Skip E. Lowe, the comic, raconteur and perennial TV host whose weekly public access cable program has been airing in Los Angeles, New York and other major markets for more than 35 years--the longest in television history--and is generally credited as the inspiration for the Martin Short character "Jiminy Glick," died in his home at Kingsley Manor Apartments in Hollywood on Monday, Sept. 22. He was 85 and had been suffering from emphysema and other respiratory ailments, though he never smoked, but blamed years of working as a comic in smoke-infested nightclubs. Lowe had conducted more than 6,000 interviews, often two a week, with guests that included Orson Welles and Bette Davis.
"Skip E. Lowe Looks at Hollywood,"as the show was called, had a simple premise of Lowe facing his subjects face-to-face in folding chairs with tight close-ups, talking naturally back and forth unrehearsed and unedited for a half-hour. They were generally shot in poorly equipped high school or community room studios, with inadequate equipment and lighting, on tapes that Lowe paid for himself, but he was nevertheless able to attract celebrities that included--in addition to Welles and Davis-- an array of eclectic personalties ranging from Shelley Winters, Eartha Kitt, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis to Yma Sumac, Anita O'Day, Charles Pierce, Wayland Flowers, Jim Bailey, Martha Raye, Sally Kirkland, Frankie Laine, Patti Page, Kay Starr, Edie Adams, La Vern Baker, Mickey Rooney, Christian Brando, Donald O'Connor, Patty and Maxene Andrews, Margaret Whiting, Kaye Ballard, Pat Boone and Lynn Redgrave, as well as numerous other actors and singers working in town at various theaters or clubs who came by to promote their appearances. Close friends included actresses Mamie Van Doren, Sally Kirkland, Robert Morse, Mimi Hines, and Jacqueline Stallone, who wrote the introduction to his latest book, "Hollywood Gomorrah," published earlier this year, a tell-all memoir in which he describes past encounters with such stars as Marlon Brando, James Dean and Montgomery Clift.
He himself became one of the best-known characters around Hollywood and his previous memoir "The Boy With the Betty Grable Legs," was published in 2001, when he was also profiled in a lengthy article by the Los Angeles Times. He had previously been the subject of a 1998 New York Times Magazine feature story written by the comedian Harry Shearer, who was one of the other many celebrated people who watched his show each week.
"Skip E. has a tremendous respect for talent, no matter what the package comes in," actress Sally Kirkland told the L.A. Times in 2001. "He gives voice to people to can't get on 'Letterman' and 'Leno' every night. His show isn't about giving a sound bite promoting some current project. Skip gives me license to talk about whatever is important to me."
Actor Dom DeLuise, another former Lowe regular, told the Times that "doing his show is like no other. I always felt like I was being interviewed by a pixie, some magical person. His face looks like it was drawn lovingly by Walt Disney. It's a pleasure to watch him thinking because he has the most animated face."
Lowe said about himself, "Yes, I make mistakes. But my audiences like that I'm not so perfect. The thing is, I'm genuinely interested in what my guests are saying. I listen to their comments. I look into their eyes. Sometimes I touch them. People want to be listened to. I'm like a psychiatrist who sits there across the table."
Born Sammy Labella on June 5, 1929 in Greenville, MS while his mother was visiting relatives, he actually claimed Rockford, IL as his actual hometown. His father was an Italian-American grocery store owner who frowned upon his effeminate behavior as a child, when he would dress up in outlandish clothes and entertain the neighbors, but which was encouraged by his showbiz-loving Jewish mother, who whisked him off to Hollywood after he was brutally beaten and raped at the age of nine by some neighborhood toughs, hoping to turn him into a movie star.
A lifetime in show business followed, including small roles in such films as "Best Foot Forward" with Lucille Ball and June Allyson, "Song of the Open Road" with Jane Powell, several "Dead End Kids" comedies at Monorgram and teenage Donald O'Connor-Peggy Ryan musicals. He got to work with Lionel Barrymore on radio's "Mayor of the Town," attended Hollywood Professional School and later toured as a child entertainer in vaudeville when his mother briefly returned to Illinois. She had shipped him off to live in New York with his beloved Aunt Sadie, a Sophie Tucker-like woman who also furthered his showbiz aspirations and got him work as one of the attractions at Sammy's Bowery Follies, a popular landmark on the lower east side. He'd perform as "The Singing Newsboy," dressed in patched knickers, dirty tennis shoes, a rumpled turtleneck, baseball cap tilted to one side over a grimy face. He'd come on stage shouting "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" as he went into a song and dance routine.
As he grew, he honed his comedic talents as an emcee, announcing shows at the Bon Soir in Greenwich Village, where acts included the young Barbra Streisand, working strip joints throughout the Midwest, and touring USO shows with Bob Hope and Martha Raye. Raye would become a lifelong friend and he was with her on many of he later trips to Vietnam, where they would venture dangerously into the DMZ in order to reach remote troops.
He continued to tour as a comedian at bases throughout Asia and the Philippines, as well as the Catskill resorts in upstate New York and clubs around the country, by now having adopted the stage name "Skip E. Lowe." Back in Hollywood, he had roles in such films as "Black Shampoo" and "The World's Greatest Lover" with Gene Wilder.
Public Access TV was in its infancy in 1978, when Lowe was approached about doing a talk show. Cable companies were required to provide free time to local outlets and needed personalities to fill their schedules. Lowe's first guest was movie tough-guy Aldo Ray, and with that Lowe had found his niche--reintroducing stars who hadn't been seen in a long time, such as Susanna Foster, Gloria Jean, Marie Windsor, Cesar Romero, Audrey Totter, Hurd Hatfield and Turhan Bey. As the show grew in popularity, so did the guest list, and soon press agents and managers were calling him and asking to come on. The shows were produced on ¾" video tapes that Lowe purchased himself and after they aired in Los Angeles, he would ship them to cable companies in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, where they are still seen today.
In an appearance on "Late Night with David Letterman," Martin Short allowed that his Jiminy Glick character was "a little bit of Skip E. Lowe," explaining that "he talks to people, but he gets confused with tremendous enthusiasm."
"I'm like the grandfather of the current crop of serious interview shows," Lowe told the L.A. Times in 2001. "I've seen myself copied, redone, revamped. Charlie Rose is my favorite, but, honey, you have to understand, I was doing it before him. Of course, he's much more intelligent than I am and he does his homework more than I do."
