REMEMBERING TOM SNYDER..................

I was going through my desk drawers the other day when I came across

my stash of letters....cards and e-mails from Tom.....

That would be Tom Snyder of Late Night Fame.....

Let me start back a few years......Well more then just a few years......it was back in 1973 and me and the Boss

had not been married very long....We would stay up late at night

and tune in to The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder.....

We instantly became fans and would continue to watch Tom all

through the years......When daughter went away to college we had officially

hooked her on Tom as well....

How could you not become hooked....

Daughter didn't have cable t.v. or any t.v. for that matter up in Ithaca

so I would tape Tom's shows for her and mail them up every couple of weeks...

After all those years we felt like Tom was part of the family....

For any of you that watched his shows he always had a segment where the viewers could

call in and ask Tom and his guests questions or just call in to chit chat....

Tom was a great chit chatter......

Not watching the shows live daughter was unable to call in so the Mom...

that would be me.....sent the infamous letter off to Tom's house asking if he

would reverse the process and give daughter a call at college.....

A few of my readers here on the blog even remember the night

the crazy college girl sang "There's No Business Like Show Business" on the air....

Now I know what your asking yourself.....How did she know where Tom lived....

Both Tom and the Boss were big Lionel Train collectors and they were

both in the same organization of wacky men that collect

toy trains.....

Hence there was a directory of all the members with their home address'....

I never expected to hear a word.....little did I know what a kind man Tom was.....

One night daughter called home all excited that Tom had indeed called her....

And he told her to call home and let Mom know that the show would play at midnight and to get the VCR fired up.....

In the letter I had told Tom that daughter did a great Ethel Merman imitation and ofcourse

Tom asked daughter to sing a few bars......

It was television history in the making......Daughter sang her little heart out and Tom was

hysterical laughing....

And we have it all on tape!!

Over the years we corresponded with each other.....through cards and notes....and

later on through e-mails.....

When daughter graduated from Law School and moved into Manhattan she moved to

50th. Street between 1st. and 2nd..........We discovered that directly behind her on 51st. street was where Tom lived when he worked in New York.....He always told the story and loved saying that he slept in

Maureen O'Hara's bed......It seems he moved into her old apartment and when she moved out the bed was too large to move so she just left it.....

When daughter and SIL married in 2002 Tom was invited to the wedding but 9/11

had just happened and Tom was not a fan of flying......but he went to

Williams Sonoma in San Francisco and picked out a gift from the registry

Which I thought was so cute and so thoughtful....

Heck some people came to the wedding and didn't bring a gift....

We always think of Tom when we go through a car wash......

Once he took "Mother Snyder" who was probably in her late 80's at the time out for the day

and he went through a car wash.....

She commented how the weather had gotten bad.....

He thought that was the funniest thing.....

In one of Tom's last notes he writes......

"If you are ever coming to California please let me know"......

I never did make the trip and Tom passed away way too early at 71

on July 29th. of 2007......

This was the last Christmas card I received from him a few years

before he passed away.....

So Tom if your up there reading blogs this one's for you....

"Fire up a Colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly

through the Air"...............