Mrs. Miller?

[Terrymelin]

Does anyone remember this eccentric old lady who used to the butt of Johnny
Carson's jokes and was always in the audience on the old Carol Burnett Show?
Still alive?

Terry Ellsworth

[Jasga]

I remember hearing on a TV entertainment news show, and/or reading it in the
paper, that she died. This was some time ago (10 years or more?) but,
unfortunately, I cannot be more specific regarding dates, etc.

Jasga

"Terrymelin" <terry...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20011031120110...@mb-fy.aol.com...

[Marcia Rovins]

I believe it was Miss Miller who sat in the audiences, and Mrs. Miller who sang
those disco tunes. I'm pretty sure they have both passed on.

Marcia

[Joe Gillis]

Marcia wrote:

>
I believe it was Miss Miller who sat in the audiences, and Mrs. Miller who sang
those disco tunes. I'm pretty sure they have both passed on.
<

Marcia Marcia Marcia... No, it was the same person. Although I believe Steve
Allen had his own, different Mrs. ___ (can't recall her name). I'm by no means
positive about this (it was before my time) but IIRC Mrs. Miller started out as
an audience member at the Jack Paar Show, & continued into Carson's residency.

Mrs. Miller recorded a version of "Downtown" in 1965 & performed it in a film
that year (I'm too lazy to look it up -- those interested can search IMDb). Did
she also record in the disco era?

I'm fairly certain she passed away many years ago.

=================================================

"I don't mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy." -- Samuel Butler

[Alan Follett]

terry...@aol.com (Terrymelin) wrote:

Elva Miller, who parlayed her role as a fixture in the /Tonight Show/
audience into a modest recording career, died in 1996. See:

http://www.mrsmillersworld.com/whois_bin/WhoIs.html

--
Alan Follett

[Arbuckle F. Brunswick]

Terrymelin said...

>Does anyone remember this eccentric old lady who used to the butt of Johnny
>Carson's jokes and was always in the audience on the old Carol Burnett Show?
>Still alive?

I don't know if she is the same one that the others are speaking of, but there
was a little old lady that always showed up in Merv Griffin's audience, Mrs.
Lillian Miller. She introduced him the first night of his CBS late night
show. She died 4/1/1990 at age 92.

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[JR13157]

>I don't know if she is the same one... a little old lady that always showed up

in Merv Griffin's audience, Mrs. Lillian Miller.

Right! Mrs. Elva Miller was the singer (!?!?!) and Lillian Miller was the lady
in the audience. My wife used to go to the Merv show and often got a ticket
from her. Absolutely NOT the same lady.
Walt.

[King Daevid MacKenzie, UltimaJock!]

Alan Follett sez:

> Elva Miller, who parlayed her role as a fixture in the /Tonight Show/
> audience into a modest recording career, died in 1996. See:
>
> http://www.mrsmillersworld.com/whois_bin/WhoIs.html

...anyone who has functioning eyes and memory can look at the photo on
the page listed above and tell Mrs. (Elva) Miller was _not_ the Miss
Miller that spent nights in the Paar, Carson and Griffin audiences...

--

+++++++++

King Daevid MacKenzie, UltimaJock!
How Radio is done.
kingd...@elknet.net
heard on WSUW Whitewater WI
Love your enemies. It drives them right up the bloody wall.

[Brad Ferguson]

In article <3BE0E693...@elknet.net>, King Daevid MacKenzie,
UltimaJock! <kingd...@elknet.net> wrote:

> Alan Follett sez:
>
> > Elva Miller, who parlayed her role as a fixture in the /Tonight Show/
> > audience into a modest recording career, died in 1996. See:
> >
> > http://www.mrsmillersworld.com/whois_bin/WhoIs.html
>
> ...anyone who has functioning eyes and memory can look at the photo on
> the page listed above and tell Mrs. (Elva) Miller was _not_ the Miss
> Miller that spent nights in the Paar, Carson and Griffin audiences...

The way I remember it, Miss Miller was the audience groupie, and Mrs.
Miller was the awful singer. Miss Miller disappeared from human ken
when the networks stopped doing NYC-originated shows with an audience
-- that is, around the time Carson went west in (I think) 1972.

Miss Miller may have been generous in giving out studio tickets to
strangers, but I remember getting really sick of seeing her on TV. I
was only about seven or eight when I first noticed Miss Miller, but to
me there was something annoying (and a little bit scary) about her
always trawling around the TV people. Miss Miller may have been the
first person on television who was famous for nothing except being on
television. She had no talent, no act, no skills, no visible
personality. She was completely uninteresting, but there she was,
because she was there.

[King Daevid MacKenzie, UltimaJock!]

Brad Ferguson sez:

> Miss Miller disappeared from human ken
> when the networks stopped doing NYC-originated shows with an audience
> -- that is, around the time Carson went west in (I think) 1972.

...actually, I'm positive that she moved west when Merv Griffin's show did,
circa '71. Griffin was eventually the only person to regularly acknowledge her
presence on a show. Carson knew enough to stop acknowledging her very early on
in his "Tonight Show" reign. Don't recall if Dick Cavett ever had her in his
audience; one can only imagine what reaction David Frost would have had to
her...

...too bad she was long gone from New York when Don Imus had his short-lived
Metromedia TV show in '77 -- there's a confrontation that I'd be curious enough
to watch :-) ...

[Evan Hulka]

cinema...@aol.comedy (Joe Gillis) wrote in message news:<20011031172632...@mb-mn.aol.com>...

> Mrs. Miller recorded a version of "Downtown" in 1965 & performed it in a film
> that year (I'm too lazy to look it up -- those interested can search IMDb). Did
> she also record in the disco era?
> I'm fairly certain she passed away many years ago.

Not sure they were the same person. The bio of the singing Mrs. Miller
on allmusic.com doesn't mention anything about her (supposed) TV
stardom, saying only that she was "discovered" by a Capitol record
exec in 1966, and so on. Her last record ("Mrs. Miller Does Her
Thing") came out in 1969.
Neither of the recent CD reissues ("Wild, Cool and Swingin'" and "The
Turned On World of Mrs. Miller") say anything about her death; neither
does the recent (and excellent) book "Songs in the Key of Z," which
gives her a chapter. She'd have to be pretty old by now, though, if
she's still living. Her first name was(is?) Elva, if that helps any
SSDI-type snoopers.

Hulka

[EvelynMcH]

Lillian Miller was a fixture in NYC tv audiences going back to the days of
Steve Allen's Tonight Show, pre-Paar, pre-Carson. While the talk shows often
pointed her out in the audience, she sat in on just about anything that was
handing out free tickets. When I was in fifth grade in 1965, our class went to
a taping of a game show called "Dream House". She was there, with her huge
handbag and ancient hat.

Watching game shows, talk shows, Ed Sullivan, whatever, she was almost always
to be seen in the audience, even when her presence wasn't mentioned. If she
stopped coming to your tapings in favor of something else, you knew your show
was in trouble. And she had no problem telling someone that the show stunk, on
live tv, either - it was a big part of her charm.

My dad worked 2nd shift as a printer in midtown for many, many years when I was
a kid. Back when the Tonight show was broadcast live, he'd get off work around
eleven p.m. and stand in line for tickets. When they'd let the audience in, she
would already be there, given preferential treatment and a front and center
seat so that she'd be seen on camera. She'd carry around sandwiches in her
purse, and would wait for the show to start eating munchies from her handbag.
My dad always wanted to try to get next to her, so that he'd get on camera, but
the closest he ever got was a few rows back. Just as well, because by the time
he got home, my mom would be ready to kill him...[g]

Thanks ya'all for reminding me of someone unique from the past that I'd
forgotten all about.

-=>epm<=-

In matters of truth and justice,
there is no difference between large and small problems,
for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.
- Albert Einstein

[Terrymelin]

>Miss Miller disappeared from human ken
>when the networks stopped doing NYC-originated shows with an audience
>-- that is, around the time Carson went west in (I think) 1972.

Really? I don't remember watching the Carson show until the mid-70s and then
the Carol Burnett Show at the same time filmed in LA and remember her quite
well from that time period in LA.

Terry Ellsworth

[J.D. Baldwin]

In the previous article, Joe Gillis <cinema...@aol.comedy> wrote:
> Mrs. Miller recorded a version of "Downtown" in 1965 & performed it
> in a film that year (I'm too lazy to look it up -- those interested
> can search IMDb).

I have that song on a 1980s Rhino issue called "World's Worst
Records." It must be heard to be believed. I don't know what film it
was in -- IMDB has her credited in 1967's "The Cool Ones," which has
to be the worst thing Roddy McDowall ever appeared in. (And Phil
Harris is in it, too.) I can't recall her performing "Downtown" in
it, but it's been many many years since I saw it, and I'm not even
sure I've seen the whole thing.

> Did she also record in the disco era?

That is simply too horrible to contemplate.

> I'm fairly certain she passed away many years ago.

July, 1997.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone disagrees with any statement I make, I
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it. -T. Lehrer
***~~~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------

[David McNamara]

P.S. Where can I buy her CD's?

"I say bomb the hell out of them. If there's collateral damage, so be it. They
certainly found our civilians to be expendable.'' -- Sen. Zell Miller, D-GA

-- David McNamara
mcnama...@aol.com

[David McNamara]

She died in 1996, according to her biography @:
http://www.mrsmillersworld.com/whois_bin/WhoIs.html

[Brad Ferguson]

In article <20011101110959...@mb-mb.aol.com>, Terrymelin
<terry...@aol.com> wrote:

Whoops. I see that Daevid says Miss Miller moved west in 1971, and he
would know. Anyway, I trust him more than the source I looked up for
this.

Sorry for the error.

[Brad Ferguson]

In article <20011101110959...@mb-mb.aol.com>, Terrymelin
<terry...@aol.com> wrote:

Not to say that Miss Miller couldn't have vacationed in California,
especially to see her old TV pals, but she was a NY-area resident until
she died. "Disappeared from human ken" is a bit of an exaggeration.

There was another old lady (whose name I forget) who was a constant
presence in Steve Allen's "Tonight" show audience. There'd be a "Stump
the Band" kind of thing, and Allen would give this woman a prize. The
woman would then beg for a second prize for "my daughter," who may or
may not have existed. I'm pretty sure this woman *has* disappeared
from human ken.

[Brad Ferguson]

In article <3BE10881...@elknet.net>, King Daevid MacKenzie,
UltimaJock! <kingd...@elknet.net> wrote:

> Brad Ferguson sez:
>
> > Miss Miller disappeared from human ken
> > when the networks stopped doing NYC-originated shows with an audience
> > -- that is, around the time Carson went west in (I think) 1972.
>
> ...actually, I'm positive that she moved west when Merv Griffin's
> show did, circa '71. Griffin was eventually the only person to
> regularly acknowledge her presence on a show. Carson knew enough to
> stop acknowledging her very early on in his "Tonight Show" reign.
> Don't recall if Dick Cavett ever had her in his audience; one can
> only imagine what reaction David Frost would have had to her...
>
> ...too bad she was long gone from New York when Don Imus had his
> short-lived Metromedia TV show in '77 -- there's a confrontation
> that I'd be curious enough to watch :-) ...

Thanks for the correction, Daevid.

[James L. Neibaur]

>> I'm fairly certain she passed away many years ago.
>
>July, 1997.

I would assume she is dead, but I can't find an obit on her for that date.
Checked Harris Lentz's obit books from 1994 to the present, and nothing there.
And he includes anyone related to showbiz.

JN

Please visit the most poorly designed web pages online:

my Favorite Movies web page:
http://hometown.aol.com/jimneibr/myhomepage/movies.html

and my Favorite Performers web page:
http://hometown.aol.com/jimneibr/myhomepage/rant.html

[James L. Neibaur]

>She died in 1996, according to her biography @:
>http://www.mrsmillersworld.com/whois_bin/WhoIs.html

The only Millers I have dying that year are songwrtier J.D. Miller and sci-fi
author Walter M. Miller Jr. Can't find an obit on Elva.

[J.D. Baldwin]

In the previous article, James L. Neibaur <jimn...@aol.combatant>
wrote:

> >> I'm fairly certain she passed away many years ago.
> >
> >July, 1997.
>
> I would assume she is dead, but I can't find an obit on her for
> that date. Checked Harris Lentz's obit books from 1994 to the
> present, and nothing there. And he includes anyone related to
> showbiz.

"Showbiz" is rather a strong term for what Mrs. Miller was doing.

IMDb sez July 5, 1997. I found one other source that says 1997 (I
can't locate it again now) and a couple that said 1996 but gave no
date.

[Brian Watson]

"David McNamara" <mcnama...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20011101132225...@mb-fw.aol.com...

> P.S. Where can I buy her CD's?

There stands a man who's lost the will to live.

:-)

--
Brian

[King Daevid MacKenzie, UltimaJock!]

Brad Ferguson sez:

> Whoops. I see that Daevid says Miss Miller moved west in 1971, and he
> would know. Anyway, I trust him more than the source I looked up for
> this.

...geez...any way to parlay your confidence in me into actual gainful employment
somewhere? :-) ...

[JR13157]

>P.S. Where can I buy her CD's?

I was "fortunate" enough to get 23 songs by her before Napster was ruined.
She really rocks out on "Let's Hang On', "A Hard Days Night"... etc. :-P
Walt.

[ajwrea...@gmail.com]

I knew Lillian Miller very well. Merv bought the Transamerica Video company (TAV) in the late 70's and that is where I worked for him at 1541 North Vine Street in Hollywood. Mrs. Miller did follow Merv out to Hollywood in 1971 and was a permanent fixture when he taped his shows at The Palace Theater in Hollywood on Vine Street. She never missed a show and was never allowed to sit in the first 4 rows. The 5th row was hers. She always tried to speak because being a member of AFTRA, she had to be paid if she did. It was common knowledge not to let her talk on camera or let the microphones pick up what she said quite loudly. She lived for years at The Hollywood Plaza just up the street near Hollywood and Vine. She was not the nicest of elderly ladies but she absolutely knew how to work her 15 minutes. She never waited in live before the show to get in. She always came into the lobby and sat near the security guards desk in the same chair all those years. Those were certainly the good old days. We also had many other regulars who came to the show often as long as they could get in.

[radioacti...@gmail.com]

I too can confirm that the late Miss Miller followed the talk shows out to the West Coast. The single time I attended The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson with David Letterman as guest host--in early Fall 1981--she happened to be in the audience.

I never noticed her in the throng during the taping, being fixated on my then-hero Letterman, but I did run into Miller outside as the crowd was departing. I said hello and made small talk about all her various audience appearances back in New York, and she mentioned she was heading for a bus for a ride back from Burbank to her Hollywood apartment. I told her that I lived right next to Paramount Studios, and would thus be happy to give her a lift in my green two-door Maverick.

To my surprise and delight, she accepted the offer. I tried to make conversation with her on the short ride through the Cahuenga Pass on the Hollywood Freeway, but she wasn't very talkative. Eventually, she curtly told me, "You ask too many questions." Well, I WAS a fledgling reporter in those days. But I nonetheless shut up for most of the rest of the journey and dropped her off at her building. And then on the ride to my house savored my brush with talk-show audience greatness.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

[Sarah Ehrett]

On Tue, 9 Sep 2014 19:45:52 -0700 (PDT), radioacti...@gmail.com
wrote:

>Eventually, she curtly told me, "You ask too many questions."

Yes indeedy. :)

[G]

I also met her in summer of 1978 at a game show taping in Burbank, I recoginzed her as I was seated next to me, I was 13 at the time. I said hello and she said: "would you lay off kid?!" Hurt my fragile feelings so she asked me if how I was getting home and I ignored her. She was cool.

[Louis Epstein]

So how about McCabe?

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.