|
Entertainment icon Johnny Carson announces $5.3
million gift to Hixson-Lied College of Fine & Performing Arts
Released on 11/10/2004, at 10:30 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Neb., November 10, 2004 - Entertainment and
television icon and University of Nebraska alumnus Johnny Carson announced
today a gift of $5.3 million to the
University of Nebraska Foundation to support the
Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts'
Department of Theatre Arts. The gift will
support the renovation and expansion of the Temple Building, located at 12th
and R streets on City Campus, and will create an endowment to keep
performance spaces equipped with the latest advances in lighting and sound
technologies and assist students and programs in the department.
"From the halls of the Temple Building to the studios of NBC, Johnny
Carson has left an incredible legacy to the world of entertainment and
television," said Terry L. Fairfield, president and CEO of the NU
Foundation. "He has been a pioneer in setting the standard for late night
talk show hosts, comedians and interviewers. Through this generous gift,
Johnny Carson creates another rich legacy to provide educational
opportunities and possibilities for the next wave of actors, designers,
writers and filmmakers at the University of Nebraska."
Plans for the renovation and expansion of the Temple Building will include a
new black box theatre and film sound stage for students to use in their
productions, a newly remodeled and expanded scene shop and updated lighting
facilities, new computer-aided design and theatre class lab space, new
offices for attracting additional graduate assistants, enhanced storage
facilities, and an updated lobby for the Howell Theatre. When completed, the
new addition will connect the Temple Building to the
Mary
Riepma Ross Media Arts Center.
"This gift is obviously a very special one," said Giacomo M. Oliva,
Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts endowed dean. "Not only
because of the person who has given it, but also because of what it will
enable us to do for the Department of Theatre Arts and the college. This
gift will have an immediate and lasting positive impact on the students and
faculty in the department as it enables us to create and support
state-of-the-art facilities that will enhance the opportunities for theatre
and film students for many years to come."
The announcement of the gift comes just as the Temple Building celebrates
its 100th anniversary. The University of Nebraska Board of Regents
authorized the construction of the Temple Building in December 1904, and the
building opened in 1906. Its construction was made possible by a donation of
$66,666.67 from oil magnate John D. Rockefeller. Rockefeller's gift covered
two-thirds of the building's original $100,000 cost.
Tentative plans for Carson's gift call for the renovation and upgrading of
the Temple Building to begin following the spring academic term in May. The
work is expected to take just over one year with completion of the work
slated for the summer of 2006.
"I got my start in the Temple Building and have never forgotten the impact
of my academic studies at the University of Nebraska on my life and career,"
Carson said. "It is my hope that this gift will enable future generations of
theatre and film students to learn their craft in the Temple Building, which
will enable them to pursue their goals, just as I did."
John Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, on Oct. 23, 1925, and grew up in
Norfolk, Neb. He served in World War II in the Navy as an ensign, before
enrolling at the University of Nebraska in 1947. Carson received his
bachelor of arts degree in radio and speech (with a minor in physics) in
1949.
His 1949 senior thesis was titled "How to Write Comedy for Radio," which he
recorded on a reel-to-reel tape. The 50-minute recording was a scholarly
examination of the techniques and devices that radio comedy writers used to
construct the jokes and gags in comedy radio shows. Using bits from several
well-known comedians, such as Jack Benny and Bob Hope, Carson illustrated
the various techniques used to write comedy, which he later effectively used
in television through his "Tonight Show" monologues.
Carson also served as master of ceremonies for the male dramatic society
Kosmet Klub shows on campus from 1947-1949, and he once dressed in drag to
become the first man to ever emcee the female Co-Ed Follies Show in 1948.
Both Carson and his brother, Dick ('51), were members of Phi Gamma Delta
fraternity. John Carson starred in the Fiji's Kosmet Klub skits. The
fraternity won first place in the 1947 Kosmet Klub fall revue for their
skit, "She Was Only a Pharaoh's Daughter, But She Never Became a Mummy,"
which featured Carson as Cleopatra.
His sister, Catherine ('45), was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.
While at the University of Nebraska, Carson performed locally at the
American Legion, VFW and local clubs in Lincoln at night, practicing the
skills he learned during the day in the Temple Building. Carson also wrote
and did shows for KFAB radio, then broadcasting from Lincoln.
Following his graduation from the university, he worked at WOW Television in
Omaha. After leaving Nebraska, he worked for a Hollywood television station,
where he hosted his own program, "Carson's Cellar."
He hosted the television shows "Earn Your Vacation" and "Who Do You Trust?"
before filling in for Jack Paar on "The Tonight Show" in 1958. On Oct. 1,
1962, Carson became the Tonight Show's new host. When he retired on May 22,
1992, after more than 4,000 shows and more than a half century of comedy
performance, Carson's final show was a national event.
Throughout his successful career, Carson has maintained a strong
relationship to the University of Nebraska. In the 1970s, Carson established
an endowed scholarship at the NU Foundation to assist outstanding Nebraska
high school graduates. To date, these scholarships have helped 24 students
with their education at the university.
In 1988, Carson gave a gift to support the construction of the Lied Center
for Performing Arts. The black box theatre adjoining the main stage was
renamed the Johnny Carson Theater in his honor.
In December 1993, Carson received the Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement
Award. The University of Nebraska publicly said thanks to Carson through the
Cornhusker Marching Band's performance of "There is No Place Like Nebraska"
and "The Tonight Show Theme" with Doc Severinsen during Carson's nationally
televised tribute.
The Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts was established in 1993
and includes the Department of Art and Art History, the Department of
Theatre Arts and the School of Music, as well as the Mary Riepma Ross Media
Arts Center.
The University of Nebraska Foundation is a nonprofit corporation
supplementing support for students, faculty, facilities and programs at the
University of Nebraska's four campuses through gifts from alumni, friends,
corporations and other foundations.
Johnny Carson biography
1 |
2 |
3 |
Photos
| UNL news release
|
