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Isn't He Cute? Although Godfrey tossed in a slurring remark on his Wednesday night show ("I'm sure you have noticed through the years that those who are the great ones stay with me"), his two ex-great ones were careful to show no rancor. Bleyer kept his peace. La Rosa appealed to reporters as a mixed-up kid: "It was Mr. Godfrey who kept telling me I was humble and to stay that way . . . He kept harping on that humility thing . . . This guy—pardon me—Mr. Godfrey —Mr. Godfrey has one of the best shows on TV ... I was as close to him as I was to my father . . . My father used to hurt me sometimes when he'd hit me when I thought I shouldn't be hit, but I never stopped calling him daddy." Wearily, he sputtered, "I don't know what the hell is going on."
What was going on would do La Rosa no harm in his new solo career. His talent agency contract guarantees him at least $100,000 during the next year (with Godfrey last year, he made an estimated $35,000). Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town television show snapped him up at $3,000 a guest performance. Mamie Eisenhower watched him rehearse for a role in Washington's Navy Relief Ball, afterward shook his hand, repeating again and again, "Isn't he cute? Isn't he cute?"
At week's end Godfrey was in a more mellow mood. He said he had intended to say a lot of nice things about Julius ("a charming rascal") on the swan-song show, but had only about eleven seconds to do it. But, said Godfrey firmly, he was "more proud of this boy" than of any of the youngsters he had made into stars. On that sweet note, the storm blew over, leaving La Rosa to cash in on a million dollars' worth of publicity and kind Father Godfrey to mull an ancient maxim: a doting parent generally deserves gratitude, sometimes gets it, but is only courting heartache if he demands it.
* In Chicago, William Irvin, radio-TV editor of the Sun-Times, was fired after 18 years on the radio beat for missing the La Rosa firing. "It was my day off," he said ruefully. "I took my son to the doctor and missed the Godfrey program."