Chuck Benedict
The late Steve Allen's spirit lives on, shining brightly on an
emergence of his 8,583 songs, 54 published books (36 yet to be
published), the memory of his first late-night radio audience-involved
show and his pioneer TV "The Tonight Show."
On Sunday, May 20, Glendale's Alex Theatre is hosting a 75th
Anniversary Gala with its "Salute to Steve Allen." A large and impressive
array of show business stars will take part, but the one who will
accompany the Allen image to the arena is his wife, Jayne Meadows.
Jayne's sister, Audrey, has been saluted as a perfect match with TV
husband Jackie Gleason in "The Honeymooners."
Jayne and Steve Allen still are the perfect real-life match, as she
assumes his vast legacy of creative material. Even in a lifetime of
vigilant research, Jayne and son Bill never will uncover all of Steve's
musical, dramatic and writing gems that abound within reach. Steve
couldn't keep up with his own projects, as he never was without handy
tape recorders 24 hours a day to record his significant thoughts.
A secretary transcribed the voice notes to written material, which
Steve separated and filed into such categories as music phrases, lyrics,
essay themes, jokes and words of wisdom that he felt would have merit for
public presentation. But the volume of notes increased by more than his
files could digest in a 24-hour day.
Jayne recalls: "When we first married, I awoke to see small bits of
paper scattered around his side of the bed. Steve said I wasn't to touch
them. They were thoughts that had come during the night, and he would
classify and file them.
"One of his famous songs was 'This Could Be the Start Of Something
Big.' That entire song, lyric and all, came to him in a dream. He
awakened, and, knowing that dreams must be written down immediately to be
remembered, he hurried to the piano, played and recorded the music and
words. The song had begun and ended in the same vivid dream."
His 54th published book, "Vulgarians At The Gate," may be his
philosophical masterpiece. He scores declining moral standards and
targets radio and commercial television, which, he says, promote the lack
of home and school accountability. Jayne says that the familiar "book
tour" of talk shows, in which an author's wife's appearance is traded for
book plugs, may not be fully available. The electronic media may not want
to promote a book which attacks its own negatives.
Lavish praise has come to Steve for his past PBS TV series, "Meeting
