Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
Ricochet member and Pajamas Media star Ed Driscoll just dropped me a line, noting that the Hoover Institution has made available online more than 170 episodes of Firing Line, the tapes of which reside in the Hoover archives.
I’m enjoying the archives of Firing Line immensely; they’re wonderful time capsules of the issues the nation struggled with during the three decades the show aired, and for what they tell us of the aesthetics and the state of television production at various times. (The episode with Groucho, early in the show’s history, looks like it was shot on a Wayne’s World-esque set; Groucho makes occasional cracks about the sparseness of the studio audience.)
An excerpt from that episode with Groucho. I'd love to learn what the Ricochetti make of Firing Line after lo these many years--especially those too young to have seen the show when it first aired.
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Jun '12
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
My wife gave me this episode and 2 others (a Malcolm Muggeride and a Maggie Thatcher) last Christmas. Arguably the best gift she's ever given me (not counting the kids of course). The Groucho interview is my favorite, so poignant in so many places. Shortly after watching them, I posted on my FB page that it was the best 3 hours of television I had seen in 20 years. What really stands out, in addition to the often penetrating insights, is the leisure pace of the conversations, such a different world from our contemporary sound bite media culture.
Aug '10
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
Don't suppose there's an interview with
well probably not. nevermind........
Feb '11
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
If you're an Amazon Prime member, it's free to stream.
Mar '11
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
The more topical episodes do not hold up. But others, like an episode with Mortimer Adler, are fantastic.
What I find most consistently striking about Firing Line is the amount of smoke wafting in front of the camera.
May '10
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
In that clip, my first reaction is that , as intelligent as he obviously was, Buckly was no Peter Robinson. My second impression was that Groucho has a deep, thoughtful side I'd never seen before. Buckly did draw that out and made me want more of that; I remember him on TV as a kid. It made me wonder if a degree of melancholy is necessary if one is to be a comedian.
Oct '11
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
Thanks, Peter! And thanks Peter Gothgen ('m an Amazon Prime member)!
My wife and I have been wodnering for years why NRO doesn't have all the Firing Line episodes linked on their web site.
Jun '12
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
No doubt!!!
May '10
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
Over the past couple year's I've looked up episodes of Firing Line on YouTube now and then. I can't believe a program so serious and thoughtful--without the mental gymnastics, pomp, and pretense that saturates modern political programming--was actually on television. God bless Bill Buckley.
Jul '10
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
My take was that Buckley was faced with a dangerous situation. Groucho dips into bitterness a couple of times and recovers, but the entire event could have gone south quickly. Buckley's form here is raw, very stiff. He does not show the polish we expect from him. It is painful to watch him recite laconically from cue cards during the introduction. Add the need to walk on egg shells with a volatile celebrity and now we are watching NASCAR for the crashes.
Firing Line on YouTube is just a tease. I found the show hit or miss in its time, but being able to cherry pick the episodes would be great.
May '12
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
Groucho was a darkened soul.
The story is, he got his first case of The Clap from a prostitute his mother hired to service him.
That said, his son spoke well of him as a father.
So I guess he found the strength to rise above the darkness often enough to not be totally vanquished by it.
Feb '11
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
Mr. Robinson, I'm sure you know what WFB thought of Uncommon Knowledge. You've noted a few times how popular UK is with college students. (suprising?, I don't think so.) I'm certain that the Firing Line would be as popular with my generation as is your program.
As a child in Obama's America (26), I missed FL when the show was still on but, I've seen dozens of episodes. What's special about FL and UK is the long-form serious discussion where the interviewer shows respect toward his guest and v.v.
WFB interviewed people with a frank and inquisitive conversational tone. Today, we can only find that tone on UK; and maybe on BookTV's AfterWords.
The scandal-crazy media can't handle serious discussion.
Thank you Mr. Robinson for keeping Firing Line's legacy alive.
**If anyone my age (or you old folks who missed it) is interested in a similar tone with another host in our cannon, check out the Milton Friedman's Free to Choose series.
Edited on July 19, 2012 at 4:42amJun '12
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
There was a pretty good documentary on Groucho or the Marx Bros back in the 90s. I think HBO might have done it. In it I remember at one point Dick Cavett, who knew Groucho pretty well, said "I think he needed a Groucho Marx to cheer him up, and he was the only person who couldn't have one." That always stuck with me.
May '11
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
I'd like to see the rest of the interview.
Funny, I don't think I remember seeing Groucho in color before....?
Dec '10
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
I couldn't get past that intrusive moderator. Never saw him before, so I presume they-- wisely-- got rid of him quickly. Although I'm sure he was a nice man.
Jun '10
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
My family used to watch Firing Line religiously. One fond memory I have is as we were watching one episode and my mother explaining WFB's technique to me..."See what he's doing?...See how he's setting up his guest...a seemingly innocuous question...leading him along...wait for the trap...here it comes...SNAP! Like a cat playing with a mouse."
I was in awe of Buckley...and my mother...still am.
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
Brian Watt:
I was in awe of Buckley...and my mother...still am. · 3 hours ago
Me too.
Dec '10
Re: Bill Buckley on YouTube (Along With Groucho Marx)
Oh, the older stuff, in black and white, is an indelible memory for me, and many others, during the 1960s. There was no "moderator". Just a chess match that was so much fun for conservatives to watch.
During that era, you knew when siblings were being lost to some leftist indoctrinational nonsense, once they could no longer bear watching FL and accused him of being a shill for the man. Leftists never got how funny the word/phrase "antidisestablishmentarian" was. They got mad, when they should have been laughing, even if they held differing views. That was funny!