Andy Williams…The One And Only

If you didn’t see this show in it’s original run from 1962 through 1971, it’s hard to understand how good he was as a host and singer and how good the show was, in every way. In the next post, I’ll cover some background most us never knew but as for Andy’s big break in television…it came when he was the featured singer on ‘The Tonight Show With Steve Allen’ for two and a half years. In ’59, ’60 and ’61, Williams hosted a summer replacement show on NBC which was well received and those shows set the stage for him. In the fall of ’61, ‘Breakfast At Tiffany’s’ was a huge hit and with it, ‘Moon River’ by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini. Andy Williams sang it at the 1962 Academy Awards show and has “owned” the song since. Each episode of the show opened with him singing eight bars of the song. The glowing sentiment and fond memories most people have for both Andy and his show is something you had to be there for to really appreciate.

Above is a still from one of Sammy Davis Jr.’s appearances on the show. There is a low quality video of this scene out there, but here is another clip of Sammy and Andy that pretty much captures the mood and gentle style of the show. Love that TK41 color too!

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