Johnny Carson microphone up for auction

DALLAS, March 17 (UPI) -- A microphone that sat on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" desk in the 1960s and '70s will be auctioned off, Heritage Galleries of Dallas said Thursday.

The mic was headed for the trash heap when the show's chief boom operator, Stan Sweeney, rescued it during the 1980s. Doug Norwine, Music and Entertainment Auctions Director of Heritage Galleries, said producers invited crew members to "take a memento or two" before the old set was discarded.

The label on the Shure model SM33 unidirectional ribbon microphone reads, "Johnny's mic ... not Ed's ... not Fred's" -- references to sidekick Ed McMahon and producer Fred De Cordova.

"Mr. Sweeney told us he politely declined a recent offer from a well-known celebrity to buy the microphone," said Norwine. "Instead, he consigned it to the auction so that all of Carson's fans can have a chance to own it."

Carson hosted "The Tonight Show" on NBC from 1962-92. He died on Jan. 23 at 79.

The mic will be auctioned in April, along with a Grammy Award the Rolling Stones won for "Voodoo Lounge"; signed Elvis Presley contracts from the 1950s; and one of Ingrid Bergman's costumes from the 1942 film classic, "Casablanca."