Sonny Eliot to retire Friday, Sept. 10

**Lostlegumes** · September-09-10, 03:11 PM

Enough said.

**Detroitej72** · September-09-10, 03:36 PM

I guess I 'll never hear that it's snizzling outside again, but the man has certainly earned retirement.

**Gingellgirl** · September-09-10, 03:54 PM

I love the Sun-Man! Best wishes to you Sonny.
http://wwj.cbslocal.com/sonny-eliot-retires/

**Gistok** · September-09-10, 04:09 PM

He'll be missed "exacitackly" 2 minutes after he retires....

**Baselinepunk** · September-09-10, 04:30 PM

One of the best scenes in movie history: Sonny getting thrown out of the Lindell A.C. in the beginning of "Jimmy B and Andre".

Sorry to see him go, but a great career and a great guy. I'll miss him!

**d2dyeah** · September-09-10, 04:53 PM

Thank you Sonny Eliot for all the years you got all of us kids pumped up for Santa's arrival at Hudson's. It wasn't Thanksgiving without your joyous spirit and distinctive voice booming from the television.

**professorscott** · September-09-10, 05:11 PM

End of an era. You know, there are thousands of weather forecasters in the US and Canada, and there will be thousands more to come, but I think it's safe to say there will never be anyone who'll do the weather like Sonny did.

When the Burma-Shave signs disappeared from the American landscape in 1963-64, for many years afterward [[and for me, still to this day) those of us who had enjoyed that bit of advertising whimsy could still recite the sign sequences: In this vale of toil and sin, your head grows bald but not your chin, just for instance.

So I'd like to think, ten or twenty years from now, I'll be driving down the Lodge and in my mind I'll still be able to hear, "In Madrid right now it's ochenta y cinco degrees; ochenta y cinco in Madrid, where a man bought a watch for his wife..."

Thanks for all the fun, Sonny! God speed!

**gnome** · September-09-10, 08:15 PM

well said prof.

**EMG** · September-09-10, 09:33 PM

I once met Sonny at the Michigan State fair, and he is just as quick witted in person as he appears to be on the air. I decided to have a little fun with him and I told him that despite having a 650 on my English SAT I was still perplexed by some of the "strange" words he came up with. His instant reply was, "Well you should have listened to me more often - then you would have had a 750!"

The only problem with Sonny's forecasts was that I would almost always get so wrapped up in the jokes that I would get through his whole forecast and still not have any idea what the weather was actually going to be [[which didn't really matter because even with the best Doppler in the world, in Michigan the weather's so unpredictable that even the experts can't possibly ever know). I've even occasionally listened to him over the Internet from here in Arizona.

Well, we knew the day of Sonny's departure was coming...but I for one am glad that it was as slow in arriving as a "helicopter over a nudist colony." On those days when frizzly [[freezing, drizzly) weather makes the drive home as hazardous as tap dancing in a canoe, it's just not going to be the same without Sonny there to keep his listeners laughing about it.

**goggomobil** · September-09-10, 09:54 PM

I remember sitting in front of the Radiation King with my brother when Sonny did his thing on WWJ channel 4. So glad he stayed here with us!

Sonny, please remember to put the tip of the Keewenau back on before you go...

**yaktown** · September-09-10, 10:18 PM

Wow, surprised to hear this! But I guess we knew it was coming. I had the good fortune to take a bus trip to Motor City Casino with him several years ago, we had a blast the whole way down. Just wondering how I'll know the score of the Red Wings game in advance.

**Switchmanjim** · September-09-10, 11:16 PM

A lot of GOOD memories. Not many got the chance to see weather reporting like that!

**smogboy** · September-10-10, 12:37 AM

Some of his jokes were epic. I remember one hot summer Sonny was telling his audience it was so hot that the car thieves were wearing oven mitts to steal hubcaps.

And while I know hubcaps were once a [[no pun intended) hot commodity to steal, it had been ages since a hubcap was even made of steel! But the visual he put in my head was precious.

It was unpretentious good natured fun; never blue and if one could get past the god humor there was actually some useful information underneath all that. Sonny truly is a Detroit treasure. And how can one forget his At The Zoo episodes? What an amazing career!

**daddeeo** · September-10-10, 08:16 AM

Sonny was corny as hell but so was Soupy Sales and we loved them both.
Original talents were not likely to see around here anymore.

**Gingellgirl** · September-10-10, 10:22 AM

Today, there is no joy in Engadine. Ringa-dee-enga-dinga-dine.

**jackie5275** · September-10-10, 11:20 AM

My very first memories of him a child were as a weatherman on TV. He didn't have all the radar & graphics of today. He had a chalkboard map and would draw the directions of the high & low pressure systems movements on the chalkboard. He was quite animated in doing that.

LodgeDodger · September-10-10, 12:28 PM

I loved his weather reports as a kid. I thought he died years ago.

**Bigb23** · September-10-10, 12:37 PM

Let's not forget his missions on a B-24 during WWII, and subsequent capture and internment in a German POW camp.
One of the greatest generation.

**Gistok** · September-10-10, 01:47 PM

Whenever Sonny gave the weather in Athens Greece, he got a little baudy in his humor.... I heard him say "ya know how they separate the men from the boys in Greece.... with a crowbar!"

**texorama** · September-10-10, 03:33 PM

On WWJ right now: Jayne Bower said, "You are a treasure of Detroit." Sonny: "They're going to bury the treasure, are they?"

**fanniemae** · September-10-10, 05:29 PM

Best wished to Sonny. I enjoyed his wit and humor. When he did the weather, I watched. Might have forgotton what the weather was going to be, but loved him anyway. Father time caught up to Sonny.

**d2dyeah** · September-10-10, 05:39 PM

Did Sonny Eliot host a late night/early morning weekend movie show. My brother says he did and the show logo was a chalk drawn sun done by sonny for his weather forecasts. This was the late 50's early 60's

**Ed Golick** · September-10-10, 07:17 PM

My little Sonny tribute.
http://www.detroitkidshow.com/retired.wmv

**mikefmich** · September-10-10, 07:46 PM

Channel 4 was the channel of my parents choice to watch the news growing up. I still remember Dick Westerkamp did the news, Sonny did the weather and Don Kramer did the sports....and they all had different sponsors dedicated to their little section of the 30 minutes.

I had a place in the UP for 30 years until a few years back, over half the time I would go thru Engadine on the way up...and there was NO WAY I could every go thru there without thinking of Sonny.