Local boy Mike Douglas was highlighted in the Forest Park Review when he was hired to be a singer on The Music Show, which aired on WGN-TV with co-star Jacie Van in 1953. Douglas, who attended school in Forest Park as Michael Delaney Dowd Jr., gained fame as a radio, television and nightclub singer before returning to Forest Park with his wife and two daughters at 942 Dunlop.
His affable personality and gracious nature led him to become the Emmy Award-winning host of the syndicated talk show, The Mike Douglas Show,which aired in the afternoons in the 1960s and 1970s. His show featured interviews with entertainers and politicians of the day, including Gene Kelly, Muhammad Ali, Burt Reynolds, Martin Luther King Jr., Sly and the Family Stone, KISS, and Richard Nixon. Often the show would have week-long celebrity co-hosts, including Fred Astaire, Jim Nabors, John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
Jill Wagner
Photo: Forest Park Review, July 9, 1953, Mike Douglas, formerly of the Kay Kyser Radio Show, was about to start a new show, which aired on WGN-TV, channel 9, from 7:30 to 8 p.m. “The Music Man” was highlighted in the Review in 1953.
