Show mb- I I I I here are many things for which I am thankful on this Thanksgiving Day 1982 First of all I’m grateful just be alive to Five Thanksgivings ago — in 1977 — I wasn’t sure that I was going to survive or even that I wanted to survive I was an alcoholic and a pill addict (barbiturates and tranquilizers) I was just about to reach bottom after a low — much of which was spent in a near blackout ’ This was a process which began in 1958 after my nine years of TV stardom with Your Show of Shows and Caesars Hour came to an abrupt end when NBC canceled me in favor of taped sitcoms — the new technology of the day It took me two decades to realize that I was inflicting punishment on myself for my insecurities and imsucagined guilts over my I in cess that was effect using booze and pills to commit slow suicide I was 21-ye- §fils5P 'S3lli'llSSB6ESR ar oh-so-ear- ly This Thanksgiving I am grateful for the patience and understanding and love of my family who never deserted me even contemplating faster suicide by driving my car over a cliff It was shortly after that blackest of Thanksgivings that I found myself doing the play The Last of the Red Hot Lovers on the stage of the Regina Hotel in Regina Saskatchewan Canada When I couldn’t remember my lines or even where I was supposed to stand I went back to my dressing room and faced the most crucial decision of my life: Was I going to live or was I going to die? I opted for living and called the hotel physician a Dr JW LeBlond At last I finally got the words out: “Please help me” Dr LeBlond rushed me to Regina General Hospital and put me into a detoxification “cold-turkey- ” o 0 o no pills whatsoever not even vitamins That was the painful beginning of a long period of recovery and rehabilitation a process which continues to this day The cure worked — after several others had failed — because this time I was ready and wanted it to work I didn’t need to take solace in oblivion anymore The second thing for which I am grateful on this Thanksgiving is the a contributing editor of TV Guide Sid Caesar's recent biography Where Have Been? (Crown) Bill Dauidson co-wro- 1 4 FAMILY WEEKLY November 21 1962 — with |