Just after college, I was working as a factory night watchman in Marinette, Wisconsin (you take what you can get until something better comes along!). One night on my rounds, I stumbled and wrenched my ankle... off work for a week before I could walk on it.
I sat around in a horrible mood, unable to deal with my usual daytime routine, with my ankle elevated and hurting like hell, searching the cable TV system for something to keep me amused... and then I stumbled across an old submarine movie, Cary Grant's DESTINATION TOKYO, and I was thus introduced to BILL KENNEDY AT THE MOVIES.
I couldn't have encountered Bill on a better movie; he'd played the part of Grant's executive officer, and on the breaks Kennedy was in fine form spilling the beans with on the set gossip and trivia. The man was a gruff old curmudgeon on the air, but he was ALWAYS fascinating! It seemed like he'd known damned near EVERYBODY in Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s.
The best episode of Kennedy's show I ever saw was when the station gave him a surprise. Just as he started the show and began his comments on the day's movie, an offstage voice interrupted him to announce that today was Bill's birthday, and to celebrate it they had a surprise for him. The scheduled movie would NOT be shown; in it's place they had found one of Bill's films, a very special one.... THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE. During his Hollywood years, Kennedy was always a supporting actor, but in this one he had the STARRING ROLE! While stagehands and floor managers applauded, the old man's face screwed up into an incredibly sour mass and turned bright red. It seems that their birthday surprise had backfired on them.
Bill finished up the break with the background story on THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE, and all these years later the film was STILL a major sore point with him.
It seems that he and a bunch of friends had gotten together to form their own production company to produce "B" movies, and all of them had invested heavily in it. THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE was one of their first films, one of a very small number that they'd produced.
The film turned out to be the biggest bomb since Nagasaki, and they'd ALL lost their shirts on the deal. I seem to remember comments to the effect that THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE was the main reason that he was STILL working for a living, hosting this program, instead of sitting in the sun in retirement! By the first commercial break Bill had simmered down a good bit, but it was WONDERFUL... it has to be the ONLY time that calm, sophisticated Bill Kennedy ever lost his cool on the air!
A couple of years later I moved away from Marinette's cable TV system, and when I did I lost the opportunity to listen to Bill Kennedy's stories and gossip. I really missed that.
It's been a long time now, but I still remember BILL KENNEDY AT THE MOVIES with a great deal of affection. Every time the 1940's Warner Brother's logo comes on the screen, I have a fleeting thought of Bill.
Thanks, Bill. Your fans are STILL out there and thinking of you now and then, remembering the hours of pleasure you gave us on WKBD-TV.