Network TV’s First Late Night Comedy: Broadway Open House

Broadway Open House was network television’s first late-night comedy-variety series and was telecast live on NBC from May 29, 1950 to August 24, 1951, airing weeknights from 11pm to midnight. One of the pioneering TV creations of NBC president Pat Weaver, it demonstrated the potential for late-night programming and led to the later development of The Tonight Show in 1954.

Hosting different nights each week, were Morey Amsterdam (Monday and Wednesday) and the raucous Jerry Lester (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays). Amsterdam soon exited the show, leaving Lester the sole host, performing sketches with his crew of sidekicks, running through standard nightclub comedy routines and introducing the show’s vocal group, the Mello Larks.

Devising new material night after night became a treadmill of desperation. The solution was to hire bosomy blonde Jennie Lewis, who was given no script and told, “You just sit there and act dumb. Your name is Dagmar.” With her new name, she sat on a stool with a sign around her neck saying “Girl Singer,” did breathing exercises, and soon performed as a reader of poems and plays, while Lester made occasional jokes about her “hidden talents.”

Dagmar created a sensation, leading to much press coverage and a salary increase from $75 to $1,250. With Dagmar getting all the attention, Lester walked off his own show in May 1951, and Dagmar carried on as host. On July 16, 1951, she was featured on the front cover of Life, and the show came to an end one month later.

Dagmar’s run on Broadway Open House and her appearances on other shows (Colgate Comedy Hour, The Milton Berle Show, Masquerade Party) made her the first major female star of television, and she soon had her own show, Dagmar’s Canteen, making guest appearances during the late 1950s with Jack Paar on The Tonight Show.

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