The Mike Douglas Show

Season 14, Episode 69

Mike's co-host was actress Susan Saint James; guests were voice actor Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny!), ABBA, San Diego Zoo's Joan Embrey, Dr Jim Bacon, Dr Jane Meier and Dr John Olsen.

ABBA were interviewed and filmed singing from the exotic birds cage at San Diego Zoo.

The songs performed were probably 'I Do, I Do, Do, Do, Do' and/or 'SOS' and/or 'Mamma Mia'.

Mike Douglas was a genial television host whose afternoon talk show was a beacon of popular culture in the 1960s and 1970s. "The Mike Douglas Show" was the first nationally-syndicated American daytime television talk show which aired from 1 December 1961 to 30 November 1981. It had more than 6,000 syndicated shows, mostly 90 minutes long and he had about 30,000 guests appear on his show over the years including: seven US presidents, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, The Muppets, Frank Zappa, Chuck Berry, Barbra Streisand , The Rolling Stones, Mother Theresa, Olivia Newton John, Alfred Hitchcock, Tiger Woods, Martin Luther King Jr, Gene Simmons of KISS and many others. At the height of its popularity, in the late 1960s, it was one of the most watched shows on television. The program featured light banter with guests and musical performances. Instead of an opening comedic monologue (as was the case with The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, for example), Douglas, given his vocalist background, would begin each show by singing a popular song for the audience. Each week would have a different co-host who would appear every day with Douglas.

"The Mike Douglas Show" archives (no longer available) are being licensed for professional use in television programs, DVDs and documentaries: "Out of the 4000+ shows Mike hosted, only a small number have been re-mastered from the original 2" tapes. The majority of the programs have been re-mastered, but many more episodes and guests are available as well." So apparently all episodes of The Mike Douglas Show exist in CBS' archives.

Mike Douglas died on 11 August 2006.

San Diego Zoo have confirmed they have no photographic (or other) evidence of ABBA's appearance (thanks to Jozsef for this information).

Information from ABBA - The Book by Jean-Marie Potiez (p.119). Thanks to Ian Cole, Jozsef, Rianne Schaffers and Yuri.
Extra thanks to Jeff Thorpe c/o ABBAMAIL and Rina for the newspaper cutting