A Sonny Life
Bill Carroll
I Contributing Writer
T
he weather last Sunday was
cloudy and warm — a "clarmy"
kind of day. But it was also very
somber, because Sonny Eliot, the iconic
Detroit television and radio weatherman,
was buried.
He had become a legend during a
63-year career on Detroit TV and radio,
captivating viewers and listeners with a
repertoire of zany weather descriptions,
quips, accents and unusual city names.
As much a jokester as a meteorologist,
he came up with new words like "snog,"
standing for snow and fog, or "dilly,"
standing for clear and chilly. He called a
lousy day "as pleasant as a diaper rash:'
Mr. Eliot, 91, died Nov. 16, 2012, at his
Farmington Hills home. He had retired
only two years ago from his last weather
job on WWJ-AM Radio.
"Comedy was his public face, but
he was actually a very serious man:'
said Sonny's nephew, Robert Weitz of
Huntington Woods, serving as the family
spokesman. Weitz's mother and Sonny
were two of six siblings.
Interment and shivah were private. "My
Aunt Annette [Sonny's widow] is 96, and
she's having a difficult time right now:'
said Weitz. "But we hope to have a memo-
rial service at a later date:'
Spoke Yiddish Perfectly
Weitz said Sonny was "not very religious,
but he was serious and scholarly — and
could speak Yiddish perfectly. In fact, he
spoke several languages fluently and could
count to high numbers in 15 different
languages. He was more than just a broad-
caster; he loved history and had a wealth of
knowledge. He could discuss any topic:'
Sonny was born Marvin Eliot
Schlossberg in 1920 on Hastings Street
in old Jewish Detroit, an area that's now
a freeway. He was the youngest child of
Latvian immigrants Jacob and Jeanette
Schlossberg, who owned a hardware store
on Hastings.
Mr. Eliot acquired the nickname of
"Sonny" because he was 12 years younger
than most of his siblings and they tagged
him Sonny, which lasted
throughout his adult life.
A graduate of Detroit
Central High School, he fell
in love with movies and got
the acting bug. He attended
Wayne University, had small
roles in school plays and took
a class taught by Fran Striker,
producer of The Lone Ranger
radio show, later writing a
Sonny Elio t
script for the show. He also
played bit parts on that show
and The Green Hornet program.
Shot Down Over Germany
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor
to plunge America into World War II,
Sonny enlisted in the Army Air Force
and became a B-24 bomber pilot, fly-
ing 16 missions over Europe. He was
wounded by shrapnel when his plane,
named Doodley Squat, was shot down
over Germany, and he spent 18 months in
a prisoner of war camp.
He later joked that it was poor planning
to be captured by the people you had just
bombed. While there, he wrote and acted
in skits and musicals to entertain his fel-
low prisoners. "I wrote some comedy for
the other guys, but how could I miss? I
had a captive audience he quipped many
years later.
After the war, Sonny made an unsuc-
cessful stab at a Broadway career, then
returned to Detroit in 1946 to join
Detroit's first television channel, WWJ-
TV, Channel 4 (now WDIV-TV). He had
parts in various programs — quiz shows,
trivia contests, children's shows — audi-
tioning for different parts, willing to do
anything to get ahead in the medium.
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When the channel needed a weatherman,
Sonny quickly volunteered.
He was star weathercaster at Channel
4 from the late 1940s until the late 1970s;
weathercaster at Channel 2 in the late
70s and early 80s, a marketing special-
ist briefly for the Detroit
News in the '80s, and a
movie host on Channel 50
in the 1980s. Meanwhile,
he also spent more than
six decades on WWJ-AM
Radio until his retirement,
giving two weathercasts a
day at the end.
Friend And Mentor
"I remember I was doing
live TV commercials for a
beer company on Channel 4 in the 1950s
when Sonny was the weathercaster,"
recalled Mary Lou Zieve of Bloomfield
Hills. "He was my first friend in the busi-
ness and became a mentor to me.
"Since I was new at the job and sort
of nervous, he kept me calm and relaxed
with his kibitzing and great sense of
humor. We remained close friends
through the years:' she said.
"Sonny was a unique personality in the
history of Detroit; there was no one like
him:' said Jack Lessenberry of Huntington
Woods, a Wayne State University journal-
ism professor, writer and lecturer.
"He was a journalism pioneer because
he was present at the creation of TV
in Detroit. And at the high point of his
career, he had an amazing 50 percent
share of TV sets tuned to him for his
weathercasts.
"He was always polite and helpful to
young people getting started in the TV
business; just a real mentsh."
Lessenberry knew Sonny for more
than 30 years and often had lunch with
him and a crowd of Detroit-area pals that
included sports stars, sports writers and
broadcasters. Sonny loved the Detroit
Tigers, the Thanksgiving Parade, the zoo
and almost every other Detroit institu-
tion. He was behind the plate in umpire's
garb when the ceremonial first pitch was
thrown out at Tigers openers.
Lessenberry agreed that Sonny wasn't
very religious, "but he always said he real-
ly felt his Jewishness when people made
anti-Semitic remarks to him:'
'Career Beyond Stunning'
His early broadcasts were straight, but
then he told a joke, the crew laughed
and his boss didn't get mad, thus launch-
ing his comic forecasts. "His career was
beyond stunning:' observed Tim Kiska,
an associate professor at the University
of Michigan-Dearborn and author of
the book From Soupy (Sales) to Nuts; a
History of Detroit TV Added Kiska: "He
started broadcasting in the late 1940s
and finished in 2010. Nobody ever had a
career like that and nobody ever will:'
Sonny Eliot is survived by his wife of
more than 50 years, Annette, and neph-
ews, Robert (Sandra) Weitz, Marshall
Weitz, Don Schlossberg, Fred and Shirley
Green; niece, Marilyn Hoes. He is also
survived by many loving grand-nieces,
grand nephews, other family members
and friends, colleagues and a world of
loyal friends.
Sonny was the brother of the late Leo
Schlossberg, the late Anna Weitz, the late
Helen Green, the late Eva Simon, the late
Sylvia Sarachek and the uncle of the late
Ruth Weitz.
Interment and shivah were private.
Donations may be made to a charity of
one's choice. Arrangements by Dorfman
Chapel.
The public may send condolences and
remembrances of Sonny Eliot to the family
through info@thedorfmanchapel.com , or
by writing to the Dorman Chapel, 30440
12 Mile Road, Farmington Hills, 48334.
❑
Obituaries on page 62
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Obituaries
November 22 • 2012
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