BOB HOPE'S THIRD TV SHOW
(approx 55 min)
This tape provides a unique trip down memory lane with now TV legend Bob Hope as he appears in his third TV show,. which was sponsored by Frigidaire.
In this, his first show just for G.I.s, something which would later become his trademark, Bob talks about his trip to Korea.
It contains great sketches and, of course, the talent of Les Brown and his orchestra.
BOB HOPE: Christmas Special 1950
(approx. 60 min)
Bob Hope's 1950 Christmas special is a strange amalgam of light
comedy and serious current events, good feeling and uneasiness,
local and national politics, and pop culture and high culture.
Hope was still relatively new to television, having appeared
perhaps three times before, and he shows that he still needs to
develop his timing and screen presence, especially on his
monologues.
His topical humor, involving Senator Joseph McCarthy
and columnist Drew Pearson, may be lost on modern viewers. The
Korean War was just starting to heat up, and everyone is looking
forward to Christmas but dreading the events they know are
certain to break out for the new year.
He jokes about his
sponsor, Frigidaire, saying that he's sold everything from soap
to Chesterfield, "and I may not be clean, but I'll be satisfied."
The guest stars, Robert Cummings, Lily Pons, Robert Maxwell,
newly elected New York Mayor Vincent Impelliteri, and Eleanor
Roosevelt, a strange array of people.
Cummings and Hope do a
comical soft-shoe number and a sketch in which they play sidewalk
Santa Clauses on a subway train (circa 1950, and very different
from modern subways), joined by others including a dwarf Santa,
comparing notes and singing songs about different department
stores.
Opera singer Lily Pons sings "The Bell Song" from the Leo
Delibes opera LAKME, a piece that was a favorite of hers (which
she'd also done in the movie CARNEGIE HALL just three years
earlier); she also works with Hope and Cummings in a
song-and-dance number based on famous arias from various operas,
where she really kicks up her heels.
Harpist Robert Maxwell
performs a medley of popular tunes on the harp, and tape dancer
Betty Bruce gets a featured spot as well.
The strangest moments
come from an impromptu appearance by Mayor Vincent Impelliteri,
newly installed after a special election (and praised by Hope on
camera as the choice of those who believe in "honest
government")--Impelliteri seems confused by it all, and he was,
in fact, completely befuddled during his single term as mayor; he
and Hope both refer to the Korean War, which was just heating up
very seriously and about to plunge the country into a crisis;
Eleanor Roosevelt comes out at the end to read a message from
George Washington, written 174 years earlier, calling on the
country to join together in a time of crisis.
CHESTERFIELD SOUND OFF TIME
(approx 55 min)
Fred Allen hosts this comedy/variety show, featuring Zeke Manners.
Opening with "Sound Off For Chesterfield," an adaptation of an army marching song, Allen does a few parodies of current events as blackout sketches, including one about a future date when presidential candidates haqve sponsors, just like tv shows, and mercilessly plug the manufacturers backing them during speeches.
He also turns up on a set decorated by an apparently "dead" body, which turns out to be Dave Garroway, plugging the upcoming debut of The Today Show.
COLGATE COMEDY HOUR STARRING GORDON MACRAE (approx 20 min)
The Broadway and motion picture star (Carousel etc.) in an incomplete installment of Colgate Comedy Hour, performing with his daughter (and future television star) Meredith McRae in a duet of "My Blessings."
Special guest Debra Paget dances with a trio to "Get Happy" and "Blues in the Night," and Gene Sheldon (Babes In Toyland, Zorro) performs as a mime.
McRae sings "It's A Woman's World" and comedian Jack Carter talks about male/female relationships, before launching into a salute to minstrel shows and old-time stage entertainment that features impressions of Louis Armstrong and Al Jolson and the songs "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "By The Light of the Silvery Moon."
McRae closes with Jerome Kern's "Ol' Man River."
COLGATE COMEDY HOUR STARRING ABBOTT & COSTELLO (approx 50 min)
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello came to television fairly late, mostly thanks to the fact that they had healthy film careers into the early 1950's.
When they finally got to the small screen, they went over big, and got their own television series in short order--alas, the resulting Abbott and Costello Show used up most of their best routines very quickly, and it was downhill from there.
But their debut on THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR showed the team near its peak, doing several of their most well known bits ("Mustard" aka "Hole in the Wall," "The Sanitarium," "Find the Lemon") live, with all of the spontaneity that this implies. Singer Evelyn Knight stands in for Hillary Brooke, as a sultry singer who falls all over Costello.
Other guests include Hal Le Roy, Paul Remos and His Toy Boys, and the Jimmy Ford Four. The show is followed by a beautiful copy of the Abbott and Costello 1952 appeal for Christmas Seals, co-starring Charles Laughton, who was co-starring with the duo in Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kid, arguably the last of their good costume adventure/comedies.
COLGATE COMEDY HOUR STARRING EDDIE CANTOR WITH CESAR ROMERO (approx 60 min)
Eddie Cantor hosts this brilliant installment of COLGATE COMEDY HOUR with special guest star Cesar Romero. Cantor opens with a very funny musical salute to New York City ("This Is My New York") mixing songs and sketch comedy.
Much of the show involves his efforts to get Cesar Romero to rehearse, despite the costant distraction of the women hanging around every corner of Romero's living quarters.
They finally perform a bullfighting sketch that has Cantor trying to coax some aggressive behavior out of a motley looking animal (two men in a costume).
The finale, a salute to songs of the past, includes Cantor's renditions of "Has Anybody Seen My Girl," "After You've Gone," "Nothing Could Be Finer," and a clip- of Al Jolson doing "Swanee."
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BOB HOPE: Christmas Special 1950 (approx. 60 min)
Bob Hope's 1950 Christmas special is a strange amalgam of light comedy and serious current events, good feeling and uneasiness, local and national politics, and pop culture and high culture.
COLGATE COMEDY HOUR STARRING GORDON MACRAE (approx 20 min)
The Broadway and motion picture star (Carousel etc.) in an incomplete installment of Colgate Comedy Hour, performing with his daughter (and future television star) Meredith McRae in a duet of "My Blessings."
COLGATE COMEDY HOUR STARRING ABBOTT & COSTELLO (approx 50 min)
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello came to television fairly late, mostly thanks to the fact that they had healthy film careers into the early 1950's.
COLGATE COMEDY HOUR STARRING EDDIE CANTOR WITH CESAR ROMERO (approx 60 min)
Eddie Cantor hosts this brilliant installment of COLGATE COMEDY HOUR with special guest star Cesar Romero. Cantor opens with a very funny musical salute to New York City ("This Is My New York") mixing songs and sketch comedy.