Spoiler : I had not heard about that quote before, so I looked it up and found this great article about Guy Lombardo, published in the Baltimore Sun in 2004. I thought others here would also be interested, even if they already knew about the quote (which was actually said by Guy Lombardo -- during a cameo appearance on "Laugh-In" in the late 1960s!

Spoiler : The Royal Canadians provided music for radio programs including his first network broadcast on CBS (1928-1933); Burns And Allen for Robert Burns Pantella and White Owl Cigars on CBS (1932- 1934); The Guy Lombardo Show on NBC, CBS and Mutual (1934-1943); Musical Autographs on NBC-BLUE and ABC (1944-1946); The Guy Lombardo Show on NBC (1949); Lombardoland USA on Mutual (1948- 1957).

Spoiler : The Royal Canadians were featured on television programs including Cavalcade Of Bands for DuMont (1950-1951); syndicated series, The Guy Lombardo Show (1954). Host of Guy Lombardo's Diamond Jubilee on CBS-TV (1956).

Spoiler : Happy birthday to Guy Lombardo, born on June 19, 1902.

Spoiler : So Handsome, I miss him! Especially on New Year's Eve!

Spoiler : Me too! Most people of my generation think of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" as the traditional New Years Eve program, but even though I was still a child when Guy Lombardo stopped doing the New York New Year's Eve TV broadcasts, he's the one I think of when I think of *the* traditional New Year's Eve program.

Spoiler : you are certainly correct about this. For New Year's this year, I got on YouTube and watched his last broadcast. It was still just as brilliant and fresh as it was back then!

Spoiler : My mother's favorite band leader. I grew up with his music and actually saw the Royal Canadians on several occasions, once after nephew Bill took them over. There will never be another Guy.

Spoiler : I once heard Dick Clark cite that quote as a reason he more or less took over New Year's Eve. I don't know if he (Clark) was kidding or serious.

Spoiler : Happy Heavenly Birthday, Mr. New Year's Eve!

Spoiler : Great actor. rest in peace w/the royal Canadians!

Spoiler : I have been thinking back on New Years Eve, the Cavalcade of Bands all night overnight on the radio, as the midnight hour was passing east to west.

Spoiler : My father, Philip Bondy, was President of General Cigar. He was head of sales & marketing when the Guy Lombardo show became sponsored by Robert Burns. My sisters and I met Lombardo several times in the ‘60’s. He was a gentleman. Years later, when my father was retired, he became friends with a guy, Wally Jordan, who had been a talent with the Morris agency. One New Years Eve in the late ‘70’s, over dinner, my father told how Robert Burns had sponsored Guy Lombardo, and what a great friend Lombardo had become. Jordan then said, “Phil, you’re kidding yourself, these celebrities will throw you over the side the minute the sponsorship ends.” So, after dinner, my father, Wally and retired to the den to smoke cigars with the New Year’s Eve program on TV. A taped interview of Lombardo appeared on the screen. The interviewer asked the bandleader how he got his start in the US. Lombardo immediately told how Robert Burns Cigars gave him the greatest opportunity of his career. Wally Jordan was so shocked, he gaped at the TV, dropping the lit cigar in his lap!

Spoiler : Lombardo, Guy (birth name was Gaetano Albert Lombardo) Born in London, Ontario, Canada 6/19/1902; died 11/5/1977 of heart, kidney and respiratory failure in Houston, Texas. Married to Lilliebelle Glenn (1926-?). Brother of musician/singers Carmen, Lebert and Victor Lombardo, sister Rose Marie. Lombardo was a violinist at age twelve. Came to America in 1924.

Spoiler : Radio debut on WBBM-Chicago in 1927. Lombardo is the band leader that is remembered for his annual New Year's Eve broadcasts beginning in 1928, on station WBBM-Chicago, a CBS-Radio affiliate with his orchestra, "The Royal Canadians" that provided "the sweetest music this side of heaven."