Almost a decade before Woody Allen became American cinema's king of New York, he was a clown prince on network television, doing stand-up on every major , prime time variety show and late night talk show.
In the years prior to finding his voice as an auteur,Allen cultivated his hip, comic persona as the embodiment of New York neurosis.
While he learned to deftly weave ironic, if understated, tales of Manhattan in vivid, silver nitrate, he was pumping out punchlines in Living Color on NBC.
Below is a rare clip showing one of King's earliest appearances on NBC-TV's prime time JACK PAAR SHOW from the STANDAPARTCOMEDY YOU TUBE site.Enjoy!!!!
In 1959, when television was starting to emerge from the dark ages, Playboy Magazine's founder and publisher, Hugh M. Hefner, inadvertently turned his burgeoning empire into a vertically integrated, multi-media company.
Hefner, who was urbane, erudite, and a shameless self-promoter, realized that the best way to bring new readers to the pages of his controversial men's mag was to create a video version of his publication and the lifestyle it espoused.
But, with the magazine's nude images of voluptuous women ,provocative social commentary and literature for adults only, it was unlikely that a local television station would put its reputation or F.C.C. license on the line to carry a show, rooted in the glossy publication, that was fraught potential community problems.
Hefner was undeterred and assembled a team of television pros to create PLAYBOY'S PENTHOUSE, a syndicated talk/variety show that was taped at the ABC television station in Chicago.
The free-wheeling , star-studded show was the living embodiment of the Playboy Philosophy and offered late night viewers a glittering glimpse into a sophisticated, world of hipsters where politics,promiscuity and performance were mixed to create a potent,cultural cocktail in living black and white.
Here from the DJJULIA YOU TUBE SITE is the opening segment from the debut of PLAYBOY'S PENTHOUSE.Enjoy!!!
In the late 1950's ,Danny Thomas, celebrated night club performer,virtuoso story-teller,protean TV producer, and selfless philanthropist, was America's favorite family man and network television's King of Situation Comedy.
Thomas, who was born Amos Jacobs in Deerfield,MI,faced and overcame two great challenges in Prime Time Television History: His Emmy-winning series, MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY, was one of the very first hit shows on the struggling ABC-TV network, running from 1953 to 1957.
Next,when the show ,rechristened as THE DANNY THOMAS SHOW, defected to CBS-TV in 1958, it moved into the time slot vacated by mega-hit,I LOVE LUCY, and continued to dominate the CBS Monday schedule.
The series was a Monday night tradition until Thomas took it off the air in the 1964 television season.Along the way it spawned many, enduring sitcom spinoffs, including THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, GOMER PYLE U.S.M.C., THE JOEY BISHOP SHOW & THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW.
With visionary producing partner,Sheldon Leonard, Thomas was one of network television's most prolific producers of the 1960's.Their company, T&L PRODUCTIONS, helmed Bill Cosby & Robert Culp's landmark, NBC-TV, action series I SPY.
THE DANNY THOMAS SHOW was a comic confection that was alternately sweet and tart, but which always offered a moral lesson born of good natured tumult. It is , in my humble opinion, the true progenitor of THE COSBY SHOW.
Here, from FOXEEMA YOU TUBE site, is a classic 1958 episode, with CBS superstar Jack Benny guest starring.Enjoy!!!
For every American teenager of the swinging sixties,who fancied him or herself to be a Daydream Believer, this day offered a sobering reminder of Baby Boomer mortality.
It was a bitter moment of realization that evoked sweet memories of a mod youth in a kinetic time.
Davy Jones, the true, teen heartthrob of THE MONKEES, NBC-TV's genetically engineered response to the Beatles, died , suddenly, at age 66 today.
It's hard for millennial's to understand our generation's fascination with a group that was originally derided as The Pre-Fab Four, because they were cast by Screen Gems Studios and The Peacock Network to star in a television series that would capture the energy of youth and to record music that others wrote. But, I suspect that anyone who loves Justin Bieber can understand why Baby Boomers had a special appreciation for the diminutive , British export , who was the object of Marcia Brady's affection.
He traded a career as a jockey for the showbiz rat race. He was appearing on Broadway in OLIVER , when the cast was invited to perform on CBS's ED SULLIVAN SHOW, the same night that the Beatles made their American, TV debut. It is written that what he saw on the stage of the Sullivan Theater changed his mind and his career path.
We're all glad it did.
He will be missed. Davy R.I.P.
Here, from the LOOMYAIRE YOU TUBE site is a rare clip of the Black & White audition film for the cast of THE MONKEES.
My name is Paul Gluck ( aka PAGEONE ) and while I have been working in Television for over 30 years, I have watched Television for my entire life.From the very first, monochrome images of Dave Garroway on the TODAY SHOW that I saw flickering across the screen of my parents 21",blond wood, Zenith console TV, to the vibrant video of SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL blazing across the LCD flat panel in my living room, I have always loved television. I have worked as a production assistant,a writer, an assignment editor, a producer,an executive producer, an executive editor,a news director and a station manager. My fascination with the medium , the programs we create and the people who produce that content, grows with each & every day. KINESCOPE HD is a site dedicated to classic television, creative content production and vintage performances on video. I hope you share my love of television.If you do, share your thoughts on the programs we post.Enjoy!!!!!
