THE GREAT VARIETY SHOWS

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BLOG OF THE DAY: THE GREAT VARIETY SHOWS

Hello All,
Here to talk abou THE GREAT "VARIETY SHOWS" that the
tv networds did back in the 50s and 60s...A proposition, as Carol Burnett
has noted, that got too "Expensive" to produce by the late 60's...(although her own
show was carried on into the 70's)

Starting in the early 50's and continuing for at least a decade or so, the idea of
having kind of a well rounded "vaudeville show"
built around a star entertainer(usually a comedian)was thought to
be what the public wanted, and indeed it was...
PEople were able to stay home from the movies, and with the purchase of a
Tv Set(most were expensive for that time, a few were not)
they could be entertained on any night of the week for an hour or half hour - a re-occuring or "sustaining" show...Weekends being a prime time for these types of shows...A wisecracking comedian such as Red Skelton - a genius if there ever was one - would stand and entertain you with his pantomimes, jokes, and banter, and then after awhile, this would give way to an attractive dancing troup hoofing their way through big "production numbers"...usually they
lip synced a song they were singing to a group of 8 singers in the backround(not seen) as they danced. As if this wasn't enough, a special "guest star" would appear on each show, it was usually a famous singer or a Hollywood actor who was willing to try their ability at joining in on sketches involving the principal star as well as promote their latest song.
Production values for this type of show were "big." Lots of money was spent on
costumes, sets, tv cameras with booms, and orchestras led by savvy conductors
of renown in the light "pop" field..David Rose and Paul Weston come to mind.
People got used to being entertained by the best in the business...JAckie Gleason,
Milton Berle, Steve Allen, the list goes on and on...
But as the dawn of a new era appraoched in the mid 60's, the counter culture
values crept into society...
The networks now realized that they could produce programs that wern't so expensive,
based on the so called "relavancy" of certain personalities such as the Smothers
Brothers,etc.(even tho it was a paired down pseudo version of a variety show featuring singers, etc.)and Laugh-In(remember that?)
This became the death knell for the "variety show" and the older all-round
entertainers whos shows were "cancelled"began to resent the networks for dropping
their shows, and their type of entertainment..
Perhaps it was a format that needed a rest, but after a few years, despite a few
shows that featured some "hip" current personalities, they began to be sorely missed..
Such shows are never seen in this day and age..We do have our DVD's, video tapes
and films of these shows from the past, and I, for one, enjoy watching them as relief to a lot of the hideous programing that pervades the "air" today...
"Dream Along with me!(Im on my way to the stars-(Perry Como)

Steveo

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