THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR By: Film Buff/Historian Jan Lary COLGATES: * = AVAILABLE 1. 10/15/50 * Hosted by Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. With guests Kitty Kallen, The Skylarks. 2. 2/4/51 * Hosted by Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. With guests Polly Bergen, Bob Fosse, Mary Ann Niles. 3. 4/29/51 * Hosted by Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. With guests Helen O'Connell, and Bob Fosse. 4. 5/20/51 * Hosted by Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. With guests Jane Morgan, Bob Fosse, Mary Ann Niles. 5. 11/4/51 * Hosted by Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. With Guest Dorothy Dandridge and Danny Arnold. 6. 12/30/51 * Hosted by Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. With guests Eve Young, Ray Malone, Danny Arnold. 7. 1/27/52 * Hosted by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. With guests Mike Mazurki and Sheldon Leonard. Sketches: Dean and Jerry put on their act for Gangsters; Soda Jerks. 8. 3/23/52 * Hosted by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. With guests Danny Lewis, Tommy Wonder. 9. 9/21/52 * Hosted by Dean Martin and Jerrry Lewis. With guests Rosemary Clooney, Danny Arnold. Sketches: Wedding Detective, cranky little boy. 10. 1/25/53 * Hosted by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. With guests Connie Russell, Ray Malone, Tony Martin, Joe Louis. 11. 5/3/53 * Hosted by Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. With guest Mary McCarty. 12. 5/24/53 * Hosted by Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. With guests Jimmy Durante, Tony Curtis, George Raft. Sketches: Jerry spoofs Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town". 13. 10/4/53 * Hosted by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. With guests Burt Lancaster, The Skylarks. Sketches: Burt plays an escaped lunatic. Dean sings: That's Amore. 14. 1/10/54 * Hosted by Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. With guests The Mondernaires, Franklin Pangborn. 15. 12/19/54 * Hosted by Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. With guests Vera Miles, Jack Benny, Milton Frome. Sketches: Jerry serves spaghetti at Dean's diner, Dean and Vera adopt Jerry. 16. 11/13/55 * Hosted by Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. With guests Margaret Dumont, Mike Mazurki. Sketches: Dean sings "Sweet Kentucky Babe" This was their last Comedy Hour, on July 25th 1956 at Copacabana their had their last show. They hosted Comedy hour 28 times, not all is available. I presume if they kept Colgates for one more year, Dead would not depart, Comedy Hour was his access to the public, a place to perform his songs to most masses. Jerry Lewis and Martin were idiots by not filming their last appearance together and it should have been broadcasted. 17. 11/21/54 Cameo "Lets Face It," Starring Vivian Blaine, Jimmy Gleason, Bert Lahr, Gene Nelson. Cameos by Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin. Music and lyrics by Cole Porter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- We have Best of A&C Colgates sketches with below: ABBOTT AND COSTELLO COLGATES: 1/7/1951 * Hosted by Abbott & Costello. With guests Evelyn Knight and Hal LeRoy. Sketches: Hot Dog & Mustard, and Shell Game routines (army) -Lou visits a hospital where strange thingss happen. 11/18/51 * Hosted by Abbott and Costello. With guests George Raft, Louis Armstrong, Sid Fields & Joe Kirk. 1/13/52 * Hosted by Abbott and Costello. With guests Errol Flynn, Rhonda Fleming, Bruce Cabot. Sketches: The "old Niagra Falls routine". 12/14/52 * Hosted by Abbott and Costello. Christmas Show Sketches: The skits include Bud and Lou trying to raise money for gifts, a cooking lesson. 3/28/54 * Hosted by Abbott & Costello. With guests Les Paul, Mary Ford, Janik & Arnaut, The Pied Pipers. 4/18/54 * Hosted by Abbott and Costello. With guests Jane Russell, Rhonda Fleming, Connie Haines, Beryl Davis, Nestor Paiva, Benny Rubin, Jim Hayward. Sketches: Bud and Lou visit the Latin American Country of Bolamania. 5/23/1954 Hosted by Abbott and Costello. Sketches: Classic A&C Horror movie comedy routines. 1) Charles Laughton '52 *2) Victor Borge, Gisele Mackenzie, Allan Jones, Allan Jones, Sid Fields, Gisele MacKenzie, Grace Hartman '53 *3) Jarmila Novatna, Lon Chaney, Jr. as Frankenstein Monster '51 (Who's on First Routine) *4) Errol Flynn, Rhonda Fleming, Bruce Cabot '52 5) Gale Storm, Phil Regan '52 *6) Jane Russell, Rhonda Fleming '54 *7) Les Paul, The Pied Pipers, Veola Vonn & Mary Ford '54 * 8) E-lizabeth Scott '53 * 9) Teresa Brewer, Hoagy Carmichael, '53 *16) Hoagy Carmichael, Peggy Lee '53 ? *10) Evelyn Knight, Hal LeRoy '51 11) Sonja Henie '54 12) Vera Zorina, Monique Von Vooren '52 13) Rhonda Fleming, Gordon MacRae, Clark Brothers '52 *14) George Raft, Louie Armstrong '51 *15) Christmas Show 12/14/53 16) Hosted by Bob Hope. With guests Donald O'Connor, Eddie Cantor, ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OTHER COLGATES: Date: 12/31/50 Host: Eddie Cantor. Guests: Danny Thomas, Ed Wynn and Sigmund Romberg. Date: 10/7/51 Host: Donald O'Connor. Guests: Ed Wynn, Arlene Dahl, Effie O'Connor, Douglas Fowley, Walter Catlett. Description: Donald O'Connor's agent trys to get him a job with a new producer. Date: ?/?/1954 Host: Jimmy Durante. Guests: Frank Sinatra. Date: ?/?/1952 Host: Fred Allen. Guests: Tony Martin, Celeste Holm, Peanuts Hucko. Date: 3/30/1952 Host: Tony Martin Guests: Chico, Harpo Marx Date: 11/22/1953 Historic tv event Host: Donald O'Connor - hosts first commercial network color telecest using NBA's electronic system. Guests: Ralph Belamy, Dorothy Dandridge, Sid Miller, Corinne Calvet, Jack Albertson, Snag Warris, Phil Carris, Al Goodman & his orchestra. Date: ?/?/1954 * Host: Sammy Davis Jr. Guests: Don Wilson, "The Will Maston Trio", "The Gaylords", Jay Lawrence, Gene Sheldon and Connie Russell. Date: 12/25/55 Host: Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians M&L 17th movie cameo: Road to Bali --------------------------------------------------- Specials: 100th Episode Anniversary Program with Abbott & Costello & many others Date: 5/11/1967; Colgate Special Guests: Edie Adams, Bob Newhart, Mel Brooks, Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, Nanette Fabray, Phyllis Diller, Kaye Ballard, Carl Reiner and Nipsey Russell. Description: Set in the "mold" of the Colgate Comedy Hour, but unfortunately, with none of the original hosts. First telecast: Sep 10 1950, Last: Dec 25 1955, NBC, 8pm Sundays Principal Hosts: Eddie Cantor, Fred Allen 1950-51 Donald O'Connor, A&Costello 1951-54, Martin & Lewis 1950-55 (The perennial regulars) Jimmy Durante 1953-54, Bob Hope 1952-53, Gordon MacRae 1954-55, Robert Paige 1955 Description: The Final Colgate Comedy Hour, Chistmas Music. It does not get any better than the Original Comedy hour was in my professional opinion the greatest comedy variety series tv ever aired. For the first year the show was broadcast from New York from 8-9 EST Pm and the regular rotatings hosts were Martin & L, Eddie Cantor and Fred Allen, they were (together with Laurel n Hardy and still are) the cream of comedy. For the season beginning in 1951 the shows was moved to the West Coast. Unfortunately, Fred Allen was dropped (I guess because of location) and new hosts A&Costello, O'Oconnor were added. There were many hosts who starred in only one or two Comedy Hours such as Jack Carson, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante (the Great Nose, Shnoozola), Judy Canova. In the 1954/55 season, the series lost many of it's regular hosts as Eddie Cantor became too ill to perform. O'Connor, Durante began their own shows on NBC. The show shifted more towards presenting mini musicals with stars like Ethel Merman and Frank Sinatra. After years of going head to head against Ed Sullivan & format change, interest in the show diminished and the Colgate Comedy hour lost its appeal. I DO NOT KNOW WHY WAS IT SO HARD NOT TO FILM ANOTHER SHOW ON NEW YEAR'S DAY, THERE IS NO EXCUSE, SHAME ON THOSE PEOPLE !!! They should have had a final show on New Year's Day. Have a finale 1+ HOUR SPECIAL WITH: LAUREL N HARDY, A&COSTELLO, M&LEWIS TOGETHER. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A BLAST, NICE WAY TO GO !!! I will do a special in the future with the best clips montage. At the end of 1955 Comedy hour did not really end. There were new shows to come in 1956, 18 of them, but it was called the New NBC Comedy Hour. Each week the same supporting stars were in the show. They were: Jonathan Winters (still going strong), Gale Storm. The show lasted from January 8th until June 10th 1956. The first three shows were hosted by Leo Durocher. They were not a real success. Wally Cox co-starred in the first 3 episodes. The show was almost canceled. They returned to old format, new guest star on each new episode. Comedy hour was in trouble and it was never as good as it once was. Leo Durocher was given the title of NBC executive (they were dime a dozen then), in hopes of using him as their prop so they could garnish new viewers. Big name comedians would rotate as emcees until a permanent one was chosen. That was never to be. Jonathan Winters repeated a lot of his stuff, Kaye turned up with some worn stories, Cox was still... well... Cox. One must remember Ed Sullivan was on separate channel at the same time, this might have contributed a lot to the death of the program. The show was not that bad. However, in the beginning there were some who criticized the show. Comedy hour, since 1954/1955 was no longer a real comedy hour. It was publicly clobbered by critics with their typewriters & verbal lashing but the show was never bad.