Passing: Merv Griffin

It's interesting to see how many ways Merve Griffin is being described in obituaries after his passing on August 11, 2007.

To some he's a tycoon, to others the creator of "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy". To others he is described as the creator of the Jeopardy theme.

I was first introduced to Merv in the early 1960's when he was a game show host on NBC. His affable personlity was to my liking - much in the way I felt aabout Johnny Carson who was a game show host a decade earlier. Hugh Downs was similar in nature as host of "Concentration".

My mother's reaction to Merv Griffin would be to remind me every time she saw him that he was a singer during the Big Band era with Freddy Martin.

So it is that image that I embrace as I remember Merv Griffin.

There are a couple of others.

There is Arthur Treacher (from old movies, Arthur Treachers Fish & Chips and a supporing role in Mary Poppins) who in my view was as Griffin's sidekick on The Merv Griffin talk show much superior to Ed McMahon.

There was the memory of Zsa Zsa Gabor as a regular guest on thw talk show. then there was, as was usual in that era< an amazing ability to adapt to a wide range of guests. He could be serious, intelligent and engaged or shallow and gossippy - depending on the guest. He could entertain me or infuriate me - depending how high or low brow he was going to be in a particular night.

Over the years he amazed me by his ability to adapt his persona for the times. In death, it continues to amaze me how touched so many people in so many different ways.