DETROIT TV LEGEND: JOHNNY GINGER WAS MY FAVORITE

Johnny Ginger

Johnny Ginger (Galen Grindle) was born in Toledo, Ohio. His parents, Ray and Edna, were a Vaudeville family act performing at the Paramount Theater in Toledo. His brother, Kenny, was a tap dancer in the family act. One day they brought little Johnny up onstage to sing "Sonny Boy" and he was an instant hit. As a teen he performed stand-up comedy in clubs all over Toledo, Detroit, and Canada.

Walter Brennan and Johnny Ginger

Johnny had been working as a comedian under the name Jerry Gale when he auditioned to present a program for WXYZ-TV based around re-runs of The Three Stooges. Given the role, WXYZ vice president John Pival insisted that he work under the name Johnny Ginger, the name is taken from a bottle of Johnny Bull Ginger Beer.

Ginger's afternoon show, Curtain Time Theater (which was always pronounced "Thee-A-ter"), entertained kids from 1957 to 1960 on WXYZ-TV Channel 7.

Johnny Carson and Johnny Ginger

The live portions of the show were broadcast all around the television station, with Ginger in his janitor costume of bib-overalls and driving cap. By the early 1960s Johnny adapted a new character inspired by the Jerry Lewis film The Bellboy, that of the head bellboy at the Rocky Plaza Hotel, run by Mr. Rocky. Johnny did every voice on his show. Soupy had a support team...Johnny wrote and performed the show entirely alone.  The show became The Johnny Ginger Show.

Stage Hand/Janitor and Bellboy

He introduced a new generation of kids to The Three Stooges and even played the part of Billy The Kid in the Stooges last film, The Outlaws Is Coming.

Johnny Ginger was in my opinion, the REAL DEAL...He didn't fake it for the kids..we knew he genuinely cared about his little fans. Johnny and I have been talking a lot by phone and he has told me many times how outraged he felt seeing other celebrities mistreat their fans.  He has never disrespected one of his fans.

He visited many sick children in hospitals on his own time and dime. You can see the genuine concern in his face for this little girl in the photo above. My sister Patti and I watched his show every day before school for years.. all my school friends did too.  Lots of the boys tried to copy his dance moves and comic style but there is only one Johnny Ginger..

Johnny told me that he does write his shows in advance but they flow like improvisation.  His mind works faster than any normal humorist.  In Johnny's world, he plays all the roles.. The voices just flow into each other as do his songs.

Johnny was close friends with Soupy Sales..It took a while for Soupy to warm up to the seriously funny and energetic young Johnny.  Some serious competition me thinks...But eventually, they performed together a lot.

Johnny does a great impression of Soup..

Johnny was a real-life gunslinger... he was a 45 quick draw champion....He is so great in western parts.

Johnny left Detroit for Hollywood and appeared on a great episode of The Rifleman.

Obviously I am not one of the boys in the photo below but that is what we did back then... we sat on the floor as close as we could get to the TV.  No wonder we're all blind now!

Kevin, Randy, and Rocky Grindle top 3 of Johnny's sons.

The many kiddie shows back in this time were vehicles to promote cartoons and products.  We suffered through pitch after pitch to get to the cartoon. Mickey Mouse Club was really tough to watch.. We loved the Disney cartoons so we watched patiently to see them. With Johnny Ginger we really found him interesting and funny! We endured the cartoons to get to back to watching Johnny! Truth!

The Johnny Ginger Show was canceled in 1968. Ginger went on to host Captain Detroit for WKBD-TV.

 Always cool...Johnny Ginger

Johnny lives in his hometown in Toledo now and is very close with his 7 kids! OY... They love him dearly as do I. He and I get on the phone for hours and crack each other up!  I laugh out LOUD at him still! Hardly anything makes me really crack up but Johnny stills does such fun streaming routines...

At the end of every Johnny Ginger show, he signed off with goodbye to Mom, Dad, Patti and All... We all thought he was talking to us. Me especially having a sister named Patti. 

So it was such a thrill that Johnny and his son Sean made this goodbye clip for me!

SEE YOU REAL SOON JOHNNY!! WE ALL LOVE YOU XK

VIKKI LAMOTTA : ONE TOUGH GIRL

 

Vikki LaMotta (January 23, 1930 – January 25, 2005), born Beverly Thailer in The Bronx, New York, was an ex-wife of boxer Jake LaMotta

This story is guest written by Pamela S.

One fascinating story that I know has always fascinated me was Jake LaMotta and his wife, Vicki. "Raging Bull" was based on his bio and seems his wife found a ghostwriter 20 or so years before she died but wasn't happy with his book so she asked that everything be kept under wraps until she died.

But she was far more colorful than the movie even suggests. Jake LaMotta was much more mean and violent than depicted in the movie. She met him when he was married and she was maybe 13 or 14.

She was assaulted by a neighborhood boy when she was 14. She married Jake at 16. After 11 years of abuse, she divorced Jake but they always remained friends.

Her first date after the divorce was Johnny Carson and she went on to date Sam Giancana and start her own cosmetic line which was very successful.

She posed for Playboy at 51 years old and that sold more copies than any other Playboy. She did it because she wanted to show women around the world that their life doesn't end at 30 after a divorce.

Sadly, she died at I think 80 or 85 when she had heart surgery. Anyways, just kind of a cool story about a boxer and his long suffering wife who by all accounts was said to be a "very nice lady." Keep up your fascinating stories and take care....

Vikki LaMotta wrote her brutally honest life story 18 years ago but was so shocked by the finished manuscript she insisted it be withheld until after her death (she died in February, 2005). She describes a life lived among such celebrities as boxing champion Jake LaMotta, Johnny Carson, Frank Sinatra, Sam Giancana, Robert De Niro and Hugh Hefner. It was a life marked by violence, sex and betrayal, but ultimately her story is one of personal triumph and fulfillment.