All Star Revue
Season 3 - 1952-1953

Tallulah Bankhead confers with guests Groucho Marx and Ethel Barrymore prior to her premiere telecast.

When Revue premiered in 1950, critics familiar with Danny Thomas from his nightclub successes foresaw a lot of potential for him on television. But after two seasons, that potential went largely unfulfilled. "Alas, Four Star Revue was just not right for me," the entertainer wrote in his autobiography. "It was a mishmash of singers, dancers, jugglers, and sketches. I introduced the acts and worked with the fine comedian Julie Oshins, in the sketches, which I enjoyed. But as far as using my own material was concerned, it just wasn't good. In their segments of Four Star Revue, Ed Wynn and Jimmy Durante could use quick little bits of comedy - which was their style. My style was slow-development storytelling, for which there just wasn't time. I had to get on and off and introduce the jugglers."

With NBC bringing in more hosts for the 1952-53 season, Thomas decided it was time to quit. "When I realized I'd only be on the show two or three times a year, I opted out and went back full-time to the saloons, as I called the nightclubs...The saloons were my safe haven." (A year later, he was coaxed back to TV for the sitcom Make Room for Daddy, which finally tranformed him into a true star.)

Meanwhile, Ed Wynn was having trouble staying afloat. "Just as it drained his successors like Gleason and Caesar, so television killed Dad as a clown," related Keenan Wynn. "His audience began to dwindle, but he was tied hand and foot to his format, doomed like a dinosaur because he couldn't think of changing it...Dad's option was dropped by NBC, and at sixty-seven he was out of a job." (Wynn's career would be revitalized a few years later when he reemerged as a dramatic actor in the Playhouse 90 presentation of Requiem For a Heavyweight.)

With the further loss of Jack Carson (to Broadway) and the unsuccessful Olsen and Johnson, that left Revue with only Jimmy Durante and Martha Raye. To fill the open slots, NBC talked to a number of show biz veterans, including Maurice Chevalier and Harold Lloyd, before settling on George Jessel and Tallulah Bankhead. At the time there was a feeling in the industry that the vaudeville hokum that had sustained television in its early days was on the way out and that something new was needed. Both Jessel and Bankhead were considered to have the requisite wit and sophistication, but the viewing audience didn't agree - at least not in large enough numbers. A talk show might have been better suited to the new hosts' talents, but All Star Revue was not that.

Bankhead's show was patterned after her recently-defunct radio series The Big Show, even to the extent of bringing over that program's producer-director Dee Englebach, writers Mort Green and George Foster, and musical director Meredith Willson. The latter doubled as Bankhead's straight man, whose catch phrase - always good for a laugh - was "Thank you, Miss Bankhead, sir" (perhaps a veiled reference to her sexual orientation). (Willson went on to write the fabulously popular The Music Man.) Early in her career, Bankhead (known as "Tallu" to her friends) had some success as a stage actress but was less of a hit in the movies. Known for her wit, strong opinions, and uninhibited nature, she was one of the more notorious celebrities of her era. In the early 1950s, to everyone's surprise, Bankhead added comedienne to her resume. With good writing, her radio and TV work was instrumental in establishing the exaggerated witty-bitchy-catty persona for which she was known the rest of her career (and which was copied by many a drag queen).

George Jessel, a contemporary of Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor, was known as the "Toastmaster General of the United States," for his talent as a master of ceremonies. A comedian, as well as an actor, singer, and producer, he had done it all in just about every medium. While his roots were in vaudeville, his humor was far from the slapstick variety. "Mr. Jessel essentially is more the wit than the performer, per se," noted Jack Gould of The New York Times. "Possessed of one of the most active and brilliant minds in the show business, Mr. Jessel enlivens his humor with a point of view and depth that set it apart from the norm." Unlike many Jewish entertainers of the time, Jessel didn't try to hide his ethnicity. In fact, he embraced it, incorporating many Yiddishisms into his comedy. Jessel worked out a reciprocal deal with Bob Hope and Eddie Cantor, whereby they would guest star on his All Star Revue shows, and he would appear on their Colgate Comedy Hours.

The third season also saw some fine tuning for one of the show's established hosts. Now director as well as head writer on Martha Raye's segments, Nat Hiken was in a position to exercise more control over the show's direction. One of his first moves was to hire Rocky Graziano to play Martha's boyfriend. A master of comic invention, Hiken knew how to compensate for the ex-boxer's inexperience as an actor, casting him in the role of straight man to counter Raye's irrepressible mugging. It was a remarkable pairing that was such a hit that Graziano became a regular on the show.

Other hosts that season were Dennis Day, Rosalind Russell, the Ritz Brothers, Walter O'Keefe, Perry Como, and Ben Blue. There was also a special ice skating show starring Sonja Henie with guest Harpo Marx. (Harpo was signed by NBC to make guest appearances, many of them surprise cameos, on its various programs.)

Revue began its third season in Hollywood but moved to NBC's new Burbank studios in early October. Martha Raye (and probably Jessel and Bankhead) originated her show from New York.

Due to sponsor skittishness, there almost wasn't a third season. When Snow Crop pulled out at the end of the previous year, NBC considered cancelling the show. But Kellogg's and Pet Milk remained, and eventually, the network managed to lure Del Monte to sign on as well. Nonetheless, sponsorship was still unstable. Both Kellogg's and Del Monte dropped out at the end of 1952, leaving only Pet. Beacon Wax came on board briefly for the first show in January before being quickly replaced by Johnson & Johnson (makers of Band-Aid plastic strips). With only two sponsors remaining (Pet and J&J), NBC was forced to pick up the tab for one-third of the expenses - which didn't bode well for the show's future.

Even with no increase in budget (it remained at $60,000 an episode), All Star Revue was still one of the most expensive programs on on the air, and the ratings were under par. Averaged out across the entire season, Revue managed to beat its competition, newcomer The Jackie Gleason Show on CBS. But over the course of the year, Gleason had gradually gained in popularity and ended up turning the tables. At that point, with sponsors proving hard to come by, NBC's executives decided to cancel All Star Revue, even ending the season early to cut its losses.

When NBC dickered about re-signing him, George Jessel negotiated a deal with ABC for his own show the following season. Tallulah Bankhead never again hosted a TV series but continued to appear frequently on the medium as a guest star. Jimmy Durante would move over to The Colgate Comedy Hour the following season, and Martha Raye was expected to follow suit. But proving that things don't always turn out as anticipated, NBC soon found reason to reconsider All Star Revue's cancellation. The final chapter of the show's history hadn't yet been written.