LizzieMaine
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No, not the one with Fonzie jumping over a shark while wearing a leather jacket. I'm talking about a variety series seen on CBS in the summer of 1970, with Louis Nye as a tuxedoed-radio-announcer MC, Bob and Ray as featured comedians doing radio parodies, and a huge roster of Golden Era talent as guest stars, including many of the big bands that were still very much active at the time.
I vividly remember watching this show -- it took place in a big hotel ballroom type setting, featured lots of elegant period detail, and every week it ended with Nye doing a pastiche-of-Ben Bernie sign off into a vintage carbon mike. The sketch I most remember involved a convention of comic strip characters, with the cast costumed as such -- Superman's cape hung out of his evening suit, giving away his secret identity, Little Orphan Annie kept bumping into everyone because she only had blank white circles for eyes, etc. It was sort of "Laugh In" done with a '30s sensibility, and I was fascinated by it.
As far as I've been able to tell, it only ran that one summer, and has never been rerun anywhere or distributed on any form of home video. I've never even heard of 16mm film prints turning up, and for all I know video no longer exists. I did, however, find a very sketchy series log here., based on audio recordings of the program's soundtracks.
That at least confirms I didn't dream the whole thing up, but does anyone else remember this show? Any more details to share?
I vividly remember watching this show -- it took place in a big hotel ballroom type setting, featured lots of elegant period detail, and every week it ended with Nye doing a pastiche-of-Ben Bernie sign off into a vintage carbon mike. The sketch I most remember involved a convention of comic strip characters, with the cast costumed as such -- Superman's cape hung out of his evening suit, giving away his secret identity, Little Orphan Annie kept bumping into everyone because she only had blank white circles for eyes, etc. It was sort of "Laugh In" done with a '30s sensibility, and I was fascinated by it.
As far as I've been able to tell, it only ran that one summer, and has never been rerun anywhere or distributed on any form of home video. I've never even heard of 16mm film prints turning up, and for all I know video no longer exists. I did, however, find a very sketchy series log here., based on audio recordings of the program's soundtracks.
That at least confirms I didn't dream the whole thing up, but does anyone else remember this show? Any more details to share?
