Editing Steve Allen (section)

==== ''Meeting of Minds'' ====
{{Quote box||align=right|width=25em|bgcolor = LightCyan|quote=It elicited a kind of mail none of us connected with its production had ever seen. What appealed to the thousands who wrote, I believe, was that they were actually given the opportunity to hear ''ideas'' on television, a medium which otherwise presents only people, things, and actions.|source=-- '''Steve Allen'''<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|302}}}}
From 1977 until 1981, Allen wrote, produced and hosted the award-winning show ''[[Meeting of Minds]]'', which aired on the [[PBS|Public Broadcasting Service]] (PBS).<ref name=mind>{{Cite magazine|url-access=subscription | magazine=Philosophy Now| title= A Mind is a Wonderful Thing to Meet| first= Tim |last= Madigan |url= http://philosophynow.org/issues/100/A_Mind_is_a_Wonderful_Thing_to_Meet | number=100 |access-date= 2014-01-29}}</ref> The series brought together actors portraying historical figures such as [[Socrates]], [[Marie Antoinette]], [[Thomas Paine]], Sir [[Thomas More]], [[Attila|Attila the Hun]], [[Karl Marx]], [[Emily Dickinson]], [[Charles Darwin]], [[Oliver Cromwell]], [[Daniel O'Connell]], [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]], and many others, as if transported from the past, all in a round table discussion and sometimes arguments. The dialogue covered issues such as racism, women's rights, crime and punishment, slavery, and religious tolerance. [[Jayne Meadows-Allen]] played most of the female characters, wisely eschewing Emily Dickinson, played by [[Katherine Helmond]], and the Empress Tz'u-hsi, played by [[Beulah Quo]].<ref name=mind /><ref name=Meeting>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gH5Nbdmdg4 "Meeting of Minds", TV show]</ref> [[Associated Press]] television columnist Peter Boyer called it the "best talk show on television", created by the person who "invented the television talk show", and added:<ref name=Boyer />
{{Blockquote | style=font-size:100% | The amazing thing about this show is that it actually comes off as a talk show, with a talk show's rhythm and pace. A truly conversational script is a tough trick to turn; Allen turns it with apparent ease.<ref>Boyer, Peter. "Meeting of Minds" shows off Steve Allen's." AP, ''Longview News-Journal'', (Longview, Texas) March 27, 1981</ref>}}

Allen was a "philosophy fanatic" and avid reader of classic literature and history. He wrote the scripts based on the actual writings and actions of the guests, and as host would lead the conversations to different subjects. He described the show as "drama disguised as a talk show."<ref name=Boyer>"Best of TV Talkshows Readies for Third Season", ''The Tennessean'' (Nashville, Tennessee), May 6, 1979</ref> Most of the female roles (Marie Antoinette, [[Catherine the Great]], [[Florence Nightingale]], et al.) were portrayed by Allen's wife, the actress [[Jayne Meadows]] – over her objections. She resisted monopolizing these roles, but Allen was insistent. She recalled in 1994, "He came to me and he said, 'You're gonna play [[Cleopatra]].' I said, 'I am ''not!'' Go away. Go away!' And he calmly said, 'It's a divorce if you don't play it.'"<ref>Jayne Meadows interview, ''Hi-Ho, Steverino!'', Arts & Entertainment Network, 1994.</ref>

Allen first conceived the show in 1959 but took almost 20 years to make it become reality.<ref name=mind /> He initially produced a version in 1971 that aired locally in Los Angeles and earned three Local Emmy Awards.<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|299}} But, although it received critical acclaim from Hollywood critics, the distributor chose not to broadcast it nationally, feeling it would not draw a large enough audience.<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|301}} Even PBS backed off on showing it, and many in the television industry felt the series was "too thoughtful" for the American public.<ref name=SecularWeb /> Allen then produced the first shows at his own expense, which resulted in attracting major backers. It eventually aired nationally, beginning in 1977.<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|301}}

The series, consisting of six hour-long episodes per season, became enormously popular. Allen received a Personal Peabody Award in 1977 for creating and hosting "a truly original show."<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|302}} The award also recognized Meadows for her various portrayals. In 1981, the show won an Emmy for Outstanding Informational Series, and Allen's writing was Emmy nominated.<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|302}} It was the show Allen wanted to be remembered for, because he believed the issues and characters were timeless and would survive long after his death. A similar Canadian television series called ''[[Witness to Yesterday]]'', created by Arthur Voronka, aired in 1974, three years after Allen's local Emmy Award-winning program. Allen appeared on a 1976 episode of ''Witness to Yesterday'' as composer-pianist [[George Gershwin]].{{cn|date=June 2024}}