Ed McMahon, likeable drunk–but those at the other end of his financial travails might have a different view.
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Longtime “Tonight Show” sidekick Ed McMahon, dead at age 86. McMahon, whose life was partially chronicled in these pages in July 2008 edition of TAR, sued his insurer and won $7.2 million in a settlement over mold that allegedly killed his dog Muffin in the early 2000s. That’s one way to get your money back after blowing through a reported $200 million net worth. More recently, he sued Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, two doctors and the owner of the home where he fell and broke his neck some 30 months ago. Like other addicts, he likely triggered alcoholism at an early age and was, therefore, a practicing alcoholic while he served as a fighter pilot instructor for four years in the Marine Corps, a pilot of spotter planes during the Korean War, Philadelphia’s “Mr. Television” while serving as host for 13 programs, the spokesman for at least 37 banks around the country in the early 1980s, the spokesman for American Family Publishers’ family sweepstakes for a couple of decades, the pitchman for hundreds of other products and services including Budweiser beer and Alpo dog food, and Johnny Carson’s comedy foil as “Big Ed” for three decades. Except for the mishandling of money, he was apparently a highly functional alcoholic, having missed only three tapings of “The Tonight Show” in 30 years. “Ed is the announcer of the show,” Carson once told his viewers, “only because he never passed the bar. In fact, Ed has never passed any bar.” While fans loved Big Ed, those who were on the receiving end of his financial travails likely did not. While appearing on “Larry King Live” with his third wife, Pamela Hurn, he blamed two divorces, bad money management and bad investments for his woes. “I made a lot of money, but you can spend a lot of money.” He forgot to mention what made him spend that money, engage in poor money management and go through two divorces: alcoholism.