Where the Sid Caesar – Imogene Coca Magic Started
Where the Sid Caesar – Imogene Coca Magic Started, Ended and CONTINUED!
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 old 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.
GUESS WHAT HAPPEND NEXT! On February 5, 1950, one of TV’s biggest shows ever…”Your Show of Shows” starring the same stars as the Broadway Revue, Sid Ceasar and Imagene Coca debuted on the same stage…NBC’s International Theater. Thanks to the fast thinking of NBC President Pat Weaver, Leibman, Ceasar and a troupe of writers that included some of the best, blasted a 4-year hole in Saturday night theater attendance. Mel Brooks, Woody Alan, Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, Mel Tolkin, Howard Morris and MORE were writing their way into history. In case you didn’t realize it yet, YSOS is SNL’s daddy!
Oddly enough, the original series was sponsored by TV set manufacturer Admiral, a company which was in direct competition with both networks it aired on…RCA (the parent company of NBC) and DuMont, which both manufactured TV sets. To see an episode, click the link and enjoy!
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 Happy that many of the routines have been archived.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.