Carson's Shure Mic Up on the Auction Block

Personalised SM33 sells for $50,787.50

 

26.04.2005 

Heritage Galleries & Auctioneers (www.heritagegalleries.com) of Dallas, Texas, which gained possession of the "Tonight Show" desk microphone used by Johnny Carson in the 1970's through a former crew member of the late night program, sold it last Friday during a live floor auction for $50,787.50. The Shure SM33 Ribbon Microphone was presented to Carson from Shure in the 70's with the inscription, "Johnny's Mic - Not Ed's - Not Fred's." Shure Incorporated was and still is a fixture on the "Tonight Show" to this day. With the company's 80th Anniversary being celebrated this year, Shure is proud to be a part of television and entertainment history.

 

"I was always amused by the engraving on the mic. It read 'Johnny's mic - not Ed's - not Fred's,' recalls Michael Pettersen, Director of Applications Engineering for Shure, who visited the "Tonight Show" set on several occasions in the late 1970's and early 1980's. "This inscription meant that Shure gave the mic specifically to Johnny Carson, to be used by Carson on his desk. And the mic was not meant for announcer Ed McMahon, nor for producer Fred DeCordova. Shure was proud to give this mic to Carson, and to have a longstanding association with the King of Late Night Comedy."

 

The Shure SM33, no longer in production, was rescued by Stanley Sweeney in the mid-80's, when he and the rest of the crew of the Tonight Show were instructed to perform a complete technical upgrade to the studio. As equipment was being discarded from the set, Sweeney realised the microphone should be saved and has been in his possession ever since.

 

"Of the two SM33's I know of that were used on the show, a nondescript one was stored and the other one with the distinctive etching was used on a daily basis," declares Stanley Sweeney, former Tonight Show crew member. "It was and still is a working, useable microphone. It was never considered a prop!"

 

Heritage Galleries & Auctioneers began taking online and phone bids almost three weeks ago. The Carson mic skyrocketed in price immediately, once the public caught wind of the auction. Proving itself to still be a robust workhorse to this day, the mic was used to call the actual auction up to the point of its sale.

 

Shure Incorporated has no affiliation with the auction or the auctioneer.


Release 16