Where the Sid Caesar/Imogene Coca Magic Started
Where the Sid Caesar/Imogene Coca Magic Started
The Admiral Broadway Revue is the only show known to be canceled because it was too successful…really! Admiral could not keep up with the demand for their TV sets so faced with the prospect of building a new plant or canceling the show, they canceled.
This was ground zero of what would later become the hugely successful, ‘Your Show Of Shows’. Admiral Broadway Review premiered on 28 January 1949, and was broadcast live simultaneously on both NBC and the now-defunct DuMont network. The show was telecast from the now-demolished International Theatre (also known as the Park Theatre) at 5 Columbus Circle in New York. The hour-long series was directed by Max Liebman, hosted by Sid Caesar, and also starred Imogene Coca. The last show of Admiral Broadway Revue was on June 3, 1949.
The series, oddly enough, was sponsored by TV set manufacturer Admiral, a company which was in direct competition with RCA (the parent company of NBC) and DuMont, which both manufactured TV sets. To see an episode, click the link.
Watched Your Show of Shows until its last broadcast. Happy that many of the routines have been archived. I was walking down Third Avenue across from Bloomingdale’s around 1976, and as I was waiting for the light to change, I hear this father introducing his little son to this old man wearing a blue blazer as he walked along Third Avenue: “This is Max Liebman. He was the producer of a very famous television show many years ago before you were born!” So I did a double take on that “old man.” Didn’t they release “Ten From Your Show of Shows” as a theatrical art-house release around 1973-74? Nice that Praelinger has an original Admiral show up there.