His son-in-law Art Hershey says Linkletter died Wednesday at his home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles.
“Art Linkletter's House Party," one of television's longest-running variety shows, debuted on radio in 1944 and was seen on CBS-TV from 1952 to 1969.
Though it had many features, the best known was the daily interviews with schoolchildren.
“On 'House Party' I would talk to you and bring out the fact that you had been letting your boss beat you at golf over a period of months as part of your campaign to get a raise," Linkletter wrote.
“All the while, without your knowledge, your boss would be sitting a few feet away listening, and at the appropriate moment, I would bring you together," he said. “Now, that's funny, because the laugh arises out of a real situation."
Linkletter collected sayings from the children into “Kids Say The Darndest Things," and it sold in the millions. The book “70 Years of Best Sellers 1895-1965" ranked “Kids Say the Darndest Things" as the 15th top seller among nonfiction books in that period.
The primetime “People Are Funny," which began on radio in 1942 and ran on TV from 1954 to 1961, emphasized slapstick humor and audience participation -- things like throwing a pie in the face of a contestant who couldn't tell his Social Security number in five seconds, or asking him to go out and cash a check written on the side of a watermelon.
The down-to-earth charm of Linkletter's broadcast persona seemed to be mirrored by his private life with his wife of more than a half-century, Lois. They had five children, whom he wrote about in his books and called the “Links."
Art Linkletter, TV Host, Dies
Art Linkletter, who hosted the popular TV shows “People Are Funny" and “House Party" in the 1950s and 1960s, has died. He was 97.
