COLGATE COMEDY HOUR STARRING EDDIE CANTOR WITH GUESTS EDDIE FISHER, JOEL GRAY, AND WILLIAM WARFIELD (approx 60 min)
Eddie Cantor hosts this one-hour show broadcast from Philadelphia, highlighted by his showcasing of various new and up-and-coming performers, among them a teenaged Joel Grey in his network television debut, who does a comedy song-and-dance.
SHOWBOAT co-star singer William Warfield, who sings "It Ain't Necessaeily So" from Porgy And Bess. Cantor also does lots of comic shtick with his regulars Evelyn Gould and Marion Colby.
THE COMEDY HOUR STARRING BOB HOPE
(approx 60 min)
There was a time when Bob Hope was new to television, and this show recalls it, and how well the comedian took to the new medium.
Working in front of an all G.I. audience (a television first, according to Hope), he takes some well aimed topical comid shots at politicians (staying in New York for the show, he says he's staying at City Hall--"Nobody else does," a reference to Mayor O'Dwyer's sudden departure to a diplomatic post in Mexico amid scandal) and the military itself, in an extended sketch in which he plays a hot-shot test pilot.
He also duets with special guest Marilyn Maxwell on one song, and the two do a very funny sketch about espionage (complete with Hitler and Stalin lookalikes) that seems influenced in part by the "Private SNAFU" cartoons of World War II.
Other guests include the Hi Hatters, a black tap-dance troupe who perform to "Me and My Shadow," the vocal trio the Three Tailor Maids, dancer Judy Kelly, and country-and-western legend Jimmy Wakely, who performs "Lonesome Train" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," the latter in a duet with Hope.
Commercials include spots for Frigidaire refrigirators, ovens, and washing machines, and a plug by Hope--in what could be one of the earliest references to it on a major network--for color television.
COLGATE COMEDY HOUR - Ray Bolger
(approx 45 min)
Ray Bolger, Rise Stevens, and Betty Kean (sister of one-time Honeymooners Trixie Norton Jane Kean) star in this hour-long variety show, done for Christmas and featuring the rubber-limbed Bolger in a holiday sketch and dancing to "The Old Soft Shoe."
Stevens does a toy-store sketch and a production number based on Bizet's Carmen, and Billy Sands (McHale's Navy etc.) appears in a sketch about Christmas display windows. Bolger and Stevens are teamed up in a duet from Pagliacci--featured dances include the Charleston, the Black Bottom, and the Rhumba.
COLGATE VARIETY HOUR
DEAN MARTIN AND JERRY LEWIS SHOW--
(approx 60 min)
The legendary comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform a film parody called EGGROLL IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING, in mock Japanese (with subtitles), presented by Dean Martin as the host of MARTIN'S MIGHTY MIDNIGHT MATINEE MOVIE (a clear precursor to Johnny Carson's Art Fern and his own movie parody feature on THE TONIGHT SHOW) plugging Kralick Coffee ("no taste so it's not habit forming").
A Vegamatic parody called the Handy Dandy (introduced by a Carol Wayne predecessor). Lewis plays Japanese star Tab Yakaguchi, and Martin appears as an accused spy being onterrogated by Lewis in a Japanese movie parody.
In another sketch Jerry Lewis's Sidney disrupts Dean Martin's wedding, but they remain friends, singing "Two Lost Souls" from DAMN YANKEES together.
Dean Martin does a live performance of "Memories Are Made Of This" with his own guitar quartet, and then Lewis insists that Martin sing with his group, which turns out to be the 60-odd member Norman Luboff Choir, who complete overwhelm Martin.
They also make a plug for funds to fight Muscular Distrophy. And Bess Myerson appears for Fab detergent and a free doll offer.
THE JERRY LEWIS SPECIAL (approx 60 min)
This November 1957 special, which was one of Lewis's first major showcases following his 1956 split with Dean Martin, presents Lewis in a variety of roles.
As a gawky, loudmouthed teenager, he makes a shambles of a tv dance show called TEEN TIME, with Jan Murray as the nervous host, in a sketch that includes footage of him running around New York's 42nd Street Library--and Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" is used for an identify-a-record contest.
The best sketch features Paul Lynde as a theatrical producer trying to prepare an upcoming show, only to be interrupted by Lewis as telephone repairman Melvin Fleck.
Judy Scott is featured in an elaborate production number, and Lewis does a tap-dance number. Lewis is seen posed in front of a blown-up announcement for his February 1958 appearance at the RKO Palace, and later thanks the editors of TV Guide for its cover story on him.
The major musical guest is Woody Herman and His Band, who perform "Caldonia" and "I'm Gonna Love You Like Nobody Loves You" with the studio band.
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THE COMEDY HOUR STARRING BOB HOPE (approx 60 min)
There was a time when Bob Hope was new to television, and this show recalls it, and how well the comedian took to the new medium.
COLGATE COMEDY HOUR - Ray Bolger (approx 45 min)
Ray Bolger, Rise Stevens, and Betty Kean (sister of one-time Honeymooners Trixie Norton Jane Kean) star in this hour-long variety show, done for Christmas and featuring the rubber-limbed Bolger in a holiday sketch and dancing to "The Old Soft Shoe."
COLGATE VARIETY HOUR DEAN MARTIN AND JERRY LEWIS SHOW--
(approx 60 min)
The legendary comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform a film parody called EGGROLL IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING, in mock Japanese (with subtitles), presented by Dean Martin as the host of MARTIN'S MIGHTY MIDNIGHT MATINEE MOVIE (a clear precursor to Johnny Carson's Art Fern and his own movie parody feature on THE TONIGHT SHOW) plugging Kralick Coffee ("no taste so it's not habit forming").
THE JERRY LEWIS SPECIAL (approx 60 min)
This November 1957 special, which was one of Lewis's first major showcases following his 1956 split with Dean Martin, presents Lewis in a variety of roles.