JOHNNY CARSON was five years into what would turn out to be a 30-year run as America's late-night host when TIME made him a cover subject in 1967.
An elderly woman in Columbus, Neb., turned on her color TV set, tuned in the Tonight show, and settled back to watch Johnny Carson. "And now--here's Johnny!" called Announcer Ed McMahon as the star skipped onstage--fetchingly handsome, slat-thin, loose-limbed, and wrapped in a Continental-cut suit. "My name is Shirley Hoffnagel," he began with eyes laughing, "and I'm here to talk tonight about the wonderful progress that medical science has made in sex-change operations."...
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