Sorry about your pain, Nancy. There is no part of moving that is easy, and I'm happy that I probably won't be doing another one until they cart me off to the home.

I got an idea of who the narrator is from your clues, and if I'm right, a long essay could be written about his talents.

TM

Ahhh, TM, not getting this one past you?? In 1985, he was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as holding the record for the greatest number of hours on network commercial television (15,188 hours), though he lost the record for most hours on all forms of television to Regis Philbin in 2004.

Here's a cool Moon fact: The footprints left by the Apollo astronauts will not erode since there is no wind or water on the Moon. The footprints should last at least 10 million years.

Any ideas for clues, TM?

Nancy.

Just realized I am misusing the word 'factoid'. I was thinking of a fact without information to back it up - apparently it is more correctly a questionable, or incorrect piece of information - sorry. I'll stick to facts!!

Nancy.

I have an idea, but will wait for more clues since I am not overly confident.

Cynthia

I have an idea that he was also the anchor who is best known for announcing Kennedy's death.

Only one name is popping up in my mind, don't know if it's the right one or not. I'll check in later I'm off to a Seedy Sunday with Calamity Jane:).

Annette

I don't associate him with Kennedy's death myself - I remember another anchor, who is no longer with us. Our guy served as the announcer/sidekick for the Tonight Starring Jack Paar, host of the PBS talk show Over Easy, and co-hosted the syndicated talk show Not for Women Only.

The surface speed record on the Moon is 10.56 miles per hour. It was set in an Apollo lunar rover. No racing allowed!!

Nancy.

Well, I was in the right ballpark, but at the wrong game-thinking Johnny Carson. I have no idea who Paar's sidekick was.

More clues?

Cynthia

Beautiful crisp cold day today. The snow is almost melted, and I actually saw tips of daffs coming up in a "neighbors" yard. I don't know them, saw their house while house hunting with my daughter.
I have 2 narrators in mind from the 60's. I don't think either was a newscaster. Or anchor man.
The 1st person I thought of made speeches for business minded people. And 2nd person was narrator on a very scary movie from the 90's
Am I close? or just grasping at straws.
:) Laura

Film appearances

~ Survival of Spaceship Earth (1972) interviewed along with Rene Dubos, Margaret Mead, and John D. Rockefeller, III in a documentary on the Earth's environmental crisis
~ Nothing by Chance (1975) executive producer and narrator - a documentary about the biplanes that barnstormed across America during the 1920s
~ Oh, God! Book II (1980) newscaster

He was a special consultant to the United Nations for refugee problems from 1961 - 64 and served as Chairman of the Board of the United States Committee for UNICEF.
He wrote a column for Science Digest during the 1960s. He was Science Consultant to Westinghouse Laboratories and the Ford Foundation and an elected member of the National Academy of Science. He is a Board of Governors member of the National Space Society and was a longtime president and chairman of the predecessor National Space Institute. An asteroid is named after him.

Hmmmmmm.....any inklings? Is this getting you down?

Nancy.

There is a clue in my initial post, but the catch is, I don't know if the guy it is pointing to is the right guy.

TM

Now that I have read the latest clues, I can see that I was way off. Please disregard anything I have written so far.

TM

lol. I was curious, TM. I thought you might be out of bounds!!

On August 25, 1958, he concurrently(with the Jack Parr show) began a more than ten-year run hosting the original version of the game show Concentration. Also, he hosted NBC's Today Show for nine years from September 1962 to October 1971. On October 13, 2007, he was one of the first inductees into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada.

I don't think of him with game shows, though.....

Nancy.

Yup I was way off again.
I was thinking it was Earl Nightingale or....shoot his name popped out of my head. He was the narrator for rides in Jurassic park. Oh well doesn't matter because I was wrong anyway lol.
I remember Alex Tribeck did concentration, but I know he wasn't the original host.
Some smart guy with a nice powerful speaking voice. Possibly an old astronaut. Hmmmm.
I went to grade school with a nephew of a famous astronaut. Might be why I'm thinking that. But I'm pretty sure this Guy died a while ago.

ooh, The Today show...around the time of Barbara Walters?

Contrary to popular belief, the Moon does have an atmosphere. It is very thin. If you took all of the molecules in one cubic centimeter of atmosphere from the Moon and lined them up, they would fit inside the period of this sentence. If you took a cubic centimeter of atmosphere from the earth at sea level and lined all of the molecules up, it would go from the earth to the Moon and back again two and a half times.

Our guy appeared as a panelist on the television game show To Tell the Truth and in an episode, cast as himself, on the NBC police sitcom, Car 54, Where Are You?, set in New York City.
He earned a postgraduate degree in gerontology from Hunter College while he was hosting Over Easy, a PBS television program about aging that aired from 1977 to 1983. Pretty accomplished fellow!!

Nancy.

HA! I got it, well I always think I got it lol, so who knows.
I'll keep my hopes up. A good attitude is huge, in my world.
:) Laura

I loved car 54! I remember watching with my dad and both of us laughing. Didn't know this guy was on it. To borrow a clue from Laura, I am not up on all the celebrity appearances on tv shows. Also, the fact that my memory is a sieve these days is a huge downer, too!

Cynthia

Don't let it get you down, everyone!!

Nancy.

I've been thinking of TV personalities of every hue and color, and I have a new idea. I didn't realize this man was scientifically involved.

TM

Ahhh....TM - the hue and cry to find this man!!

Nancy.

Well that's a downer, it's not who I originally thought it might be but think I have it now :).

Annette

Nancy, my first thought was wrong but have picked it up from your clues. Got the last name but couldn't remember his first name until your last clue. He was certainly a talented man though I am only familiar with him from the news. I have to put this IPad down as I hear my timer going off and have to get dinner on the table.

Richard Kiley!
No, that's not my answer. He was the other person I was thinking of and couldn't remember his name. The narrator for the jurassic park ride. I had to google it. Not to be a downer, but it turns out he died 14yrs ago and is buried in a town in my county.
weird, hu?
:) Laura

Well, I believe we have arrived at our destination, tous ensembles?? Oui, yes, we are here.

Downs made his first television news broadcast in September 1945 from the still experimental studio of WBKB-TV (now WBBM-TV), a station then owned by the Balaban and Katz theater subsidiary of Paramount Pictures. He became a TV regular, announcing for Hawkins Falls in 1950, the first successful television soap opera, which was sponsored by Lever Brothers Surf detergent. It's been upward ever since!! I had no idea he was such an accomplished guy! He has twice been paired with Barbara Walters: the syndicated television program Not for Women Only in 1975 and 1976 and then the Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of the ABC news TV show 20/20, a primetime news magazine program, from the show's second episode in 1978 until his forced retirement in 1999. His closing tagline "We're in touch, so you be in touch", was written by Brock Brower. The asteroid 71000 Hughdowns is named after him.

As of 1988, the U.S. census bureau determined that a stunning 13% of the population believe that some portion of the earth's moon is actually comprised of cheese. Seriously guys??

No cheese-believers here, I believe! For everyone:

Thanks for playing, see you all next week!!

Nancy.

Here is a link that might be useful: First Man on the Moon

Thanks, Nancy, for the stars and for the link. Downs has such a nice voice.
I don't remember the record but wasn't into records that year. I remember DH and myself watching the moon landing on our second hand TV with a dark bar along the bottom of the screen. We were newly married and going to summer school before starting teaching jobs that fall.

Congrats on your move and while moving is a lot of work as you know it can be interesting as well.

Thanks for the fun and the stars! Yes, he was so...comfortable to watch and listen to, wasn't he? His generation of newscasters/hosts were certainly wonderful.

Hope you are settling in well and loving your new place. Are you envisioning your garden at this point? That is always such fun. I say that I am giving up on our backyard until the dogs are gone, but I know once spring comes, there I will be trying to create a garden again where the pups have destroyed everything I have planted. And chasing them out of the couple places I planted last fall. *sigh*

See you next Saturday, all.

Cynthia

ps. We are supposed to get snow on Tuesday night. You cannot imagine how excited I (and every teacher at school) am at the prospect!

Thanks for the great question and answer, Nancy. I had originally been thinking of Steve Allen, on the strength of the hint about him being a composer of music.

What an all-around talented guy Hugh Downs was. Fun facts!

TM

Thanks All. Cyn, I am wishing you a Snow-Day!!!

Nancy.