The Colgate Comedy Hour/The Comedy Hour
Season 1 - 1950-1951

With the show set to premiere on September 10, 1950, the producers settled on a host rotation of Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fred Allen, and Bobby Clark. At one point, Groucho Marx was considered but eventually proved unavailable when he decided to go with a TV version of his radio show You Bet Your Life, instead.

Eddie Cantor and Martin and Lewis were natural television stars, who took to the new medium like ducks to water. The most durable of the hosts, Cantor starred in more episodes (38) than anyone else, while Martin and Lewis had the longest run (1950-1955).

Bobby Clark was essentially a place holder for Bob Hope, who was a big enough star by the early fifties that he could just waltz in whenever he was available and grab Clark's spot. The Clark and Hope episodes (as well as a couple hosted by Beatrice Lillie and one by Jackie Gleason) were sponsored by Frigidaire rather than Colgate and were called simply The Comedy Hour. (Nelson Case usually handled the Frigidaire commercials.) Clark's shows carried the sub-title Michael Todd's Revue, named for his producer Mike Todd. (Broadway impresario Todd was the former husband of actress Joan Blondell and would later wed Elizabeth Taylor. He helped develop the Todd-AO widescreen process.) In 1950, Hope hosted the show's Thanksgiving and Christmas episodes, as well as one the following April. Clark, arguably the weakest of the hosts, starred in only four episodes, completing his tenure on the show in February - well before the end of the season.

One of radio's biggest stars, Fred Allen didn't fare nearly as well on television. Citing health reasons, he decided to take a break after the December 17th broadcast. "According to a close associate of Mr. Allen," reported The New York Times, "the comedian's doctor has ordered him to take a rest of at least six or eight weeks, because of his blood pressure." But the star's health wasn't the only reason for the move. More humorist than slapstick comedian, Allen reportedly felt the show's format wasn't right for his talents. "It is understood," The Times continued, "that Fred might prefer a half-hour show, but not the revue-type he has been doing in the full-hour series."

The fact is, Allen didn't much care for TV, and said so repeatedly. "I haven't been able to relax on a television stage," he remarked, "with all those technicians wandering back and forth in front of me while I'm trying to tell a joke. They've been listening to me and the joke in rehearsals for two days, and by the time the performance rolls around, they're leaning on their cameras and staring at me with all the enthusiasm of a dead trout." On another occasion, he declared, "Television is a triumph of equipment over people and the minds that control it are so small that you could put them in the navel of a flea and still have enough room beside them for a vice-president's heart." Allen appeared on The Comedy Hour a few more times as a guest but never as host.

The departures of Clark and Allen left NBC and Colgate free to experiment, and they brought in a number of guest hosts, including Jerry Lester (of the late-night Broadway Open House), Spike Jones, Phil Silvers, and even Jackie Gleason. Veteran comedians Abbott & Costello hosted two episodes in the first season and proved so popular they were brought back as regulars the following year. The show also experimented with its format, airing Tickets Please! starring the Hartmans, the first Colgate Comedy Hour adaptation of a Broadway show. In later seasons, as the program struggled to hold on to its audience, such fare became more common.

Most episodes originated from the International Theater in New York, though a couple were broadcast from Chicago.

Copyright 2005 by Jim Davidson. All Rights Reserved.