PORTSMOUTH, Va. – Tommy Newsom, the former backup bandleader on “The Tonight Show” whose “Mr. Excitement” nickname was a running joke for Johnny Carson, has died. He was 78.
Newsom died of cancer Saturday at his home in Portsmouth, the city of his birth, according to his nephew, Jim Newsom.
Newsom, who played saxophone, joined “The Tonight Show” in 1962 and rose from band member to assistant music director. He retired along with Carson in 1992.
Newsom won music direction Emmys for “Night of 100 Stars” in 1982 and “The 40th Annual Tony Awards Show” in 1986. “The Tonight Show” received five Emmy awards during Newsom’s years on it.
“Mr. Excitement” was the name Carson gave Newsom to make light of his low-key personality and drab brown and blue suits – a sharp contrast to the flashy style of bandleader Doc Severinsen.
“He became a running character in Carson’s monologue,” Jim Newsom said. “Tommy enjoyed that.”
Along with his work on “The Tonight Show,” Newsom arranged and composed music for Skitch Henderson, Woody Herman, Kenny Rogers, John Denver and other performers.
Newsom was born in 1929.
Rosenthal was honored World War II bomber pilot
NEW YORK – Robert Rosenthal, a World War II bomber pilot who twice survived being shot down in raids over Europe and later served on the U.S. legal team that prosecuted Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg, has died. He was 89.
Rosenthal, who lived in Harrison, N.Y., died April 20 of multiple myeloma, according to a son, Steven Rosenthal.
With 16 decorations including the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second-highest award for heroism, Rosenthal was a quintessential example of the young Army pilots who defied seemingly hopeless odds to carry out daylight strategic bombing raids against Germany’s industrial war machine from 1942 to 1945.
His plane was disabled by flak over France in September 1944 and he suffered a broken arm and other injuries in a forced landing, but was helped to safety by French resistance fighters. Five months later, he was shot down again during a raid over Berlin, and got home with the aid of Russian troops.
Associated Press
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