
What initially sounded like a fantastic idea, then turned into a horrifying task.
“I had no experience with the entertainment industry,” Weiss recalled.
But for 16 years, he went on to bring stars to the BGSU campus – thrilling parents and students.
Weiss wanted to start big. So he aimed for comedian Bob Hope.
“That was wishing for the stars right there,” he said.
The veteran stage comedian agreed to do the first Parent’s Day show in 1976 for a whopping $25,000. The performance was a great success for BGSU – and a learning experience for Weiss.
The logistics of working with stars was all new to Weiss. Bob Hope’s people wanted the university to fly him to Bowling Green.
“Yeah, like I just have my own plane to send,” Weiss recalled.
He contacted Marathon for the use of their plane, but company officials declined since their major competitor, Texaco, was Hope’s sponsor. Eventually other plans were made, and Hope disembarked at the Wood County Airport carrying his golf clubs.
Weiss still remembers Hope using the men’s locker room in Anderson Arena as a dressing room prior to the show.
“There were a lot of pleasant odors,” he said with a smile.
As Hope combed his hair, he looked in a mirror and sang, “Oh you beautiful doll.”
It was a sellout crowd in Anderson Arena, with a seating capacity of less than 5,000, but 6,364 in attendance.
“We had the place packed. I’m glad the fire marshal wasn’t there that night.”
Weiss learned another lesson that night when the spotlights drained quickly, leaving the arena in the dark.
Hope played along, saying “Looks like the university didn’t pay its electric bill.”
The house lights were turned on, and Hope’s show continued seamlessly.
In 1977, Weiss arranged for parents to be entertained by Doc Severinsen, leader of the band for the Johnny Carson Show. Again, there were a couple snags in the plan. When checking on travel arrangements, Weiss was told Severinsen would be flying into Nashville and driving to Bowling Green.
It hit Weiss that Severinsen’s team thought the show was in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
“I’m going to be sitting here with 5,000 people and no entertainer,” he thought. “And Bowling Green, Kentucky, is going to wonder what’s Doc Severinsen doing here.”
But flights were changed, and the show went on without a hitch.
The next year, the lesson learned was particularly hard.
Weiss scheduled comedian-actor Gabe Kaplan to perform. Kaplan played the teacher of a raucous remedial class in the hit sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter.”
When the show was announced, the university started getting calls from parents concerned about the raunchy humor Kaplan was known for. Weiss reached out and was assured by Kaplan’s team that the show would be suitable for families.
The day of the show, Weiss recalled getting a phone call from his wife, Fran, suggesting that he sit down. She informed her husband that Kaplan had missed his flight out of Las Vegas. There were no cell phones back in 1978, so Weiss had no way to check if Kaplan found another flight.
As BGSU students showed off their talents on the stage, Weiss finally got a call that Kaplan had landed at Wood County Airport.
But Weiss’ relief soon took a turn toward dread when Kaplan asked the BGSU students if they wanted to have fun. The show took a whole new direction, which thrilled some students but horrified their parents.
“It was one of the filthiest, rudest shows you’ve ever heard,” Weiss recalled.
On Monday morning, the university president called Weiss into his office.
“Well Larry, that better never happen again,” Moore said.
So the next year, Weiss brought in the squeaky clean comedian Red Skelton.
“He was a class act,” Weiss said.
Skelton came to town on Wednesday for the Saturday evening show. He spent time walking across campus, visiting a class in a lecture hall and talking with students for 45 minutes.
He asked Weiss to take him to Kmart. Shoppers immediately recognized him, going to the photo department to buy cameras to get shots of Skelton, and asking him to autograph dollar bills. Weiss asked if he got weary of being recognized everywhere he went.
“Larry, I’ll tell you when you get tired, when people quit asking you to sign autographs,” Weiss said Skelton told him.
Skelton also had the odd request to be taken to a shop that sells snowblowers. So Weiss took him to the old Book’s shop, where Skelton bought his wife a snowblower to use when he was out of town.
Skelton, beloved by many for his characters like Clem Kadiddlehopper and Freddie the Freeloader, talked to Weiss about his previous year’s experience with Kaplan.
“You know Larry, I never found you had to be dirty to be funny,” Weiss recalled.
Next in 1980 was impressionist and comedian Rich Little, who thrilled the audience with routines like the Carter-Reagan debates. “The show was a sell-out.”
Then in 1981, it was pianist and comedian Victor Borge. “He was a super guy.” Borge only played Bosendorfer pianos, and required that one be shipped in from Cleveland for the show.
And in 1982, actress Susan Anton entertained on Parents Day. Weiss recalled that Bowling Green native and gold medal figure skater Scott Hamilton had recently been asked if his short stature was ever limiting. He said, “I guess I’ll never be able to date Susan Anton,” who was nearly 6-feet tall.
When Anton took the stage, Hamilton was in the crowd. She called him on stage and the two did a slow dance. “He was about up to her belt buckle,” Weiss said.
Later that evening, Anton and Hamilton went to a local bar and served drinks, he added.
Other stars gracing the BGSU stage during Weiss’ tenure included comedian-actor David Brenner, comedian-actor Robert Klein, the pop vocal trio The Lettermen, and singer Marie Osmond.
