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aThe Fifties Web - Your Retro 50s, 60s and 70s
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| Classic TV Index of All TV Shows Classic TV on VHS & DVD VARIETY SHOWS Milton Berle Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour Your Show of Shows Perry Como Show Colgate Comedy Hour Your Hit Parade Jack Benny Show People Are Funny George Gobel Show AND ALSO... Arthur Godfrey Ed Sullivan Dinah Shore Lawrence Welk Red Skelton BUY Milton Berle on VHS & DVD  Milton Berle's Private Joke File: Over 10,000 of His Best Gags, Anecdotes, and One-Liners - BOOK |
TV VARIETY SHOWSThe Golden Age of TelevisionThe Golden Age of TelevisionThe Fifties is known as the Golden Age of Television in large part because of the variety shows which dominated the early part of the decade. Variety was to the early Fifties what the Western was to the late Fifties.Television variety shows of the period were just vaudeville on T.V. Most of the performers had honed their comedic skills on vaudeville stages, and the shows were structured like vaudeville revues. And, like vaudeville - these were live performances. Because these programs spotlighted talent from many sources, they were the ideal springboard for fresh new faces - a place where the legends of the past gave birth to the stars of the future. 
6/8/1948 - 1/6/1967 NBC/ABC Black and White - 60 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes June 1948 - June 1956 NBC Tues. 8:00 9:00 Oct. 1958 - May 1959 NBC Wed. 9:00 - 9:30 Sept. 1966 - Jan 1967 ABC Fri. 9:00 - 10:00 Call him Mr. Television or Uncle Miltie. In television's infancy, Tuesday belonged to Milton Berle. The Texaco Star Theater opened with these guys dressed like service station attendants singing "Oh, we're the men from Texaco, we work from Maine to Mexico." Out would come Berle dressed in some wacky costume, often in drag. Although there were all manner of guests and skits, Berle was the star attraction. The show switched sponsors over the years and formats, but Milton Berle reigned supreme throughout the Fifties. When they tried to bring him back in the mid-Sixties, however, the times had changed and Berle's brand of vaudevillian comedy was no longer popular.
Passings Milton Berle died in 2002 of colon cancer. He was 93. |
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Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour 1/18/1948 - 9/26/1970Ted Mack's talent show made the rounds to all four networks over time. As far back as 1934, Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour was a hit on radio. In 1946, Ted Mack who had previously supervised the auditions, took over. When the show first went over to TV, it was still named for Major Bowes. A zillion acts apeared on the show but surprisingly few became big names. The way the show worked was you sent in a postcard to vote for your favorite. Passings Ted Mack died in 1976. |
 Smithsonian: Old Time Comedy & Laughter (Radio) -CD |
BUY Sid Caesar on VHS & DVD External Links TV Guide's Your Show of Shows Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More. |
2/25/1950 - 6/6/1954 NBC Black and White 90 minutes Created by Sylvester "Pat" Weaver Produced by Max Lieberman Feb 1950 - June 1954 Sat. 9:00 - 10:30 Starring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca With Carl Reiner and Howard Morris Your Show of Shows was a star vehicle to display the immense talents of Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Caesar could do it all and when partnered with Coca, his talent was presented to perfection. Among the characters they created together were Doris and Charlie Hickenlooper and Caesar alone is remembered for Progress Hornsby, Cool Cees, Somerset Winterset and Guiseppe Marinara. Carl Reiner, a regular, would use his experience with Caesar as material for The Dick Van Dyke Show. The writing staff included young talents such as Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon and Larry Gelbart (M.A.S.H.). A popular segment was the spoof of a movie. Passings Imogene Coca died in 2001. |
BUY Perry Como on VHS & DVD  Perry Como: Greatest Hits [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] - 2 CDs |
Perry Como Show Black and White/Color 15 minutes 1948- 1955 60 minutes 1955 - 1963 Theme Song "Dream Along With Me (I'm on my Way to the Stars)" by Carl Sigman Starring Perry Como Orchestra - Mitchell Ayres Regulars - Fontane Sisters, Ray Charles Singers, Louis Da Pron Dancers, Peter Gennaro Dancers Regulars - Kraft Music Hall - Kaye Ballard, Don Adams, Sandy Stewart, Jack Duffy, Paul Lyne, Pierre Olaf Perry Como was already a popular singer with an easy going style and a relaxed manner. His show never varied much over the years. Perry sang his hit songs. Big name guests sang their hit songs. The atmosphere was always warm and inviting.
Passings Perry Como died in 2001 of Alzheimer's disease. |
 Perry Como
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BUY Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis on DVD  BUY Colgate Comedy Hour on VHS BUY Jerry Lewis on VHS & DVD BUY Dean Martin on VHS & DVD  Greatest Hits: King of Cool Dean Martin - CD |
Black and White/Color 60 minutes Sept 1950 - Dec. 1955 Sun. 8:00 - 9:00 11/22/1953 - First show to ever be telecast in color, as part of an test of RCA's new color system Every big name in comedy or music appeared on this show which presented rotating hosts. Although thought of now as separate acts, Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin were a very hot pair until personality conflicts broke them up in 1956. Other alternating hosts included Abbott and Costello, Jimmy Durante, Bob Hope, Donald O'Connor, Eddie Cantor and Fred Allen. |
 Picture courtesy Dean Martin Fan Center |
External Links TV Guide's Your Hit Parade Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More. |
Black and White 30 minutes Theme songs: "Lucky Day" and "So Long for Awhile" Hosts: Andre Baruch and Del Sharbutt Regulars: Eileen Wilson, Snooky Lanson, Dorothy Collins, Sue Bennett, June Valli, Russell Arms, Gisele MacKenzie, Tommy Leonetti, Jill Corey, Alan Copeland, Virginia Gibson, Johnny Desmond The regular performers presented the seven most popular songs of the week. The number one song came last after a big buildup. Expensive production numbers were incorporated to keep interest for songs that stayed onthe charts for weeks. What was never mentioned, hmm, was that the people who supplied the Top Seven lists was none other than BBD&O, sponsor American Tobacco's ad agency! |
Click to Buy Jack Benny on DVD and VHS  1950s TV's Greatest Shows - 12 Shows - 3 DVDs Includes Jack Benny External Links TV Guide's Jack Benny Show Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More. |
Black and White 30 minutes The Jack Benny Show Cast Jack BennyMary Livingstone (Mrs. Jack Benny) (1950-1959) Don Wilson - Announcer Eddie "Rochester" Anderson as Rochester Van Jones (valet) Dennis Day, Mel Blanc, Artie Auerbach and Frank Nelson Jack Benny moved his successful radio to show to TV slowly. First aired as a series of specials, then increasingly shown more often as the years passed. Benny, known for his repetitve 39th birthdays, had an unstated sense of humor. His exchanges with Rochester are classics of comedy. Passings Jack Benny died in 1974 of pancreatic cancer, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson in 1977 of heart problems. Don WIlson in 1982 of a stroke, Mary Livingstone in 1983 of heart disease and Mel Blanc in 1989 also of heart disease. |
 Jack Benny  Jack Benny and Don WIlson
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External Links TV Guide's People Are Funny Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More. |
Black and White 30 minutes Art Linkletter hosted skits which often involved the audience. A Univac computer, then in its infancy, tried to match up couples. He did a wonderful bit with children called Kids Say the Darndest Things which was recreated by Bill Cosby in 1998. |
 Art Linkletter |
1950s TV's Greatest Shows - 12 Shows - 3 DVDs Includes George Gobel External Links TV Guide's George Gobel Show Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More. |
Black and White 30 minutes George Gobel Theme Song Gobelues by John Scott TurnerGeorge Gobel Show Cast Anita Bryant, Eddie Fisher, Peggy King, Jeff Daniels, Joe Flynn, Harry Von Zell, the Modernaires, Shirley Harmer and Paul Kelly"Well, I'll be a dirty bird! "You don't hardly get those no more." "Lonesome George" Gobel opened his show with a monologue, most often one involving his wife, Alice. Alice was his real life wife's name but she did not appear on the show. Alice was played by Jeff Daniels and Peggy King. Passings George Gobel died in 1991. |
 George Gobel |
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