Wanda's World

To most of the world, he was a star, a multi-millionaire, and the late-night talk show host with the boyish charm and a huge celebrity guest list.
To many in my hometown of Norfolk, Nebraska, he was just the local boy who never outgrew his Midwestern values.
Johnny Carson grew up in a house just one block down the street from the house where I grew up. It's only now that I realize that, although we were raised a few decades apart, we really shared the same neighborhood, rode our bikes on the same streets, played on the same playground, went to the same movie theater, and attended the same grade school and high school.
I can even claim that my parents have ties to Johnny Carson - although somewhat tenuous. We all like to say "we knew him when ..."
My mother attended beauty college in Norfolk around the same time that Johnny was about 14 years old. She lived with a family named Mauk where she earned her room and board. The Mauk's had a son named Ferald who was good friends with Johnny Carson. So my mother was quite familiar with who he was - which at that time was an entertainer of sorts, but not of the caliber he was to become.
She remembers that the young teens, Ferald and Johnny, once took the Mauk car out for a little underage joy ride. They arrived home safely from their little jaunt, but unfortunately someone had seen them and they were exposed for the young scamps they were. Mom says she was told by Ferald's parents to please report any further such behavior by the boys should she witness it!
My dad also had his brush with the not-yet-famous Johnny Carson. They were both members of the class of 1943 at Norfolk High School and graduated together. I remember when I was old enough to realize exactly who Johnny Carson was and that my dad actually went to school with him. I was so excited I could hardly wait to ask him all kinds of questions.
When I asked dad what he remembered about Johnny Carson he paused a few moments and then simply replied, "Well, he liked to do some card tricks."
Evidently, we're all actually quite common when we're just one of the kids who sits next to you in high school chemistry or algebra class! I was hoping for ... well, I don't know what kind of story I was hoping for, but I guess I expected some glamour to it, not just card tricks!
I took a trip back to Norfolk last year and stopped by the Historical Society where they had just finished installing an entire room dedicated to the life and career of Johnny Carson. He had donated lots of memorabilia and even the Emmys his show had won over the years. You could sit on a comfortable couch and watch reruns of the Tonight Show and laugh just as much as you did the first time you saw it - probably 20 or 25 years ago.
Johnny Carson's name is found many places in the community where I grew up. A cancer wing at the hospital in memory of his parents, the school's track, the civic center, the public library, all carry his name or his financing.
But as I read the Norfolk newspaper following his death, I discovered something quite interesting in the memories of friends, neighbors, and classmates from his youth. Their memories were like those of my mom's and dad's. Just plain, everyday fun. Card tricks, birthday parties, school events, and yes, even joy riding. That's what people remember. Johnny Carson was a kid, a prankster, a neighborhood boy just like everybody else.
Maybe that is what made him so appealing to the rest of the world. That fun-loving, boyish Midwestern charm I've heard it called by the Hollywood writers. If they only realized how true that was.
I think it's probably too late for me to become rich and famous. But that's OK. I'll consider myself an overwhelming success if my schoolmates and neighborhood friends remember me as fondly as Johnny's remembered him.