you dedicate it to jack paar, tell us why. >> i didn't know, because all my life people have asked one tough old critics, what's your talent? and, you know, steve allen was suing the tonight show and steve could play the piano and say anything. >> wrote songs. >> wrote song, wrote books. brilliant guy and very funny. i was an nbc page. >> i know. >> the second balcony holding people out until steve and louie nye and tom and bill dale were all there. steve lawrence and eydie gorme were the singers. it was a great team. >> you were in awe. >> very much in awe and wondering what my talent was. they were so brilliant, so wonderful on stage. and so i never did find out what it was until one night as i was doing the news in san diego at an nbc station, i saw jack paar come out and he was doing the friday night show 10:00 at night and he just come out and sit on the edge of his desk, look right into the camera, and tell people where he had been, what he had done, who he had seen. gee, it sounded so real and it was real and so much fun. i used to do that as a kid in the bronx, you know -- >>

. >> i was a broadway performer and because of that i started doing the jack paar show and they askede "today" show. i was thrilled because -- >> did it require a move from california to new york? >> i lived in new york then. i did the show for a year, got pregnant on the show. not on the show, actually. dave geroway wasn't that cheap. >> florence knows her men. yes, she does. >> we were unavailable. >> but the thing is, you know, being pregnant, i couldn't even say that word much less -- >> did you have to hide your pregnancy? >> yeah. i sang on the show and they'd hide me behind a potted palm or piece of furniture. >> yeah. >> it was amazing. >> that's in a good way that we've changed. >> now a prerequisite for a newscaster is to get pregnant and have the baby on the air. >> right when you need to sign your contract. >> exactly. >> so interesting that aspect of being on a morning show has changed. i got pregnant when i was on the "today" show -- >> also with gerry. >> it was reported that it was to save my job. it was to enhance my position here at nbc. and it's just very interestin