The Colgate Comedy Hour

By Jim Davidson
Posted 6/25/2005
Updated 9/19/2009

Broadcast History
Sundays, 8:00 - 9:00 pm, NBC-TV
The Colgate Comedy Hour (9/10/1950 - 6/5/1955)
The Comedy Hour (Frigidaire-sponsored episodes, 10/1/1950 - 5/13/1951)
The Colgate Summer Comedy Hour (6/6/1954 - 9/5/1954)
The Colgate Variety Hour (6/12/1955 - 12/25/1955)
The NBC Comedy Hour (1/8/1956 - 6/10/1956)

If you're under the age of 50, chances are you've never heard of The Colgate Comedy Hour. But way back at the dawn of the TV age, this show was one of the most popular on the air, eclipsing even the venerated Ed Sullivan and Your Show of Shows. In fact, The Colgate Comedy Hour occupied the same Sunday night at 8:00 time slot as the Sullivan program (then known as Toast of the Town) and on a weekly basis dealt it a sound thrashing in the ratings race.

In 1950, NBC teamed with the Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Company to create a TV show that's only dimly remembered today but deserving of more recognition. The secret of the show's success wasn't the format - that was pretty conventional. As the name implied, it was heavy on the comedy, with a bit of singing and dancing thrown in for good measure. But the combination of a sizable budget (for its time), funny and entertaining material, and a roster of big name stars ensured its popularity.

The stars, mostly veterans of vaudeville, Broadway, radio, or movies, took turns hosting, usually in four or five week cycles. In the first few seasons, those most frequently seen were Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Abbott & Costello, Donald O'Connor, and Jimmy Durante. Martin and Lewis were particular standouts, with many fans considering their Colgate work the best of their careers.

Aside from its entertainment value, The Colgate Comedy Hour is notable for its participation in a couple of historic events. In 1951, it became the first TV show to broadcast live from coast-to-coast. It was also chosen to be the subject of an experimental telecast of NBC's new color TV system in 1953.

Because the show was live, anything could happen, and usually did. Performers would forget their lines (or misread the cue cards), or props wouldn't work as expected. The show might run over, forcing the director to cut some skits. Or it could run short, and the emcees would have to ad lib.

Occasionally, health problems sidelined one of the stars. Both Eddie Cantor and Lou Costello missed several months due to illness. Recuperating from a knee injury, Jerry Lewis did an entire show sitting down. Even some of the guest stars got into the act, with Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh, Jack Benny, and Joan Blondell all missing scheduled appearances.

Following the 1953-54 season, Cantor, O'Connor, and Durante left to star in their own shows. For a program whose identity was so closely tied to its hosts, it was a severe blow that ultimately proved fatal. With a shortage of stars, The Comedy Hour began emphasizing special events like adaptations of Broadway musicals, ice skating, air shows - even a jai alai game from Mexico. The program also went on the road, originating from cities like Chicago, Miami Beach, New Orleans, and Las Vegas.

Though Martin and Lewis, Abbott and Costello, and Bob Hope stuck with the show, their appearances were much less frequent. The host most often seen during the 1954-55 season was Gordon MacRae, who though a pleasant singer and able emcee, wasn't much of a comedian and lacked the star power of the show's earlier hosts. The audience began to fall off, and The Comedy Hour dropped from #10 to #27 in the ratings, while Ed Sullivan jumped from #17 to #5. It didn't help that NBC had begun pre-empting the show once a month to air glitzy color musicals.

In the Summer of 1955, the show's name was changed to the Colgate Variety Hour. Finding a suitable host was still a problem, and after George Murphy and William Holden turned down the job, Charlton Heston was chosen on a temporary basis. As an added attraction, clips from current movies began to be shown on the air, but ratings remained flat. The show limped along into the fall with Edgar Bergen, Jack Carson, Robert Paige, and a few others taking their turns. Martin and Lewis even hosted a couple of times (their York Productions was now producing the show) but it didn't help. Colgate withdrew its sponsorship after the December 25th broadcast and The Comedy Hour was no more.

NBC filled out the remainder of the season with a show called The NBC Comedy Hour until coming up with a more permanent replacement in The Steve Allen Show in June 1956.

The Colgate Comedy Hour was one of the bright spots of early television. But as the medium matured and competition increased, it became harder to retain big name hosts. And with a decline in ratings, NBC could no longer justify the program's cost.

Sources

In the episode guide, I've tried to stick to primary sources (those contemporary with the original airing of the shows) as much as possible and not make any assumptions I can't verify. My main sources have been The New York Times TV listings, ads, articles, and reviews, TV Guide (San Francisco/Northern California edition), Variety reviews, the online catalog of the UCLA television archives, and the episodes themselves. I've also made use of articles from the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune, and San Diego Union.