The Thaxton Effect

Recently, a reader messaged me on Facebook® and said he'd heard me talk about Lloyd Thaxton. Well, since he's only in this thirties and Uncle Lloyd was my mentor and best friend until he passed, I thought I'd bring a couple of articles out of the archives for his, and others', enjoyment. RIP, Chief ... we all still miss you!:


Awwww ... who wouldn't just love to have that little, streetwise kid come stay with you?
Of course, it was just Uncle Lloyd, dressed to the nines (okay ... to the threes, then) and on calloused knees, cutting up as always.
And it was that type of zaniness, combined with the most awesome emceeing in teen showdom, that won everybody -- from studio to TV and radio audiences -- over.

Recently, I did a little snoopin ... er, researching around and found something that doesn't really surprise any of us long-time fans and friends (but it might to some of the newbies who read this): Lloyd Thaxton has had a tremendous impact on our society -- then and now!!

Okay, the Show was one -- and, if you wanna know how impactive, let me share a comment received by Mouskiteer David just today:
"I found Lloyd again just a little more than a year before he left us...There was so much more i wanted to know...I was just a little kid 6-8 years old when i watched his show...Seeing the fun he had changed me...I wanted to be like him...And years later...When i was in high school...Lloyd Thaxton was still on my mind...Pictures in my high school yearbook of a skit done in the high school gym testify to the influence of someone i should have been much too young to really remember...I wanted to be fearlessly fun...Not afraid to let it all hang out...And the essence of Lloyd Thaxton brought that out in me...

For a long time i wondered where he had gone...Then the internet gave me a chance to briefly interact with the man who made me wanna be a DJ...I'll never forget him."

The bold type was mine, mousers -- but the words and soul of that note was strictly David's.

Here's an article from Met News. It just brings it home a little more ...



That "fearless fun" took TV to new limits with the 200 segments he produced for the Today Show from 1985 to 2008 (check out his IMDb profile for more on his accomplishments) and Fight Back! with David Horowitz, a consumer-oriented show that included legendary wrestler Prof. Toru Tanaka testing Timex watches!

So many of us made our shopping choices and learned a lot thanks to LL's superb productions -- and we're still applying them today! It made us a bit more consumer-conscious ..

But Lloyd wasn't done yet:

He turned millions of kids on to reading the teen magazines, rather than just watching the tube! His Tiger Beat!® magazine kept everyone up-to-date on the teen idols of the day, and was chock-full of interviews, insider stuff and, of course, those dreamy pics!
I believe the first part of that pic was the Chief's second issue. The other half of the photo is of Tiger Beat! today. Between us, mousers, it's not even close to Lloyd's quality writeup! Mostly, you've just got glossy pages full of photos and a few words scattered throughout. Definitely not the original's style ...

Now, I haven't begun to touch on one book that Lloyd, along with his friend and colleague John Alston, put together. I'll get to that in the next post (strangely enough, called "Pt. 2"!). But it was/is that book that changed/is changing thought patterns and improving lives around the world! So ...

stay tuned.