MOOSE JAW — With Moose Jaw planning to recognize the life and contributions of Arthur (Art) Linkletter with a plaque downtown, presented below is a biography of the internationally beloved entertainer.
Linkletter, born Gordon Arthur Kelly, was a renowned radio and television host and author. He was born in Moose Jaw on July 17, 1912, but his birth parents abandoned the weeks-old infant on the steps of Mary and Fulton John Linkletter’s home and shoemaking business, where the Moose Jaw Police Service building now is.
His biological parents and siblings remain unknown to this day.
Meanwhile, Fulton was a travelling Evangelical minister, so the family journeyed extensively across Canada and the United States, eventually settling in San Diego, Calif., when Linkletter was six years old.
Career achievements
As a teenager, Linkletter “rode the rails” and worked in various part-time jobs until he ended up back in California, where he enrolled in San Diego State Teachers College in 1934. However, after graduation, instead of teaching, he found a better-paying job as a radio announcer at KGB-FM.
He later hosted programs centred around fairs and exhibitions, and, in the early 1940s, moved to Hollywood to launch the groundbreaking People Are Funny radio program. This interactive show became a prototype for future game shows on radio and TV.
He worked as a radio program manager in Dallas, then in San Francisco, and became a specialist in broadcasting special events. Linkletter began broadcasting his Art Linkletter's House Party on the radio in 1945 and, with the advent of television, made a smooth transition to the new medium.
His easy manner and relaxed style made House Party a staple of the CBS weekday lineup from 1952 to 1970. One of the most popular segments was Kids Say the Darnedest Things, in which Linkletter talked with youngsters about various topics.
His other shows included Life with Linkletter and Hollywood Talent Scouts.
In 1957 and 1958 Linkletter's spinoff book, Kids Say the Darnedest Things, was a national bestseller, and it remains one of the top-selling books in US publishing history.
Personal life
Linkletter wrote more than 20 books, including bestsellers such as Kids Say The Darndest Things! (1957), I Wish I’d Said That (1968) and Old Age Is Not For Sissies (1988). He also received an Emmy Award for lifetime achievement in 2003, the Medal of Merit from the City of Moose Jaw in 2003 and honorary degrees from several universities.
Furthermore, he was a tireless crusader against drug abuse among young people, after one of his children committed suicide. He was also an advisor on drug policy to U.S. President Richard Nixon.
Linkletter’s marriage to Lois Foerster in 1935 lasted an extraordinary 74 years. They had five children: Arthur Jack (known as Jack), Dawn, Robert, Sharon and Diane.
Linkletter suffered a minor stroke in early 2008 and died on May 26, 2010, at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles. He was survived by Lois and his daughters Dawn and Sharon.
