Tracking spotlight sometimes fun but always fleeting

It started with an apparent slip of the tongue. My 19-year-old son and I were talking about the rule of threes in prominent deaths.

"There's Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed Sullivan," he said.

"Ed Sullivan?" I laughed. He did, too.

"Why did I think that name?" he asked. "But now I'm drawing a blank. Who was it?"

"You mean Ed McMahon."

"Right. Why was I thinking of Ed Sullivan? Isn't he still alive?"

"Hardly. He died 20 years ago, I think. Do you even know who he was?"

"Didn't he have something to do with the Beatles?"

We talked for a moment about The Ed Sullivan Show, then I asked, "Do you know who Ed McMahon was?"

"Not really. What was he famous for?"

"He was most famous as the sidekick for Johnny Carson."

"Johnny Carson?"

"You don't know Johnny Carson?"

"Gosh, I'm sorry. The name is familiar, but I can't really picture him."

"Johnny Carson? You don't know Johnny Carson?" I repeated myself. "I guess this is one of those 'jeez do I feel old' conversations."

A day earlier, he had used the same incredulous tone with me, but for a completely different reason.

"Billy Mays? You don't know Billy Mays?" he'd asked.

He had to pull up a picture on the Internet of the famous pitch man.

"Oh, that guy," I said. "Is he really that famous? Heck, I barely know what OxiClean is, let alone the name of the guy yelling about it."

"Of course, he is. I can't believe you don't know him."

I had to admit I had never known the man's name until he died. So, a day later, I could hardly ridicule my son for not knowing perhaps my generation's most famous television star, now long dead. By comparison, it would be like me knowing Ernie Kovacs when I was 19 - although I hasten to point out that I did sort of know who Ernie Kovacs was when I was 19 (even if I still have to look it up to know whether he was Kovac or Kovacs.)

But then, back in 1971, there were so many fewer cultural icons to keep track of. The Beatles, the Stones, Richard Nixon, Hank Aaron, Johnny Carson. Of course, there were many more, but the list went down fast from there.

Fast-forward a few hours from the Johnny Carson talk with my son to a conversation with my wife:

"And, what's the deal with Jesse Jackson?" she is saying as she pulls up an Internet story on him calling for an investigation into the death of Michael Jackson. "Does he have to insert himself into every major event that happens?"

"He does love the spotlight," I replied simply.

And now, today, I think about that spotlight. Shining it on people is one of the key functions of my business. Sometimes, it is hard to know which comes first, the spotlight or the spotlighted, but this much is abundantly clear. Neither Jesse Jackson nor Michael Jackson nor Janet Jackson nor Reggie Jackson nor Joe Jackson nor Randy Jackson nor Stonewall Jackson had better get too comfortable in it.

Your name may be on everyone's tongue today, but tomorrow, it's only one little slip away from just being something that makes people feel old. And, yes, I do know who Jack Paar was, too. (But help me out here, is it two a's or two r's?)

• Jim Slusher, jslusher@dailyherald.com, is an assistant managing editor at the Daily Herald.