Judge For Yourself w FRED ALLEN - Subway Poetry & A Format Change (Jan 5, 1954)
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- Опубліковано 26 лис 2024
- With this episode, the show's format was revamped substantially (though not enough). The panel of experts was eliminated, and instead of judging new talent, the contestants were asked to pick the best of three new songs, with a $1,000 prize if they matched the audience's pick. None of this makes all that much of a difference, but Fred is looking more comfortable hosting the show, and again, there are some very funny moments in the interviews.
The problem is still that the interviews seem to be from a different program entirely than the music portions, and the ending of the program still drags on with no real excitement.
Nonetheless, this is a real treat for Fred Allen fans, since these programs were rerun once and only once on GSN in the late 1990s and may never be shown again due to the prominence of the cigarette sponsor, Old Gold. As far as I'm concerned, any Fred Allen video is a precious Fred Allen video, since there's so very little outside of What's My Line.
Many thanks to epaddon for providing his copy of this video.
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For those who don't know, Milton DeLugg, the bandleader on this show who went on to conduct the bands on the Tonight Show and the Gong Show, passed away on Apr. 6 at the age of 96.
Thank you for posting these rare Fred Allen episodes!
The opening bit is the most hilarious thing I seen in a long time. Thanks for the post.
I can't understand what Fred was thinking when he asked all the losing contestants, "What would you have done with the money if you'd won?" I mean, really, Fred? It's not bad enough they all lost, they had to tell everyone exactly and specifically what their foiled hopes and dreams for the money were???
+What's My Line? He was filling time.
Greg Palmer Badly.
All right. How would you have done it? I don't suppose you could just call Portland in.
Greg Palmer Just chatting with the contestants would have been far preferable to asking them what they would have done with the money they didn't win, don't you think? It's not as if Fred had a problem ad libbing.
Fred didn't have a problem with his ad-libbing, but NBC sure did.
Big improvement in the shows format, I enjoyed this very much.... Though, I thought the audience picked the worst of the three songs...
Make Love to Me actually DID become a hit, so what did that audience know?
Definitely an improvement, although Fred Allen still doesn't seem like a natural tv star. I suppose it makes you appreciate John Daly even more; he made it look effortless.
Steve27775 Fred wasn't cut out to host this sort of program, definitely not. But as many people have observed, he would have excelled at a Tonight Show-style loose, ad lib talk show format, and it's a real shame he never had a chance to try that out. He was saddled with nothing but overstuffed variety and game shows which didn't play to his strengths at all. I even find him to be have been somewhat out of his element on WML, not that I'd trade Fred's appearances for anything.
+What's My Line? It's just too bad they didn't try doing a TV version of "Town Hall Tonight". Now that was a great radio show. It was like Saturday Night Live, except it was cleaner. Of course, I bet Mr. Allen's doctor wouldn't let him do that, either.
+What's My Line? Just take a listen and "Judge for Yourself". archive.org/details/FredAllen--townHallTonight1935-1939
Greg Palmer "He don't know me very well, do he?"
You're talking to probably one of the biggest Fred Allen fans alive today. Believe me, I'm not only aware of his radio work, I've often commented that the whole reason I started watching What's My Line in the first place was that I loved Fred Allen so much and knew that he was on the panel for a time. I personally encoded many of the Fred Allen radio shows in mp3 format that have been circulating for the last 15 years, including some of the very ones you're referring me to on the Internet Archive. :)
But you may not be not aware-- cause even I wasn't until recently-- that a whole batch of Fred's hour long radio shows popped up at the OTRR library relatively recently. I have no idea who uploaded these, where they came from, anything, really. I just know that there are about 50 episodes of THT and the Texaco show that have never been in circulation before being posted there. It's a bonanza, and all free. Take a look!
otrrlibrary.org/f.html
@@WhatsMyLine Fred Allen was my grandfather's cousin, so my 1c2r. While aware of the family history, I only recently delved into his past by reading Much Ado About Me and now into Treadmill. If I had the means pitch a limited series idea to Netflix, I would.
The young lady engaged to the dentist look extremely disappointed that she didn't win. Maybe the dentist had told her that if she didn't win, no wedding. It was that kind of look she had on her face.
Could have seen that second song, the winner, selling millions if Dean Martin had recorded it.