SATURDAY NIGHT SATIRE IN THE UK - RARE EPISODE OF THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS - BBC-TV - CIRCA 1963

In the turbulent sixties, a strident, satirical voice rose above the din of violent protest and acrid accusation that filled the streets of global capitals on both sides of Atlantic. As the norms and mores of western culture were tested by pacifists and anarchists, alike, in New York, Washington DC , London and Paris, a comedic revolution was being plotted in the spartan corridors of the venerable BBC.

Broadcaster David Frost , producer Ned Sherrin,a cadre of comedy writers that boasted future Python, John Cleese and future Knight, Clement Freud, plus a cast of multi-talented performers including Millicent Martin and Roy Kinnear were creating a volatile, voluble new genre for television: weekly satire.

If you worked in the laughter laboratory and choose to map the comic genome for SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, THE DAILY SHOW, THE COLBERT REPORT, ROWAN AND MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN, THE SMOTHERS BROS. COMEDY HOUR and more,you would find THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS provides the Double Helix of articulate, acerbic satire from which those shows have evolved.

Funny and efficient,TW3 took less than one hour to spoof the absurd events of the previous seven days.



The LIVE, monochrome revue of politically and socially relevant sketches, songs and monologues ran for just two seasons in the UK, in 1962 and 1963, but it was an instant hit and a Saturday night television event on the BBC.

In 1964, the BBC passed on the show, concerned about the upcoming elections and the impact of,what it perceived to be, the show's provocative material.The production team thought that the series was over.



But across the Atlantic, in New York City a reprieve was in the making.Impressed with the show's topical humor and innovative production values, American Broadway impresario, Leland Hayward, brought the daring show, along with host David Frost, to NBC prime time.

While all involved in the program and approving critics saw great promise in the Amercian version of THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS,it just didn't translate to large ratings.Even with a cast that included regulars Nancy Ames,Woody Allen and Alan Alda, plus major guest stars, the landmark show lasted only two seasons on the Peacock Network in 1964 and 1965.

Here from the UTUBESHERLOCK1111 You Tune site are six clips that constitute one, stinging episode of THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS from the BBC in 1963.Enjoy!!!!


PART ONE


PART TWO


PART THREE


PART FOUR


PART FIVE


PART SIX


BONUS - IN 1963, Millicent Martin and David Frost released a novelty recording of the theme from THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS in the UK. It was a hit. Here it is from the RAVES0FROM0THE0GRAVE0 You Tube site.Enjoy!!!

HOW TO SUCCEED ON LETTERMAN - BROADWAY REVIVAL LIGHT'S UP THE LATE SHOW - CBS-TV - CIRCA 5/19/11

On Sunday night ( 6/12/11 ), the American Theater Wing will bestow it's coveted Antoinette Perry Awards to Broadway's Best. It is the 65th time that the Tony Awards will recognize excellence in theater. For most of those years television has brought this elegant event to homes that are thousands of miles off-Broadway.

This year, CBS-TV will carry the dazzling, 2011 TONY AWARDS SHOW, LIVE from NYC's Beacon Theater.



Television and Broadway have always, it seems to me, enjoyed a friendly partnership, since the dawn of video in the 1950's.That's when stage-trained, New York actors brought their protean skills to primitive television studios. These daring performers brought life to characters in the great , LIVE dramas, like CBS'S STUDIO ONE and NBC'S PHILCO PLAYHOUSE.

One of television' first and most celebrated variety revues, THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW on CBS-TV , brought Broadway excitement to American living rooms, by elaborately re-staging dramatic scenes and musical numbers from hit Broadway shows. The theatrical producers got incredible publicity for their offerings and Sullivan got to showcase the most respected talent on New York's Great White Way.

A few weeks ago, on the stage of the Ed Sullivan Theater, now home to THE LATE SHOW STARRING DAVID LETTERMAN, the tradition was rekindled as the accomplished and agile cast of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING performed the energetic
BROTHERHOOD OF MAN number for Letterman viewers.



As you'll see, the audience offered frenzied applause.

The vibrant revival of Abe Burrow's hit, 1960's satire of corporate culture is playing critical raves at NYC's Al Hirschfeld Theater and is Tony-nominated.

On a personal note, my wife and I saw the production and were blown away by the perfomances, the music and the staging, which offered a colorful take on the MAD MEN motif.

Posted below, from the SOPHIABPUENTES YOU TUBE site is that energetic, engaging performance , starring Daniel Radcliffe, John Larroquette and the cast.Enjoy this excerpt & THE TONY AWARDS, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, this Sunday night on CBS-TV!!!!





As a bonus, from THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW YOU TUBE site, here are Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert from the Broadway cast of WEST SIDE STORY performing TONIGHT, on Sunday,November 2, 1958. Enjoy!!!!

THE FIRST VOYAGE OF THE REAL ENTERPRISE - TEST FLIGHT OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE - NBC NEWS - CIRCA 8/12/77

America's Shuttle Astronauts have made their final voyage to the Final Frontier.

This morning, orbiting approx.200 miles above Bolivia, the United States last operational Space Shuttle, The Endeavour, disembarked from it's last mission to the International Space Station.

NASA mission STS(Space Transport System)-134 took a symbolic, high altitude, high velocity victory lap around the I.S.S.


The skilled crew, led by Commander Mark Kelly, husband of Arizona Congresswoman Gaby Giffords, who was critically wounded in an assassination attempt, last spring, had completed the American module of the orbiting, scientific platform.

This brought to a close the space shuttle component of the U.S. manned spaceflight program. There are still plans to return human beings to the Moon and ,perhaps, to Mars, but the shuttle fleet will now be grounded.

Here from the LOTUS 4115 YOU TUBE site, is an NBC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT ,comprised of two clips that rewind the years of achievement and angst which have defined the shuttle program to the first, test flight of the first shuttle, The Enterprise. The NBC News coverage is anchored by the urbane Jack Perkins and the authoritative Roy Neal. Enjoy!!!

PART ONE



PART TWO

HI HO,STEVERINO!!! - RARE EPISODE OF THE STEVE ALLEN PLYMOUTH SHOW - NBC-TV - CIRCA JANUARY 1960

Steven Patrick Valentine Allen, better known to his fans and fellow performers as Steverino, was a video virtuoso and a television icon.

Steve Allen,the first host of NBC's TONIGHT SHOW from 1954 to 1956,was a prolific performer with a penchant for rapid fire ad-libs and a Renaissance man with a cultured and curious worldview.

The prodigal son of Vaudeville superstars Belle Montrose and Billy Allen, he authored books, songs, essays,and a Broadway musical entitled THE BACHELOR ( no relation to the lurid dating-reality show on ABC-TV).

That production yielded Allen his upbeat theme song, THIS COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING BIG.His contributions to late night television are evident anytime you watch Jay Leno, David Letterman or Conan O'Brien.

In 1956, NBC executives, anxious to capitalize on his ratings success in late night, and in an effort to challenge CBS-TV's top rated, ED SULLIVAN SHOW, convinced Allen to host and produce an NYC-based, comedy/variety show that went head to head with the stoic Sullivan.

Allen's eclectic vision for the hour brought controversial comedian ,Lenny Bruce, polticial satirst, Mort Sahl, and the bard of the Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac, to American living Rooms in LIVING COLOR.

(Steve Allen & Lenny Bruce on NBC-TV)

Allen's fast-paced hour held it's own, but it was an engaging western-satire on the struggling ABC television network that dethroned Sullivan and outgunned Allen. The show was called MAVERICK, staring James Garner.

In 1959, Allen's sophisticated show was moved out of MAVERICK'S line of fire to Monday night's,with full sponsorship from the Plymouth motor division of Chrysler Corporation.

Here, from the MUSICOM67 YOU TUBE site are four clips that comprise one episode of THE STEVE ALLEN PLYMOUTH SHOW,produced for airing on NBC-TV,in January of 1960.Enjoy!!!!!


PART ONE


PART TWO


PART THREE


PART FOUR

COIFFED IN LIVING COLOR - BETTY WHITE'S HAIR CARE COMMERCIALS - NBC-TV - CIRCA 10/11/59

Before she was fanning the flames of situation comedy on TV Land's hit, HOT IN CLEVELAND, and before Betty White was a Golden Girl, she was one of the first ladies of LIVING COLOR television.

Her earliest appearance was as a telephone operator on an L.A. variety show produced by KLAC-TV and hosted by singer Dick Haymes.The host asked viewers a question and they called into one of four operators awaiting the right answer. Ms. White was soon asked to ad-lib with the star.

Ms. White made her formal video debut as a comedienne, singer & co-host on a 1947, talk variety program that was also produced by KLAC-TV (now KCOP-TV) in Los Angeles, It was an easy-going,LIVE show that aired for five hours, each weekday, and was hosted by local disc jockey, Al Jarvis.



Her list of video ventures, spanning over sixty years, is too long and laudable to list, here.She has attained venerable status as a versatile actress and a wholesome performer with a stinging sense of humor.

While the term is overused, Ms. White is a verifiable,video icon.

Posted, below, from the VMANFACTOR5 YOU TUBE site are three classic commercials for the Richard Hudnut cosmetics company's line of hair care products , featuring Ms. White as their spokesperson, excerpted from a 1959 MILTON BERLE SPECIAL on NBC-TV
Enjoy!!!!!

THE USA REACHES FOR THE STARS AS THE WORLD WATCHES - 50 TH ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST AMERICAN IN SPACE - NBC-TV - CIRCA 5/5/61

On a warm, spring day in 1961 , the whole planet was focused on a sandy patch of Florida scrub land that juts into the Atlantic Ocean, called Cape Canaveral. It would,on that day, become America's gateway to the stars for three generations of space travelers,yet to come.

It had been only a few weeks since the Soviet Union launched Yuri Gagarin into orbit, and into history, as the first man in space on April 12, 1961.

The USA lost the first lap of the RACE FOR SPACE between Russia and America,the two global superpowers of the cold war era.

But now, as the countdown clock in mission control ticked toward lift-off, the hopes and prayers of this nation were focused on the intense, intelligent, mischievous, naval officer who was strapped into the claustrophobic confines of the tiny capsule that sat atop the quietly vibrating rocket.

The spacecraft was named FREEDOM 7. The vehicle on the launch pad was one of the first and most striking images of America's most challenging initiative, to date: the plan to put humans in space.

It was designated PROJECT MERCURY.

Even in the Florida heat , a veil of white ice formed along the sides of the Redstone missile, as liquid oxygen fuel vented

When the countdown reached "zero," the stubby craft carrying Alan B. Shepard Jr. streaked skyward, and he made America's first, sub-orbital space flight.

Shepard was one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, all of whom were military test pilots selected for their agility, flight experience , mature demeanor and raw courage. As a group , they were also world class pranksters.


They became heroes and role models. They brought fruition to the age old dream of exploring the heavens.

Shepard,went on to become head of NASA's astronaut office ,and later walked on the moon as a part of Project Apollo. One other unique event took place on May 5th of 1961.On that day,network television also made history.

For the first time, television was there to cover one of the most daring and dangerous chapters in the American adventure. NBC, ABC & CBS allowed viewers to witness the electrifying birth of the manned spaceflight program on LIVE television.

Millions of people , here, and around the globe , were transfixed in front of their TVs as the silvery, monochrome images of the pencil-shaped, Redstone rocket roared aloft.

Cameras were in mission control to show the launch team and the technology that powered the launch.

Viewers were,later, taken "down range," as the celebrated space traveler and his scorched craft were pulled from the Atlantic and returned for a heroes welcome, after a journeying to an altitude of 116 miles and splashing down 302 miles south of Cape Canaveral.

It appeared that this nation could do anything to which it committed. It was an intoxicating time in a nation that was still innocent in attitudes and in actions.

Here from the MSNBC website is a glimpse back to that day of victory aloft and inspiration on earth. Enjoy!!!!

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