Whimsy: July 2021 Archives

Phil Silvers Interview, CJCL Radio, 1983 by RadioGuy

"One of the hosts read an article that Silvers, a one-time huge movie, TV and Broadway star, was feeling depressed after a stroke and felt forgotten. So one night, after getting in touch with his agent, he managed to get the actor's home phone number and the fallen star agreed to do a rare radio interview looking back at his life.

"It was supposed to be a half hour chat. But when the phones went crazy with fans, Silvers got so into it and felt so much love from the audience, that they cancelled all the following programming and just kept going. (Despite saying his stroke prevented him doing the Sgt. Bilko yell, he finally does do it towards the end.)

"What started at midnight ended up running until 3 in the morning Eastern time and probably could have gone longer."