Heeeeeeeeeere's Janet....Howe

A week later I started my new job on The Tonight Show with my new name - Janet Howe. Unless you've grown up with a name like Mafera (M as in Mary a F as in Frank e-r-a) you can't possibly understand how nice a simple last name could be. A new job, a new name and a new life. Amazing - dreams can come true.

My first few days of marriage were less than idyllic. Suffice it to say my father was not a huge fan of Jake's. Perhaps it was the age difference, perhaps it was the divorce thing, perhaps the four kids. Come to think of it, there was a pretty long list of why this was not his ideal choice of a son-in-law. (note: post therapy I understood it all more clearly but that's for another chapter) As always, my mother tried to put a positive spin on things. She sent out marriage announcements. The same print and card stock as the "wedding that never happened". A few gifts trickled in and I displayed the Waterford pitcher proudly. We were going to live in my guest house and look for a bigger place.

But, first things first....my first day on The Tonight Show. I walked in without a clue as to what to expect. The basic job description: the commercial production assistant helps in the production of live and pre-taped commercials to air on the Tonight Show, i.e., Alpo spots as the most sterling example I can think of. I was also responsible for typing (yup, still typing) the daily commercial log ensuring the right commercial was in the right place. If it was a 60 second commercial the advertiser was entitled to a "live" lead-in read by Johnny himself. So, I wrote the scintillating copy, such as "We'll be right back after this message from United Airlines".

Show business was my life!

The people on the show were great. Betsy worked for the head talent co-ordinator and was a gorgeous, smart girl about a year younger than I. Her desk was near mine and I soon discovered she was the girl everybody wanted to date. My desk sat outside Ed McMahon's office and as he would stroll in everyday there would be the bellowing "Good morning ladies". My desk was also right by the coffee machine where Fred DeCordova discovered I blushed at the "F-word"....and was so amused by it that he used it every time he walked past me. Not to be out done I learned how to use it myself. Unfortunately it's a habit that has been hard to break. But, again, I digress.

That first day found me amazed at everything. The other part of my job was attending rehearsal and making sure the right commercial had been inserted in the show for the feed to New York. The show was taped from 5:30-7:00PM - it was ninety minutes then - and some times I would be expected to be at the taping. Advertising agency folks sat up in a viewing room to report that they had, indeed, seen the right commercial directly inserted in the show.

The first night my boss said, "You can't be backstage tonight. We have to let Johnny know you're here". What? Somebody was going to tell Johnny Carson about me???? Truthfully, it was really that he didn't like anything different back stage. The second night of my tenure I sat silently on a stool as the director, Bobby Quinn walked him through the studio doors. The same thing happened every night. Ed would do the warm up and Bobby would go up-stairs and get Johnny to walk him through the studio - right up to the place behind the curtain where he would stand until Ed announced, "Heeeeeeere's Johnny".

That night Johnny Carson looked over at me and nodded slightly as he walked past me.

I had died and gone to heaven....honestly!!!