"It's 52 degrees in Three Rivers; that's the highest temperature in the state. Three Rivers--that's where they started a new business, making the front ends of horses. Then they ship them to the Detroit council chambers for final assembly."
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"It's 52 degrees in Three Rivers; that's the highest temperature in the state. Three Rivers--that's where they started a new business, making the front ends of horses. Then they ship them to the Detroit council chambers for final assembly."
Attachment 4146
THAT is priceless!
Darn, I was listening then turned it, sorry I missed it!
:D
Pardon my ignorance . . . I haven't lived in the Detroit area in 25 years and, obviously, we don't get very good Detroit TV reception here in Muskegon . . . is Sonny still doing the weather on local TV? He's got to be 90 years old or better. Still at the top of his game, though.
Not on TV--he's doing weather bits on WWJ.Quote:
Originally Posted by turkeycall
Asked his age, he says "80-something," which I think is funny in itself.
Maybe this is an urban legend, but my dad told me that Sonny is Jewish and he got shot down and captured by the Nazis. If this is true, my guess is that he doesn't take sh*t from anyone. God bless him.
dharma,
True, and true.
Sonny is a hero. Ain't nobody bad like Sonny. I wish he would go back to the zoo and film a few new episodes.
I never met Sonny, but he's been a happy part of my life.
Ah, Muskegon - where it's icy enough to make driving as hazardous as tap dancing in a canoe, and the traffic has to move more slowly than a helicopter over a nudist camp! Just remember, if you catch cold and get a sore throat, the best way to cure it is to rub it down with alcohol - from the inside. And did you hear about the woman who married five different husbands - all named William? She was a bill collector. Oh, it's freezing and it's drizzly - FRIZZLY weather out there, but dry and hot out here - DROT!Quote:
Originally Posted by turkeycall
Sonny's not on TV, but he is very much alive and well on the radio - and on the Internet. I'm a fan going WAY back and even here in Arizona still occasionally get my Sonny Elliot fix at the following link - and now so can you from Muskegon!!!
http://www.wwj.com/pages/6684.php
I actually did meet Sonny in person once - at the Michigan State Fair in the late '90s. I teased him saying that "I got a 650 on my verbal SAT and I know almost ALL the fancy words you use in your forecast." Without missing a beat, he said, "Well you should have listened to me more often - then you would have gotten a 750!"
Correct me if I'm wrong on this...but didn't he also own a restaurant called "Sonny's Weather Station" over by Detroit City Airport? This would have been probably in the mid-to-late 70s or early 80s.
I always loved it when he would remove the Keweenaw Peninsula from the weather map and tweak Copper Harbor to show his audience where it was.
I always get Three Rivers and Three Oaks mixed up. The latter is a fairly middle-class town in Berrien County that went into receivership, last year.
Beautiful. Got to love Sonny!
How much formaldehyde to they pump him up with everyday to keep him preserved?
He did own the restaurant at City Airport. When I lived in the area, we used to go there all the time and he'd table hop and welcome the customers. We took my mom's uncle there once [[back in late 70's) and he felt like he had just met a Hollywood superstar - he was so excited.Quote:
Originally Posted by eriedearie
i think this might be true. heard something similar to this tooQuote:
Originally Posted by dharma4313
I worked at WJBK when Sonny was there. His first name, I believe, is Marvin, and the last is something like Schlossman...i don't really remember, but definitely sounded typically Jewish. I did some looking around online and found nothing for a last name other than Eliot, but I do remember that on the TV2 staff mailing list he had a different last name from Eliot.
Yes, he was a POW during World War II. He learned his German the hard way.
http://www.wwj.com/pages/6684.php?
Yes, it was in the Detroit City Airport terminal.Quote:
Originally Posted by eriedearie
A relative of mine was co-owner with him and ran the daily operations.
I love Sonny!!!!
Engadine.
Ringadee-dingadee-engadine.
I don't know, but we all DO know that he could be counted on to come up with an immediate and effective comeback if that question were put to his face!Quote:
Originally Posted by Meddle
For the few who may not have seen this.
http://detroitkidshow.com/Sonny_Elio..._TV_Topper.htm
"We've got a high-pressure system coming our way, and we need that like Richard Simmons needs his and hers towels." Love 'ya Sonny!
One that would embarrass the person who would make suck a stupid comment into never opening his idiotic pie hole again.Quote:
Originally Posted by EMG
Wife and I saw him at a air show many years ago. There was a B-24 on display. The owner asked people around the plane to please step back for a few minutes. Sonny got into the plane and sat in the pilots seat for a few minutes. Must have brought back many memories, as it looked like tears in his eyes sitting there. Always enjoyed hearing his take on the weather.
Marvin Sonny Elliot. Born 1926, now about 83.
Graduated from Central HS when it was THE Jewish Detroit HS.
BA/MA Wayne State Univ.
Flew B-24s over Germany during WWII. Was shot down.
18 months in POW camps in Germany.
Still flies private plane today.
jjaba, Sonny Sez. Reporting in from Enga dinga dine, Michigan.
Fifteen or more years ago, when I was still in radio, I spent a weekday afternoon at the auto show doing traffic reports for WWJ.
The booth was out in the front hallway, not inside with the cars on exhibit. There was a steady stream of foot traffic in front of us, and some folks would occasionally stop and watch/listen for a moment or two, but we weren’t really drawing much attention from the crowd.
Until Sonny came on the air.
All of a sudden there were throngs of people, at least a half-dozen deep, along the whole length of the broadcast booth. They sure weren’t there to see me.
Sonny did his thing, and then went out into the crowd after the weather segment was finished.
Everybody who wanted a handshake got one. Autographs? No problem – and how would you like me to make that out?
Several people wanted pictures with him, and he obliged all the requests. One woman who posed with him didn’t realize that her friend’s camera had a malfunctioning flash. The bulb didn’t go off. Sonny then suggested that the first take probably wasn’t a good one and that they should take a second picture.
He was as gracious and as accommodating as anyone could have been under the circumstances. And when he left, the crowd disappeared.
I was really impressed by both the crowd’s reaction to him and by his reaction to it. I’ve worked with some [[self) important broadcasters who wouldn’t have lowered themselves to mingle with the rabble that had made them a success in the first place.
But Sonny clearly understood that the key to success in broadcasting is likeability. If the listener thinks of you as a friend – a welcome guest in their car or at their breakfast table – you’ll be a success.
That’s why he’s been around for so long. And I hope he stays around for as long as he wants to be here.
Anybody remember the shabby way WDIV treated him by literally forcing him to quit? Remember when they had him do his forecast from the roof of the building in the dead of winter? Way to go, WDIV!
I've told the story here before, but when I was an intern at WDIV back in the early 1980's, Sonny would stop in and visit with the late great Seymour Kapetansky. Soon, our office would clear out and it would just be the three of us. I would listen in rapt attention to the stories of the golden days of Detroit television. Once they knew that I didn't mind a blue joke or two, they let loose. My ears are still burning, but I've never laughed so hard in my life.
Sonny is a Michigan treasure, no two ways about it. When he's gone, there will never be another like him.
That's for sure!Quote:
Originally Posted by Fury13
"Maybe this is an urban legend, but my dad told me that Sonny is Jewish and he got shot down and captured by the Nazis. If this is true, my guess is that he doesn't take sh*t from anyone. God bless him."
as i recall from the Freep magazine article he made a point to ditch his dogtags...
My dogtags said "PROTESTANT". So I would have kept them. Maybe I'd be taken to some church, ate doughnuts, drank coffee, and perhaps later nailed some dizzy fraulein Heidi. Sonny pitched his. Good move dude, no p*ssy, but no gas either. Keen sense of compromise, I say.Quote:
Originally Posted by FlyingJ
I used to hang out there too. My best friend at the time was a waitress there. This was back in the late 70's.Quote:
Originally Posted by East Detroit
Oh, the stories I could tell . . .
Do tell. My relative was Jim I. Also knew his best friend Dave who worked as manager.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maxine1958
Kville, East Detroit, and Maxine1958 - thank you for verifying my recollection of Sonny's Weather Station Restaurant. Sometimes things get a little bit fuzzy in my head when I need to go into my way-back-recall-mode! :D
I love these stories about Sonny. I believe that he would be the type of person to sign autographs and have his picture taken with his followers. He seems like such a kind and gentle man. An all around nice guy.
We love you Sonny!
One of the regular entertainers during the mid 70s on, was Bill Long playing guitar.
http://www.billlongband.com/index.asp
Also was a semi-regular at that place.