Geraldo Rivera being humiliated by Al Capone's vault

[bandit957]

Anyone else remember this?

In the late '80s, there was a TV special hosted by Geraldo Rivera in which Al Capone's vault was being opened in the hopes that some valuable treasures would be found. But as the show dragged on, they couldn't find anything except broken glass and wadded-up newspapers and stuff. Geraldo ended up being humiliated in front of the whole country.

Around the same time, there was also a special in which a safe that sank with the Titanic was being opened, and they couldn't find anything in it either. But I don't think Geraldo was involved in that.

[Brandon]

Yes.  It was a serious blow to Jerry Rivers aka Geraldo Rivera.

[nexus73]

Unlike the storage locker reality TV shows, at least Geraldo did real reality, which sometimes winds up mundane, boring or just plain nothing to see here folks.  He struck out on the vault but at least he swung the bat.  Unfortunately it was a strike.  Had it been a home run, OMG time!  Either way it could have gone, Geraldo got a measure of fame from doing the broadcast, which counts as a win.  We're still talking about it, right?

Rick

[bandit957]

The Wikipedia article about Geraldo's vault disaster says there was a show in 1984 in which a safe was recovered from a shipwreck - but not the Titanic - and paper currency was found in it. I seem to remember it was later than 1984 though, and the safe was empty. They said on the show that if there was any paper currency in it, it would have become so waterlogged by then it would be worthless crumbs.

[abefroman329]

Jerry Rivers aka Geraldo Rivera

It's entirely possible to stare your dislike for Geraldo without resorting to gross, anti-Semitic urban legends.

[cjk374]

Then he was attacked by a chair on his own show. What a run of bad luck. 

[abefroman329]

Aha! ROAD MAPS!

[formulanone]

Then he was attacked by a chair on his own show. What a run of bad luck. 

It showed the measure of the man for exposing cretinous neo-Nazis on national TV. When one of them insulted another, it was bound to happen. It wasn't Geraldo doing the insulting.

In the past 20 years, the platform has been used to figure out who's the sperm donor or how licentiousness the mother might me, without doing solving any serious issues.

[Stephane Dumas]

Aha! ROAD MAPS!

I remember "Talk Town with George Newman" as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH46Gc8fiPA

[briantroutman]

To my knowledge, I've never watched any of Geraldo Rivera's programs–either his '80s/'90s tabloid talk era or his more recent straight-ahead news approach. And I was only two years old when the Al Capone's vault broadcast aired. But that said, I'm well aware of Geraldo's stunt, and I'd estimate that it's very well established in the public's consciousness–at least for anyone over roughly 40. I've even heard "Al Capone's vault"  used as shorthand for an event that's widely anticipated but turns out to be anticlimactic.

I don't really have an opinion on Geraldo Rivera, but from what I can tell, the incident didn't slow down his career much if at all. This embarrassment happened only because Geraldo was bold enough to go out on a limb, and I believe the broadcast delivered big ratings, which was his his real goal anyway.

And it seems he came to terms with it quickly and was able to laugh it off: I recall seeing a promo for his tabloid talk show around 1990 in which a 10-year-old portrayed a fictional "young Geraldo"  reporting from his school. And at the end of the promo, the excited young Geraldo had snuck into the principal's office, about to show his classmates what secrets were hidden inside the principal's desk or something like that.

Now contrast that with Alan Thicke, who I think was genuinely embarrassed by the failure of Thicke of the Night and by how ridiculous the "look out Johnny"  promotional build-up looked in hindsight. Based on interviews I've seen where he's talked about the experience, he seems to have taken years to get over it. Though as an actor, anyway, he went on to his greatest fame shortly thereafter on Growing Pains.

[bugo]

I remember that! It was a scam from the start.

[roadman]

Long before the Al Capone vault fiasco, Geraldo Rivera did a 20-20 segment on safety issues with railroad tank cars.  I still recall how, in one part of the segment, he comes across a pair of tank cars on a siding that have no placards or other indication as to the contents, but one of which is leaking.  Calls the Chicago Fire Department, who responds and immediately starts to douse water on the leaking car (the Fire Department had no clue as to what was in the leaking car either).  Fortunately, whatever was in the leaking tank car didn't react with water.

[nexus73]

Long before the Al Capone vault fiasco, Geraldo Rivera did a 20-20 segment on safety issues with railroad tank cars.  I still recall how, in one part of the segment, he comes across a pair of tank cars on a siding that have no placards or other indication as to the contents, but one of which is leaking.  Calls the Chicago Fire Department, who responds and immediately starts to douse water on the leaking car (the Fire Department had no clue as to what was in the leaking car either).  Fortunately, whatever was in the leaking tank car didn't react with water.

Magnesium always makes for an interesting firefighting time!

Rick

[bing101]

Aha! ROAD MAPS!

I remember "Talk Town with George Newman" as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iIXdUEzTz4

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/07/01/no-alex-jones-nasa-is-not-hiding-kidnapped-children-on-mars-nasa-says/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.14f21eb0a55e




Wow Also at the end of the Town Talk clip its funny how Al Yankovic ended up talking about conspiracy theories on the UHF Spoof of Geraldo.


Only difference here is that "Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by Ufos and Forced into Weight Loss Programs" sounds like a reference to Alex Jones though if one is listening in 2019 though. 




Damn Its interesting how Al Yankovic did Town Talk promo parody initially to be a reference to Geraldo, Morton Downey and Wally George though. But who thought that AL Yankovic would end up making references to future shows like Maury and Springer though.

[renegade]

I gave up on Jerry Rivers right after the on-stage chair fight.  This was around the time that other loudmouth, Morton Downey Junior was dominating the airwaves, but still before Jerry Springer went nuts with the ghetto/barrio/trailer park format.

[roadman]

The Wikipedia article about Geraldo's vault disaster says there was a show in 1984 in which a safe was recovered from a shipwreck - but not the Titanic - and paper currency was found in it. I seem to remember it was later than 1984 though, and the safe was empty. They said on the show that if there was any paper currency in it, it would have become so waterlogged by then it would be worthless crumbs.

IIRC, part of the muck they found in Al Capone's vault was exactly that, deteriorated paper currency.

[RobbieL2415]

I've watched clips of Geraldo and Phil Donahue and Oprah from the late 80s and early 90s.  I strongly dislike their "you're wrong, you don't get a say in your beliefs" attitude towards their guests. Like why don't you try listening to what they have to say?  They have just as much a reason for their life choices as we do ours.

[SectorZ]

This thread just confirmed how people will buy even the dumbest of urban legends...

And by that, I mean the Jerry Rivers thing

[Verlanka]

This thread just confirmed how people will buy even the dumbest of urban legends...

And by that, I mean the Jerry Rivers thing

I completely agree.

[abefroman329]

This thread just confirmed how people will buy even the dumbest of urban legends...

And by that, I mean the Jerry Rivers thing

I completely agree.

I should be surprised that the board that refers to "Nazi"  as "the N-word"  is cool with anti-Semitism, but I'm not.

[Verlanka]

This thread just confirmed how people will buy even the dumbest of urban legends...

And by that, I mean the Jerry Rivers thing

I completely agree.

I should be surprised that the board that refers to "Nazi"  as "the N-word"  is cool with anti-Semitism, but I'm not.

You think so?

[formulanone]

This thread just confirmed how people will buy even the dumbest of urban legends...

And by that, I mean the Jerry Rivers thing

The catch with urban legends is that it's not always easy to find something to refute it; yes, there's a wealth of information out there to dispute them, but one's concepts have to first be challenged, and second, the new information has to accepted.

[inkyatari]

Around the same time, there was also a special in which a safe that sank with the Titanic was being opened, and they couldn't find anything in it either. But I don't think Geraldo was involved in that.

Telly Savalas was on that one...