I got to meet a lot of great people when we put together our 50th anniversary special for WDEF back in 2004. I didn't just want a bunch of old photos, I wanted some great stories.
So everyone told me I had to get Neil Miller. No, he wasn't a star like Luther or Harry Thornton or Mort Lloyd. He was just the funniest guy to ever walk through the doors at WDEF, TV 12.
When he arrived at the studio, he was well into his seventies. But he was also wound up. He came with a list of stories on a sheet of paper, and he rattled them off, laughing his way through 20 years of early TV history in Chattanooga.
An hour later, he still hadn't gone through the list, but we had run out of tape. Neil got a lot of air time in that special, but I've still got plenty of stories that never made it.
So when I heard that Neil had passed this week, I figured it was time to go back to the tape and pick out my favorite Neil stories.
First, a little background of the man you're about to see. He came to Chattanooga in the fall of 1954.. straight out of the army.. to try his luck in the brand new field of television. He started out as a camera operator. But in those days, you did everything. Soon he was hosting his own shows like "Top Ten Dance Party" and the "Junior Auction."
He also had the bright idea.. "why do we just run those national commercials.. don't you think that local stores might want to be on TV too?" So he was the first modern Television salesman in Chattanooga. He was the first to sell so much that the company threw a party in his honor. He would go on to establish the Miller-Reid advertising agency.
But his early days on TV also gave him the acting bug. Neil would perform in 32 productions at the Little Theater.
So Neil Miller had a lot of stories to tell. And here are my Top 7:
NUMBER 7: The Buddy Houts Prank
Longtime listeners will remember Buddy Houts as one of Luther's favorite sidekicks. He wrote about cars for the newspaper, but became a regular on the radio. Luther was the straightman, Buddy the jokester, on and off mike. But he was just one of the young upstarts crammed into the WDEF studios at the Volunteer building during the fifties. And they loved to pull pranks on each other. Neil tells about the time that Buddy's retaliation just about got him fired. It happened on the elevators in the Volunteer building downtown.
NUMBER 6: The Kids Show
At one point, Neil hosted the Junior Auction. A sponsor provided products and kids would bid on them to raise money for a good cause. Neil was the auctioneer. His assistant was a Loveman's model with a low cut dress. It took him awhile to figure out why this kids show was so popular with their fathers.
NUMBER 5: Dru Smith Story
Neil had a lot of stories about the electric Dru Smith. Dru would go on to become a journalistic legend in Nashville, where she wouldn't take any guff from the lawmakers she covered. But she started her career at WDEF TV with her own show.
She had to be tough in that Volunteer building boys club of pranksters. Neil had lots of stories about her. He told about how Dru and Luther sat back to back in the office. So when she threw on power to cover her makeup, Luther would get a coating all over him.
He told about the unfortunate line when Dru was interviewing a dress maker on her show.... "I bet everyone one in Soddy Daisy had their hands in that dress." The guys loved that one.
And then he told this one to Luther in 1984.
NUMBER 4: The Luther Routine
Neil left WDEF in the mid seventies to continue his advertising career. But he always kept in touch with Luther. And he said, where ever they met out in public.. at a restaurant or store. Sure it's corny, but the crowd always loved it!
NUMBER 3: The Junior Samples Story
Remember Junior Samples from Hew-Haw? He was a large, country comedian, who struggled to get the words out of his mouth. So one year, the local Toys For Tots drive had the bright idea that he would make a good Santa Claus. Who know he would be drinking on the entire drive down to Chattanooga?
NUMBER 2: The Chickaroonie Prank
The crews in those early shows were always pulling pranks on the hosts. It was easy to do. The show was live, so they couldn't just stop and do it over. But no one recorded the shows on tape, so you could get away with murder. One of Neil's favorite pranks was what they did to the fastidious host of the Kids show "Chickaroonie." But the prank misfired.
I would later interview Mildred Gaither... AKA Auntie Milne. But I never had the nerve to ask if she remembers drinking the hair.
NUMBER 1: Pranking Luther's TV Show
The most elaborate of the pranks happened in downtown Chattanooga, for all to see. Luther used to have a noon show from the Volunteer building. And he loved to take the camera out of the building to see what was going on live on the street. So the crew would love to set up a little more "drama" for Luther.. just to see how he would handle it.
This one involved a dummy, several characters in costume, and the cooperation of the police.
Well, that's my list. We might be a lot more professional these days. But Neil was living proof that the early days of TV were much wilder & fun. And that's why I'll miss him.
