Monday, July 2, 2012

The Colgate Summer Comedy Hour with guests Gene Sheldon, Jay Lawrence, Don Wilson, The Gaylords and the Will Mastin Trio (1954)

This is the best installment of the Colgate show that i have ever seen. Everyone delivers - Jay Lawrence, Gene Sheldon and Sammy are especially in top form.


 

2 comments:

Michael Powers said...

Sammy Davis, Jr. has several things in common with Jennifer Lopez, the first being that their real utmost talents were as dancers. Davis was known for years as the world's fastest tap dancer and unless I missed it (I skipped around a lot on this one), he barely showed it here, just a nod in his "The Birth of the Blues" production number. Davis takes after his early mentor Mickey Rooney in being able to do more different things than anybody and he certainly displayed that. I first saw this one at the Paley Center for Media years ago, and now that you're in Los Angeles, Kliph, I imagine you hang out at the West Coast version of that amazing resource quite a bit. If so, I recommend Rooney in Frankenheimer's live "The Comedian," maybe the greatest performance filmed during the sound era (surpassed only by Lon Chaney, Sr. in the silent film "The Unknown"). I think Rooney and Gleason were the two finest actors of their time, by the way.

Kevin K. said...

I remember watching Gene Sheldon in the early '60s, but never realized 'til now how heavily influenced he was by Buster Keaton (with a bit of Harry Langdon).

Was Sammy lip-synching "Birth of the Blues"?

And you're right -- great show.