Other Columns by Lisa Sarrach
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Johnny Carson has been gone for over a week now and both of his successors Jay Leno and David Letterman have paid proper tribute. A memorial was conducted in Carson's hometown in Nebraska this week. His death was as quiet as his retirement; he left the scene at the top of his game, never becoming a has-been as so many stars do when the spotlight has faded. His one private joke on all of us was recently revealed when it was reported that he was sending jokes to his favorite successor, David Letterman.

However, Johnny Carson's passing has even a greater significance to the country at large than has been reported. With his passing, we have also lost the last remaining Hollywood arbiter of our innocence, class and dignity. The now old-fashioned term, good, clean fun is a thing of the past.

Don't misunderstand; Johnny was just as capable as today's comics to use sex to tell a joke or to razz a guest. As a matter of fact, when you watch his Best of Carson tapes, you're amazed at times with what he was able to get away with in the years before shows like "Seinfeld" and "Friends" arrived on the scene.

The gift that Johnny had was that he didn't hit you over the head with it, or intentionally attempt to be outrageous. He was subtle; he used double entendres and sly wit to entertain the adults without offending the kiddies. It was genius then and it is genius now.

As a baby-boomer, I grew up during the Golden Age of television. In the sixties, we all watched TV, and there was rarely anything on that wasn't appropriate for a kid to see. As a teenager in the seventies, my treat for good behavior was to be able to stay up and watch the Tonight Show. Back then my mother did not have to be concerned with who was going to be on the show or what they were going to say. Today, parents are forced to screen football games and block scores of channels to protect kids from unsavory programming.

Johnny was a ray of sunshine after a rough day at school. He was "Must See TV" long before NBC claimed that moniker for its Thursday night lineup. Over twenty years later, I introduced Johnny Carson to my boys when the "Best of Carson" tapes became available. Rarely have I ever heard them laugh so much and with such glee and appreciation for the talent represented on Johnny's show.

It's an unfortunate fact of life that we fail to appreciate someone until after they are gone. Johnny now joins the likes of Jimmy Stewart, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, George Burns and scores of other entertainers from that bygone Era of entertainment that represented pure talent, presented with class and dignity.

The saddest lesson we learn when someone of Johnny Carson's stature passes on is not only what we have lost in a person, but what we have lost as a nation as embodied by that person.

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