All the p

eople you read about here are special to me, but I

would like to dedicate this book to Jack Paar. He showed
me so many years ago how to do what I do.
Many years after that I finally met him and too many years
after that I became his friend. It was too short.

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Contents
Foreword by David Letterman viii
Introduction x

Bing Crosby

Two Major Marines:

Major Rankin and Major Flake, USMC

14

Steve Allen 30

Ronald Reagan

40

Walter Winchell

52

Sydney Omarr

60

Cary Grant

67

Jack Paar

72

Bill Cosby

83

10

Joey Bishop

89

11

Dean Martin 105

12

Don Rickles 115

13

John Severino 124

14 Coach Frank Leahy 142

15 Coach Ara Parseghian 150
16 Coach Lou Holtz 161

HowIGotThisWay_p5.indd 6

17

Kathie Lee Gifford

18

Kelly Ripa 192

173

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19

Donald Trump 210

20

Claudia Cohen 219

21

George Steinbrenner 227

22

Joe DiMaggio 236

23

Jerry Seinfeld 243

24

Steven Spielberg 250

25

George Clooney 253

26

Jack Nicholson 261

27

Howard Stern 269

28

Charles Grodin 272

29

David Letterman 281

30

Joy Philbin 298

Acknowledgments

311

vii

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Introduction

just reread my manuscript before I handed it in for publication. Naturally it brought back so many memoriesfrom some
of the things in my life that I cant forget, to stuff I forgot or
wanted to forget and remembered only because I took this

time to review it all. Some of the chapters made me more sentimental than I expected. You can see that the people remembered here
are people who made a difference for me. Most helped. Others made
me wish I had done things differently. Some have died and I wish
with all my heart that they could still be around to share more of
these memories. When it was good, it was sensational. And when it
got bad, well, I just wouldnt want to go through it again. But I was
lucky to meet most of the people I did. Lucky to have their advice
and their guidance, and it was only my own fault that I made some
of the mistakes I made in my life.
I was there almost at the beginning of television. It was so different when I started. It was a climb from the New York NBC page
staff to a TV station prop house in Los Angeles, to driving a delivery
truck around Hollywood and after that a radio news car in the fifties around San Diego reporting what was going on in the city that
day (not much, fifty years ago). Then finally getting, by chance, an

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invitation into televisionas a real broadcaster. And all along the

way, meeting certain p
eople who served as models and guides to me,
inadvertently showing me how I wanted to live and what I ultimately
wanted to do in this business. Hosting a 9 a.m. show when most of
the world is going to work, going to school, going to the store, or going wherever people go in the morningwas that considered being a
success? Did I stay there too long? Did I have any other place to go
or was I lucky the way it all turned out? Lucky that I finally made
a right decision coming back to New York? That I finally made this
recent decision to move on? Were not sure how that will turn out,
but there does come a time in your life, after youve spent twenty-
eight years on TV in L.A. and twenty-eight more in New York, when
moving on sounds like the right thing to do. Maybe its time for a
change. Ive spent nearly seventeen thousand hours in front of a TV
camera. Thats a record in our business ... and now that I think
about it, it was exciting. It was fun. It was more than I ever thought
I would accomplish.
I guess Ive learned something more about myself in the process
of looking back this way. Learned something more about the people
who have influenced me, too. Hindsight can be a great gift. Everyone is just trying to find his or her own path in this world. You cant
know what the future holds, but sometimes looking back at the past
can help. This is my past. Maybe it can help you, even guide you,
and hopefully provide you with a few good laughs.

r e gi s p h i l bi n
July 26, 2011

xi

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HOW
I GOT

THIS

WAY

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Chapter One

bing crosby

t all began with Bing Crosby during the Depression of the

thirties. I must have been six or seven years old at the time.
My family lived on the bottom floor of a two-story house on
Cruger Avenue in the Bronx, and every night at 9:30, I sat by

my little radio in our kitchen and listened to a half hour of Bings

records regularly spilling out over WNEW. His voice was so clear,
so pure, and so warm that after a while I thought of him as my
good friend. Even though he was out in faraway, glamorous Hollywood and I was in the humble old Bronx, in my mind we truly were
friends and would always spend that special half hour together, just
the two of us.
I listened to those songs of the Depression era and, even as a
kid, I understood that the songwriters were trying to give hope to
a struggling and downtrodden public. I grew to love those lyrics
and what they said to me. I swear to you that those same songs
have stayed with me for the rest of my life, and during various dark
periods when I hit those inevitable bumps along the way, I would
actually sing them to myself. Like When skies are cloudy and gray,
1

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| regis philbin

theyre only gray for a day, so wrap your troubles in dreams and
dream your troubles away. ... Those were the sorts of lyrics that
helped cheer an entire nation wallowing in hard times together, not
to mention those who experienced bleak moments of their own in
decades to come. Certainly they kept me going. So Bing Crosby remained a big deal to mehis mellow voice, his carefree persona, his
very special aura. Dependable as could be, he was the friend who
could always be counted on to make me feel better.
Now all through high school and college, my parents would ask
me over and over again, What are you going to do with your life?
What do you want to be? Well, in my heart I wanted to be a singer
like Bing, but I worried about the reality of that dream. Did I think
for one minute that I had the voice to pull it off? Of course not. It
never occurred to me. I just wanted to be Bing! So I could never
tell them I wanted to be a singer. They might think I was crazy or
trying to achieve the impossible. But I did promise my folks that I
would make my decision before graduating from the University of
Notre Dame.
During those college years, my hope of becoming a singer did
wane slightly. I majored in sociology and never took a single music-
related course, much less any kind of class in public speakingno
confidence for it, noneyet I still had a passion for it that burned
inside me.
Two weeks before graduation, I discovered that one of my friends
could actually play the piano. Gus Falcone was his name, and I explained my awkward situation to him. This would be the last chance
to tell my parents my long-held secret, and with Gus at the piano,
I could show them it wasnt altogether that impossible as a professional dream. Over and over, for two weeks, we rehearsed one of
Crosbys great songs, Pennies from Heaven, in the campus music
hall. Finally, the day before graduation, my folks arrived at Notre

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How I Got This Way | 3

Dame, thoroughly shaken up by a severe thunderstorm they had

encountered a half hour outside of South Bend. They got out of
the car, already off balance due to the bad weather, but I bravely
proceeded anyway: Mom, Daddont say anything. Youve waited a
long time for this, so now Im going to tell you what it is I want to do
for the rest of my life. Come with me.
We walked across the campus. My parents looked relieved. They
were understandably eager to hear about my career decision. Gus,
meanwhile, was waiting for us at the piano in one of those rehearsal
rooms. We walked in and, right on cue, he started to play Pennies
from Heaven. This, after all, was the audition of my life. We got
off to a fairly good start. I thought maybe this was actually going
to workuntil I saw my mothers eyes brimming with tears and my
fathers eyes filled with bitter disappointment. I realized I couldnt
do this to them. This wasnt the reason they had sacrificed so much
to send me to college. The song came to an end. There was silence.
Deadly silence. From the two people who naturally meant the most
to me in the world. I admitted immediately that this was all wrong,
that it was a silly idea. They had paid four years of tuition at one of
the finest universities in the country ... and I wanted to be a singer?
It was ridiculous. I said, Im so sorry, lets try to forget it. Ill find
something else to do, maybe in television, hopefully. TV, after all,
was suddenly becoming a hot and clearly unstoppable medium.
I did, of course, eventually find my way into television, taking all
kinds of jobs, climbing the ranks rung by rung. Anyway, it was several years later, when I was working nationally in Hollywood as the
announcer and second banana on ABC-T Vs late-night entry, The
Joey Bishop Show, that I had my big moment. To help Joey relax before every show, he and I had a private daily ritual of walking from
our studio on Vine Street to Hollywood Boulevard and back again.
During those strolls we talked about everything, until finally one

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| regis philbin

afternoon we got around to that old topic What did you want to be
when you were a kid? He told me that, at ten years of age, he would
entertain people on the street corners of Philadelphia, telling jokes
that left them rocking with laughter. He knew then that he wanted
to be a comedian. And so I confessed my dream: I told him that, at
the age of six, I decided I wanted to be Bing Crosbythat I knew
every lyric of every song Bing had ever sung, that nothing had made
me happier than singing along with Bing on the radio.
So it had to happen: three months later, Bing was booked to
be a guest on our show. I remember spotting him backstagethis
easygoing but towering legend wandering our hallwaysand I truly
couldnt take my eyes off him. Unfortunately, there were no plans for
him to sing that night; hed simply agreed to come on the show as a
panel guest, along with his beautiful wife, Kathy, and share some of
his great old stories, then leave. But it was all still terribly exciting.
Especially for me. Especially when he walked out and sat right next
to me. My whole life flashed before methirty years prior to all this
I was just a dream-filled kid, freezing on those cold Bronx winter
nights, listening to Bing sing on my little radio. How did all this
happen? Who could have imagined that now, so many years later, I
would be sitting next to Bing Crosby on a big network TV show in
Hollywood?! Its one of those times when you have to pinch yourself
in order to believe it.
The shows producers, of course, would have loved for Bing to
sing anything that night, but they were afraid to ask him. Then, as
the interview progressed, Joey had an idea. He would try to talk him
into it by using me as his pawn, right on the air! Bing, see this kid,
Joey said, nodding toward me. Hes the biggest fan you ever had.
It would be the biggest thrill of his life if you would sing a song for
him. How about Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral? I was getting nervous.
How would Bing react? Well, he turned, looked directly at me, and

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How I Got This Way | 5

simply sang the song a cappella. He sounded great. It was so exciting, my head was spinning. How could I tell him what he had meant
to me all these years? I should have, but I couldnt.
After the applause, Joey continued. He hadnt had enough. He
said, Bing, this kid knew all your songs when he was a little boy. I
couldnt believe he was going to tell that whole embarrassing story,
but thank God he didnt. Instead he said, Regis would now love
to sing one of your songs to you! Is he nuts? I thought. Is he looking for a few laughs at my expense? How do I get out of here? Bing
turned and gave me a pleasant enough lookbut straight at me. I can
still see those steely blue eyes. He didnt know what to expect either.
It had been nearly fifteen years since I had sung Pennies from
Heaven with my pal Gus at Notre Dame for my bewildered parents.
I was nervous, but when was I ever going to get a chance to sing to
Bing Crosby again? So I went for that song with all I had, even including the little-k nown opening verse. I looked right at Bing, singing every word of it directly to him. I could hear the band, Johnny
Mann and His Merrymen, struggling to find my key for support.
Two great musicians were the first to get into it, God bless them:
Herb Ellis on guitar and Ray Brown on bass. And Bing himself even
joined in with some notes here and there. It was a supreme moment
in my life. Ill never forget it. The next day, believe it or not, I actually received a recording contract from Mercury Records. Would I
want to do an album and include some of Crosbys songs? I said yes,
of course, but I was terribly self-conscious about the whole thing.
Nevertheless, the first track I recorded for them was (you guessed
it!) Pennies from Heaven.
I never saw Bing Crosby again in person. Foolishly, I was too
intimidated to call him and say thanks for playing along with me
on that special night. Ten years later he died of a heart attack on a
golf course in Spain. It hit me hard, just like losing a lifelong friend.

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| regis philbin

To have that magnificent voice silenced foreverI couldnt believe

it. I have never forgiven myself for not reaching out to tell him what
a thrill it was to meet him and what hed meant to me growing up.
About two years ago, however, I finally had the unexpected privilege of touring the very places where Bing had grown up. My concert
booking agent from William Morris Endeavor, Kenny DiCamillo,
brought me an offer from an Indian casino near Spokane, Washington. Because its such a long haul from New York to Spokane,
he wondered if Id be interested in making that far-off trip. Spokane! I said. Why, that was Bing Crosbys hometown! I told him
of course Id love to go there to do a show, but more so to explore the
actual home Crosby grew up in and Gonzaga University where Bing
completed his college career. Before we even left New York, Kenny
had made arrangements for me to visit the Crosby home, which during Bings youth was located across the street from the university but
now has been absorbed right onto the expanded campus grounds.
Every morning Bing would pop out the kitchen door of that house
and go whistling all the way to his classes.
Of course, Gonzaga remains one of the finest Jesuit universities anywhereand the Jesuits, as youve probably heard, are known
for their teaching prowess. Crosby was a terrific example of their
schools graduates. Not only was he a very good student, bright and
well mannered, but it was at Gonzaga that he developed his wonderful vocabulary and elocution, which helped him deliver those
songs so memorably. You can hear it in his always precise inflections, whether in song or in film or in later television appearances.
He attributed all that smooth expression and eloquence to those
exacting Jesuit teachers.
Anyway, Kenny and I rolled into Spokane after a long nights
drive through the far Northwest. Then we checked into the historic
Davenport Hotel in the heart of town. Looking out of the window of

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How I Got This Way | 7

my room, right there across the street I saw the glittering marquee
of the Bing Crosby Theater. This was the same theater I read about
in Gary Giddinss fine Crosby biography, A Pocketful of Dreams.
Back then it was called the Clemmer Theatre; Bing, in fact, worked
there as a stagehand at the age of fourteen and witnessed the great
Al Jolson giving one of his typically thrilling performances on that
stage. The young Crosby was knocked out by the unmatchable way
Jolson dominated that auditorium. Four years later, Bing happened
to be working backstage again, picking up a few bucks, when Jolson
returned to Spokane and was still pure dynamite in front of that
Clemmer Theatre audience. More than ever, Jolson had at that moment inspired Bing to consider a career of his own in music. The
two of them actually met that night (briefly, Im sure), never knowing that in later years they would work together countless times,
performing the most unforgettable duets on Bings Kraft Music Hall
radio shows. And they were a brilliant match, too: Jolson, dynamic,
dramatic, over the top; and Crosby, laid-back and solid with that
beautiful voice and ability to play perfect straight man for Al, while
still getting his own share of laughs. I remember lying in bed listening to those shows when I was a kid. I loved them then and still
do, thanks to remastered radio recordings of the two of them live
together in action so long ago.
Anyway, on that first night in Spokane, I stared out my hotel
window for a long time at this grand old theater, which had been
renovated and renamed many times through the years until its present owner was persuaded, in 2006, by a citizens group to at last
christen it in Bings name. I couldnt believe it; right there across
the street was the place where Bing Crosby began his illustrious
career, by doing the very same job that would decades later serve as
my own beginnings in television. That is, we had both started out as
stagehand prop house guys!

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| regis philbin

The next morning was spent wandering through the Crosby

homethe one he left each day whistling as he made his way to
campus nearly a hundred years ago. Now on that Gonzaga campus
theres an enormous statue of Bing wearing his fedora hat, pipe in
hand, presiding over everyone strolling by. But as years pass and
memories fade, I wonder how many of todays young students really know just what a giant king of American culture he was. One
Gonzaga building holds the Crosby archives, with its phenomenal
collection of records, movies, photos, radio broadcasts, TV shows,
books, magazine clippings, and articles of clothing worn by him
all of it fascinating and mind-boggling at once. He was the one
who simply invented pop singingthe Voice who started it alland
everyone who followed him happily admitted as much, none more
so than Frank Sinatra.
But let me add a special postscript for you here: Nearly forty
years after the Bishop show went off the air, I happened to receive
a package in the mail. Of course, I receive a lot of thesev ideo or
audio copies of things viewers thought Id enjoyand Im certainly
grateful to get them. This one was from someone in Wisconsin. It
looked like another CD to me. So much material like this comes in
that its hard to keep up with it. But one day I finally got around to
opening this package and, sure enough, it was a CD. I put it in my
disc player ... and I could not believe what I was hearing! It was a
recording of that remarkable night when Bing Crosby and I sang to
each other on Joey Bishops show. Why I had never asked for a copy
of that program after it aired, Ill never know. Ive always regretted
not having it. But now here was the audio version of that very special show, somehow dug up by an avid Crosby fan named Greg Van
Beek of West Bend, Wisconsin, whos now an editor of the quarterly
devotee magazine Bing. The copy had been handed off to him by
another Crosby archivist, Martin McQuade, who lives in Brooklyn,

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How I Got This Way | 9

New York. Immediately, I called Greg to thank him. Because it was

one of the nicest surprises of my life. To listen to that show again
and hear myself trying to sing along with this man whom Id always
dreamt of becoming when I was just a kid ... I promise you, that
young fella had no idea what this recording hed sent would mean to
me and will probably never know what beautiful memories and joy
it brings to me even now.
(note to reader: I think youll see that those moments recovered
from the Bishop show even play pretty entertainingly in transcribed
form, an excerpt of which Ive included on the next couple of pages.
Welcome to a wild and wonderful sliver of my history, exactly the
way it happened. ...)

when regis serenaded bing

on the joey bishop show
just the way it happened, circa 1968

JOEY: (to Bing) I dont know whether you are aware of it

or not, but Regis Francis Xavier Philbin is a Notre Dame

graduate.
BING: What happened this year? Purdue ... SC...
REGIS : Looks like a long season, Bing.
BING: Its going to be tough.
JOEY: Bing, eh?
BING: Naturally.
JOEY: (mocking Regis) Gonna have a long season, Bing!

I made a promise to him ( pointing to Regis), although Ive

never even approached you on it. Now you can say yes or no.
BING: What is it?

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10

| regis philbin

JOEY: Because of his complete Irish background, I said I

would try to persuade you to, facing him ... to do Too Ra

Loo Ra Loo Ral.
BING: Yeah? Facing Regis? How much of it?
JOEY: Just enough to make Regis happy.
BING: (begins singing intently to Regis) Over in Killarney, /

Many years ago (starts laughing) I cant look at that kisser!

REGIS : Now wait a minute, Bing!
JOEY: Now you know what I go throughnight after night

after night!
BING: No, but he looks so receptive. (resumes singing) My

mother sang a song to me, / A tune so soft and low. / Just a

simple little ditty, / In her good old Irish way, / And Id give
the world if I could hear / That song of hers today. / Too ra loo
ra loo ral / Too ra loo ra li, / Too ra loo ra loo ral, / Hush now
dont you cry. / Too ra loo ra loo ral / Too ra loo ra li, / Too ra
loo ra loo ral, / Thats an Irish Lullaby. (applause)
REGIS : Thank you, Bing.
JOEY: Are you happy now?
REGIS : Very happy.
JOEY: Okay, Im going to make your dream come true. Im

now about to reveal Regiss dream. He would like to sing

in front of Bing Crosby and Kathy Crosby Pennies from
Heaven.
BING: Oh really?!
JOEY: Wait till you hear this!
REGIS : Wait a minute. I dont even know what key.
JOEY: I know what key!

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How I Got This Way | 1 1

REGIS : Can I do it a cappella?
BING: You can rest assured that if they found my key, they

can find yours, Regis.

REGIS : Hey, Bing ... why dont we...
JOEY: Hey, Bing now?! Hey, BING?!
REGIS : You know, Ill probably never get to see him again

and its really a thrill to

JOEY: When you sing this song, Ill GUARANTEE ya, youll

never get to see him again.

REGIS : You know, I dont want to sing the song, but may I

sing the verse? The verse is very rarely heard.

BING: Good verse, too!
REGIS : Its a beautiful verse.
JOEY: But then segue into a little bit of the chorus.
REGIS : (begins song) A long time ago ...
JOEY: Take your time now. I want you to be a hit.
(Regis proceeds to sing the song Pennies from Heaven
while Bing jazzily hums along. The f inal note is followed by
applause from all.)
REGIS : Ah! So embarrassing. Ah! Oh! Thank you.
JOEY: Im so proud of you. Do you honestly think in your

heartnow that youve done itthat you sing better than he

does?
REGIS : You know I was kidding!
BING: Naww, you really do. Youve got a greater range than

Ive got.

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12

| regis philbin

REGIS : (instantly excited) Would you like to hear another

one? (audience explodes laughing) Whats the matter? Ive got

a million of em, Bing! How about On Behalf of the Visiting
Fireman?
BING and REGIS : (singing) On behalf of the visiting

fireman from Kansas City, / Lets have a drink on me!

REGIS : See ya later, Joe.
JOEY: Go ahead. No, go aheadfinish it!
REGIS : Nah, Bing doesnt remember the words.
JOEY: Ill go to the audience in between commercials. Go

ahead. Bing doesnt know the words?

BING: Hes got me on that one.
REGIS : How about Small Fry, Bing?
BING: Well, I remember that, yeah.
REGIS : Do ya? Can I get on your lap?
JOEY: Ill tell ya, boy, the bigger the star, the less humble he

becomes!

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How I Got This Way | 1 3

what i took away from it all

The moment of your college graduation
is not the moment to surprise your parents
with the sudden declaration of a new
and offbeat career ambition.
Keep those favorite songs of your youth with
you for life and pay attention to the lyrics.
If you love them, use them as your
inspiration and guide.

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