Exclusive interview: Joan Embery of the San Diego Zoo recalls her 'Tonight Show' appearances with Johnny Carson

If you were a fan of “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson,” you certainly knew the name Joan Embery, who made numerous appearances bringing live animals from the San Diego Zoo where she was working on the show where Carson reacted and interacted with them. On Oct. 4, some of those appearances became be available in stores in a new DVD set of “The Johnny Carson TonightShow: The Vault Series,” available at Amazon.

 We recently spent a few minutes talking with Embery by phone. Here is an edited version of that conversation.

Steve Marinucci: Are you still with the San Diego Zoo?

Joan Embery: Yes, but I don't work there every day. I work as an independent contractor. I do conservation education with them.

Steve Marinucci: How many times did you appear on the show?

Joan Embery: Well, I think we did probably about 70 with Johnny. And if you include Jay, closer to 100 “Tonight Shows” over the years. Quite a few. And I'd say probably on “The Tonight Show” we took over 500 animals over the years, wild animals, many of which had been seen live on TV before.

Steve Marinucci: Was there any preparation with Johnny beforehand?

Joan Embery: No. Johnny wanted it spontaneous. He didn't really want to know what was there. He just wanted to come out and fly by the seat of his pants, so to speak. Which was actually fun because so much of television is totally pre-written, pre-programmed right down to every second. But it was Johnny's show. Johnny ran the show. So the talent coordinator would do a rundown of the order of the animals and where the commercial breaks were most likely to occur. They do questions for Johnny and all of that. But when Johnny came out, he was on his own. He would go as long as he wanted on a segment. Sometimes things would run long and somebody would get cut at the end of the show. One person, which is interesting, one of our shows we did ran long and the person who got cut was Ellen DeGeneres making her first appearance.

Steve Marinucci: Have you ever been on Ellen's show?

Joan Embery: No, I haven't. Maybe that's why. (Laughs.)

Steve Marinucci: What was the funniest incident you can remember.

Joan Embery: The one that most people often refer to – and it was funny I can remember sitting there being hysterical myself – was when the marmoset jumped from my hand to Johnny Carson's arm, then to his shoulder than to the top of his head and sat up with his tail wrapped around his ear. And then I remember being worried it would jump to the mike or get loose in the studio. And I remember trying to decide whether to try and grab it, but Johnny seemed to be in control of the situation so I just let it roll. And then when it marked its territory on top of his head, you know, his acceptance and his response was so memorable that to this day people will describe that in great detail.

Steve Marinucci: The one I remember was with the tarantula.

Joan Embery: You know the talent coordinator had come to the zoo and seen that and wanted me to take it to the show. And I said, 'I don't really like to do big insects, large insects.' And he said, 'Oh, come on, Joan. You can do it.' So when I got up there, knowing Carson's game for anything. I took it out in the box and then I told Johnny he could take it out. And at some point in the conversation, he was letting it crawl up his arm. And I thought, 'Wow, you're really brave, Johnny, because I don't really want to do that.' I didn't say that and I'm thinking 'This is so cool. I'm going to get through this whole segment and I'm not going to have hold that tarantula. And then he picked it up and moved it towards me and I jumped backward. And he said, 'A ha! This is you, Miss Zoo! All these wild animals you work with and you're afraid of an insect. Or actually a spider, an arachnid. But anyway, he had me right there and he took such delight in that. He thought that was so funny.

Steve Marinucci: I remember he was almost panicking.

Joan Embery: It was crawling right up his sleeve. And he was saying, 'Well, what do I do now.' I said, 'You're fine. Just don't agitate it.' And he goes, 'What do you mean agitate? What would I do that would agitate it?' And he actually reached down with his hand. A lot of people would never do that. They'd never pick up a big tarantula with their fingers. I gotta give him credit. He was game. Even if he wasn't 100 percent comfortable, he knew he could have fun with his audience and he loved that.

Steve Marinucci: You really tried to not to laugh during those appearances. That must have been incredibly hard.

Joan Embery: It was, because he was so spontaneous and just would jump on things. Even if I look back at things, I'm in awe because I've sat next to so many hosts who are trying to pay attention to the commercial breaks and the cue cards and the questions that their talent coordinators have written. And a producer trying to get their attention. This is all happening while you're live on camera. And Johnny, when he walked out there, he was in total control of his show. He ran his show. So you never knew. But I think what his audience enjoyed is that so much of TV is pre-written, pre-planned and all detailed out and he just would just go with the flow. So if he was having fun or something was funny or the audience was enjoying it, he'd just roll with it. And you'd just be along for the ride. He would jump in so quickly. He was well read and very intelligent and he had amazing timing. It was hard not to laugh if you were sitting next to him because he was just so darn funny, just spontaneously funny. Not necessarily his written material, but just what came into his mind and how quickly he reacted to things that he saw. I did always appreciate that despite his humor and despite having fun and despite living to entertain his audience, that he was always respectful of me and he always gave me an opportunity to speak to tell everybody about the animals. He never completely ran me over for the sake of comedy. He would always give me my time and I always respected that. I also think he was respectful of the animals that were there. He was interested in them, engaged by them and he wanted to showcase the animals. It was never that they were just props. I think he was genuinely interested in learning about them. I think he liked animals. Some of the memorable times that some of the young apes we brought on, like a chimp or a baby gorilla, and his crew would always be in awe because he would pick up that baby orangutan and he would just look him in the eyes. And as they would say, he would just melt. And you would see a whole different side of Johnny.

Steve Marinucci: Now I know from sitting in the audience for the show that during the commercials he would do stuff they could not broadcast. Was there anything that happened that maybe happened during the commercials that we didn't see?

Joan Embery: I think the funniest commercial break for us was when we took the Galapagos tortoise that weighed about 500 pounds. And then he dropped down on his shell and was happy under the lights and had his food and decided he was just going to rest there. It's a big animal to try and get off stage. So we went to commercial break because we weren't going to be able to do it very quickly. And when we cut to commercial, they brought the forklift from NBC and that's how we got him off the stage.

 

Exclusive interview: Louise Harrison helps keep brother George's legacy alive

By Steve Marinucci
Published Feb. 25, 2011

It's been a long and winding road for Louise Harrison, sister to Beatle George Harrison. She'll turn 80 in August.

And she hasn't stopped. She's currently writing her memoirs, which she says will reveal a lot of details about the Beatles' rise to fame that haven't been available before.

"It will basically tell what my life's been like, and include all the parts of it where I was involved with my brother," she told us in a recent phone interview. "And I'd also like for the first time to have people know publicly that I was totally involved for that whole first year in 1963 in talking to Brian and George Martin and Dick James and Capitol Records and everything and working very very hard to get them established in the United States. That's something that nobody knows about. It's about time the people at Apple were aware that I was part of the team before my brother and the Beatles had any assets to protect."

She says there are things her brother didn't even know.

"I never ever told George about it because I was afraid if it didn't work, I didn't want to disappoint him. But I worked really hard with Brian Epstein. I was writing to him just about every week. I was researching all the magazines over here and everything and going to all the radio stations trying to get them played, reporting back to Brian on this whole payola thing that was going on over here in those days. And all of that kind of thing."

She currently works with the Beatles tribute group Liverpool Legends, who put on shows in Branson, Mo. at the Mansion Theatre. It's something she's very proud of.

"People who come out at the end of the show say to me, "This is the best show I've ever seen. And these are people that go to Vegas and Broadway and everywhere. You know, we're really doing something right."

She says in the show, she does a segment concentrating on George's music.

"One of the things that I have done in our show when I go talk to the audience is just before the end of the intermission I sometimes do an audio version of his lyrics. And one of the things that I worked in at high school and college was dramatic speaking. And so, I will read the words of his songs. I'll say, 'Life goes within you and without you'  and really expressing what he's trying to say in a way that people can understand what his lyrics are all about. I'm going to do be doing a whole chapter (in the book) on some of what George was really talking about in some of his songs, which sometimes has been misunderstood."

Beatle fans come from all walks of life. They even include U.S. presidents. One is President Bill Clinton.

 "President Clinton, I've known him and met him several times," Louise says.." I actually first met him when my brother died and I was in New York doing a TV show. And he called me at the studio and invited me to his office in Harlem to offer his condolensces. He was really very nice and we had a good talk. I've  always been a great admirer of his."

 Clinton's library and museum in Little Rock, Ark., also has a piece of Beatles memorabilia -- a copy of "Meet the Beatles" autographed by all four members on loan from Louise.

 Another fan is President Barack Obama.

 "I met him when he was running for senator and I was invited to speak at some kind of gathering  in Mount Vernon. And after I'd given my little chat to the people, the mayor of Mount Vernon came over to me with this young fellow. And he said, 'Here's somebody that would like to have  his picture taken with you. He's a big Beatle fan.' That's how I got my picture taken with Barack  Obama. Not that I was trying to have my picture taken with the president, but the other way  around."

 She says George's music is resonating more than ever.

 "I can still listen to it over and over and never tired of. What he was trying to say. I remember one time it was around about 'Gone Troppo' or 'Extra Texture.' They weren't selling very well. But he had some songs on them that were really really remarkably insightful. And I can remember talking to him on the phone and saying, 'Hey, you know, it's such a pity they're not selling as well because you're really making some wonderful comments that people really need to hear.' And he said to me, 'Well, as long as one person understands what I'm saying, it's worth doing." And that was his attitude. So long as one or two people understand what you're trying to do, it's worth doing."

 Harrison and the Liverpool Legends have a sold-out show tonight in Joplin, Mo., the night of George birthday. They have a one-week engagement at the Mansion Theatre in Branson starting March 15, then return for their regular engagement starting April 19.

 Harrison says a big birthday party is planned for her at the Mansion in Branson when she turns 80 in August.  "I'd like to invite all the Beatle fans to come. The theater holds 3,500 people so we should be able to have a good party!"

 

Interview: Hunter Davies says Lennon letters reveal tender side

By Steve Marinucci

Published February, 2016

The newly published “The John Lennon Letters” is a huge collection of letters and communications from Lennon to friends, fans and strangers. We recently interviewed author Hunter Davies, who compiled the collection under authorization from Yoko Ono, by email:

Q: How long did it take to put "The John Lennon Letters" together?

Hunter Davies: “In my mind, I have been thinking about it for about 40 years, ever since John sent me a couple of letters and I thought how witty and interesting he was. Book wise, the project has lasted 3 years.”

Q:You were able to get letters from many sources. How did you make that happen?

Hunter Davies: “It's all explained in the Introduction. I had to track them all down. Individually, there are no collections in Museums or Libraries, etc., but owned by individuals all around the world. Some stories about the book are focusing on the letters that show John showing anger, such as at George Martin, but I thought the letters that were most revealing were the ones where he showed tenderness like the one to Cynthia from Hamburg.

Q: You dealt with John to write "The Beatles." What did you learn about him from doing this book?

Hunter Davies: “You are right - the tender ones are most revealing, i.e. the ones to his cousin Leila where he doesn't swear, make jokes or world play, but is sensitive and nostalgic about his life in England and his hols in Scotland and childhood memories.”

Q: How much influence did Yoko have on what letters went into the book?

Hunter Davies: “Yoko is the copyright holder, and has total control of their publication, but she did not censor one letter, one line, one word. She was totally helpful and supportive- but alas she had no letters . I had to find them.”

Q: Were there enough letters left out to do another book, and if so, will there be a sequel?

Hunter Davies: “I hope more will come in - ask your readers to help. Also I am now going to do a book about the Beatles Lyrics, using their original hand written versions. If you have copies of any, contact me at Johnlennonletters@hotmail.co.uk

Q: "The Beatles" has taken some criticism over the years from both fans and the group. How do you view it now?

Hunter Davies: “Criticism/wot criticism? Long hair, silly Liverpool accent, swearing, bad language? All spot on. They were bastards, as John himself said….”

Q: When will the next edition of it come out and is anything new (such as the George Harrison lyric sheet) coming down the road?

Hunter Davies: “I hope to do a new edition of the biog in a few more years, bringing it up to date, in the light of John's letters and also a couple of letters from his father Alfred I have just found which I think all Beatles fans will be interested in, but I can not reveal further at the moment.”

Barbara Mauritz of Lamb: A tribute to a great singer

Introduction: In the wonderful movie “Last Days at the Fillmore” – which we highly recommend -- there are many memorable moments thanks to Bill Graham, and, of course, the music. One of the best songs in the film is the first one, “Hello Friends,” by Lamb, a San Francisco group at one time managed by Graham and led by singer Barbara Mauritz and guitarist Bob Swanson.

Mauritz's incredible voice made the song one of our favorite parts of the film and one we never forgot. Four Lamb recordings were released by Columbia Records: "A Sign of Change," "Cross Between," "Bring Out the Sun," and "Music Box" 

In 1977, she suffered a broken neck and crushed spine in a bus accident. In the mid-'80s, she had recovered enough to play some gigs and compose music.

As a fan of her music, we got in touch with her in December and asked her if she would mind answering a few questions. She agreed to do that and this was the result. She also told us she had another CD in the works. We were very appreciative to Barbara for taking the time to respond.

Update: We received word April 21, 2014, that Barbara, who was 65, had died on April 14, 2014 according to Diane Rapaport, Lamb's manager.

 Q: How did Lamb come together?

Barbara Mauritz: “Lamb came together  in an amazing way.  When I was 16, I hitched from Houston Texas to San Francisco. I got a ride with a rather strange guy from Houston,Texas.  When we arrived in San Francisco  my ride took off with everything I owned after he told me to go to hippy hill in Golden Gate Park and wait for him.   After sitting on the hill for about a half an hour, I started hearing this amazing music coming from the panhandle of the park  and it turned out to be Jimi Hendrix playing on the back of a flat bed  truck.  He was doing a benefit for the Diggers who fed me my first meal for a couple of days and I sat down and listened spellbound and ate my food.

“I had never heard of Jimi Hendrix until then I'll never forget that day.  This short guy with bright red hair asked me if I was a musician and I said yes. Then he told me he was from New York  and was wealthy and had a big house and his thing was to put up musicians and feed them untill they got on their feet.  I looked around at  all the long haired kids about my age, dancing and having the best time, and I knew I was home. The young man, Jerry, was in a mansion. He gave me my own room and I slept for the first time in a safe place.

“The next morning he asked me if I wanted to meet a friend of his  so I went along and we arrived at a storefront on fell street called Lysergic threads. a tall man answered the door and he introduced himself as Bob Swanson.  I spotted a guitar I asked him if I could play it and told him mine had been stolen.  I started playing the first song I had written and when I  finished he got another guitar and said to play it again. It sounded great to us and from  that moment for the next almost seven years we became Lamb.  We are partners still to this day.”

 Q: What was Bill Graham like to work with?

Barbara Mauritz: “Bob and me started playing everywhere we could to earn a living by passing the hat. From coffee houses to pizza places.  One night we were playing a bar-pizza place in Berkeley and the room was pretty empty, so we decided we would play some of the songs we were working on it was almost two in the morning and I noticed a man in brand new overalls and hair down to his waist. He said he was a partner with Bill Graham and his name was David Rubinson.  He asked us if we would like to open up a show for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young at Winterland in two weeks.  Bob and I looked at each other and said, 'Ah yes.'

“Lamb had added a few more people and it was Bob and me on classical guitars and I was the lead singer, Bill Douglas joined us on upright bass, Artimicia Lee on cello, Diva Goodfriend Coven on flute and also an oboe player from the symphony. It was really a great sound. We got to the sound test at about 6 p.m. and were setting up when Bill Graham, who we didn't know yet, came up to the stage and said, 'Who the hell are you and what are you doing on my stage?' David Rubinson came running up behind Bill and motioned to us that it was alright and put his arm around him and walked him away. He returned in a few moments and said everything was alright and to do the sound test.

“It was the first big show. I was so terrified but excited at the same time.  To my amazement, we got several ovations. We continued to get them every night on the fourth night after the biggest ovation. Bill Graham caught me by the arm and said,"Do you hear that? Now when it gets to the peak you go out there with your band and play the best song you have," and he pushed me back out on the stage with Bob Swanson and Bill Douglas following me back out to the stage. After we finished Bill Graham stopped me and said, 'I want to sign Lamb to Fillmore management. You and Bob come into my office tomorrow at 8 a.m. and don't be late!

“The next day, we went into the Fillmore office and Bill Graham was on the phone yelling at someone. He signed with his hand to sit down. I guess I looked scared because when he hung up the phone, he leaned across the desk and said, "Are you afraid of me or something?"  I said no. And he smiled and said he wanted to sign Lamb to his new record company Fillmore Records and wanted to manage Lamb as well. We agreed and Bob Swanson signed. My copy had to be signed by my parents because I was still a minor.

“This was the beginning of a six-year contract.  Bill Graham did a lot for Lamb and one thing was I was chosen to write the theme for the movie 'Where The Lilies Bloom.' It was a Radnitz Mattel movie and received critical acclaim. The movie music was nominated for an Oscar and although it didn't win, it was my first attempt to write movie music.  Earl Scrugs and his Foggy Mountain Boys played different versions of my theme and also released the music that I performed on with his band on top of it. Dianne Sward became our personal manager and we couldn't have gone forward.  She also ran Equinox and Lamb was also a member of.  It was a traveling acoustic shows with all the groups from the area.When I had my son Joshua, She looked after us and was even at the hospital when I gave birth.  Lamb was on the road for the first seven months and came back to work on the second album. The first was "A Sign Of Change," the second is "Across Between", “Bring out the Sun" and the fourth is "Music Box."

 Q:  What was it like at the closing of the Fillmore West? 

Barbara Mauritz: “The closing of the Filmore was incredible and also emotional for everyone there. I  had grown up there backstage and on stage opening for all the bands  like of course The Greatful Dead,It's a Beautiful Day,  Jefferson Airplaine,Cold Blood,Santana, Elvin Bishop and many more.  What an amazing place. I couldn't believe that it was actualy over.  Every night it was packed.  Bill Graham had done it. In one fell swoop he had changed the how concerts were run always making that it was the best it could possibly be for each act. I didn't know that each night was being filmed  and was to be a rockumentary  called 'The Last Days of The Fillmore.'  Bill Graham wanted me and Lamb to open the film at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. I didn't know that the first thing I would see was me singin 'Hello Friends.' I was really surprised and touched by that. He was watching my face and when the song started I couldn't say anything I just sat there with my mouth open. With all those awesome groups I couldn't imagine that Lamb would open the movie and also had another song in the middle.  The musicians were Tom Salisbury on piano, Chris Michie on guitar, Mark Springer on acoustic guitar and backup vocals, David Hayes on electric bass, Richard Sloscher on the drums.                                                 

Bob Swanson at that point decided to open a photographic business and became a master photographer and the head of the Arts Council in Weed.   He is also my partner and co-owner in our publishing company, Steamboat Gothic Publishing.  He is still a close friend and like a big brother to me.

In 1976 my son and I were in a bus wreck in San Rafael. I had to go through spinal surgery. My son, thank God, was all right.  When I recuperated, a good friend, Jeanette Sartaine, a great singer in her own right, sang with me as well, and introduced me to the musicians I luckily had the blessing of working within the studio and on stage. We started recording the first three songs on the new album at Russian Hill Studio. Fred Catero is my favorite engineer to work on. The producer was Steve Douglas the incredible sax player who had many fantastic albums and was at one time the head of Capitol Records. He also played the bass recorder a true artist.  Alex Bentam (Guiness) on guitar and vocals.  He is also an incredible writer as well. Robin Sylvester on fretless bass has the most wonderful sound. and David Perper on drums I've worked with him since the early days of Lamb.

The next two songs were recorded a Fantasy Studios in Oakland.  The producer was Al Brown,  an incredible musician and I'm very grateful to him  as well and without him the sessions wouldn't have taken place.  He is also an old friend of mine. Walter Rappaport also produced and arranged for the sessions to take place and he was also Lamb's first sound man and made our sound system and worked with Lamb for four years. David Margun was on bass and Alex Bentam and David Perper was on the session and Nate Ginsberg was on keyboards. The last four songs were recorded at Getto Records and Danny Aarhus was the owner and former guitarist with Lamb I was given free reign over the studio.  I also engineered and digitally mastered along with Danny who also played bass and co-produced with me. Peggy Day and Daniel Duval were my backup singers

  I've been truly blessed throughout my career to have had all these truly great people and musicians and engineers to have to work with and I will always be grateful to them all.

  I dedicate this album to my son, Joshua Mauritz Wallace, who passed away March 8th, 2008. I miss him and love him more than my own life. He is the reason I continue to write and record.  Joshua always encouraged me to keep playing and writing. I love you baby.  He was born Nov. 13, 1970. My new CD is called 'Give Me Half a Chance.' I'm still working on getting the copies made.  It will be available online. 

 

Interview: Bill Harry, 'Mr. Mersey Beat,' revising his huge Beatles encyclopedia

 Interview: Bill Harry, 'Mr. Mersey Beat,' revising his huge Beatles encyclopedia 

 Mersey Beat founder and editor Bill Harry, who was writing about the Beatles before they became a worldwide sensation, told Beatles Examiner Tuesday he is currently at work revising his book “The Beatles Encyclopedia. The book, first published in the UK in 1992, will be expanded to two volumes.

 “For the past few decades I have been constantly researching and writing about every aspect of the Beatles, interviewing hundreds of people, tracking down many stories, exposing myths. I placed a lot of this information in my initial ‘The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia', a volume so large that the publishers had to cut hundreds of thousands of words out of it,” he told us.

 “Immediately after it was published, I began revising it and this edition appeared as ‘The Beatles Encyclopedia’ in 2001. The maximum amount of pages the printers could provide was 1,196 and even this meant around 40,000 words had to be omitted. I immediately continued researching, with almost 150,000 words of additional notes when my computer broke down, losing all my information and I had to start again,” he said. Harry lost five years' work because of the computer problems.

 “With the vast amount of information I was collecting, it became obvious that it would have hundreds of thousands of additional words and could never fit into a single volume, so it is to become a massive two-volume work, probably 900 pages per volume,” he said.

 But then his original publisher came into the picture.

 “I received the rights back from Virgin Books, who later told me they wanted to reprint the 2001 edition. I said ‘no’ at the time because I regarded that volume as out-of-date as far as I was concerned. When Virgin Books was bought by Random House, they announced the re-publication of the 2001 encyclopedia, but I told them I didn’t want it re-published as I had spent several years revising it.

 “I was the first person ever to write about the Beatles and have written more about them than anyone else in the world. Even I was surprised by the amount of new information I kept unearthing and I am confident that even the most devoted Beatles fans will find information they were completely unaware of.”

 Harry says he's now looking for a publisher for the new book.

 “I am now seeking a publisher who can handle such a vast work and have actually been approached by two publishers. Ideally I would place it in the hands of a major British or American publisher. Although I have had 25 books published, I have never had an agent, but I wouldn’t say no to an agent handling this venture as it’s the result of 50 years research.

 He said on Facebook he hopes it can be finished within a year. 

 (Copyright Steve Marinucci. Please do not reprint in full on other sites without permission. Headlines with links, though, are fine. Posting any of our links to Twitter and Facebook is much appreciated.)

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