For a rather brief time, Flip Wilson was the most popular comedian in America.
His variety hour, "The Flip Wilson Show," replaced "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" as the most popular comedy on television - rocketing all the way to No. 2 in the ratings in 1970-71, its first season on the air.It seemed that the only comedic character on television more popular than Wilson himself was Geraldine - his female alter-ego.
What with her miniskirts and all the talk about her unseen boyfriend, Killer, Geraldine was just about the hottest thing on television.
And, 23 years after "The Flip Wilson Show" left the air, Flip and Geraldine are back. Six half-hour (edited) editions of the show appear on both Nick at Nite and its sister channel, TV Land, beginning tonight at 7. The show joins TV Land's regular evening lineup tomorrow.
Yes, the show is tremendously dated. (But then, so are "I Love Lucy" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," which doesn't make them any less funny.)
The guest stars will be a mystery to younger viewers who don't have a clue who Joe Namath or Ed Sullivan or Louis Armstrong are. The topicality is rather quaint a quarter of a century later. The clothes are atrocious.
But it's still funny stuff, and nothing more so than Geraldine herself.
No less than Bette Davis herself once called Wilson "the greatest male actor" she ever saw because "He's the first man who ever created a female character that women accepted. And he never broke the illusion. He never spoke as a man while he was in character." And, decades later, Wilson is still flattered.
"I had no idea that anybody was noticing that subtlety," he said.
And the great thing about Geraldine was that, while she was a comedic character, she did not lampoon women - she lampooned the male characters she played off. That was something Wilson said he brought about quite consciously when he was working on his nightclub act.
"I noticed, generally, when comics spoke about women they either knocked their wives or their mothers-in law," he said. "So I said, `Well, I'm going to go the other way. . . . I'm going to make a positive image of a female character.' "
So Geraldine became a big part of his act - but only as a voice. It wasn't until he launched the variety show that he actually put on the wig and the dress. And that was only after considering having someone else play the character.
"I said, `Well, maybe I can get somebody to do it and I can just ad-lib from offstage,' " he said. "And then a voice in the back of my mind said, `Are you kidding? You've been doing the character all these years and people responded in the clubs and liked you. . . . So don't short-step. If you're going to do it, do it.'
"Anything that any great person has done has been a bold step. So, I said, `Well, let me boldly step into my pantyhose.' "
Actually, Wilson admitted that he played a female on character on stage long before 1970. He recalled an elementary school play about Clara Barton - and that he was pretty much a troublemaker who tried the patience of his teacher.
But, along the way, he soon discovered that he had learned the entire script.
"And there was a little Caucasian girl there and she said, `You can't do my part.' I said, `I can do anybody's part,' " Wilson said. "So the night of the show, the little white girl didn't show up."
He soon convinced the frantic teacher that he did know the girl's part, so she dressed him as the lead character and put him on stage.
"And when I turned around, Clara Barton brought down the house," Wilson said. "I hadn't said a word.
"And that's how Geraldine came about. If that little white girl had showed up, I might have been the plumber at your house today."
TV TRIVIA: Immensely popular its first two seasons, "The Flip Wilson Show" dropped to No. 12 its third season and was knocked off the air by strong competition in its fourth and final year.
What hit show bested it in the ratings?
(See answer below.)
A BIG SURPRISE: When you watch episodes of "Flip Wilson," pay particular attention to the reactions of the guest stars in the sketches that feature Geraldine.
As often as not, they're incapable of keeping a straight face. And there's a reason for that.
"I never put the Geraldine attire on during the week of rehearsal," Wilson said. "My guests never saw me as Geraldine or heard me speak in the voice until I came out for the taping of the scene.
"We always kept that as a little extra surprise to kind of burst their bubble and get them loose."
KEEPING BUSY: Since "The Flip Wilson Show" went off the air in 1974, we haven't seen a whole lot of its star. He attempted a sitcom, "Charlie & Co.," in 1985-86, but it flopped rather quickly.
In addition to raising his four children (he gained sole custody in 1974), Wilson, now 63, has kept busy - including a five-year stint as a professional balloon pilot.
"I told a lady that I am the only black helium-balloon pilot in the world," he said. "And the lady said, `I didn't know there was such a thing as black helium.' "
"I've sailed through the Panama Canal 10 times. I also became a croupier. I fly ultra-light aircraft. I fly helicopters. I ride my motorcycle. I play in quite a few golf tournaments. I've settled all my law-suits with my wives.
"Hey, I feel like the fat lady's singing for me, and she's getting a standing ovation."
AND THE ANSWER IS: "The Flip Wilson Show" was driven off the air by "The Waltons."
John-Boy and Co. debuted at No. 19 during the 1972-73 season, climbing all the way to No. 2 the following year - while "The Flip Wilson Show" nose-dived.