The “Golden Hits Of The 60s” 

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MIKE DOUGLAS

“THE MEN IN MY LITTLE GIRL’S LIFE”

(Eddie Dean, Mary Candy, Gloria Shayne)

Epic 9876

No. 6    February 5, 1966

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For a while, Mike was the hottest host on daytime television.   According to TV  Guide, his impact was such

that “dishes go unwashed and shirts remain unironed when Mike Douglas comes on.”    In 1967, his

Syndicated program was piped over nearly 200 channels  and viewed by close to 6,000,000 glassy-eyed

housewives.   That year, he won an Emmy Award for “Outstanding Daytime Performance.”

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Douglas was born Michael Dowd, Jr. in Chicago, on August  11, 1925.   Mom encouraged him to open his

mouth and let that voice out, which he did at all the family gatherings.   In his teen years, he became a

singing master of ceremonies aboard a cruise ship which bobbed about Chicago’s shoreline.   After his

involvement in World War II and  a spell at Oklahoma City College, Mike’s big break happened.   For five

years, beginning in the mid-’40s, he got the chance to sing with the delightfully obtuse Kay Kyser and his

Kollege of Musical Knowledge, on radio, record, and TV.   Mike even sang lead on Kyser’s number-one hit,

“Ole Buttermilk Sky” (1946).

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In 1950, Kyser called it quits, and  Mike’s career floundered for a period.   For awhile early in the ’50s, Mike

appeared as vocalist on the Dumont Network’s “Music Show” and hosted a daytime variety show in Chicago,

“Hi-Ladies”; in the late ’50s, Mike was featured vocalist on the NBC-TV program “Club 60,” broadcast live

and in color from Windy City. In 1961, he started up the Cleveland-based TV program that would eventually

capture  the hearts of daytime–laregely female–viewers everywhere; four years later, Epic Records signed

Mike up to create mood music for his millions.   “The Men In My Little Girl’s Life” was one such mellow

moment, and his lone top 40 hit.

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In 1980, Group W Broadcasting abruptly dropped Mike in favor of John Davidson, whose youthful appeal

was expected to draw in  an even larger audience.  Mike continued as the program’s producer  until its

demise in  1982.