Fred was a huge star on radio who did not translate as well on television. Since the spoken word is thriving now in podcasts, Fred might have found his niche again in the 21st century.
Everything old is new again. The forerunner of American Idol, and countless others before and after. Can you imagine if Fred Allen had lived long enough to host The Gong Show?
Actually, Fred pretty much pioneered the concept of a new-talent competition on radio going back to the mid 1930s. He had an amatuer contest every week on his hour long "Town Hall Tonight" shows for a number of years, which not only showcased the new talent, but Fred's amazing ad lib abilities, since his interviews with the contestants were entirely unprepared. Part of what may have influenced him to do this is the fact that he got his own start in show business in amateur talent contests in Boston when he was a youth. In a manner of speaking, this format was Fred returning his roots!
+LOA1955 I'd have loved to see Fred on the panel of the Gong Show. I wouldn't want anyone to replace Chuck Barris. He (Chuck) was a force of nature, in his own weird way.
Quite good. It's just a nice change to see some light entertainment. Love Fred's humour, amazing how he delivers an introduction to the format over 5 mins when it could all have been said in one simple sentence, but that was his style, I think. Difficult to see how you can pick a winner from 3 completely different acts. I would say the two dancers were definitely the best two dancers on the show!
soulierinvestments I was thinking the same thing, but I guess that's the way talent contests usually are. It's all very subjective, which explains why they ended up with three different ways of rating the performers. I don't think you can really judge which act is "more talented." It's more a matter of which you personally find the most entertaining.
These shows aired in the late summer/early Fall of 1997 on GSN on Friday Nights in a series called the "Lost Episodes" because this marked the first time GSN was ever airing any cigarette sponsored shows where the programs had cigarette logos on the podiums etc. (in contrast to the cigarette WML and Password shows of the 60s where the absence of a podium logo meant they just had to snip the "brought to you by" part). They aired "Judge For Yourself", "Two For The Money" and Winston sponsored IGAS and Marlboro/Salem sponsored TTTT that had never aired on GSN before. This lasted only for seven weeks when GSN let the contract rights for the entire G-T library lapse and thus began the infamous "Dark Period" of GSN history from Fall 1997 to Spring 1998
The opening image of Fred's face in the cutout almost presages the infamous Jackie Gleason "You're In The Picture" flop of 1961! (cancelled after just one episode)
Yes! I never thought of that. :) Wish I could post that show, and even more so Gleason "apology" the next week-- which is an absolute riot. But it's a guaranteed copyright strike to upload anything to UA-cam with Gleason in it. Fortunately, they seem to have stopped using that scary looking cutout after the first episode.
epaddon I'm not familiar with the Jackie Gleason "You're In The Picture" show that you're referencing, but I absolutely *loved* it when Fred's face appeared in the cut-out! It made me literally laugh out loud! :D
I love Fred but the stumbling on his words must come from the same thing Edgar Bergen suffered from. Radio doesn’t always translate well to TV. Fred was so used to reading from a script it’s hard to work off a teleprompter or his own mind. But I love this anyway!
I would've won $1,000 had I been around at that time because I matched the judges' decisions exactly and all I did was pay attention to the audience's reaction during each performance. The last act got more applause during their act then the first one did while the second had little to none at all and they weren't even finished yet.
Jeff Schornack Yeah, me too, except this one seems to have been slipped a "mickey". She was over the top for me. Very good, but hard to watch. If I was rating, 3rd place. I liked the other two acts better
Steve27775 I personally found her the most entertaining too, but obviously everyone has different tastes, and not all of the judges on the show agreed.
SaveThe TPC I can't understand why they thought it was a good idea to require that the contestants rank all three acts in the same order as the judges, rather than simply picking the same top act. It's also silly to have a panel of experts onstage who never get to talk, rather than simply having the audience vote being the ultimate measure. When the show's format was revamped in January 1954, these are a couple of the changes they actually made. It was a step in the right direction, but the format's problems went deeper than this.
SaveThe TPC Maybe that was part of the motivation. Maybe in testing they found that it was too common for everyone to pick the same top act? But it made for a far less entertaining ending to the program, what with the tediousness of having four separate people read out their lists and the much lower odds of anyone winning.
The old Romans already knew: Who's judging the (so called expert) judges ? Well, at least, they said something of that kind, it's all so long ago... What is a bit irritating, is that the entertainment business was and still is so dominated by one subgroup of the population, which gives a completely wrong picture of who has which talents. And as if that wasn't enough, there's also the mob who owned record shops and entertainment halls, and were making sure royalties weren't always paid as promised or as would have been fair. In a word, even though the entertainment business brings us much joy, the flip side is quite another story....
0:54- DON PARDO: "Presented by the makers of OLD GOLD cigarettes!!!!"/*two Old Gold packs, "Regular" and "King Size"- with shapely legs and boots- appear and dance on the stage.....*/"Whether you prefer 'regular' or 'king size', Old Gold gives you a CHOICE.....a choice made by TOBACCO MEN, NOT 'Medicine Men'......and now, speaking for Old Golds, DENNIS JAMES!!!"/*he walks out as the packs walk off*/DENNIS: "Welcome to our new series for Old Gold- 'The Treasure of Them All'! And, if you're like me------"
Well, that's PROBABLY what it looked and sounded like. Judging from the openings of "TWO FOR THE MONEY" around that period (for the same sponsor), Old Gold was known for their famous dancing cigarette packs, their slogan "Made by tobacco men, NOT medicine men", and the fact they began offering regular and king size lengths at the time.....and that Dennis James usually delivered their live commercials for the sponsor.
Christopher U.S. Smith If anything, I took it as a nod to Mr. Daly, because Fred had appeared on WML, and actually plugged this show, while he was there. 😊
First time I’ve ever enjoyed harmonicas! They were great!
Fred was a huge star on radio who did not translate as well on television. Since the spoken word is thriving now in podcasts, Fred might have found his niche again in the 21st century.
Great Fred Allen impression at the introduction.
❤Fred Allen❤
Don Pardo!
What a voice.
"For your information, this building is not a decoy here" Classic!
Love the John Daly reference in Fred's monolog. :-)
If tobacco taxes go much higher, a carton of Old Gold will be more expensive than the weekly prize!
Fred Allen appeared as mystery guest on "What's My LIne?" on 16 August 1953 to plug this G-T TV production.
Awesome as ALWAYS...I thank you WML...
You're very welcome!
Everything old is new again. The forerunner of American Idol, and countless others before and after. Can you imagine if Fred Allen had lived long enough to host The Gong Show?
Actually, Fred pretty much pioneered the concept of a new-talent competition on radio going back to the mid 1930s. He had an amatuer contest every week on his hour long "Town Hall Tonight" shows for a number of years, which not only showcased the new talent, but Fred's amazing ad lib abilities, since his interviews with the contestants were entirely unprepared. Part of what may have influenced him to do this is the fact that he got his own start in show business in amateur talent contests in Boston when he was a youth.
In a manner of speaking, this format was Fred returning his roots!
+LOA1955 I'd have loved to see Fred on the panel of the Gong Show. I wouldn't want anyone to replace Chuck Barris. He (Chuck) was a force of nature, in his own weird way.
@@magnificentfailure2390 True.
Quite good. It's just a nice change to see some light entertainment. Love Fred's humour, amazing how he delivers an introduction to the format over 5 mins when it could all have been said in one simple sentence, but that was his style, I think. Difficult to see how you can pick a winner from 3 completely different acts. I would say the two dancers were definitely the best two dancers on the show!
Rating a singer, and then harmonica players, and then dancers. Like rating among apples, grapes, and oranges.
soulierinvestments
I was thinking the same thing, but I guess that's the way talent contests usually are. It's all very subjective, which explains why they ended up with three different ways of rating the performers. I don't think you can really judge which act is "more talented." It's more a matter of which you personally find the most entertaining.
Why, then, is "America's Got Talent" so popular?
Remarkable how long a career announcer Don Pardo had. Perhaps longer than Fred Allen.
These shows aired in the late summer/early Fall of 1997 on GSN on Friday Nights in a series called the "Lost Episodes" because this marked the first time GSN was ever airing any cigarette sponsored shows where the programs had cigarette logos on the podiums etc. (in contrast to the cigarette WML and Password shows of the 60s where the absence of a podium logo meant they just had to snip the "brought to you by" part). They aired "Judge For Yourself", "Two For The Money" and Winston sponsored IGAS and Marlboro/Salem sponsored TTTT that had never aired on GSN before. This lasted only for seven weeks when GSN let the contract rights for the entire G-T library lapse and thus began the infamous "Dark Period" of GSN history from Fall 1997 to Spring 1998
The opening image of Fred's face in the cutout almost presages the infamous Jackie Gleason "You're In The Picture" flop of 1961! (cancelled after just one episode)
Yes! I never thought of that. :) Wish I could post that show, and even more so Gleason "apology" the next week-- which is an absolute riot. But it's a guaranteed copyright strike to upload anything to UA-cam with Gleason in it.
Fortunately, they seem to have stopped using that scary looking cutout after the first episode.
epaddon
I'm not familiar with the Jackie Gleason "You're In The Picture" show that you're referencing, but I absolutely *loved* it when Fred's face appeared in the cut-out! It made me literally laugh out loud! :D
I missed the first Gleason quiz show. The second show where he came out an apologized for the first one was terrific.
I remember seeing "You're in the Picture" and, very presciently, told my mother "this show stinks"! (I was 12) A week later, Mr. Gleason said so too!
@@savethetpc6406 It was funny.
I love Fred but the stumbling on his words must come from the same thing Edgar Bergen suffered from. Radio doesn’t always translate well to TV. Fred was so used to reading from a script it’s hard to work off a teleprompter or his own mind. But I love this anyway!
24:32 Kathleen Ankers would go on to become the bookmobile lady and Peggy, the foul-mouthed chamber maid, on “Late Night with David Letterman.”
I appreciate the fact that Fred knew I was watching at home in my underwear. :D
I love this show!
I would've won $1,000 had I been around at that time because I matched the judges' decisions exactly and all I did was pay attention to the audience's reaction during each performance. The last act got more applause during their act then the first one did while the second had little to none at all and they weren't even finished yet.
His radio show also had a talent segment early on so this is kind of old hat for Fred.
Manuel de Falla on harmonicas. Be still my racing heart.
Hope Zee reminded me of Betty Hutton.
Jeff Schornack Yeah, me too, except this one seems to have been slipped a "mickey". She was over the top for me. Very good, but hard to watch. If I was rating, 3rd place. I liked the other two acts better
I agree. Betty Hutton too was over the top yet somehow it worked and was very much a part of that era.
No, she's a full time housewife. Part time job she's paid for.
Milton DeLug and his band with a thug, he was the guy that lead the Gong show band.
Hope Zee was obviously the most entertaining.
Steve27775
I personally found her the most entertaining too, but obviously everyone has different tastes, and not all of the judges on the show agreed.
SaveThe TPC I can't understand why they thought it was a good idea to require that the contestants rank all three acts in the same order as the judges, rather than simply picking the same top act. It's also silly to have a panel of experts onstage who never get to talk, rather than simply having the audience vote being the ultimate measure. When the show's format was revamped in January 1954, these are a couple of the changes they actually made. It was a step in the right direction, but the format's problems went deeper than this.
What's My Line?
I think the requirement to rank all 3 in the same order as the judges saved them a lot of prize money!
SaveThe TPC Maybe that was part of the motivation. Maybe in testing they found that it was too common for everyone to pick the same top act? But it made for a far less entertaining ending to the program, what with the tediousness of having four separate people read out their lists and the much lower odds of anyone winning.
+What's My Line? It's a test of ESP that predates "Mindreaders" by 26 years.
It's like rating the filler acts on Ed Sullivan or Hollywood Palace.
Michael Maloney Heaven help me, I love Fred Allen, but this comment made me laugh out loud. You're right.
fat cigarettes eh?
Chez Paree! Once the fave strip club of the National League.
The old Romans already knew: Who's judging the (so called expert) judges ? Well, at least, they said something of that kind, it's all so long ago... What is a bit irritating, is that the entertainment business was and still is so dominated by one subgroup of the population, which gives a completely wrong picture of who has which talents. And as if that wasn't enough, there's also the mob who owned record shops and entertainment halls, and were making sure royalties weren't always paid as promised or as would have been fair. In a word, even though the entertainment business brings us much joy, the flip side is quite another story....
Three different talents. How are you supposed to judge that?
0:54- DON PARDO: "Presented by the makers of OLD GOLD cigarettes!!!!"/*two Old Gold packs, "Regular" and "King Size"- with shapely legs and boots- appear and dance on the stage.....*/"Whether you prefer 'regular' or 'king size', Old Gold gives you a CHOICE.....a choice made by TOBACCO MEN, NOT 'Medicine Men'......and now, speaking for Old Golds, DENNIS JAMES!!!"/*he walks out as the packs walk off*/DENNIS: "Welcome to our new series for Old Gold- 'The Treasure of Them All'! And, if you're like me------"
Barry I. Grauman
Is that a description of the commercial that was cut? Thanks for the info -- it sounds pretty funny! :)
Well, that's PROBABLY what it looked and sounded like. Judging from the openings of "TWO FOR THE MONEY" around that period (for the same sponsor), Old Gold was known for their famous dancing cigarette packs, their slogan "Made by tobacco men, NOT medicine men", and the fact they began offering regular and king size lengths at the time.....and that Dennis James usually delivered their live commercials for the sponsor.
Barry I. Grauman Old Golds slogan:"Not a cough in a carload!"
I thought he looked familiar... (I remember DJ from the syndicated run of TPIR in the 70s.)
love the klezmer harmonica!
I only saw polkadots, and they hadn't a healthy colour.
Justin Boehner roast
1:52 Did Fred just slight WML and John Daly? :?
Oh, I cant see how that joke could be interpreted as an insult. It's just a reference.
What's My Line? He was notorious for jokes like that, like the one Orson Bean introduced this episode with.
Christopher U.S. Smith If anything, I took it as a nod to Mr. Daly, because Fred had appeared on WML, and actually plugged this show, while he was there. 😊
Justin Boehner roast