Product Details

• Actors: Ella Fitzgerald, Fred Astaire, Ethel Merman, Nat King Cole, Mrs. Miller
• Format: NTSC
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: AbcTV
• DVD Release Date: January 11, 2008
• Run Time: 52 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0012J5EYK
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #133,739 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
ABC-TV net. Last show of the series. BING CROSBY-host. Excerpts from past shows and famous performances. With ELLA FITZGERALD, FRED ASTAIRE, ETHEL MERMAN, NAT KING COLE, MRS. MILLER, JIMMY DURANTE, EDIE GORM , ED WYNN, SAMMY DAVIS JR., MARTHA RAYE, JAMES BROWN, HERB ALPERT AND THE TIJUANA BRASS, RAY BOLGER, GENE KELLY, PERRY COMO, DEAN MARTIN, JUDY GARLAND, THE WALLENDAS (and other novelty acts), VICTOR BORGE, BETTE DAVIS, BUSTER KEATON, GLORIA SWANSON, TINY TIM, IMOGENE COCA, SID CAESAR, BUDDY RICH, EDGAR BERGEN AND CHARLIE McCARTHY, PHYLLIS DILLER, DON RICKLES, DEBBIE REYNOLDS, MILTON BERLE, GROUCHO MARX, JACK BENNY, GEORGE BURNS, DON KNOTTS, DON ADDAMS, many, many more! Dont miss the compilation of hilarious live bloopers that happened on the show. (For instance-ALAN SHERMAN with his fly open!) The end of the live TV era. 52 minutes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bing eulogizes the last live variety show, September 12, 2008

By	Phil S. (USA) - See all my reviews

There were not many retrospectives in 1970 and so there's the expected abundance of clips, though way too short in many cases. James Brown in 1967 dancing to "There Was A Time" should have been at least 60 seconds, for example.
There's an amazingly eclectic collection here...and the downside is if you are eager to see 3 or 4, then the wait is long, and not much bang for the buck.
And I still wanna know: was Little Richard actually on that show that featured the Supremes?

3.0 out of 5 stars Final show of series is just a bunch of very short clips. DVD-R is fair quality, December 30, 2008

By	Paul J. Mular (San Carlos, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

First the transfer quality problems...
This is NOT a true DVD, it is a home-burned DVD-R that comes in a blank clear case with a computer printed label on the front.

This is mastered from a 1980's VHS home video tape (complete with the home video logo). The video tape was mastered from a B&W Kinoscope of a color video program.

So you start with a color video program, film it off of a B&W TV screen, then transfer that B&W film back to video on a home format. Now take that 20 year old home video tape & digitize it to a computer file and burn it to a DVD-R. This will give you the idea of how soft the B&W picture looks.

At one point midway through the show, the film projector jumps the sprockets and the picture jumps a few times. Very sloppy transfer work, the original home video company should have stopped the transfer, fixed the film, and re-started the film transfer. Now over 20 years later this transfer error is still plaguing us.

Now about the show......
This is the final episode of the series, it is a clip show and there is no audience for the new bridging Bing Crosby host segments. The clips are WAY TOO SHORT to be enjoyed, they are there just to show you that the star appeared on the show. The worst of these clips is for the ROLLING STONES, the clip is basically just the host introducing them! You never see THE ROLLING STONES!

One rarity you will get to see is a long sequence of BLOOPERS. Now these are quite fun, and were obviously not seen until this final show. Some blooper home video tapes & films have used this sequence, so it may not be new to veteran collectors.

The list of stars appearing here is way too long to put in a review, and if you are waiting to see your favorite you could be disappointed by the briefness of their appearance. I will say I was very pleased to see Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, they have been very hard to find on DVD or any home video.

The variety of acts ranges from singers (all varieties), side show acts (most of whom have also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show), comedy acts and one dramatic performance by Joan Crowford. There is something for everyone here.

Over-all assume that there is no better video material out there to master this from and you will enjoy the clips, but it will just leave you wanting more. Do the original Color Tapes exist, if so it would be wonderful to see them again. If not complete shows, then the complete segments these clips were taken from would be great!