Imagine the guilt his mother laid on the author at the age of five, when she asked how he felt upon meeting Mickey Mantle, and he confessed to her that he wanted to be famous someday, like Mantle was. She replied, “Maybe you will,” spoken in her always calm, quiet voice, “but there are more important things in life than being famous. You should aspire to be a good person. Fame is fleeting. Character lasts.” 

It all began with puppets. As children, Allen Morris and his twin sister Myra entertained at other children’s birthday parties. At the age of fifteen, they performed on a local children’s TV show. That experience led the station manager to offer Allen a job. 

With mentoring from television professionals, the author learned to operate every piece of equipment needed to create television broadcasts. He studied for and passed the exam to obtain a First-Class FCC Broadcast Engineering license. By the time he graduated from college in 1975, he had four years of experience directing live newscasts, which helped him get a job at a major market television station. Within a year, he was given his first job as a producer. His work began winning awards, first a Clio for advertising, and eventually Emmy Awards, the highest honor in the television industry. Soon, the show he produced began to attract famous individuals as guests. At last, he was a peer among individuals who had achieved fame.