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 THE SHOW
AND OTHER APPEARANCES
 THE WEDNESDAY SHOW
Jay was pretty much the entertainer/personality, and eventually tried to turn the show into a "Tonight Show" theme - every Wednesday he would show an Outer Limits episode. This, at less than an hour, gave more time for the local rock bands and other guests to be featured on the show. The Count would even have a desk, chair and sofa set, like Carson had on The Tonight Show! This lasted until he was moved to late Saturday nights in the late 60s (as the monster craze died and we all moved on to other things...) The hook then was that he was in "local color" - including the studio segments and the movies. The castle set was gone and all that we got was a bad, fake brick wall, hastily constructed with bright red brick art. I still remember coming home from dates and flipping on the set to catch the last few minutes of such color wonders as "Flight to Mars" and
"Pyro."
APPEARANCES
To my knowledge, the Count didn't host any of the downtown theater's Saturday morning shows. You know - those "baby-sitter" shows that included
cheesy stage performances, prizes and an old horror movie. These usually occurred
at the Hart Theater. Now - I only went to a few of these, but the on-stage hosts seemed to be culled from local radio personalities.
The Count was more into the appearances at department stores and parades. At the same time, Jay was also being promoted in local BR nightclubs, performing his magic act. As a matter of fact, the big time promotion of magic on the BR nightlife scene in the '60s might have been what initially spawned Checker Fun Shop on Third Street. It was originally a joke and MAGIC shop, where I remember going and viewing local magicians performing (very expensive) magic tricks that you could buy. My Dad eventually bought me one of the less expensive trick (at $5.95!), where you could make a stack of quarters disappear. Somewhere there should be a newspaper ad for the Jay
Marlborough magic act - they were in the newspapers almost every week for a couple for years.
More on appearances:
Barry Bourne remembers The Count doing a show at his school (Southdowns
Elementary) on Halloween. He did a disappearing act and there was a contest for
best costume.
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