Volume 45 - No. 17
by lyle e davis
Sometimes we just don’t know where life is going to take us. Sometimes one little decision, one little series of events, will shape our lives forever. Fortunately, for all of us, Dick Cavett made a decision to go into Omaha, Nebraska, to take the College Boards, rather than participate in a major gymnastics competition in which he was likely to have wound up as champion. A brilliant gymnast, he had already won the state’s gold medal in the pommel horse and was thought to be a sure winner in the upcoming meet. He not only qualified for college but got a full scholarship to Yale University.
“One of the happiest days in my life was standing on my porch, reading that amazing letter of acceptance from Yale to be part of the class of 1958,” he remembers.
Had he gone to the state gymnastics meet in Lincoln, Nebraska, we might well have had another Olympic gymnastic champion . . . but we would have been denied the years of pleasure Dick Cavett has given us as, arguably, the premiere television host, interviewer, commentator, humorist, and wit.
Cavett appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States in five consecutive decades, the 1960s through the 2000s. Cavett became interested in show business early in life. Like at four or five years of age, before kindergarten.
“Mom used to stand me up on a chair and have me recite things,” he says. “She had required me to learn bits of Shakespeare and I would recite them. After completing my recitation I would then say, ‘Everybody crap.”
I’d had trouble pronouncing my “l’s” and all the neighbor ladies would come to the recitations just to giggle and comment, ‘wait till he gets to the end.’ They apparently were not so taken with the works of Mr. Shakespeare but for me to say, ‘everybody crap.’
Dick’s mom and dad were both educators and “sometimes obnoxiously got me involved in writing, reading and education.” The Paper - 760.747.7119
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April 23, 2015
Cavett was born on November 19, 1936, in Kearney, Nebraska. He grew up in a town called Gibbon. To my great surprise, Gibbon does not have a big sign at its city limits saying, “Gibbon, Nebraska, boyhood home of Dick Cavett.” I was also surprised that the house in which he grew up in has been torn down or moved. One would think, given his celebrity and many awards, they would have preserved the house as a tribute to ‘their favorite son.’ Particularly in a small town like Gibbon. “We lived in a big white house facing the grain elevator, where there was a sugar beet pile. I spent hours playing there. It was across from the grain elevator which was owned by a man named Alva Zimmerman. The big white house is gone now, as is, I suspect, Mr. Zimmerman.”
Great question for Jeopardy: “Dick Cavett, famed television personality has the same middle name as Thomas Edison. What is that name?” Answer: Alva
Richard Alva Cavett has a number of Alva’s in his family line. His dad, Alva B. Cavett, and his his paternal grandfather, Alva A. Cavett.
“In fact,” says Cavett, “Carol Burnett was amused by my middle name and addressed that issue on her television show on one occasion. You can still see that episode on one of the DVD’s out there . . . “Comedy Legends.” When Dick was 10 years old, his mother, Erabel "Era," died, at age 36, of cancer. He suffered a terrible depression following his mom's death. “It was a terrible trauma. She had an incompetent, stupid, doctor in Grand Island. I learned later from friends that he had failed to send a specimen to the lab . . it may have made a difference. But we’ll never know, will we?”
We asked Dick if he thought this heavy duty emotional trauma might have played a role in his frequent episodes of severe depression in his later years, which he has openly and publicly discussed quite often.
“I suspect so,” he said, “though we don’t really know if it is envi-
ronmentally induced or if it is something genetic, something strictly chemical. I can tell you that no child should have to go through that emotional trauma.
When the bipolarity (also known as manic-depressive disorder) manifested itself I never had the super highs of a manic stage . . . I had more ‘hypo-mania.’ You have the innate feeling that you really can’t afford more than four hours sleep a night because there is too much to do.
We spoke of the phenomenon of bipolarity being common amongst creative people . . . and some of the best known people in history. A classic example is Winston Churchill. Others include playwright Tennessee Williams, actors, singers, comedians, including Patty Duke, Carrie Fisher, Connie Francis, Robin Williams . . . the list is a long one. “Steven Fry, the great British actor and playwright, did a
Cavett Continued on Page 2
show about bipolarity. He decided he’d rather not get treated because his manic stage forwarded his career.
I really don't know, nor do the scientists, it seems, if it is genetic and we are born with it or if some emotional trauma or other environmental element brings it forward. It seems to run in families so I suspect there is an element of heredity, which affects the body chemistry.” Among other medications, Cavett takes lithium, which is a fairy common medication for bipolars. He emphasizes, however, the absolute need to be diagnosed and prescribed for by a doctor that specializes in this field. There is no one “right” treatment. Every patient is likely to need a specialized treatment plan.
Cavett so enjoyed the attention he received as a pre-kindergarten child who could recite Shakespeare that he continued