Michael Skinner/Cups & Balls/Tonight Show

[Dustin Stinett]

Hopefully this hasn't appeared here already...

Here is some grainy video of Michael Skinner performing the Cups and Balls on the Tonight Show (Tony Randall is the guest host that night).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ebutknI8UU

[Brad Jeffers]

These clips of Skinner on the Tonight Show have shown up on youtube before. Enjoy it while you can. Unless a licensing fee has been paid to The Carson Entertainment Group, it won't stay up for long.

[Matthew Field]

It's a great video of Skinner in his prime.

Matt Field

[mrgoat]

These clips of Skinner on the Tonight Show have shown up on youtube before. Enjoy it while you can. Unless a licensing fee has been paid to The Carson Entertainment Group, it won't stay up for long.

Woop! Piracy! But it's "OK" piracy because we *really* want to watch it, right?

[PapaG]

Effortlessly entertaining and charming. Thanks for pointing out the footage Dustin.

[mrgoat]

I've got a great bit of video of On The Pass, I guess it's cool to post that?

[Bill Mullins]

Damian --

If I want to read Expert at the Card Table, I can freely download copies from a number of sites on the web. I can make a photocopy of a friend's printed edition. It's public domain and available everywhere.

If I want to read some Real Secrets material, I have to join up, agree to nondisclosure provisions, and pay whatever fee they want. It is closely held by the originators, protected by copyright, and by custom and "magic ethics" beyond that.

I ask (in all seriousness, not trolling or trying to be provocative), do you not see any continuum between these two positions? Distribution of one is (in my mind) clearly piracy; distribution of the other isn't. To me, making copies of a segment of a 30 year old TV program that was freely broadcast to millions is somewhere in between (reasonable people could certainly have a discussion as to where on the spectrum it lies). The Carson people have every right to control it, as they tend to do, but I think the sin in copying the Skinner bit isn't as grave as that of copying other media, such as an instructional video, or lecture notes, or a recent book that is still in print.

(And I understand that, given your day job, this isn't a just a matter of academic interest, but one that affects your wallet directly).

[Bill Mullins]

Dustin, I think that is Tony Curtis as Guest Host, not Tony Randall. It looks like Jack Lemmon on the left side of the screen, and I can't figure out who the guest in the light blue suit is.

TV Listings for 6/1/1973 show Tony Curtis guest host, and guests Jack Lemmon, illusionist Mark Wilson, and magician Mike Skinner. Other listings show guests Della Reese, Skinner, Wilson, and Adele Davis.

Listings for 6/23/1973 show Tony Curtis guest host, and guests Jack Lemmon, Sergio Mendes and Brasil '77, Mark Wilson, Joe Flynn and Mike Skinner.

Your guess is as good as mine as to which date this show is. Note that the Johnny Carson webpage doesn't have entries for either show in their clip licensing database.

It could be that the original guest slate was to be Lemmon, Wilson, Skinner, Reese, and Davis, and that some of those didn't work out and the show was aired with Lemmon, Mendes, Wilson, Flynn, and Skinner, and the 6/23 is a repeat of 6/1.

(Maybe that is Joe Flynn in the blue. . . )

[Dustin Stinett]

You're right now that I stare hard at it; it's Tony Curtis. Skinner does call the other gentleman Joe.

There is a large gap in the official video archive of the "Tonight Show." There was a period where NBC, in their infinite wisdom, reused tape in order to save on production costs. As a result, many shows were erased. This very well could be among those since it is not listed in the database.