The Steve Allen Show (1950 TV series)

The Steve Allen Show is an American variety and talk show hosted by Steve Allen and broadcast by CBS from December 25, 1950, to September 11, 1952. It was Allen's first network television series and helped develop the informal combination of comedy, interviews, music and improvisation that he later used as the first host of Tonight.

The program began as a weekday early-evening series in December 1950. In March 1951, it was reformatted as a daytime program, initially running for one hour each weekday. The daytime version continued until February 22, 1952. CBS revived the program in prime time during the summer of 1952 for six broadcasts on alternate Thursday evenings.

History Early-evening series The Steve Allen Show premiered on CBS on December 25, 1950. It was broadcast Monday through Friday from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time and continued in that time slot until March 1951.

Allen played piano, interviewed guests and relied heavily on ad-libbed comedy. The format reflected the spontaneous style he had developed during his earlier radio career.

A surviving broadcast from January 2, 1951, featured singer Peggy Lee. Al Span was credited as producer, Frank Satenstein as director and Bern Bennett as announcer.

Allen gained wider attention shortly after the series began when he substituted for Arthur Godfrey as host of Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. During a live commercial Allen prepared tea and instant soup and poured them into Godfrey's ukulele, an improvised routine that received considerable attention and helped establish Allen as a national television personality.

Daytime series On March 26, 1951, CBS moved Allen to daytime television. The program initially aired from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on weekdays. On May 7 it moved to noon, retaining its one-hour length, and on September 3 it moved to 12:45 p.m. and was shortened to 45 minutes.

The daytime program was built around Allen's improvisational style and included interviews, conversations with members of the studio audience, music, comedy and variety acts. Contemporary trade publication Television described the series as featuring Allen's "wacky interviews" and reported that the program had a permanent company headed by violinist Florian ZaBach.

ZaBach was a featured member of the daytime company, while Peggy Lee also appeared on the program. Bern Bennett is documented as the show's announcer during the early run.

The program remained at 12:45 p.m. through its final daytime broadcast on February 22, 1952.

During much of the same period, Allen also hosted CBS's prime-time musical program Songs for Sale, which featured aspiring songwriters whose compositions were performed and evaluated on the air.

Summer 1952 series CBS returned The Steve Allen Show to prime time during the summer of 1952. The half-hour program aired at 8:30 p.m. on alternate Thursdays, sharing the time period with The Al Pearce Show.

Six broadcasts aired between July 3 and September 11, 1952: July 3, July 17, July 31, August 14, August 28 and September 11. The September 11 broadcast marked the end of Allen's first CBS television series.

Format The program differed from more formally structured variety shows by placing considerable emphasis on Allen's ability to improvise. He spoke directly to the audience, interviewed guests, played piano and constructed comedy around events occurring in the studio.

The daytime incarnation was particularly informal. Rather than relying entirely on scripted sketches, Allen moved between interviews, audience interaction, music and spontaneous comedy. Television described the show's principal attractions as Allen's comic activities and interviews, together with the show's permanent musical company.

Cast and production Allen was the host throughout the series. Singer Peggy Lee appeared on the program during its early run. Violinist Florian ZaBach headed the permanent company used on the daytime series beginning in 1951.

Bern Bennett served as announcer on the January 2, 1951, broadcast.

Al Span produced and Frank Satenstein directed the surviving January 2, 1951, broadcast. Production personnel appear to have changed during the run, and surviving sources do not establish that either held those positions throughout the entire series.

Legacy After the CBS series ended, Allen continued appearing on television, including as a panelist on What's My Line?. In 1953 he hosted the short-lived ABC talent program Talent Patrol.

In 1953, Allen moved to New York to host a local late-night program on WNBT called The Knickerbocker Beer Show which was soon renamed The Steve Allen Show, and in 1954, was picked up by the full NBC network as Tonight Starring Steve Allen and was the first iteration of The Tonight Show. The mixture of monologues, interviews, audience participation, music and improvisational comedy that Allen had used on his CBS program became central elements of his later work and of the developing late-night talk-show format.

Allen later hosted another television program titled The Steve Allen Show, which began on NBC in 1956. That prime-time comedy-variety series was distinct from the 1950-1952 CBS program.

The Steve Allen Show (1950 TV series)

Bron en licentie