ABC Debuts ‘The Joey Bishop Show’, April 17, 1967
47 Years Ago…ABC Debuts ‘The Joey Bishop Show’
On April 17, 1967, Joey Bishop and his sidekick Regis Philbin went head to head with Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon on NBC, and in some markets, Merv Griffin’s syndicated Group W show. (Merv’s CBS late night show did not come along till ’69.)
As a member of the “Rat Pack”, Bishop was a hot property, but even at the top of his game, ‘Tonight’ was too big hurdle and the show ended on December 26, 1969 with Bishop leaving after his monologue, declaring that this was the last show. Philbin was left to finish the final episode. The time slot was filled by ‘The Dick Cavett Show’.
The only episodes that topped ‘Tonight’ in the ratings was when Regis walked off the show, and returned a few days later. Philbin’s reason for leaving was the bashing he took from critics and ABC executives, but years later, Philbin revealed that the “walk off” was actually a stunt Bishop had come up with.
The show was done with GE PE 350 color cameras from The Vine Street Theater. According to our friend Randy West, who reminded me of this event, Bishop and Philbin would walk around the neighborhood for inspiration on monologue bits. As seen in the video, it seems they also did a bit of shopping as in this clip of the show’s open, they are both sporting new Nehru jackets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdyDRjpPftU
The opening minutes of a Bishop show episode that features Sammy Davis as the central guest. Here Joey and sidekick Reege talk about their new Nehru jackets …
Audio of Regis introducing the show is at 9:06 of this clip
http://youtu.be/XygLHu2mtrE
This was a big break for Regis–his first national exposure.
http://rwkates2001.wix.com/late-night-tv#!joey-bishop/c9j6
For a few years (during the 1980’s), my department at ABC had its offices on the ground floor and mezzanine level of the Vine Street Theatre. I used to love “snooping” through the former production spaces in this building. The top floor contained a rather opulent wood-panelled penthouse apartment (including a green marble fireplace) with a terrace which looked down on to Vine Street. I heard conflicting stories that either Jerry Lewis or Bobby Darin once resided up there. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) now owns the building.
ABC’s Vine Street Theater…thanks to Randy West for the photo.