Wednesday, April 22, 1998 | 9:51 a.m.
When Peter Lind Hayes got his start in television there was not a whole lot on the tube, as the test pattern dominated much of the daily lineup.
It could be argued that while entertainers Hayes and longtime wife Mary Healy weren't as exciting as the Roller Derby and professional wrestling shows that proliferated early 1950s' TV, they offered far better quality programming during the medium's infancy.
Together, Hayes and Healy made an indelible mark not only in television, but also in radio, the movies, on stage and in Las Vegas showrooms during the town's formative years -- he a gregarious host and story teller, she a talented singer and dancer.
Hayes, who helped pioneer variety show television, died Tuesday at Nathan Adelson Hospice following a lengthy illness. He was 82.
Services will be 10 a.m. Saturday at the Palm Valley View Mortuary, 7600 S. Eastern Ave.
"Peter and Mary were headliners in Las Vegas (from the 1940s through the '60s) as well as great talk show hosts and overall entertainers," longtime SUN entertainment columnist Joe Delaney, a close friend of Hayes and Healy, said.
"Peter was an authority on humor -- a walking encyclopedia of history on that subject. He could do everything, including singing and dancing. But his special talent was telling stories. He could do an hour just telling entertaining stories about Joe Frisco."
Frisco was a gravel-voiced comic whose humor centered on gambling and horse betting -- popular subjects with the Las Vegas audiences before which Hayes performed.
But it was in television where Hayes' talents came to the forefront.
He was the host of "Inside U.S.A. with Chevrolet," a musical variety show that aired on CBS from Sept. 29, 1949, to March 16, 1950, and featured Healy. Weekly guest stars included Lucille Ball, Boris Karloff and Ethel Merman.
"Peter gave Lucille Ball her first shot on TV, and she hated it -- vowing never again to go on television," said Jan Seagrave, who met Hayes and Healy in 1977 and over the past several years penned their memoirs, which await publishing in New York.
"Peter and Mary not only got Lucy to change her mind, but they also talked her and Desi (Arnaz) into doing their own TV show to help them save their marriage, which was in trouble at the time. The rest was television history."
"I Love Lucy" debuted on Oct. 15, 1951, on CBS and, during its 10-year run, became a No. 1-rated show (1952-54 and '56) and one of the most watched TV series in history.
On Thursday, Nov. 23, 1950, the half-hour "Peter and Mary Show" debuted on NBC in the 8:30 p.m. time slot. A month later, the show was renamed "The Peter Lind Hayes Show."
It was shot on a set that was designed to resemble Peter and Mary's New Rochelle, N.Y., home. At the start of each episode, the guest star would be on the telephone canceling a dinner date so that he or she could have dinner with Peter and Mary.
During dinner, Hayes and Healy talked with the guest, performed comedic routines, sang and danced -- showcasing both the guest's and Peter and Mary's talents.
Peter and Mary were not afraid to give artists who were on their way down a shot at reviving their careers through guest appearances on their show. Such was the case with Frank Sinatra.
"Sinatra's career was in a major slump -- some people thought he was washed up," said Seagrave, a SUN feature writer in the 1970s who then wrote under the name Jan Plowman.
"Peter put Frank on the show. Frank was so grateful and never forgot Peter for that. He flew Peter and Mary to Palm Springs for his wedding to (his fourth and current wife) Barbara Marx."
When Seagrave visited Hayes and Healy a month ago, she found Peter weeping as he listened to Sinatra records.
"Peter was crying because Frank was so ill," Seagrave said. "He was so worried about him."
"The Peter Lind Hayes Show" last aired on March 29, 1951. But it was far from Hayes' last appearance on the small screen.
Later that year, Hayes and Healy replaced Morton Downey as hosts of the CBS comedy-variety series "Star of the Family." They interviewed relatives of celebrities without revealing who the famous people were until the end of the show, when the star was brought out and introduced to the audience.
In the mid-1950s, Hayes and Healy performed on an episode of CBS's "Playhouse 90," a highly acclaimed dramatic anthology of 90-minute plays that were aired live.
In 1960, Hayes and Healy were stars of NBC's "Peter Loves Mary," a situation comedy that capped off a powerful Wednesday night lineup.
The half-hour show featured Peter and Mary as a show business couple adjusting to life in the suburbs. At 10 p.m., it followed "Wagon Train" (the No. 2-rated show), "The Price is Right" (the No. 9-rated show) and "Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall."
But Hayes' program was unable to hold the large viewership of the other shows and lasted just one season. Mary blamed it on the loss of one of the show's key writers early on and her health problems at the time, which prompted the couple to contemplate retirement.
In 1962, Hayes was one of a string of replacement hosts on NBC's "The Tonight Show." It was shortly after Jack Paar had left and before Johnny Carson, who at the time was under contract to ABC, came on board for his long run as permanent host.
On Oct. 3, 1964, Hayes made a somewhat out-of-character appearance on ABC's science fiction show "The Outer Limits" in an episode entitled "Behold Eck." In a memorable performance, Hayes portrayed an optometrist who made eyeglasses out of quartz and a meteorite to help a two-dimensional alien find his way home.
In addition to his work in television, Hayes was a popular voice on the radio. He and Mary had a New York-based talk show that had an estimated 6 million listeners.
Also, Hayes, for a short period, did Fred Allen's voice on the old Jack Benny Show at a time when Benny and Allen were feuding.
Born June 25, 1915, in Cairo, Ill., Hayes grew up in a show business family and got his start by teaming with his vaudevillian mother Grace Hayes. His father died when he was young. Hayes' stepfather was Eddie Foy Jr., of the famous vaudevillian family.
Grace later became a fixture in early Las Vegas. Her Grace Hayes Lodge was a popular spot on the Strip, which featured many top entertainers including Peter and Mary. Part of the sprawling Mirage now sits on where the Hayes resort once stood.
Hayes met his wife while both were working in Hollywood. They married in 1940. Theirs was one of the longest marriages in show business history.
During World War II, Hayes served in the Army Air Corps. He was awarded a bronze star for entertaining troops in South Pacific war zones.
Hayes once boasted that he and Healy had played every major nightclub in America during their storied careers.
Both sat for artist Norman Rockwell, who did portraits of them. Rockwell captured Hayes' trademark mischievous grin in his painting.
Hayes, a longtime local resident who used to maintain homes simultaneously in Las Vegas and New York, performed at several Las Vegas Strip hotel-casinos during his heyday. Among them were the Sands, Flamingo and Frontier.
In a Sept. 18, 1977, interview with the SUN, Hayes noted that in 1957, he and Mary headlined the Sands for what was then an unheard of salary of $20,000 a week. Hayes noted that by the mid-1970s, lounge acts were earning far more than that.
Hayes' motion picture appearances included "Winged Victory" with Red Buttons and Lee J. Cobb in 1944 and "The Senator Was Indiscreet" with William Powell and John Barrymore in 1947. With Healy, Hayes starred in the 1953 cult film classic "The Five Thousand Fingers of Dr. T."
The couple also appeared in several Broadway plays.
Locally, they performed in "Harvey" in 1977 -- the Meadows Playhouse first-ever professional production.
"My aim in the twilight of my life is to become a character actor in television and the movies," Hayes told the SUN in 1977. "We don't need the money. But that can be a death trap. You (can) lose your eagerness -- your credibility."
Hayes was an avid golfer and writer, who in the early 1980s penned short, witty poems for The Valley Times, a North Las Vegas daily newspaper that folded in June 1984. He also wrote for several magazines, including "The New Yorker."
In 1979, Hayes and Healy were named "Entertainment Personalities of the Year" by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.
They were long active in the local Variety Club, assisting with the organization's many charity events.
In addition to his wife, Hayes is survived by a daughter, actress Cathy Lind Hayes of Los Angeles; and a son, CBS television engineer Peter Michael Hayes of Durham, Conn.
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