Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis appear on the April 4, 1952 broadcast of The Colgate Comedy Hour. In this episode, Jerry keeps auditioning for a part in Dean's show. In the final sketch, Dean and Jerry are on a cruise ship a Jerry plays a stowaway. The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show featured many notable comedians and entertainers of the era as guest stars. Synopsis The program evolved from NBC's first TV variety showcase, Four Star Revue, sponsored by Motorola. The "running gag" sketches were dropped in favor of more performing acts. The weekly show was proposed to be hosted by four comedians in a four-week rotation to provide competition for Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town on CBS. The first episode, starring Hans Conried, Rosemary DeCamp and Dick Foran, was written and produced by the then 22-year-old Peggy Webber, who appeared in over 100 episodes of Dragnet with Jack Webb. The new format was heavily backed by its sponsor, Colgate-Palmolive, to the tune of $3 million in the first year, and the 8:00 p.m. ET, Sunday evening format show was a spectacular success, particularly for Eddie Cantor and the Martin & Lewis and Abbott & Costello duos. In his autobiography, Jerry Lewis wrote that the show premiered Sunday, September 17, 1950, with Martin & Lewis and was telecast from the Park Theatre off Columbus Circle in New York City. As theatres are known by different names over history, it is possible that this was the now-demolished International Theatre at 5 Columbus Circle, the broadcast location of another NBC show of the era, Your Show of Shows with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. In fact, Eddie Cantor hosted the first Colgate Hour on September 10, 1950. During the 1950-51 season, AT&T; put into regular service a coast-to-coast coaxial/microwave interconnection service which allowed live telecasts from across the nation. Three production units were quickly set up, one in New York, one in Chicago, and one in Los Angeles. Martin & Lewis and Abbott & Costello anchored the West Coast, broadcasting from the El Capitan theater in Hollywood (today known as Avalon Hollywood. Other shows that originated here include The Hollywood Palace), while Eddie Cantor anchored from New York. This gave NBC a substantial edge over Ed Sullivan, since top-grade talent from motion pictures could also do network TV on the West Coast Colgate Comedy Hour, while Sullivan had to work with whomever happened to be in New York at the time that a particular episode aired. During the 1952-53 season, Cantor suffered a heart attack immediately after a Colgate Comedy Hour broadcast in September. Although he quickly recovered and returned in January 1953, he was reluctant to move with the show. By the fourth season, the sponsor was providing $6 million, but the performers were finding difficulty in offering fresh material. Ratings hence began to decline. Cantor had become too ill to continue in the hosting role, and the travel was too stressful and painful for him. His final Colgate appearance was in May 1954. Vic Schoen was hired as the musical director in 1954. In 1954, Tony Martinez, later cast as the farmhand on The Real McCoys, made his television debut on The Colgate Comedy Hour. Also known as: Colgate Summer Comedy Hour, Colgate Variety Hour Genre: Comedy/Variety Created by: Fred Hamilton Directed by: William Asher, Bob Finkel, Fred Hamilton, Ernest D. Glucksman, Jim Jordan, Kingman T. Moore, Ed Sobol, James V. Kern, Bud Yorkin Country of origin: United States Original language(s): English No. of seasons: 6 No. of episodes: 221 Production Executive producer(s): Samuel Fuller, Pete Barnum Producer(s): Charles Friedman, Ernest D. Glucksman, Leo Morgan, Ed Sobol, Michael Todd, Pete Barnum Camera setup: Multi-camera Running time: 50 minutes Production company(s): Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Release Original network: NBC Picture format: Black-and-white, Color Audio format: Monaural Original release: September 10, 1950 – December 25, 1955

• published: 06 Jul 2016
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