On the day of his 100th birthday, a special Vintage Variety episode looks back at the arc of Johnny Carson’s early career and his rise to becoming a TV icon, as chronicled in the pages of Variety .

Carson’s first mention in Variety came in the Oct. 20, 1952, edition. By early 1953, he was noted in our pages several times a month. By the following year, and for the next four decades, not a week went by without at least one reference, usually many more, because Carson worked nonstop. He hosted “Carson’s Cellar” in L.A. He worked as a writer on “The Red Skelton Show.” He did nightclubs and personal appearances and telethons and charity gigs, just like every other rising comedian of the day.

Throughout the 1950s, Carson hosted a number of local and network series for CBS, including “

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