Get the Best of Yourself

Author, songwriter, and comedian Steve Allen was among the most prolific talent in broadcasting history. He wrote more than 9,000 songs, including "This Could Be the Start of Something Big," which is still often played at New Year's Eve galas. Not bad for someone who played by ear. He wrote TV scripts, gags, jokes. He also managed to write 50 books: first mysteries; then on show business; then self-help topics like presenting, speaking, and humor; and then later on social issues before passing away early this century.

Like many others in TV, Allen's career began in radio where, as a young DJ, he once announced a Harvard vs. William & Mary football score as "Harvard 14, William 10, Mary 7." His interests extended beyond show business as well. A tireless advocate, Allen was instrumental in the airlines' smoking ban.

I met Steve Allen in the 1990s at the American Bookseller's Convention in Los Angeles. It was rumored that he never traveled without a pocket tape recorder and when I asked him if this was true, he took out his pocket tape recorder and showed me. Allen once explained that although he was thought of as extraordinarily productive, he figured he owed his high output to "Not letting good ideas get away." He recalled that even back in the 1950s, when tape recorders were bulky and expensive, he had one in each room of his house, even the bathroom.