Letter to the Editor

Great memories of Larry King, live

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Dear Editor,

I recently read about the passing on January 23rd, of the longtime Television host, Larry King, who hosted “Larry King Live” on CNN for many years. Although I live in Texas, I regularly drove up to Kansas and Nebraska to visit relatives. Ironically, I didn’t have cable television at my home, but if I stopped at a motel along my journey, I’d sometimes tune-in Larry King’s show.

I was privileged to visit with him five separate times. He was an interesting fellow of Jewish heritage. I didn’t always “dial-in” and often when I did, I’d encounter a busy-signal since his show was so popular. One of the times that I called in successfully and spoke “on-air” to Larry King, was right after I visited some family members at Cambridge, Nebraska. I had just gotten back to my motel and flipped on the television, and the show had just begun.

That particular night, a “guest” that Mr. King was interviewing was a man I had talked to several times before as well on his radio-show (by sheer happenstance). The guest was the (now retired radio show host) and retired F.B.I. Agent G. Gordon Liddy, who is retired, but still living at age 90. At first, I didn’t know much about Larry King, but by then, I had modified my views about Liddy to a more favorable attitude. Originally, I had associated Liddy solely with his Watergate role, yet, I grew to see that the man was well-educated, well-versed, a good Catholic, and Liddy literally “grew on me.” I sort of had a similar warming-up to Larry King, although it was much slower. Larry King almost had a mantra of a rapid-fire “Ask-Your-Question and let the Guest Answer It.”

I liked how he cut to the nitty-gritty with most guests. However, I will say, Gordon Liddy was much more a friendly story-teller, and Liddy would allow more back and forth dialogue with follow-ups. With Larry King, a person usually only got “one bite at the apple” meaning one question with no follow-ups. Larry King was raised by Orthodox Jewish parents who lived in Austria-Hungary who emigrated to America. Although Gordon Liddy and I are devout Christians, we both have high regard for the nation of Israel and I know Liddy and I praised King’s Hebrew heritage. Larry King was back from an era when radio and television actually “reported” straight news, with no spin. Larry King will be missed.

Sincerely,

James A. Marples,

Longview, Texas

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