CBS: Stars In The Eye (1952)

[Brock]

... with Rochester, Bob Sweeney, and Florence Halop too!

 

This is fantastic! I have never seen the scenes with just Desi and Jack before.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTWXFSx4mew

[MONALISAISMONALUCY]

I have only seen portions of this special. I am glad to see the rest!!!

[vivfantoo*]

Loved the scenes with the Ricardos & Mertzes! Recognize the dresses Lucy & Viv are wearing from one of the baby episodes; they must have filmed this after taping the show. I've never seen this before -- what fun!

 

Would LOVE to have this as a special feature on a future TLS or HL bonus disc!

 

This clips definitely rates me using this icon for the first time: (heehee! )

[C L A U D E]

Loved the scenes with the Ricardos & Mertzes! Recognize the dresses Lucy & Viv are wearing from one of the baby episodes; they must have filmed this after taping the show. I've never seen this before -- what fun!

 

Would LOVE to have this as a special feature on a future TLS or HL bonus disc!

 

This clips definitely rates me using this icon for the first time: (heehee! )

Yeah, wasn't that FUN to watch? And you're absolutely right, that should have been an extra on one of the dvds.

[Lucyilove]

Loved the scenes with the Ricardos & Mertzes! Recognize the dresses Lucy & Viv are wearing from one of the baby episodes; they must have filmed this after taping the show. I've never seen this before -- what fun!

 

Would LOVE to have this as a special feature on a future TLS or HL bonus disc!

 

This clips definitely rates me using this icon for the first time: (heehee! )

 

The complete program STARS IN THE EYE is on DVD in four-disc public domain The Best of Johnny Carson and Friends set along with 34 other vintage tv variety programs including an episode of Shower of the Stars with special guest stars VIVIAN VANCE AND WILLIAM FRAWLEY And the whole set is currently only $5.99!!!!

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Johnny-Carson-Friends/dp/B001DW2BJ2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316579015&sr=8-2

[Annaleigh]

I thought this was released on a Lucy DVD? Or I've just seen this way too many times on YouTube. Haha.

[Brock]

The complete special is now on YouTube:

 

Pt. 1 (featuring Gale):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvIXbGKmAS4

 

Pt. 2 (featuring the original Fab Four, Jack Benny, George Burns, Art Linkletter, Florence Halop, Margaret Whiting, etc.):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwdlFI6TSJI

[Brock]

Pt. 3 (featuring Gale, Eve Arden, Jack Benny, Rochester, Gracie Allen, Marie Wilson, Cathy Lewis, Gisele Mackenzie, Ethel in a black wig Life with Luigi, Jodie Welcome-as-the-Flowers-in-May Gilbert, etc.):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhDI4XVJcrM

 

Finale (with the entire cast):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRMN7gDlsBM

 

"Thank you, Eve Arden."

[Brock]

Re-uploaded in one convenient package:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD9_Ap3LsVc

[leenorman]

Thanks so much for 'giving' this to us, Brock....

[Neil]

How very interesting. CBS TV City today is a strictly videotape facility. I assume it was designed to be video from the beginning. I've never heard of a show being recorded on film there.

This is 1952 and videotape wasn't being used until 1957 or 58. So were LIVE programs produced at TV city in the years previous to videotape? There was the problem of the 3 hour time difference between LA and NY (adding or subtracting depending on who you say "Oh POOH!" to: Ricky or Mrs. McGillicuddy), so they either did shows twice, once for each time zone, or one end got a kinescope before 57-58; and I would guess the kinescope would ironically have gone to LA becuase of the east coast market. Would be interesting to know.

 

I wonder if this teaming of Gale and Bob Sweeney was the inspiration for "the Brothers"'s casting years later.

What is Cass Daly doing here? I could not find a series she was on at the time. She's a combination Betty Hutton-Judy Canova with a little Martha Raye thrown in and certainly the inspiration for Carol Burnett, though I don't know if Carol ever acknowledged her.

"My Friend Irma" seems like such a cute show with Cathy Lewis ten years before being the snooty sister of George Baxter on "Hazel" (the best part of that show, IMO). Also starred Gloria Gordon, mother of Gale. (Did the entire family dump the Aldrich surname? What was wrong with it?). Has anyone ever seen an ep with Gloria? Irma was a huge radio hit but did not fare well on TV. For the last and final year of its 2 1/2 season run, Lewis was out.

"Mama" Florence Halop was only TWENTY-NINE at this time, just 3 years older than daughter Elena Verdugo in "Meet Millie". If this little scene is indicative of the series, Florence was the main draw of the show. Both "Meet Millie" and "Our Miss Brooks" had just debuted that fall (1952).

I've seen these ILL clips before, originally touted as "bloopers".

I have to defer to any African-Americans on the board as to whether "Amos and Andy" is offensive or racist. It doesn't seem any different in tone to "Sanford and Son" to me. I can see how having two white guys doing the dialect on radio might be hard to take and thankfully they didn't do the TV version (although blackface had not completely disappeared from the movies). I'm pretty sure it was an all-black cast, so onn the plus side, A&A featured blacks in roles of authority. so judges and policeman were also black. This was a full decade before the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing. I believe A&A's radio version was still running and did so up until 1960--almost a 30 year run, while the TV version was a mere 2 seasons.

"Amos and Andy"'s 78 episodes was still being widely sydicated into the 60s but was eventually withdrawn becuase of opposition to the show. Here's a curious statement I plucked from Wikipedia's A&A entry:

"Gosden, Correll and CBS made initial efforts to give the series another try. The plan was to begin televising Amos 'n' Andy in the fall of 1956, with both of its creators appearing on television in a split screen with the proposed African-American cast."

I'm not sure what the plan was....Would someone weigh in on the A&A controversy, because I'm sincerely interested.

"Life with Luigi" was a top ten show, thanks in no small part, I'm sure to its lead-in for the first three months: I Love Lucy. One of the reasons for its early cancellation was that it too was offensive in its ethnic stereotyping. Really? What about (just about) every Italian portrayed on Here's Lucy?--including "Fights the System"'s chef who wants to put oregano into the boiled jeans. Had it not been for Eagle Eye Weir, I would not have recognized "Tinkerbell" (aka "Tinklebell") Jody Gilbert. LWL (Luigi, that is) was off by December and when it reappeared in April of 1953 in a different time slot, Jody was out and Muriel Landers was in. I don't know if Muriel ever did a Lucy show but she looks like one of three watermelons in a patch with her resemblance to the Bordons. This version lasted only 2 months, going off about the same time "Amos n Andy" did.

I LOVE these old live shows like "stars" because when a joke fails to get a laugh, they're stuck with it. I cringe to think how a show like this would be done today. Every joke would get an immediate and hearty (and phony sounding) response ala "donny and Marie", ruining, for me any enjoyment of the line. I prefer the old way, of course.

 

I was in LA two weeks ago and I saw IN PERSON one of the people who appeared in "Stars in the Eye" and it was NOT one of the kids in the Art Linkletter segment. Any guesses?

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Isabella Klump?

[Neil]

Marvin Kaplan

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Ahhhh. Ran into him at last STAGE during intermission in the lobby. I used to see him out occasionally at a local diner here, usually with other character actor and dialog coach extraordinaire, the late Robert Easton.

[leenorman]

Marvin Kaplan

 

Can't for the life of me, remember what show he was on; but, I just LOVED him! So, I'm gonna look him up!

 

Here he is:

 

 

Marvin Kaplan, comedian, actor, 92 titles; appears with entire cast, (“I Love Lucy”), Stars in the Eye, among others, 1952; guest, Desilu Studios'-filmed, Shower of Stars “Premiere Show”, 1954, The Red Skelton Hour “Valentine's Day Double Date (Original)”, 1956, and “Valentine Day's Double Date”, 1958; Desilu Productions', Vacation Playhouse “Maggie Brown”, as Marv, 1963, and “Hooray for Hollywood”, as Marvin, 1964; actor, TV movie, Maggie Brown, as Marvin, 1963; with Vivian Vance (Lucy's Ethel Mertz), Academy Award-winning, The Great Race, 1965, as well as Desilu Studios'-filmed, Gomer Pyle: MSMC “The Carriage Waits”, as Mr. Kendall, 1968; is born this date in 1927.

[Lucyilove]

What is Cass Daly doing here? I could not find a series she was on at the time. She's a combination Betty Hutton-Judy Canova with a little Martha Raye thrown in and certainly the inspiration for Carol Burnett, though I don't know if Carol ever acknowledged her.

"My Friend Irma" seems like such a cute show with Cathy Lewis ten years before being the snooty sister of George Baxter on "Hazel" (the best part of that show, IMO). Also starred Gloria Gordon, mother of Gale. (Did the entire family dump the Aldrich surname? What was wrong with it?). Has anyone ever seen an ep with Gloria? Irma was a huge radio hit but did not fare well on TV. For the last and final year of its 2 1/2 season run, Lewis was out.

"Mama" Florence Halop was only TWENTY-NINE at this time, just 3 years older than daughter Elena Verdugo in "Meet Millie". If this little scene is indicative of the series, Florence was the main draw of the show. Both "Meet Millie" and "Our Miss Brooks" had just debuted that fall (1952).

I've seen these ILL clips before, originally touted as "bloopers".

I have to defer to any African-Americans on the board as to whether "Amos and Andy" is offensive or racist. It doesn't seem any different in tone to "Sanford and Son" to me. I can see how having two white guys doing the dialect on radio might be hard to take and thankfully they didn't do the TV version (although blackface had not completely disappeared from the movies). I'm pretty sure it was an all-black cast, so onn the plus side, A&A featured blacks in roles of authority. so judges and policeman were also black. This was a full decade before the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing. I believe A&A's radio version was still running and did so up until 1960--almost a 30 year run, while the TV version was a mere 2 seasons.

"Amos and Andy"'s 78 episodes was still being widely sydicated into the 60s but was eventually withdrawn becuase of opposition to the show. Here's a curious statement I plucked from Wikipedia's A&A entry:

"Gosden, Correll and CBS made initial efforts to give the series another try. The plan was to begin televising Amos 'n' Andy in the fall of 1956, with both of its creators appearing on television in a split screen with the proposed African-American cast."

I'm not sure what the plan was....Would someone weigh in on the A&A controversy, because I'm sincerely interested.

"Life with Luigi" was a top ten show, thanks in no small part, I'm sure to its lead-in for the first three months: I Love Lucy. One of the reasons for its early cancellation was that it too was offensive in its ethnic stereotyping. Really? What about (just about) every Italian portrayed on Here's Lucy?--including "Fights the System"'s chef who wants to put oregano into the boiled jeans. Had it not been for Eagle Eye Weir, I would not have recognized "Tinkerbell" (aka "Tinklebell") Jody Gilbert. LWL (Luigi, that is) was off by December and when it reappeared in April of 1953 in a different time slot, Jody was out and Muriel Landers was in. I don't know if Muriel ever did a Lucy show but she looks like one of three watermelons in a patch with her resemblance to the Bordons. This version lasted only 2 months, going off about the same time "Amos n Andy" did.

I also wondered about Cass Daley's appearance on this given she was not in any CBS series at the time, likely she was under contract for a possible show and it was just one of those things that was never realized. Daley made her film debut in the same movie as Betty Hutton - Dorothy Lamour's 1942 musical THE FLEET'S IN. She's one of those character comediennes apparently hard to cast due to a lack of femininity limiting her to best pal or eccentric roles.

 

Very curious about why Jody Gilbert was replaced by Muriel Landers on LIFE WITH LUIGI. Jody did the radio show for years I believe. She was around 35-36 at this time and perhaps the tv producers decided to go for a slightly younger Rosa in case the show would have a long run which didn't happen. Sadly both Jody (1916-1979) and Muriel (1921-1977) died around the same time; they did have fairly parallel careers. Speaking of typecasting Jody played prison matrons on both THE LUCY SHOW and HERE'S LUCY. Loved the Borden twins on ILL, IMO right up there with Elvia Allman and the grape stomping lady in memorable one shots, too bad like Cousin Ernie they didn't make a return trip to ILL as Teensy and Weensy. And Jody and Muriel could have been along for the ride as their cousins Itsy and Bitsy!

 

Love the radio show MY FRIEND IRMA and Marie Wilson is a riot as an the innocent dumb blonde. I find the tv show's failure curious but wonder too if it might be a case of being a little old for their roles (these "young girls" were also in their mid 30's, not young by 1950's standards) for it to work as well on tv. I'd love to see this tv show though and wonder how many episodes still exist (same with LWL).

[leenorman]

ALWAYS loved MY FRIEND IRMA....