Your Show of Shows [Paperback]

Ted Sennett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 20, 2002

On a Saturday evening in 1950, a live, 90-minute variety program called YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS! premiered on NBC and instantly won acclaim from the critics and public alike. An inspired, witty and sophisticated mixture of comedy, satire and song and dance, the program starred the gifted and inimitable Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Ted Sennet's book, first published in 1977, and now extensively revised and expanded, demonstratres more than ever why the show remains one of television's most glowing achievements. Here are generous, illustrated excerpts from the hilarious sketches that provided Caesar and Coca with opportunities for peerless dual and solo turns, as well as interludes of opera and ballet performed by the leading artists of the day, and the bits by the talented company of players. This edition also includes complete texts from some of the show's funniest skits, comments from Sid Caesar himself, as well as other comedic luminaries who pay tribute to the show's influence, and never-before-seen photographs from the collection of the show's producer and director, Max Liebman. YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS is indisputably one of television's durable treasures. For those who cherish its memory to those who are experiencing it for the first time, Ted Sennett's expanded new edition of this book will be a welcome gift of laughter.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Applause Books; Revised edition (September 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557835802
• ISBN-13: 978-1557835802
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,486,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars fun look at a tv pioneer, February 28, 2003

By 

Robert J. Crawford (Balmette Talloires, France) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Your Show of Shows (Paperback)

This is a well written and researched book on one of the great early shows that was on US television. As such, it offers a fascinating look into a medium that was evolving and how a group of great innovators molded the process.

Creating great comedy is not just about funny guys doing strange things. As with all true innovators, great comedians also tend to be members of great teams. Their goals are similar to those of visionary businessmen, scientists, and designers: they want to achieve something revolutionary and they want to advance their careers and, by extension, make money. That is why Your Show of Shows, a 1950s American television comedy series starring Sid Caesar, offers fascinating lessons on one of the most successful creative teams in TV. Not only did Caesar's writers challenge the standard practices of a new and rapidly evolving industry, but they did so consistently over a number of years with seemingly impossible deadlines every week.

How did they do it? In a nutshell, Sid Caesar put a group of phenomenally talented writers into an empty room and let them be themselves while offering subtle, if occasionally brutal, hints at how they should work together rather than directing (or "micro-managing") them. Caesar nurtured an environment to spawn creativity and he had a great producer behind him who knew how to line up corporate support. Amazingly - and typical of the audacity that went into this show - the first few shows were aired without sponsorship and yet were unprecedented in their production costs.

The group included Mel Brooks, who went on to create a number of pioneering comedies. Woody Allen also got his big break as part of Caesar's team and later came into his own as an Oscar-winning scriptwriter and filmmaker. In addition, there was the celebrated producer, director, writer, and comedian Carl Reiner (creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show) as well as Larry Gelbart, who created of the M*A*S*H television series and the Broadway play City of Angels. Finally, prior to becoming one of America's most successful Broadway playwrights, Neil Simon began his writing career on the Caesar show. In spite of their huge egos and now-famous eccentricities, this group worked as a team, sometimes offering solo performances, but always as a part of something bigger than themselves alone.

These personalities stand out in the book, in all their quirkiness and egotism and talent. The pressure on the team was enormous: not only would they have to meet the highest standards of sophistication, quality, and originality as set by Caesar and Liebman, who did not want the ordinary slapstick that was popular then, but every week Caesar and the other performers would have to entertain a live audience during a 90-minute, nationwide broadcast. Caesar describes it as putting on half of a Broadway play - new - each week, and doing it in real time. As such, it is also a facinating study of leadership, even if by a comedian.

Nonetheless, there are long sections of descriptions of the shows' content. I found that boring, but it is a matter of taste and what you are expecting. I was looking more for a histrry of TV and how an innovative team worked, and I got it in this book very satisfactorily. I did not want tv criticism or recapitulations of things that are better seen than analysed.

Recommended.