I "got" Colortini. I knew what it meant. I understood.Before everything on TV was in color, those shows that were in color always carried some big buzz upfront about how they were in color, maybe even living color. NBC proudly announced that The Following NBC Program Is Brought To You In Living Color.
That's why NBC had a peacock, it's where the still-in-use today NBC Peacock originated - peacocks have many colors, and now most of NBC's shows did, too.
So color became just that, a buzz word. Therefore, the new generation of TV shows in color screamed out for their own cocktail. That, of course, would have to be the Colortini.
My first encounter with Tom Snyder was as host of The Tomorrow Show, which followed The Tonight Show, which had been named that because, after all, NBC had The Today Show. Simple consistency; Today, Tonight, Tomorrow. I sat at home in the dark, watching him in a studio in the dark. It was intimate television, which is how television should be when practiced properly.
There was really nothing consistent about Tom Snyder, that's should you be looking to compare him to others of his time and place. Snyder was not pressed from the same mold as more typical news anchors of the '70s. In fact, I never saw the man anchor a news cast, although he did just that for many years in NYC, Philly, LA, and on NBC. That picture you see is of Snyder from 1968.
He was so good at anchoring that, when Tom Brokaw replaced John Chancellor on NBC Nightly News, Snyder came in second place; the choice had come down to Snyder or Brokaw. Rumor was that Chancellor lobbied hard to deny Snyder the job. It was said that Snyder had long had trouble with authority figures. We should all have trouble with authority figures. We should all question authority.
Where he was consistent was in his being entertaining. He was always very entertaining. What Snyder was more than anything else was himself. Being one's self in front of a camera might not be easy, but it is the key that can unlock the door that let's you into every home in America...or for us locals, it let's you into every home in Throop, Wanamie, Berwick, Antes Fort, and Pine Grove.
I was a fan, a huge fan of Tom Snyder. He embodied all I wanted to be as a broadcaster. He was quick, funny when called for, serious when necessary, informed, intelligent, and just plain likable. He wasn't afraid to ask tough questions, and he wasn't' afraid to have some pretty weird people on The Tomorrow Show. He made them all look good.
And he was never afraid to laugh, laugh out loud, laugh hard and long. It was that laugh, and a handful of other signature gestures, that brought Snyder to the American consciousness through his lampooning by Dan Ackroyrd on SNL. Sadly, a lot of folks only knew the "Dan Ackroyd" Tom Snyder, they probably never saw Tom being Tom.
He looked like every show he did was the time of his life - my guess is that each one of those shows was just that. He loved what he did, it showed, and many of us loved him in return.
Snyder went away pretty much in the early '80s, and stayed away for a long time. Money wasn't an issue, so taking it easy, picking and choosing projects must have been fun for him. One night, I heard him, he was back on the radio - a medium that fit him like a custom tailored suit. I was thrilled he was back.
Then David Letterman, another enormous Snyder fan, brought him back to late night television. I was likewise thrilled. He was as good as ever. One night, his guest was to be Bonnie Hunt. Clearly he and Hunt connected strongly, I always suspected in a very personal way.
A flight had been missed, she was late, perhaps a no-show.
She did show, about one half hour into things. For that first half hour, Snyder kept it going. All he needed was a place to sit, a microphone, a camera, and you at home watching. He was at his best when at his simplest. I was sort of disappointed when Hunt showed, Snyder was that good.
Once again, Tom left television. I missed him a lot. Maybe 3 years ago I stumbled across his website - colortini.com - and checked it daily. Before long, he announced he had leukemia. He seemed happy to say that it was treatable. Another thing he announced was that his brother John had likewise been diagnosed with the very same type of the disease. I was big enough of a fan that I'd heard him mention "Brother John" many times over the years.
Tom Snyder shut down colortini.com without much of an explanation, just saying thanks and that it was time to go. My guts told me it was.
My guts told me his leukemia wasn't treatable after all, and that Tom Snyder wanted to be left alone during what time he had left. For those who may not know, Tom Snyder died last Sunday in San Francisco. He was 71.
I guess we could still fire up a colortini.
I guess we could still watch the pictures as they fly through the air.
But I don't have to guess at all to know that it just won't be the same.
