Art Linkletter Dies At 97
TV Pioneer And Author Was Loved By Millions
Radio and television pioneer Art Linkletter passed away in his Bel-Air home on May 26th at the age of 97. Author of the bestselling 1957 book Kids Say the Darndest Things, Linkletter was best known for hosting the daytime television show “House Party,” which ran from 1952 to 1970 and featured comically candid interviews with children. The above photo, which was digitized by photo scanning for use in the Los Angeles Times, depicts Linkletter’s uncanny talent for the impromptu child interview.
Linkletter was born Arthur Gordon Kelly in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in 1912. Abandoned by his birth parents before he reached one month of age, the future television star was adopted by Fulton John and Mary Metzler Linkletter, whose two biological children had died. Art’s career as a performer began when he was only a child, playing the triangle as his family performed on street corners.
In his autobiography “Confessions of a Happy Man,” Linkletter describes his father, a one-legged cobbler and itinerant evangelist, as “a strange, uncompromising man whose main interest in life was the Bible.” Linkletter eventually became something of an evangelist himself; through writing and motivational speaking, Linkletter devoted his later years to challenging other senior citizens to live their lives to the fullest. His most recent book (and the last of more than 20 books he penned since his career began), discussed making the most of life’s later years. It was published on his 94th birthday. He also wrote books about salesmanship and public speaking.
The tried and true success of Linkletter’s concept – eliciting cute and comical quotes from kids – seems like a no-brainer to contemporary audiences, and has been featured on TV as recently as the year 2000, when Bill Cosby hosted the half-hour show “Kids Say the Darndest Things,” on which Linkletter was a regular guest. But Linkletter was not popular with critics and intellectuals of his day, who found his mannerisms and small talk unimpressive. But millions of Americans, most women, found his friendly and enthusiastic manner with children irresistible. In 1965, Linkletter told the New York Post, “I know enough about a lot of things to be interesting, but I’m not interested enough in any one thing to be boring. I’m like everybody’s next-door neighbor, only a little bit smarter.”
In addition to his careers in television, public speaking and writing, Linkletter was a successful investor and generous philanthropist. His is survived by his wife, two daughters, seven grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren.
For more Art Linkletter photos that have been preserved with photo scanning, please visit http://tinyurl.com/3a2wtnl.
