The Eagles on The Helen Reddy Show,
July 12th, 1973
The Eagles appeared on the third episode of The Helen Reddy Show on July 12th, 1973. Also featured were Mac Davis, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Cheech and Chong. The Eagles played two songs: “Witchy Woman” and “Tequila Sunrise.” It was their U.S. television debut.
On the heels of Reddy’s hit, “I Am Woman,” her friend Flip Wilson offered her his primetime NBC time slot while the Flip Wilson Show was on summer hiatus. The eight episodes were billed as Flip Wilson Presents The Helen Reddy Show.
In addition to appearing on her show, Mac Davis also appeared in concert with Reddy numerous times in 1973. She had also recorded one of his songs, “I Believe In You,” for her 1971 debut album I Didn’t Know How To Love Him. Ironically, Reddy and Davis died on the same day in 2020 (September 29th) at the same age (78).
The Eagles’ appearance on the Helen Reddy Show marked their U.S. television debut.1 Watch short clips of their performances of “Witchy Woman” and “Tequila Sunrise” below:
Randy’s wife Jennifer, their 9-year-old son, Dana, and Jennifer’s 13-year-old niece, Bobbi, were present at the taping, which took place a month or two earlier at NBC Studios in Burbank. Jennifer remembered that the filming was a long process, with the groups stopping and starting to make sure their performances were perfect. Gladys Knight & The Pips took the longest, she remembered. “They made me insane.”
Below is an article from the Scottsbluff Star-Herald, Randy’s hometown paper, announcing The Helen Reddy Show appearance. Included with the article was a photo of Jennifer posing with a poster from the Eagles’ concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall in March 1973 (the poster would later end up on the wall of their apartment in Studio City). Unfortunately, the article is riddled with misspellings, the most glaring is Randy’s last name. Near the bottom, the paper quotes Jennifer as saying the Eagles had finished taping a show with the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. This would have been the 90-minute In Concert special on ABC, which aired August 3rd, 1973. When the Helen Reddy Show aired in Scottsbluff, Randy was home and able to watch it with his family.
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- In March 1973, the Eagles made two European television appearances on Popgala ’73 and BBC’s In Concert. Although the Reddy show marked the Eagles’ U.S. television debut, this was not Randy’s first stint before television audiences. His group, The Poor, appeared on episodes of Ironside and The Name Of The Game in 1968. He also made a number of TV appearances with Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band between 1969 and 1971. ↩︎
Super Great Article! Thank You so Much! Archives on Anniversary Dates are Wonderful!
Thanks, Gwen!
Love your work with Jennifer. It really brings such a personal perspective. Awesome job, as usual.
Thank you. I’m glad I can share her memories and mementos. She has been very supportive of my site. I’m so grateful.
Great article. Many thanks to you and to Jennifer for sharing her treasures from her life with Randy with us. We’re so honored and appreciative to be able to see them.
Thanks, Karen! It’s a pleasure for me to share them.
I like Bernie’s hat !
It’s a cool hat!
Interesting, the band played three songs, not two. If you note the photo with Bernie playing acoustic guitar and Glenn playing electric, this means there was another song that the band played, but I guess it was never taped? Tequila sunrise Glenn plays acoustic and Bernie electric, witchy woman both play electric. I wonder what the third song is and why it was never released…
That’s a great question, Kris. I hadn’t noticed that. I’m wondering if that photo may have been taken during a sound check? Randy’s first wife Jennifer was at the taping and said that it went on for hours. Not just the Eagles’ performance, but all of the musical guests. Songs were redone over and over. There was a lot of waiting. There may have also been sound checks. I’m wondering if that’s when this photo was taken. There’s a similar photo during the Eagles’ sound check before the taping of ABC In Concert, also in 1973. Bernie with the acoustic 12-string and Glenn with his black Les Paul (see it here). They performed the same two songs on that show, as well as “Early Bird” (on which Bernie played banjo). I have gone through their setlists for that year. Maybe “Bitter Creek”? That’s more of an acoustic song, but one they performed live that year. Nothing else seems to match. I’m left with more questions than answers, I’m afraid.