This was my FAVORITE song on the Electric Company. The over done DRAMATIC ending!! They hit every note. What a back bend, Rita! And Morgan with the bass! ❤️❤️❤️
This Sooooo freaking Classic of The Electric Company,! I grew up in the 70s on this on Channel 13 in NYC PBS! Thank You Electric Company for helping us with Syllables and Reading and Pronunciation!! ❤️❤️❤️
It's a trip seeing both Oscar winners, Rita Moreno and Morgan Freeman singing this catchy tune! And yes, Rita looked smoking hot and Morgan has pretty good singing and dancing skills.
This song is one of the reasons I loved to watch TEC when I was a kid. The song was great then and it is still great today. Thanks to all the people who did the show, it was a great success.
And at that time, the early 1970s, people were very dissatisfied with the current state of affairs (Vietnam, inflation, Watergate, etc.) and they wished to go back to a simpler time. Skits like this one and IS IT LOVE? gave viewers that sense of escapism, as did AMERICAN GRAFFITI and HAPPY DAYS. Take care:)
Yes, spot on all right; the infamous Watergate scandal WAS going on this time 50 years ago(it’s 8/31/2022 as I post this comment.) I was only three, so naturally I don’t remember it at all, but of course it has gone down in history. But for those who were old enough to remember 50 years ago, including those who were in grade school and would have been watching TEC, I can just imagine watching THIS segment certainly did give them relief from the horrid Watergate scandal.
PHAAAANTOOOM OF, LOVE,LOVE,LOVE,LOVE,LOOOOOVEEEEEE!!! Just tickles me pink, all over-how SWEET,the standing ovation that Rita/Phyllis gets at the end!!!
All of the songs performed by "Phyllis & The Pharoahs" sound a lot better than the crap which is passing off today as "hit music"! Also love it when she does that silly melodramatic Diana Ross break in the middle of each song!
I always though this could have been an actual single, and been a hit on the charts! It's so well-done! How did Rita/Phyllis bend back so far at the end??? And this is minutia, but I always wondered who the two people were sitting in the audience clapping as the song begins; the girl on the far right could be Kathy, or Allison with her hair done up. And maybe it's Buddy on her left? Don't know. Oh, well. Great songage!
I like to be creative and imagine that even some of the Sesame Street gang were in the audience here, the muppets and humans alike; say,Susan and Gordon,Maria,David,and Bert and Ernie,etc. And now that you mention it,the girl briefly seen up,front here at the segment begins does,look a little like Allison wearing her hair fixed up. This always was and still is one of my favorite songs from the Electric Company.
I shouldn't love this song as much as I do...but, I DO. Grew up with a huge affinity for what we now call oldies, and doo wop, and THIS song, nearly half a century later, still feeds the need.
That's right, they ended production in spring 1977, but continued in two year rerun cycles until 1985. Plus I heard that Electric Company had aired come episodes again on Noggin in 1993.
Actually, Christopher, the last two ✌️🏻 seasons ❄️⛄ of the original ELECTRIC ⚡️ COMPANY were rerun from October 17, 1977--December 🎄 20, 1985, on most PBS stations 🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉.
Back in the 50s, that was called a DA (short for "Duck's Ass"), and only bad boys sported the style. It could get you sent to detention if a teacher saw it.
I wonder if Rita was trying to imitate Diana Ross here? It seems clear to me that she was, with the voice and the style…but maybe i am wrong. Whatever the case, this is adorable.
Not sure if she was parodying Diana Ross in particular, because there were a lot of male groups that sung like this too. Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons comes to mind. But I loved the skit. Very cute. Was a treasured favorite of mine as a kid. I still enjoy all these years later too. Rita Moreno was amazing on Electric Company. LOL!
This skit was featured in the episode,which first aired,on November 17,1972(40 years ago,yesterday,in fact,as I post this comment). I have "Best of EC," Volumes 1 and 2, and the episode,which again had aired 40 years ago yesterday, is on Disc 1,of Best of Electric Company,Volume 1. Love how the four guys--Morgan,Jim,Luis(IS THAT Luis Avalos,as the third guy?),and Skip,each go"LOVE," then Rita,as lead singer,then she looks down at the audience,who give them a "standing ovation,"-SWEET!
Happy 50th anniversary to this pleasantly silly segment! Yup, it was 50 years ago this very time when it was featured, in Episode 150(originally broadcast on Friday, November 17, 1972.) It’s Friday, 11/18/2022 as I post this comment. :) May this song from the Electric Company live on for another half century! Peace. :)
I was older than their target demographic, and I definitely did not need remedial reading and phonics, but I loved The Electric Company for the skits and the songs. It was just plain well-done entertainment.
I don't think the Phyllis and the Pharaohs sketches from The Electric Company are meant to parody anyone in particular. Campy nostalgia for the '50s was huge in the 1970s -- Sha Na Na, Grease, The Fonz, etc., etc. Even Schoolhouse Rock and Time for Timer had songs by '50s-style greasers ("Gravity" and "Exercise Your Teeth" respectively). This stuff was everywhere back then.
Greatest trivia of all-time about TEC: Skip Hinnant (far right) was the voice of the X-rated cartoon character Fritz the Cat. BTW, the Jim Boyd in TEC is NOT the same "Little Jimmy Boyd" who did "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." The singer was from Mississippi and died a few years ago, this Jim Boyd is from Philadelphia and very much alive as of 2011.
I LOVE their song "Grease" and my favorite chararcter, played by Rita Moreno, was the frustrated movie director, and she'd hit the cue cards( because the person reading them wasn't pronouncing the words "correctly")so hard with her (horse) riding crop/whip, I wonder if it hurt Morgan Freeman's hands(as he was holding them). Hmmm.
this such a 2"Cool!!4School!!"song!! Kinda like Connie Francis meets Sha Na Na!! Also??!! reminds me of the John Waters classic Johnny Depp movie,"Crybaby!!";);)Especially Love!! when Morgan Freeman does His John"Bowser!!"Bowman impression!!
That was a different Jimmy Boyd - this actor just went by the name Jim Boyd, and sadly he passed away earlier this year. He goes by the name Jim Boyd VII on IMDB.
"You think the phantom from the comic-strip created-by lee-falk wants to put me in a loin-cloth your mistaken o ghost who walks i'm to embarrassed to show my bare-skin".
I am in 2021; in fact, later on in October of this year will mark the 50th anniversary of The Electric Company, on Monday, 10/25/2021, to be exact. It did indeed premiere on Monday, 10/25/1971, as you might know. Even though they ended production on it after six seasons(though they did continue to air the last two seasons in reruns for several years)until they took it off PBS, (unlike Sesame Street which has remained in production over the past half century) this fall will indeed mark Electric Company’s 50th anniversary. :) How time flies. :)
Is this supposed to be a rip off of a grease (John Travolta/Olivia newton john) song? They remind me of the movie Grease, but I can't place this song to any song in that movie?
This never gets old. This could be a TEC one hit wonder
This was my FAVORITE song on the Electric Company. The over done DRAMATIC ending!! They hit every note. What a back bend, Rita! And Morgan with the bass! ❤️❤️❤️
NO DOUBT This was a hit!!! my brother sent me the link today WOW! TN89 clerk THANKS FOR THIS POST
This Sooooo freaking Classic of The Electric Company,! I grew up in the 70s on this on Channel 13 in NYC PBS! Thank You Electric Company for helping us with Syllables and Reading and Pronunciation!! ❤️❤️❤️
It's a trip seeing both Oscar winners, Rita Moreno and Morgan Freeman singing this catchy tune! And yes, Rita looked smoking hot and Morgan has pretty good singing and dancing skills.
I THOUGHT That was Morgan Freeman WOW! Thanks for confirming!
@@michele6691My pleasure. 😎👍
This song is one of the reasons I loved to watch TEC when I was a kid. The song was great then and it is still great today. Thanks to all the people who did the show, it was a great success.
One of my favorite Electric Company skits. Rita hammed it up beautifully and deliciously.
I'll never forget this skit. I was only 8 or 9 when I first saw it and it triggered a love of all '50's music, especially Doo-Wop group harmony music.
And at that time, the early 1970s, people were very dissatisfied with the current state of affairs (Vietnam, inflation, Watergate, etc.) and they wished to go back to a simpler time. Skits like this one and IS IT LOVE? gave viewers that sense of escapism, as did AMERICAN GRAFFITI and HAPPY DAYS. Take care:)
Yes, spot on all right; the infamous Watergate scandal WAS going on this time 50 years ago(it’s 8/31/2022 as I post this comment.) I was only three, so naturally I don’t remember it at all, but of course it has gone down in history. But for those who were old enough to remember 50 years ago, including those who were in grade school and would have been watching TEC, I can just imagine watching THIS segment certainly did give them relief from the horrid Watergate scandal.
One of my favorite skits of the Electric Company! In fact, I used to sing this song to school back in 1972!
Rita Moreno in HOT PANTS !!!! this really WAS the 70's
Decades of later I still remember this. Thank you, Lord for a wonderful childhood.
PHAAAANTOOOM OF, LOVE,LOVE,LOVE,LOVE,LOOOOOVEEEEEE!!! Just tickles me pink, all over-how SWEET,the standing ovation that Rita/Phyllis gets at the end!!!
Excelent voices...
Yes,they are.
The 4 guys sang their parts great too!
OH My Stars and Garters ! Watching this during my childhood left an indelible mark. These actors had so much FUN !
If you don't think this was awesome, you deserve a shot in the boingloings.
Amen to that!!! How could anyone dislike this song in the least,is beyond me!
70s kids got to see so much leg.
Yes we did.And I enjoyed every second of it.
"Boom-a, boom-a, boom-a"....lol! I love it!
Awesome 1950s doowop parody that Morgan does,with his excellent bass voice.
Rita has zero compunction about enjoying what she does cuz she KNOWS she is gonna tear it up!
All of the songs performed by "Phyllis & The Pharoahs" sound a lot better than the crap which is passing off today as "hit music"! Also love it when she does that silly melodramatic Diana Ross break in the middle of each song!
I came back to check after 40 years and yep..The Tony, Emmy, Grammy and Oscar winning crush still actually, naturally rocks!😚
Don't forget her Emmy!
I always though this could have been an actual single, and been a hit on the charts! It's so well-done! How did Rita/Phyllis bend back so far at the end??? And this is minutia, but I always wondered who the two people were sitting in the audience clapping as the song begins; the girl on the far right could be Kathy, or Allison with her hair done up. And maybe it's Buddy on her left? Don't know. Oh, well. Great songage!
I like to be creative and imagine that even some of the Sesame Street gang were in the audience here, the muppets and humans alike; say,Susan and Gordon,Maria,David,and Bert and Ernie,etc. And now that you mention it,the girl briefly seen up,front here at the segment begins does,look a little like Allison wearing her hair fixed up. This always was and still is one of my favorite songs from the Electric Company.
This performance and the “Grease” performance, still holds up on 2021. One of my all-time favorites. And don’t forget, “Sweet, Sweet Sway”
I shouldn't love this song as much as I do...but, I DO. Grew up with a huge affinity for what we now call oldies, and doo wop, and THIS song, nearly half a century later, still feeds the need.
The show ended in 1977. But it still played on air until 1986. Great song great memories.
That's right, they ended production in spring 1977, but continued in two year rerun cycles until 1985. Plus I heard that Electric Company had aired come episodes again on Noggin in 1993.
Actually, Christopher, the last two ✌️🏻 seasons ❄️⛄ of the original ELECTRIC ⚡️ COMPANY were rerun from October 17, 1977--December 🎄 20, 1985, on most PBS stations 🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉.
The coolest thing was that they were fake, knew that they were fake, and played it up as if it were real.... and it was bloody brilliant!
But could they go to 11?
This song popped into my head tonight for some weird inexplicable reason...I'm a total #70skid.
This could have been a top 10 hit! It is amazing!
This was one of my favorite shows growing up, since I loved to read!!!! Rita Moreno was such a hottie!!!!
Man, check out Skip rockin' that Flock of Seagulls look 10 years early!
Back in the 50s, that was called a DA (short for "Duck's Ass"), and only bad boys sported the style. It could get you sent to detention if a teacher saw it.
Thank you for the time travel experience! 🧑🚀
This was my favorite song on The Electric Company.
I wonder if Rita was trying to imitate Diana Ross here? It seems clear to me that she was, with the voice and the style…but maybe i am wrong. Whatever the case, this is adorable.
WOO! morgan freeman on base
Love this! I remember it from when I was little
They must have had a blast making this show.
Not sure if she was parodying Diana Ross in particular, because there were a lot of male groups that sung like this too. Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons comes to mind. But I loved the skit. Very cute. Was a treasured favorite of mine as a kid. I still enjoy all these years later too. Rita Moreno was amazing on Electric Company. LOL!
Shoot! I cannot believe this video is here! I enjoyed watching this as a kid!
This skit was featured in the episode,which first aired,on November 17,1972(40 years ago,yesterday,in fact,as I post this comment). I have "Best of EC," Volumes 1 and 2, and the episode,which again had aired 40 years ago yesterday, is on Disc 1,of Best of Electric Company,Volume 1. Love how the four guys--Morgan,Jim,Luis(IS THAT Luis Avalos,as the third guy?),and Skip,each go"LOVE," then Rita,as lead singer,then she looks down at the audience,who give them a "standing ovation,"-SWEET!
this was performed fairly straight up. that's why it works.
Happy 50th anniversary to this pleasantly silly segment! Yup, it was 50 years ago this very time when it was featured, in Episode 150(originally broadcast on Friday, November 17, 1972.) It’s Friday, 11/18/2022 as I post this comment. :) May this song from the Electric Company live on for another half century! Peace. :)
As Beatles said, Lovely Rita.
That was really solid GOLD!!!
I was older than their target demographic, and I definitely did not need remedial reading and phonics, but I loved The Electric Company for the skits and the songs. It was just plain well-done entertainment.
Great acting here in this segment.
" I'm thinking about the phantom from the comic-strip created-by lee-falk the ghost who walks the man who cannot-die".
"By jungle law, the Ghost Who Walks calls forth the power of ten tigers!"
During TEC's run,this was terrific!
I don't think the Phyllis and the Pharaohs sketches from The Electric Company are meant to parody anyone in particular. Campy nostalgia for the '50s was huge in the 1970s -- Sha Na Na, Grease, The Fonz, etc., etc. Even Schoolhouse Rock and Time for Timer had songs by '50s-style greasers ("Gravity" and "Exercise Your Teeth" respectively). This stuff was everywhere back then.
I think "Gravity" was performed by The Tokens.
Greatest trivia of all-time about TEC: Skip Hinnant (far right) was the voice of the X-rated cartoon character Fritz the Cat.
BTW, the Jim Boyd in TEC is NOT the same "Little Jimmy Boyd" who did "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." The singer was from Mississippi and died a few years ago, this Jim Boyd is from Philadelphia and very much alive as of 2011.
KarenHlly sorry but Jim Boyd passed away 1/2/2013 at age 79. He was truly one amazing and very underrated character actor.
Awsome song
I like when that last guy hit the last "loooooooooove" note. This is one of my favorite songs on the TEC.
Love this! Remember it from when I was little.
I LOVE their song "Grease" and my favorite chararcter, played by Rita Moreno, was the frustrated movie director, and she'd hit the cue cards( because the person reading them wasn't pronouncing the words "correctly")so hard with her (horse) riding crop/whip, I wonder if it hurt Morgan Freeman's hands(as he was holding them). Hmmm.
I love this song
I kind of like that 1950's doo wop music.
I love it!!! Rita Moreno was so friggin' hott!!!
This is a really good song
this such a 2"Cool!!4School!!"song!! Kinda like Connie Francis meets Sha Na Na!! Also??!! reminds me of the John Waters classic Johnny Depp movie,"Crybaby!!";);)Especially Love!! when Morgan Freeman does His John"Bowser!!"Bowman impression!!
I didn't watch the Electric Company until 1975.
❤❤❤
Rita's doing Diana Ross obviously.
I believe this was the first time I'd ever heard tell of the word 'phantom'.
A grammay award winning song of the 1970's
classics
That was a different Jimmy Boyd - this actor just went by the name Jim Boyd, and sadly he passed away earlier this year. He goes by the name Jim Boyd VII on IMDB.
@missmissy604 No, it was an actor named Jimmy Boyd. When he was a kid, he recorded, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"
Imagine Morgan Freeman doesn’t want to be remembered as Easy Reader.
The PH song.
This is solid and Rita so hot.
Good memories
This is great! It’s almost as if Gladys Knight loaned out her Pips to Diana Ross.
I love the phantom of love!!!
i do too
YGBKM!!!!!! :O
(Sorry, airplane phanatics will catch it. :) )
i remember watching this...hahaha
Memories
"You think the phantom from the comic-strip created-by lee-falk wants to put me in a loin-cloth your mistaken o ghost who walks i'm to embarrassed to show my bare-skin".
Could you imagine Ed Sullivan (or an impersonator) introducing them?
Rita was in the band and group Phantom of Love and do you think Rita was Phyllis?
This was a hit for me then... and still is! I haven't heard this until today doing some reminiscing. Phantom of Love is a classic TEC song!
Who's still watching this in 2018?
I am in 2021; in fact, later on in October of this year will mark the 50th anniversary of The Electric Company, on Monday, 10/25/2021, to be exact. It did indeed premiere on Monday, 10/25/1971, as you might know. Even though they ended production on it after six seasons(though they did continue to air the last two seasons in reruns for several years)until they took it off PBS, (unlike Sesame Street which has remained in production over the past half century) this fall will indeed mark Electric Company’s 50th anniversary. :) How time flies. :)
Or Dick Clark introducing them on American Bandstand?
@sylart57 Yes and she was funny as hell too
If i am not listening to phantom...it sounds like they are saying backdrop!
Is this supposed to be a rip off of a grease (John Travolta/Olivia newton john) song?
They remind me of the movie Grease, but I can't place this song to any song in that movie?
tn89clerk, is that season 2 (1972-1973) of Electric Company?
That's correct,in fact,this segment is on the one DVD box set,of Best of Electric company,featured in that episode.
It was earlier.
Rita Moreno makes a good Lead Singer.
Rita Moreno imitating Diana Ross.
It looks to me that Rita is impersonating Connie Francis with that hairdo.
Morgan Freeman was COOL
I used to think the guy next to Morgan Freeman was Jack Nicholson
that's grammy,not grammay.
LMAO
Could someone upload her singing in a western ~ "Someday Soon"?
I love this song
that's grammy,not grammay.