| The
NBC Comedy Hour
1956 With
half a season left to fill following the demise of The Colgate Comedy Hour,
NBC quickly cobbled something together. Demonstrating an originality unparalleled
in the history of television, they decided to call it The NBC Comedy Hour.
The stated intent was to provide
"top comedy favorites and rising young comic discoveries, in sketches, monologues,
black-outs, gags, songs and dances...60 fast, funny minutes featuring the new,
the original, the unexpected." Despite
an impressive cast, the program just wasn't very funny. TV Guide found
it "a weak and woebegone show." Variety stated bluntly, "A more poorly
conceived, routined and paced outing would be difficult to imagine." Baseball
star Leo Durocher, hired several month earlier as an NBC vice president (presumably
in a consulting role), was inexplicably assigned to host the first three episodes.
After he and successor Gale Storm failed to make a dent in the ratings, NBC gave
up, reverting to the "different star each week" format, and allowed
the program to die quietly. Lasting
barely five months, The NBC Comedy Hour was replaced by The Steve Allen
Show on June 24, 1956. |
|
Series
# |
Season
# |
Airdate |
Host
& Guests |
| 001 |
1-01 |
1/8/1956 |
Host: Leo Durocher
Guests: Bob
and Ray, Pat Carroll, William Frawley, Paul Gilbert, Ming and Ling, Jonathan Winters,
Henny Youngman, George Liberace, Ina Ray Hutton, Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra
Announcer: Hy Averback
Note: Variety warned, "If NBC has serious
ambitions in translating Sunday 8 to 9 into a major competitive showcase, it's
inconceivable that the network could have actually blueprinted this Comedy
Hour the way it played. Even summer replacement stanzas in such a formidable
'cream of the evening' slotting have made greater pertentions toward qualitative
programming." |
| 002 |
1-02 |
1/15/1956 |
Host:
Leo Durocher
Guests: Sue Carson, Wally Cox, Allen Funt, Paul Gilbert, Ernie
Kovacs, Edith Adams, Irene Ryan, Jonathan Winters, Henny Youngman, The Gentlemaniacs,
Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra; cameo by Willie Mays
Announcer: Hy Averback |
| 003 |
1-03 |
1/22/1956 |
Host:
Leo Durocher
Guests: Wally Cox, The Gentlemaniacs, Paul Gilbert, Eddie Mayehoff,
Jonathan Winters, Faye De Witt
Note: TV Guide lists Ernie Kovacs as
a guest, but The New York Times doesn't. |
| |
|
1/29/1956 | Pre-empted
by "Inside Beverly Hills" |
| 004 |
1-04 |
2/5/1956 | Host:
Gale Storm
Guests: Jonathan Winters, Georgie Kaye, Shecky Greene, Peter Donald,
Hans Conried, Eddie Bracken, Frank Faylen, Beatrice Kaye, Jack Albertson
Announcer:
Hy Averback
Note: Gale, in her first hosting turn, sings "Why Do Fools
Fall in Love" and "Teenage Prayer." |
| 005 |
1-05 |
2/12/1956 | Guests:
Jonathan Winters, Pat Sheehan, Peter Donald, Bert Wheeler, Stan Freberg, Connie
Russell, Joey Carter, Tom D'Andrea |
| 006 |
1-06 |
2/19/1956 | Host:
Gale Storm
Guests: Ben Blue, Peter Donald, Jonathan Winters, Tom D'Andrea,
Larry Blake
Note: TV Guide lists Peter Donald as the host, but The
New York Times says its Gale Storm. |
| |
|
2/26/1956 | Pre-empted
by "Panorama" with Imogene Coca |
| 007 |
1-07 |
3/4/1956 |
Host: Gale Storm
Guests: Ben
Blue, Hans Conried, Stan Freberg, Tom D'Andrea and Larry Blake, Bill Thompson,
Jonathan Winters, Jack Albertson, James Flavin, Julie Oshins, Bill Elliot, Al
Goodman and his Orchestra
Announcer: Hy Averback
Note: This episode includes a clip from You Bet Your Life featuring Groucho
Marx and Gonzalez Gonzalez. Bert Lahr was scheduled as a guest but apparently
postponed his appearance until the following week. |
| 008 |
1-08 |
3/11/1956 | Host:
Gale Storm
Guests: Bert Lahr, David Burns, Stan Freberg, Jonathan Winters,
The Three Slate Brothers |
| 009 |
1-09 |
3/18/1956 | Host:
Gale Storm
Guests: Joey Carter, Jonathan Winters, Stan Freberg, Harry Mimmo |
| |
|
3/25/1956 | Pre-empted
by "Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl" |
| 010 |
1-10 |
4/1/1956 | Host:
Gale Storm
Guests: Emmett Kelly, Georgie Kaye, Stan Freberg, Jonathan Winters,
Bert Wheeler, Cesar Romero |
| 011 |
1-11 |
4/8/1956 | Host:
Gale Storm
Guests: Kaye Ballard, Joe Frisco, Jonathan Winters |
|
| | 4/15/1956 | Pre-empted
by "Salute to Baseball" |
| 012 |
1-12 |
4/22/1956 | Host:
Gloria De Haven
Guests: William Bendix, Jonathan Winters |
|
013 |
1-13 |
4/29/1956 | Host:
Jane Froman
Guests: Jonathan Winters, Larry Storch, Pat Stanley, Cliff Arquette,
Dave Willock |
| 014 |
1-14 |
5/6/1956 | Host:
June Havoc
Guests: Ben Blue, Reginald Gardiner, Jonathan Winters |
|
015 |
1-15 |
5/13/1956 | Guests:
Cliff Arquette, Dave Willock, Stan Freberg, Mort Sahl, Jonathan Winters, Hy Averback |
|
| |
5/20/1956 | Pre-empted
by "The Maurice Chevalier Show" |
| 016 |
1-16 |
5/27/1956 | Guests:
Vivian Blaine, Ben Blue, Florence Halop, Alan Mowbray, Walter O'Keefe |
|
017 |
1-17 |
6/3/1956 | Host:
Alan Young
Guests: Guy Mitchell, Gretchen Wyler, Jonathan Winters, Shecky
Greene, Jan Arvan, Chuckie Bradley, Billy Curtis, Gil Frye, Paul Maxey, Sid Melton,
Pat Moran, Frankie Ray, Fay Spain, Claude Stroud
Announcer: Hy Averback |
|
018 |
1-18 |
6/10/1956 | Host:
Gloria De Haven
Guests: Jonathan Winters, Dennis O'Keefe, Marilyn Erskine,
Don Tannen, vocalist Hank Penny
Note: The Marquis Chimps do their version
of Cinderella. |
| |
| 6/17/1956 | Pre-empted
by "The Road to Hollywood" starring Bob Hope |
| |
|
| Replaced
by The Steve Allen Show | |
