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33 Episodes 1952 - 1953
Episode 1
In his first stint as a TV revue host, Dennis Day spoofs Johnnie Ray, a Nazi submarine commander, a French chef, a gigolo, a bratty kid, and a stand-up comedian. Closing the show is a Yiddish bit with Dennis and George Jessel.
Episode 2
Sat, Sep 13, 1952
Proclaiming, "Old bits never die - they merely relive for television," Georgie Jessel, in his debut as TV host, is right at home using a toastmaster format to perform his emcee duties. His offerings include some singing, some comedy, a duet with Dorothy Kirsten, his "mama on the telephone" and "Professor Ganzermacher" routines, and impersonations of Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor. Jimmy Durante shows up to welcome Georgie to the show, and Joe DiMaggio presents him with a lifetime baseball pass.
Episode 3
Sat, Sep 20, 1952
Episode 4
Sat, Sep 27, 1952
Episode 5
Sat, Oct 4, 1952
An all-star cast was on hand to celebrate the opening of NBC's new Burbank studios in southern California.
Episode 6
Sat, Oct 11, 1952
Sketches include a spoof of the popular radio and TV show 'Author Meets the Critics' called 'Writer Versus Critic', with Meredith Willson as the emcee, Groucho Marx as the critic, Tallulah Bankhead as the writer (of her recently published autobiography), and Ethel Barrymore taking Tallulah's side. Another bit has Tallulah on her first New York subway ride, complaining that there's no sleeper, drawing room, or dining room. (For a particularly clever touch, she sees a picture of her nemesis Bette Davis posted there.) In what was supposedly his "live" television debut (his previous appearances had all been on film), Groucho sings "Go West," from his movie of the same name. In a tradition established on 'The Big Show', the cast sings Meredith Willson's "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You" to close the show.
Episode 7
Sat, Oct 18, 1952
Sketches include Jimmy Durante going to Washington, Jimmy and Frank Sinatra n a barber shop, and Fifi D'Orsay trying to distract Jimmy from his music.
Episode 8
Sat, Oct 25, 1952
Georgie Jessel reprises his "Professor Ganzermacher" bit and does a drunk act. Kay Starr sings "Worry, Worry, Worry" and "Three Letters," while Leo Durocher and Laraine Day (married in real life) portray an embattled couple.
Episode 9
Sat, Nov 1, 1952
In a skit, Ezio Pinza has amnesia and Martha Raye tries to help him regain his memory
Episode 10
Sat, Nov 8, 1952
A satire of 'Gone with the Wind' called 'Real Gone avec le Breeze'. Patsy Kelly and Phil Foster play a bickering couple, and Vaughn Monroe sings "Yours."
Episode 11
Sat, Nov 15, 1952
At the Club Durant Opera Company, Jimmy Durante plays a fawn, while Lily Pons is a wood nymph. They team up for "Obbligato Song", "Jenny," and "You and Your Beautiful Eyes." On her own, Lily sings "Caro Nome" from Verdi's 'Rigoletto'.
Episode 12
Sat, Nov 22, 1952
The three Ritz Brothers offer up bedtime story spoofs of the Mayflower (for Thanksgiving), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Ivanhoe.
Episode 13
Sat, Nov 29, 1952
Episode 14
Sat, Dec 6, 1952
Martha Raye finds it difficult to compete with beautiful Dorothy Lamour for the men aboard a Caribbean cruise ship.
Episode 15
Sat, Dec 13, 1952
Jimmy Durante and Sophie Tucker, in the Club Durant sequence, pull out all the stops, proving that in the right hands, vaudeville never goes out of style. Danny Thomas congratulates Jimmy on winning the B'nai B'rith's Humanitarian Award.
Episode 16
Sat, Dec 20, 1952
For this Christmas show, Tallulah Bankhead recites "Touch Hands," a poem about brotherly love by William Harrison Murray. Sketches include a spoof of Antony and Cleopatra, Tallulah making a visit to Macy's Department Store, a discussion of gossip columns, and Patsy Kelly and Phil Foster's bickering couple (reprised from a previous show). Louis Armstrong sings and plays his trumpet to a new song by Meredith Willson called "Who Needs What Moonlight?"
Episode 17
Sat, Dec 27, 1952
Walter O'Keefe substitutes for an ailing George Jessel. Using the usual toastmaster format, sketches involve football spies, insurance policies, and Buster Keaton and his wife Eleanor demonstrate how to put an inebriated spouse to bed.
Episode 18
Sat, Jan 3, 1953
Episode 19
Sat, Jan 10, 1953
Tallulah Bankhead in a dramatic scene as World War I nurse Edith Cavell; a British sketch with Tallulah, Milton Berle, and Dennis King; a Broadway automat skit; Billy Daniels sings "Yiddishe Momma". Patsy and Phil as the bickering couple.
Episode 20
Sat, Jan 17, 1953
In a change of pace, the show does a story about Martha Raye's adoption of a little Chinese girl. To provide a better environment for the youngster, she takes a job in a tearoom run by two of cinema's greatest villains, the sardonic Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff. At one point, when the girl's relatives come to take her back, Martha gets so emotional she has to leave the stage.
Episode 21
Sat, Jan 24, 1953
Filmed introduction by H. V. Kaltenborn. Georgie Jessel returns, following surgery, and resumes his place as toastmaster in the banquet setting. He does a "Professor Ganzermacher" bit, as well as impressions of Eddie Foy, Raymond Hitchcock, Sam Bernard, and George M. Cohan. Sophie Tucker belts out "Nobody Loves a Fat Girl" and a medley of her oldies. Dorothy Kirsten does "Un bel dì vedremo" from 'Madame Butterfly' and "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" (The Drinking Song) from 'La Traviata'. Nat King Cole sings "Mona Lisa," "That's My Girl," and "Pretend," while Shelton Brooks plays his "At the Darktown Strutter's Ball" on the piano.
Episode 22
Sat, Jan 31, 1953
Jimmy jokes that he discovered Ezio Pinza - when his name was "Lauritz Melchior." At the Club Durant, Ezio sings "I Want to Be Eddie Jackson" and does a bit of cakewalking.
Episode 23
Sat, Feb 7, 1953
Tallulah Bankhead reads O. O. McIntyre's column of the death of his dog. Bert Lahr does a satire on artists, Renzo Cesana appears as a traffic cop, Dolores Martin sings "I'm Through with Love" and "Necessity," Bob Carroll sings "Rachel."
Episode 24
Sat, Feb 14, 195360 mins
Perry Como hosts with guests Ben Blue, Joan Blondell, dance team (Danny) Hoctor and (Betty) Byrd, Snag Werris, Siri, Anita West, actor Stanley Prager, and singer Patti Page. Perry sings "Don't Let the Stars Get In Your Eyes" and "You'll Never Walk Alone." Perry woos Joan to be on the show, but she falls asleep thanks to some sleeping pills from her doctor. Page sings "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window." Ben Blue plays in "Montmartre," a silent sketch where he gets the best of snobs in a French bar. Perry takes his kids to a museum where the paintings talk back. Blondell, Blue and Como do a comedy dance as hobos.
Episode 25
Sat, Feb 21, 1953
The hour's entertainment is centered around a simple premise: Rocky Graziano, as Martha Raye's boyfriend, isn't happy when Ezio Pinza shows up claiming to have married Martha when the two knew each other years ago in Vienna. In a cute bit, Martha and Rocky watch a film on TV of real-life Rocky's 1948 middleweight title bout with Tony Zale. (Rocky lost.) Martha sings "Blues in the Night."
Episode 26
Sat, Feb 28, 1953
Broadcast from NYC in a simulated Toots Shor's Restaurant. George Jessel, Bob Hope, and Fred Allen participated in a Friar's Club banquet the night before. The next night Bob hosted 'The Colgate Comedy Hour' with Jessel as his guest.
Episode 27
Sat, Mar 7, 1953
The cast does a spoof of cowboy movies, as presented on South American television.
Episode 28
Sat, Mar 14, 1953
Tallulah Bankhead, Fred MacMurray, and Wally Cox do a sketch about daredevil bicycle test pilots. Cab Calloway was appearing on Broadway in 'Porgy and Bess' and sings "There's a Boat That's Leaving Soon For New York" from that show.
Episode 29
Sat, Mar 21, 1953
Sonja Henie does a hula-hula to "Song of the Islands." The show originated from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
Episode 30
Sat, Mar 28, 1953
Ben Blue and Dorothy Lamour do a sketch in which she complains about his behavior at a party, and Ben gets a chance to do some pantomime. Mickey Rooney offers impressions of various film stars.
Episode 31
Sat, Apr 4, 1953
During the banquet portion of the show, in honor of Georgie Jessel's 55th birthday on April 3rd, Eddie Cantor reviews the highlights of the host's career but manages to turn the focus around to his own accomplishments. Fred Allen brings along a couple of regulars from his old radio show, wife Portland Hoffa and Kenny Delmar (in character as Senator Claghorn). Gloria DeHaven sings "The Old Soft Shoe" and "Ain't Got No Man." By this time, Jessel had already signed to do a show for ABC starting in the fall, but he graciously thanked NBC for "having put me closer in one season with the American audience than in all my 40 years in show business."
Episode 32
Sat, Apr 11, 1953
The cast pays tribute to Jimmy Durante's illustrious career, with both Helen Traubel and Rose Marie doing their best Durante impressions. For her part, Helen, the dignified opera star, "heaved parts of the piano, scattered the music and strutted in a manner that would have done credit to Eddie Jackson." Author Gene Fowler was on hand to plug his biography of "The Schnoz."
Episode 33
Sat, Apr 18, 1953
This, the final episode of 'All Star Revue' as a weekly series, features a parade of old favorites: Georgie Jessel as Professor Ganzermacher, Ben Blue in a Chaplinesque pantomime, Tallulah Bankhead doing her New York subway sketch, and Jimmy Durante and Eddie Jackson providing their usual vaudeville hijinks. Also included is Connie Russell singing "I'm Gonna Live Till I Die." This show originated from the Center Theatre in New York (demolished in 1954 and replaced by a skyscraper) and scored a 21.8 Trendex rating against its competitor 'The Jackie Gleason Show's 25.1.