>> it wasn't bing crosby. this is right after the civil war. you are way back there. >> i knew you'd say that. >> well, when i was a kid, my mom before i went to school used to like arthur godfrey. he had a morning radio show. then that was partly -- part of that was a television show also. there was a simulcast of the radio show. then he had a nighttime talent scout show on monday nights. then later if the week he had an hour-long variety show. so our household was full of arthur godfrey productions. i can just remember being fascinated by when they would open the television portion of the simulcast, they would be the earphones. they were there to suggest where arthur would place his head. there was something about the microphone and the earphones and the equipment that i found fascinating. i just thought there's something cool about this. >> this is september 1st, 1969. i saved this magazine for 43 years. this is the first year three networks went with talk show hosts late at night. this is merv just starting out. >> this is merv right there.

operators, so you could find people, and one time, this will really date me, but i was trying to reach bing crosby, and i reached mr. crosby, and we were chatting on, and i said, mr. crosby, where did the white house operators find you, and he said, i'm on a sailboat off tahiti, so they were wonderful, but we had -- the entertainment, when we were first in the white house, was different than the entertainment after the vietnam war heated up, because we had a lot of -- we had a lot of dance, and at one point, a couple of newspaper people came to me and said, i didn't realize that the president was such a big fan of ballet. well, the thing, the ballet dancers, they are too busy running their own -- keeping their bodies in shape, they don't have time to be out protesting. so we had -- we had the american ballet theater, we had the joffrey ballet, we just became big fans of ballet. [ applause ] >> and i read somewhere, you really wished you could have done a square dance, but you felt you couldn't because of the cultural condescension that many had towards the johnsons and texas. >> i couldn't do a ba

flashing back to this famous scene that a lot of people will see at christmas on tv: holiday inn, bing crosbys all happy with his hobby farm up in connecticut, and he brings the peach preserves to fred astaire, and they blow up in the dressing room at carnegie hall, or the rainbow room. so did you have disasters? i mean, did you look at your first-- was your first-- very first--bottling a success, was the taste right? i mean, did you miss the train any time? - no, i think in terms of the product we were good, and it turned out very--actually, it exceeded our expectations in terms of the product. what, you know, we didn't realize was how much--to grow the business, how much it would-- you know, we produced 1,500 cases in the first year--very, very small amount of product. and then we realized it actually sold out in a few months, so we came to the problem of saying, "oh, we're out of product, so what do we do? we have to kind of produce more next year". but because it's a two-year cycle, you have to keep trying to fund that, and so the financing was extremely, extremely challenging the first f

bing crosby happened years ago when his wife dixie died and he had to sell a lot of his assets to payh. now there's something incredibly terribly wrong. we have worked hard. saved money. built some kind of a business or at least something to leave our kid. government has no right to step in and take half of it because you are not there to defend it any more and we are going to have to elect president and senator and congressmen who understand this and look out for seniors. that's why 60 plus is doing so well. >> doug we have less an minute. i'll give it to you to tell me if there's a big turn out of seniors good they think bad thing for the democrat this year. >> given historical trend probably a bad thing, mike. i think really what i hope from this election is a serious concern and serious discussion of the issues surrounding obama care health care reform entitlement reform so 7.2 million seniors that pat represents and 60 plus and indeed all seniors have a fair vote and fair discussion that's what we need. >> thank you both for being here. pat and doug. let me mention this. pat is m

bing crosby it happened to him when his wife dixie died, he had to sell a lot of assets to pay the taxeath. now, there's something incredibly terribly wrong, we've worked hard and saved money and built a business at least something to leave our kids. the government has no right to step in and take half because you're not there to defend it. we're going to have to elect, presidents and senators and congressmen who understand this and look out for seniors, that's why 60 plus is doing so well. >> doug, less than a minute. so i'm going to tell have you hell me if there's a big turnout of seniors, good or bad thing for democrats? >> given the trends, probably a bad thing. what i'm hoping for the election is a serious concern and discussion of the issues surrounding obama care, health care reform. and the seniors that pat represents in 60 plus and indeed all seniors have a fair vote and a fair discretion. that's what we need. >> thank you both for being here, pat boone, doug schoen. >> thank you. >> and marking 50 years in music, a brand new cd out. pat boone sings a tribute to the ink spots