The Ed Sullivan Comedians - Footage Offline - 1/12/08

From various years throughout the nineteen sixties the following performers appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show multiple times ... and many of them became big nightclub stars because of it.
Frank Gorshin:

Ron Carey:

Joan Rivers:

George Carlin:

Alan King:

George Burns:

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (1963)

Hypothetically speaking, this footage shouldn't exist. But here it is!

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson with guest Jack Paar!

From November 1986:

George Kirby 9/13/07 - video offline

One of the biggest African-American comedy stars of all time was comic, impressionist and dancer George Kirby. He was well known for his bang-on interpretation of Pearl Bailey and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He eventually developed a drug problem. Read more about Kirby here.

The Martin & Lewis Out takes

If you're a fan of old showbiz, old comedy or "celebrities at their worst" style out takes then you might very well be familiar with this session of profane bliss. But regardless, if you've heard it before or not, it really never gets old. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were in the recording studio taping radio spots to advertise their latest Martin & Lewis picture for Paramount, The Caddy (1953), when they let their true feelings show.

As far as the film is concerned it is a weaker-than-usual vehicle for the comedy duo. One of the film's great problems is its length. At ninety-five minutes the picture is a good twenty minutes longer than most Martin & Lewis films. Even the greatest fan of Jerry's mugging does not have that kind of stamina. However, the film debuted the song "That's Amore" for Dino and won an Oscar for Best Original Song. We also see Martin & Lewis recreate their nightclub act for the film, but under the name of their fictional film characters.

The Caddy is best viewed as a showcase for annonymous character actors - almost as a game for the viewer to determine where they have seen each familiar face before. The hilarious Nancy Kulp who would find fame as the deadpan secretary with the hots for Jethro on The Beverly Hillbillies, has a very early role in the film. Today the movie is best known as the film promoted in this classic out take reel.

The opening scene from the film:

CPO Sharkey starring Don Rickles with guests The Dickies

I'm on a real Don Rickles kick right now, so let's watch a bit of his late seventies sitcom, CPO Sharkey (1976-78). He isn't really in the second clip at all, but its footage from the obligatory punk rock episode!

This is Tom Jones Commericial

This footage was originally posted on the amazing Bedazzled TV site that showcases a plethora of rare footage for both online viewing and ordering. Strange commercials, forgotten television shows, oddball celebrity endorsements, and plenty of hard to find garage rock footage abounds over there. Make sure to check it out.

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson with guest Jim Henson (1974)

I believe Johnny introduces him as Jim Jenson in this clip. It originally aired in January of 1974, but this performance originated about a decade earlier. The creepy electronic music was composed by Raymond "Powerhouse" Scott.

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson with guest Sammy Davis Jr

Great Carson fun - seems like something is always getting wrecked, stained or destroyed in these old clips.

The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder (1976) - Footage Offline - 7/20/08

Originally airing February 4th, 1976 this episode of The Tomorrow Show features Star Trek as the topic with guests James Doohan, Walter Koenig and DeForrest Kelly. Harlan Ellison shows up as well and proves that he was an ass long before this whole Fantagraphics debacle.

The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder (1977) - Footage Offline - 6/22/08

Tom Snyder reunites the cast of the 1950s Superman television series, The Adventures of Superman (it has recently been released on DVD). And just so you know what this is all about, here's an ad for the Superman show too.

The Mike Douglas Show with guests The Supremes (1973)

The Mike Douglas Show with guests The Supremes (1976)

The Mike Douglas Show with guests The Supremes (1977)

The Joey Bishop Show with guest Sammy Davis Jr (1968)

The Joey Bishop Show was a late night talk show that ran from April 17, 1967 to spring of 1969 on ABC. It was ABC's attempt to compete with NBC's Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and of course it failed. Each episode was ninety minutes in length. ABC offered Bishop his own late night talk show after seeing how competent he seemed to be guest hosting for Carson. As you will see at the start of this clip, his sidekick was Regis Philbin. Previously this timeslot had been held by a news discussion program called The Les Crane Show. When Joey was canceled, he was replaced by Dick Cavett. Bishop's talk show should not be confused with his sitcom of the same name that ran from 1961-1965. That show is on DVD but the talk show is not.

To read what kind of a connection Joey Bishop had Canadian mobsters check out this article - part one and part two.

This episode of The Joey Bishop Show features cameos from Joey Bishop's brother and Sammy Davis Senior! Originally aired February 1968.

Comic book historian and old showbiz fan Mark Evanier tells an interesting story about a Regis Philbin controversy that once occured on The Joey Bishop Show:

One of his highest ratings came after a taping when Regis Philbin abruptly announced that he was quitting the show. The one day delay worked to the show's benefit that time. The news spread and much of America tuned in to hear Philbin announce -- apparently stunning Joey -- that the network had never wanted him in the first place and that he had endured too much criticism from them that he was dragging down the show. A few nights later, everyone watched again to hear Bishop announce that everything had been smoothed over, after which he welcomed Regis back to the show. The incident gave Joey two of the few nights he beat Carson but several TV critics suggested it was all an arranged stunt.

The Tonight Show with Steve Allen (1953) - Footage Offline - 06/18/08

A clip from the premiere episode of The Tonight Show with Steve Allen, at the time known as Tonight!

The Jacksons with guest Redd Foxx (1977)

Redd Foxx dances with Michael Jackson in this opening sequence of The Jacksons variety show.

Rickles (1975)

From a rarely seen 1975 CBS Special titled Rickles. It features a good example of what Rickles' live act is still like today. He sings, he dances lightly and, of course, he hurls insults. The song "I'm a Nice Guy" is still performed today (listen for the line about everyone in the band being high) at every Rickles gig. As with the most recent Rickles post, this one features many several bizarre celebrity cameos. Otto Preminger delivers his weirdest work since Skidoo (1968) - Preminger singing and doing musical shtick with Rickles on stage? I'm reverting back into that "James Brown, Little Richard, Weird Al Yankovic on Wheel Fortune together" dream state. It seems too much like a dream to be real. Like that dream I keep having about teaching a sheep how to tap dance - except with celebrities.

Wallpapers to Go

I just want to state right off that I know this is not showbiz related. But let's just pretend it belongs on this site and enjoy it.

Tony Curtis Overacting and Hurting Someone

Name the movie. Winner gets nothing.

Dick Gregory PSA (1968)

Unfortunately this has been removed from YouTube for the time being. The man who uploaded it often has footage appear, disapear and then re-appear at a later date. I don't know why. Hopefully that later date will be soon.

Perhaps the greatest political comedian of all time is Dick Gregory. In the same league as Mort Sahl, George Carlin, Dick Davy, Bill Hicks, Lenny Bruce and a handful of others, Gregory's comedy was devoted to a greater cause than simply making people laugh. His comedy LPs are among the most meticulously ever crafted. His material was brilliant and enlightening. Recently, he did some lush theatre gigs with Mort Sahl, a dream bill if there ever was one. Here he is in a PSA that obviously never did one bit of good.

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson with guest Steve Martin (1974)

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson with guest Frankie Yankovic

The Dean Martin Show with guest Don Rickles (1969)

In this wild footage we see Don Rickles reprise his live act for television. Cleaned up a bit for TV - it was probably edited for time too, but its incredible how long this set is, on somebody else's show. Just shows you how much of a fan Dino was of Don.  This footage features an incredible planted audience of celebrities. In this television studio audience, appearing specifically to participate in this segment, are Don Adams, Danny Thomas, Lena Horne, Polly Bergen, Ricardo Montalban, Barbara Eden, Ernest Borgnine, Jackie Cooper, Guy Marks, The Andrews Sisters, Rose Marie, Bob Newhart, Dom Deluise, Pat Boone, Robert Morris, Pat Collins and several more. It includes a staged cameo from Bob Hope in which Rickles reprises some once-improvised lines from a real-life cameo Hope made at one of his shows.

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson with guests The Smothers Brothers (1992)

Tommy Smothers does an impression of Johnny Carson on The Smothers Brothers final appearance on the show before Johnny left. A reminder that Tommy Smothers says the DVD collection of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour should be out before the end of the year.

Phyllis Diller Bleach & Reynolds Wrap Commericials

Skidoo (1968): Groucho Marx and Jackie Gleason on LSD!

This was such a hard to find and hard to see film until the internet age came along. Otto Preminger's embarrassment and shame continues to be locked in the vaults but we can enjoy as much or as little of it as we want on various video sharing sites. The classic scene featured here has Jackie Gleason trip out on LSD. I'm not about to recap the history of this notorious stinker, as it has been recounted elsewhere many times. However, I do want to recount the story of Groucho Marx dropping acid in real life in order to prepare for his role in this film as the turtlenecked, LSD kingpin named God (we see Gleason experience terrified visions of the Marx character in this clip). In his memoir Confessions of a Raving Unconfined Nut (1993, Simon and Schuster), underground publisher and counterculture icon Paul Krassner recalled the experience of providing Groucho with the LSD and having to act as his "guide" for the duration of his trip.

Krassner tells the story:

"... I was hanging around with friends from the Hog Farm, who were extras in the movie. Skidoo was proacid propaganda thinly disguised as a comedy adventure ... One of the characters in Skidoo was a Mafia chieftain named God. Screenwriter Bill Cannon had suggested Groucho Marx for the part ... [Groucho] was concerned about the script of Skidoo because it pretty much advocated LSD which he had never tried, but he was curious. Moreover, he felt a certain responsibility to his young audience not to steer them wrong, so could I possibly get him some pure stuff and would I care to accompany him on a trip. I did not play hard to get. We arranged to ingest those little white tablets one afternoon at the home of an actress in Beverly Hills ...


... We had a period of silence and a period of listening to music. I was accustomed to playing rock and roll while tripping, but the record collection at this house consisted entirely of Classical music and Broadway show albums. First we listened to the Bach Cantata No. 7. 'I'm supposed to be Jewish,' Groucho said, 'But I was seeing the most beautiful visions of Gothic cathedrals. Do you think Bach knew he was doing that?'

... Later, we were listening to the score of a musical comedy, Fanny. There was one song called 'Welcome Home,' where the lyrics go something like, 'Welcome home, says the clock,' and the chair says, 'Welcome home,' and so do various other pieces of furniture. Groucho started acting out each line, as though he were actually being greeted by the clock, the chair, and the rest of the furniture. He was like a child, charmed by his own ability to respond to the music that way.


... At one point in our conversation, Groucho somehow got into a negative space. He was equally cynical about institutions, such as marriage - 'legal quicksand' - and individuals, such as Lyndon Johnson - 'that potato-head.'

... Groucho was holding on to his cigar for a long time, but he never smoked it, he only sniffed it occasionally. 'Everybody has their own Laurel and Hardy,' he mused. 'A miniature Laurel and Hardy, one on each shoulder. Your little Oliver Hardy bawls you out - he says, 'Well this is a fine mess you've gotten us into.' And your little Stan Laurel gets all weepy - 'Oh, Ollie. I couldn't help it. I'm sorry, I did the best I could ...'

... Later, when Groucho started chuckling to himself, I hesitated to interrupt his reverie, but I had to ask, 'What struck you funny?' 'I was thinking about this movie, Skidoo,' he said. 'I mean some of it is just plain ridiculous. This kid puts his stationery, which is soaked in LSD, into the water supply of the prison, and suddenly everybody gets completely reformed. There's a prisoner who says, 'Oh, gosh, now I don't have to be a rapist anymore!' ... But I'm getting a big kick out of playing somebody named God like a dirty old man. You wanna know why ... it's because - do you realize that irreverence and reverence are the same thing?'


... He recalled Otto Preminger telling him about his own response to taking LSD and then he mimicked Preminger's accent: "I saw tings, bot I did not zee myself.' Groucho was looking in a mirror on the dining room wall, and he said, 'Well, I can see myself but I still don't understand what the hell I'm doing here ...'

... A week later, Groucho told me that the Hog Farm had turned him on with marijuana on the set of Skidoo. When Skidoo was released, Tim Leary saw it, and he cheerfully admitted, 'I was fooled by Otto Preminger. He's much hipper than me ...'

... In 1971, during an inerview with Flash magazine, Groucho Marx said, I think the only hope this country has is Nixon's assassination ...' It would later be revealed ... that an FBI file on Groucho Marx had indeed been started, and he was labeled a 'national security risk.' I phoned Groucho to tell him the good news. 'I deny everything,' he said, 'because I lie about everything.' He paused, then added, 'And everything I deny is a lie.'

Hollywood Squares with guest Big Bird

Host Peter Marshall in his finest cocaine snorting glasses and Big Bird with a dazed look on his face. Of course, Carol Spinney as the voice of Big Bird.

Charles Nelson Reilly (1931-2007)

The Dick Cavett Show with guest Jerry Lewis

This footage comes from the excellent SHOUT! Factory collection The Dick Cavett Show: Comic Legends. Jerry Lewis pontificates all serious like.

The Mike Douglas Show with guest Muhammad Ali (1970) - Footage Offline - 10/09/09

The volume is quite low but this is still very worthwhile. I've previously posted three different appearances of Muhammad Ali on The Mike Douglas Show over here and this is yet another one. Obviously he was a frequent guest. Here sparks fly with his boxing nemesis Smoking Joe Frazier. From 1969 or '70.

Who Do You Trust Bloopers with Johnny Carson (presented by John Ritter)

John Ritter hosted this special which resembles Bloopers and Practical Jokes. Seems to be titled Life's Funniest Moments... or something like that. You can barely make out the name of the show over Ritter's left shoulder. Here he introduces outtakes from the game show Who Do You Trust? hosted by Johnny Carson. When Carson moved to The Tonight Show, Adults Only comedy record star Woody Woodbury replaced him.

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson with guests Burt Reynolds, Dom Deluise, Pete Barbutti and others

I'm posting all kinds of cool footage from the old Tonight Show in one full swoop today, because if one waits too long, the Carson lawyers will have this stuff taken down. So enjoy it while it lasts. First up it's the biggest movie star in the world, a man who loves to chew gum, run moonshine and pose naked on bear skin rugs: Burt Reynolds. Burt Appears with Johnny on September 26th, 1974 to promote the Robert Aldrich picture The Longest Yard. Leather pants, whipped cream, Dom Deluise on panel ... this is a whole lotta fun.

From the same episode, Dom Deluise engages Johnny in some tom foolery with plenty of egg yolk. In reality, this part of the show occurs prior to Reynolds coming out ... but y'know ... I wanted to start with Reynolds. Is that okay with you?

Johnny's opening monologue from October 14th, 1982. The policeman gag has to do with his recent tabloid-style arrest for drinking and driving - this was his first appearance on television after the incident.

Jazz musician and stand-up comedian or stand-up comedian and jazz musician, Pete Barbutti appeared as a regular guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Barbutti is still around, performing and living in Las Vegas. He also had a weird Canadian cooking show for a while in the early eighties called Celebrity Microwaves (!). Despite that sad side project, he always had a real sharp, smarmy persona, one that constantly made fun of silly showbiz cliches (However, his website greets you with loud scary music more suited for a nineteen eighties corporate training video than for a jazz musican). This appearance is from March 12th, 1992 - it's what the specialthing.com kids of today would refer to as "alternative comedy" although there wasn't such a term in Barbutti's day.

And from an earlier Barbutti - Carson appearance (looks like the late seventies) it's Barbutti giving us some jazz with the comedy.

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson featuring guests Gary and the Hornets (1966)

Here's a very weird Tonight Show oddity. Unfortunately, it's not the best of quality -looks like somebody filmed it off their TV with a camcorder, but the novelty makes it. The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1966 featuring the pre-teen garage rock band(!!!) Gary and the Hornets. As Johnny mentions in their intro, they recorded for the SMASH Records label. SMASH was also home to The Walker Brothers (featuring current college radio hero Scott Walker), Jay and The Techniques, James Brown and C&W novelty sensation Roger "King of the Road" Miller. Gary and the Hornets are less famous than all of those acts. They're a fine example of how something can not be that good and still be totally amazing!

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson opening and promo - Footage Offline - 10/20/07

Just like the title says, this seems to be from the early 1970s.

Paul Masson Wine Commercials with Orson Welles

First, here is how these commercials with Orson Welles are supposed to go.


And now ... how they are not!


Ah... never gets old.

The Soupy Sales Show (1965)

Some fella calling himself Sandysoup has posted a full episode of The Soupy Sales Show in three parts as it originally aired on WNEW. What a treat!

And Soupy performs his hit novelty song The Mouse on an episode of Hulaballoo in 1965.

The Buick Berle Show (1955) - Footage Offline 2/26/08

An hour's worth of The Buick -Berle Show, obviously with Milton Berle but also guest stars Peter Lawford and Carol Channing -posted by Ira Gallen of TVDays.com. This was the seventh season of The Milton Berle Show, now with a new sponsor. Like most early television shows, and the radio programs that came before them, a show's name was at the mercy of a sponsor. Formerly The Texaco Star Theatre we see it now as The Buick Berle Show. I'm sure most people just called it The Milton Berle Show ... much to the shagrin of network suits. And to Milton's consternation the show changed from a weekly Milton showcase to just twice a month, The Martha Raye Show co-starring Wally Cox picking up the timeslot for the other two weeks. Goodman Ace and the number one female television and radio comedy writer for over forty years, Selma Diamond, were writers on this incarnation of the Berle show. You can listen to a nice chunk of the Selma Diamond Talks LP, pictured above, on this episode of The Generation Exploitation Podcast. It is a collection of audio from Selma's appearances on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar.

Like most episodes, this one opens with a ridiculously elaborate opening number of chorus dancers and soft shoe. Berle makes reference to 1986 in his opening monologue. At the six minute and forty second mark the hilarious bird faced Arnold Stang makes his appearance. Stang started with Berle on radio and constantly upstaged the famous cigar chomper (not an easy feat!). Stang was piss-your-pants funny and the highlight of most Milton Berle shows. He of course went on to be the voice of Hanna-Barbera's Top Cat. Wally Cox played a like-minded wimp on The Martha Raye Show, although Stang's meek self was likely to blow his top at Berle each week, where Cox was more likely to be pushed around, leaving his glasses crooked.

The Steve Allen Show with guest Tim Buckley (1969) - Footage Offline - 10/10/07

Child Terrorized on Match Game '74

What a buncha jerks.

The Mike Douglas Show with guests The Jackson Five

Steve Martin Special with guest Johnny Cash (1978)

The footage at the start of this clip is from the special Steve Martin: A Wild and Crazy Guy from 1978.

Social Security Film with guest star Morey Amsterdam (1964)

This is real strange. A promotional film put out by the government featuring nightclub comedian and co-star of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Morey Amsterdam. Here we see Morey struggling with an awkward real life government official who should never have been put on camera. The opening titles are in the classic UPA/Cartoon Modern style, but I am unsure who animated them. This is courtesy the amazing collection of television historian, Ira Gallen.

Various Barabara Feldon Footage

Get Smart's Agent 99 was a sexy sitcom star who made many the teenage boy's heart a flutter in the mid-60s. First off - a dandruff shampoo commericial starring Barbara:

Barbara loses her dress on Laugh-In.

And Barbara Feldon as the celebrity contestant on this early 70s episode of The $10,000 Pyramid.

The Tonight Show with Steve Allen

Very few kinescopes of The Tonight Show with Steve Allen remain. Most were destroyed by NBC long ago along with most of their historical television archives in order to create more storage space. This footage had previously been assumed lost to the ages. Pretty cool to see - and if you think Skitch Henderson's Tonight Show band resembles the Klan, Steve-orino difuses that situation right away.

The Tonight Show with guest host Carl Reiner

Carl Reiner fills in for Johnny circa 1970 and Ed McMahon hams it up in a Rexall commercial. Too bad we can't see the Godfrey Cambridge footage Carl mentions!

The Hollywood Palace with guests The Turtles (1966)

Guest host Jimmy Durante introduces The Turtles singing Can I Get to Know You Better on this episode of The Hollywood Palace from 1967.

The Hollywood Palace with Don Knotts (1967)

Don Knotts appears in this episode of The Hollywood Palace, a Saturday night variety show that aired on ABC each week with a different host. It is remembered best today as the show that The Rolling Stones made their American television debut on. When the Stones returned to perform later that season controversy ensued when Mick Jagger got mad at Dean Martin for making jokes about their music. They refused to perform their second scheduled musical number in protest. Here the musical guests are forgotten psych-rock group The Merry-Go-Round. The show lasted from 1964 to 1970.

The Dick Cavett Show with guest Janis Joplin (1969) - Footage Offline 11/11/08

This interview took place in 1969. The episode is available in its entirety on The Dick Cavett Show: Rock Icons DVD collection courtesy the great SHOUT! Factory.

The Three Stooges - Dickies Work Clothes Commercial

Yup - like it says.

Perry Como - Las Vegas Style with guest Rich Little (1976) - Footage Offline 11/11/08

Live from the Las Vegas Hilton is this television special - Perry Como Las Vegas Style. Here we see him with you know who.

The Flip Wilson Show with guests Johnny Cash and June Carter (1971)

Wheel of Fortune with guests James Brown, Little Richard and Weird Al Yankovic

Is this really "classic" showbiz? Yeah, I guess it is. This seems sort of like a dream you might have. Not in the "dream come true" sense but more in the "I was teaching a sheep how to tap dance last night" kind of way. Notice how the board has the word ASS on it.

The Dick Cavett Show with guests Raquel Welch and Janis Joplin (1969) - Footage Offline - 10/14/08

An odd pairing on the panel of The Dick Cavett Show in 1970. This entire episode is available on the DVD collection The Dick Cavett Show: Rock Icons.

The Steve Allen Show with Don Knotts

Don Knotts plays his famous nervous man character on an episode of The Steve Allen Show.

The Joe Pyne Show (1965)

The Tonight Show: Polaroid Commercials with Jack Paar and Steve Allen - Footage Offline 11/07/07

Jack Paar is forced to struggle with awkward Polaroid Camera pieces in this sequence that aired on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar. Steve Allen then takes a turn or three at shilling the Polaroid Camera with surprising sincerity - and one episode seems to be broadcasting from the newest US state of Hawaii. If someone has unearthed parts of these shows, perhaps the rest of them still exist - although it is unlikely. At the end, Jack Paar comes back for a zany spot with Jerry Lewis taking shots at the beloved sponsor. Jerry Lewis would temporarily replace Jack Paar as host of The Tonight Show until Johnny Carson came on as the new boy for the first week of October the same year.

A reader adds the details: "There was a parade of guest hosts on The Tonight Show between Paar and Carson. Jerry Lewis was scheduled for one week during the summer. It proved to be so wildly successful, he was held over for a second week, bumping Hugh Downs. That was that. I saw them all. Jerry's Tonight Show stint led directly to his five-year contract for the two-hour weekly The Jerry Lewis Show on ABC, live Saturdays in prime time, starting fall 1963. That program, unfortunately, was a dismal failure and the five years were reduced to only 13 weeks."

Dick Cavett, a stay over from Jack Paar, remained a Tonight Show writer during those limbo months, and when Carson was named permanent Tonight Show host in October, Cavett went with Lewis to work on his new show.

Next Week ... on Get Smart! - Footage Offline - 3/26/08

The Brady Bunch Variety Hour (1977) - Footage Offline - 10/02/08

Variety HOUR!? Why, Lord, Why? Rhino Records released a couple episodes of this on DVD and I dare you to watch it in one sitting. Produced by children's TV mavericks(?) Sid and Marty Kroft, the people who brought you Land of the Lost, H.R. Pufenstuf, and Lidsville - this opening sequence is really all you need.

Tom Poston 1921-2007 - To Tell the Truth with guest Stan Lee

This is a great deal of fun. This episode of To Tell The Truth with mainstay panelists like Tom Poston and Bill Cullen features Marvel Comics publisher Stan Lee. Tom Poston guesses wrong, choosing number one - who is a dead ringer for Russ Meyer. This is from the early seventies - probably 1971 or so.

Tom Poston 1921-2007

Mark Evanier's Tribute, Tom Poston's Wikipedia Page, Tom Poston Official Website, Tom Poston at IMDB, Hollywood Reporter Obit.

Tom Poston 1921-2007 - Zotz! (1962)

According to the Leonard Maltin Guide: "Zotz! (1962) 87m. ** D: William Castle. Tom Poston, Julia Meade, Jim Backus, Fred Clark, Cecil Kellaway, Margaret Dumont. Goofy attempt at humorous chiller with Poston a teacher who finds strange coin that gives him mystical power over others." This footage contains three William Castle film trailers. The first is for Mr. Sardonicus (1961), the second is Tom Poston in Zotz! (appearing approximately three minutes in) and the last is for Homicidal (1961).

Tom Poston 1921-2007 - Game Show Appearances

Peter Marshall, the host of The Hollywood Squares from 1966 through 1982, wrote in his autobiography that Bert Convy was the only man he truly hated. He found him to be an arrogant scumbag or something to that effect. He also had disdain for Dan Rowan of Rowan and Martin because he had apparently stolen comedy material from Peter in the 1950s when Rowan and Martin were first starting out. Peter Marshall had been in a modestly successful comedy team with Tommy Noonan. They even made a couple crap movies together like The Rookie (1960).

The female panel contains a woman Tom Poston was very familiar with, Jayne Meadows, the wife of Tom's one-time employer - Steve Allen.

Just go ahead and smack her, Tom! Below is Tom Poston sitting in his familiar panel seat on To Tell The Truth. He comes in at approximately the four minute mark.

And don't forget about Tom Poston together with David Letterman on this episode of Mork and Mindy.

Tom Poston 1921-2007

Tom Poston plays straight man in this sketch from The Steve Allen Show. Allen's great ensemble of comedy actors come together to play a series of beatnik jazz musicians with Louis Nye, Don Knotts, and Pat Harrington Jr.

The Tonight Show with Steve Allen with guest Pat Harrington Jr.

Pat Harrington Jr. was just one of several comedy regulars on the roster of Steve Allen's Tonight Show (and later The Steve Allen Show). Here he does his most famous character, the stereotyped Italian caricature of Guido Panzini - Don Knotts is his caddy in this clip.

Tom Jones and Friends - Footage Offline 01/29/08

This awful variety show which featured "comedy" and "music" occasionally plays at odd hours of the morning on obscure Canadian television stations. It was originally filmed in Vancouver - probably for tax reasons of some kind - in the late seventies and early eighties. Here Donny Osmond and Tom Jones seem to be singing along with the world's first kareokee machine. That's what it sounds like anyway. Here's five bucks saying you can't sit through the whole thing.

The Tommorow Show with guest Elton John

Tom Snyder is his normal obtuse self interviewing Elton John in this brief clip from The Tomorrow Show in 1980.

We'll Be Right Back with the Partridge Family - Footage Offline - 11/19/07

A 1979 commercial break that aired during a syndicated episode of The Partridge Family on station WFLD.

NBC 1965-66 Fall Preview

Here's an end of summer special to get you all excited about the new shows and the return of your old favorites to NBC in fall of 1965. Blurry as hell, but worth it. Speaking of Get Smart, FYI, The Complete Get Smart is now available on DVD, you may have missed that news since it's mail-order only.

The Joe Franklin Show opening sequence (1977) - Footage Offline - 10/20/07

Joe Franklin is regarded as the first person to host a television talk show. The station was the primitive WJZ-TV in 1950 which would become New York's well known WABC. You may recall his showbizzy office appearing in the documentary The Aristorcrats. This is some hokey footage from latter-day and less notable incarnations of his show.

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour with guests The Turtles

This is one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands. The Turtles are one of the best, and perhaps most underrated, pop groups of all time. A Guide For the Married Man was one of the few songs they didn't write themselves but they did wonders with it. This tune was the theme song to a Walter Matthau picture of the same name. The movie had an incredible cast of comedy stars second only to It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1964). Directed by Gene Kelly the film featured Robert Morse, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Wally Cox, Sid Caesar, Joey Bishop, Art Carney, Jayne Mansfield, Phil Silvers, Louis Nye, Ben Blue, Carl Reiner, Terry Thomas, and countless other instantly recognizable character actors. This Turtles appearance on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour took place in 1967. Tommy Smothers promises me the show will be on DVD soon!

Advertisement for NBC 1967 Afternoon Line-up

"If you hurry up with your ironing ... you'll have time to watch me!"