EMMYS 1960: The Art Carney Special

NETWORK: NBC
SPONSORS: DELCO batteries and AC spark plugs

This is the weirdest thing to happen in this category so far. We've already seen the Emmys have confusion about classifying variety shows and sitcoms and gone through years where they awarded single programs over full seasons, etc. Things took yet another bizarre turn for the 1959-1960 season when they cut a bunch of categories and limited things to "Outstanding Program in the Field of Humor," and Drama and Variety. While The Jack Benny Program took the statue for writing the second year in a row, the series award went to a strange series that wasn't even consistently a comedy. That wording "the field of humor" is very telling.

Art Carney was a character actor probably best known for playing Ed Norton opposite Jackie Gleason on The Honeymooners. But now a new decade was around the corner and it almost seems as if Carney was trying to make a name for himself as more than one character, as an entertainer and as a serious actor, at least that's the impression that I get watching the resulting Art Carney Special. Alternately titled The Art Carney Show, this was barely a series. Instead, it was a series of 10 programs starring Carney that aired on usually a monthly basis from 1959 to 1961 (the last aired almost a year after the previous 9). They were broadcast on NBC and were a sort of anthology, with no real uniting element apart from starring Carney. The series generally ran an hour long, but I've read that some went for 90 minutes.

It was not a straight comedy series, and certainly not a sitcom. Some programs were more dramatic. For example, the second episode was a production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town starring Carney as the Stage Manager. Other episodes were self-contained little teleplays very much of the sort you'd see in the Golden Age of Television from other anthology drama series. While whimsical and humorous at times, they were not strictly comedies. Still other programs were more comedic, sketch-driven variety formats taking a satirical look at contemporary life. All this is to say The Art Carney Show was a strange and unique moment in television history.

Unfortunately, its uniqueness also means obscurity, making it extremely difficult to locate and view. Short of setting up a screening at a museum or the Paley Center, I was at the mercy of whatever was uploaded to YouTube, and that was very little. I was able to view two full episodes, "The Man in the Dog Suit" and "Full Moon Over Brooklyn". Both had comedic elements and would be classified as humor in the academic sense, but were rather removed from typical television comedy I'd seen to that point. It's curious watching characters give jokey banter that in normal series would get laughs but with no laugh track. "The Man in the Dog Suit" has some typical repartee moments but they feel strange on television just lying there without laughs. This does not mean they aren't funny, but that the tone is different. And for the most part the story is of a different tone altogether from that sort of typical television banter.

"The Man in the Dog Suit" is a story about the struggles of conformity and becoming a cog in a machine that you don't respect. Carney plays a banker up for a promotion he's not sure he wants, trapped in a life he never asked for. One night he attends a costume party and is stuck wearing a dog suit, but finds as the dog he can loosen up and be someone else. But after the party, he keeps wanting to return to the dog suit, with destructive results. It's a fascinating little play, with a great cast including Celeste Holm and Orson Bean. But the humor is more of a deep satire on social conventions, and the second half becomes more dramatic than its set-up. We are in an entirely different sophisticated brand of humor.

"Full Moon Over Brooklyn" is a bit more whimsical, though with no less of a satiric edge. It's a sort of fable about a man who works for a railroad company running cargo on barges. A shipment from a traveling circus comes in, including a woman with her live bear. But when the bear appears to be dead, the man is trapped ferrying between ports because neither side will accept the shipment lest they be charged for damaging the cargo. The bear is of course played by a man in a bear suit, and this becomes rather ridiculous late in the show when the bear turns out to have just been hibernating and wakes up.

Both are much more like little plays and while there's certainly a degree of humor present, neither would easily be thought of as comedy. How then did this strange little infrequently broadcast series win the Emmy award? Because in addition to these stories, there were some early episodes which were apparently much more in a more traditional sketch comedy box. Often for Emmy voting, and I assume it was true back then too, series are being based on only a few submitted episodes. It is therefore very likely that the Emmy voters based the award on some of these earlier shows, such as "Very Important People". I was again unfortunately unable to find a full broadcast of this program, but what has survived to the internet is a clip of a parody sketch of the popular game show What's My Line? Here, Dick Van Dyke guests stars, and it's a fun little parody; a spot-on take on the typical tropes of the series. If earlier broadcasts were more of this type, it's Emmy award is less of a mystery. You can watch the clip below.

One innovation I did want to mention about the series is the advent of color. Not all of the available footage from the series is in color, but at least some of the later shows were originally broacast by NBC in color. This is the first appearance of color television broadcasting in this little walk through TV history. And you can see that NBC really went out of their way to make it worthwhile in the early days. "Full Moon Over Brooklyn" with its circus elements and slightly whimsical story has a lot of color throughout. Purples, blues, and greens pop off the screen in an effort to show the contrast you get with color. This approach to color would really continue throughout the 1960s, and it's part of why series like Star Trek look the way that they do.

The Art Carney Show was a weird little showcase for Art Carney and on one hand it's a strange footnote in this parade of monumental television comedy. We've had big entertainers like Red Skelton, Jack Benny, and Danny Thomas, and landmark sitcoms like I Love Lucy. Where did this weird little anthology series come from? People often think about the 1960s really beginning with the assassination of President Kennedy. But as I watched these shows today, I could feel in microcosm the kind of attitude shift from the 1950s to the 1960s. Here's Art Carney, lovable goof of the 1950s now selling himself as a different actor. Here's a sharper, more sardonic comedy beyond just having a few laughs. Here are stories about societal ennui, and dissatisfaction with authorities who want to control your life. Things feel a little more adult. Celeste Holm even says "damn" at one point. In "Full Moon Over Brooklyn," the bear is named Igor the Inevitable. When asked why he's named that, we are told it was because "nothing is as frightening as the inevitable." That sentiment seems a great summation of what was to come in the new decade.

FAVORITE EPISODE: The Man in the Dog Suit (though admittedly this was from a very small sample size)
UP NEXT: The Jack Benny Program (again!)

EMMYS 1959: The Jack Benny Program (season 9)

NETWORK: CBS
SPONSOR: Lucky Strike

The popular American comic entertainer Jack Benny was a staple of radio for decades before supplementing his radio program with a television version in the 1950s, bringing along his regular recurring cast and announcer Don Wilson. A sort of comedy/variety series, it was finally awarded Best Comedy Series for its ninth season, as well as a win for writing for the episode with Ernie Kovacs.

The Jack Benny Program on television is a strange entity in that for years it was not a regular series. Jack had an infrequent schedule due to his many other commitments, and in the early days there were only a few shows produced. By the late 1950s, the series was aired every other week, alternating time slots with *Bachelor Father* or some other series. Thus, there were only 15 episodes this season in an era where most half-hour series regularly ran twice that. It must have been strange to only get to see the show every other week. But I suppose for regular radio listeners, the change wouldn't be so bad, and there were only three television networks anyway.

Also like most television programs of the day, the show was sponsored by big tobacco, this time Lucky Strike. So there were of course commercials and jingles for the sponsor. Jack often refers to it as "The Lucky Strike Program" on air. There was an episode where Jack was trying to shmooze his sponsors because it was time to renew the contract and he feared they would drop him. The episode ends with Benny signed for another year, though in reality sponsorship would change the following year to Lux soap.

Unfortunately, as with some previous series in this project, it was very difficult to easily procure episodes and I could not obtain a full season to watch. This is one of those series where select episodes circulate or segments or sketches are excerpted, but finding full episodes is difficult, and from a specific year even trickier. Ultimately, I was only able to view 6 of the 15 episodes to review here.

Due to the minimal sampling, it was difficult to get a handle on what exactly the format of the show was. It follows some of the variety show template, but sometimes has sitcom elements thrown in. Of the episodes I saw, it wasn't always clear that there was a consistent format at all. To sum it up, I'd say the show was Jack Benny, and sought to entertain you however he wanted that week. There was often (but not always) the general set-up of a monologue in front of a curtain, a celebrity guest star, some comedy sketches and possibly a musical performance. Sometimes the whole show was live, but sometimes sketches were filmed segments. For one show, Benny and his cast put on a parody of the movie Gaslight (called "Autolight"). But then at other times episodes would play out as kind of meta-narratives taking a sitcom-style approach to the backstage world of Jack Benny before or after the show. One such episode is all framed as the rehearsal day before broadcast. Jack is worked up over interactions he's had with a strange person, and Oscar Levant advises he sees someone about it. The person in question is played by character actor Frank Nelson, who you might immediately recognize if you heard him say, "Yeeees?" This is one of those voices and personas that if you've seen enough comedy from this era, or comedy that references it, is immediately recognizable. And it's still funny.

I was bummed that I was unable to find the episode where Phil Harris guested. Harris was Benny's former band leader in the early radio days, but to many modern audiences he is more familiar is a voice in many Disney films of the 1960s and '70s, notably Baloo in The Jungle Book.

It's a shame I was unable to see more of this season and really get more of a feel for Benny's comedy, but I liked the smattering that I saw, and it was interesting to see the award get back to a more variety show styled comedy series after being dominated by the sitcom. CBS has been sweeping the category year after year! Will it continue? The Jack Benny Program would win a second Emmy in its 11th season, but before that we come to the 1960 Emmys when things were weird.

FAVORITE EPISODE: Jack Goes to the Doctor
UP NEXT: The Art Carney Special (that is, if I can find it)

EMMYS 1958: The Phil Silvers Show (season 3)

NETWORK: CBS

The Emmys were strange in the mid-1950s. I neglected to get into this in the last post, but for the 1957 awards, series were not split into category by comedy or drama, but by running time. There were nominees for half-hour programs, which were mainly comedies, and The Phil Silvers Show won that category. There was a separate category for hour-long programs, which also went to a comedy series, Caesar's Hour, and a category for best single program, which was mostly episodes of anthology drama shows. For this reason, it's weird from a historical perspective knowing how to categorize these wins. Perhaps I should go back and review Caesar's Hour as well.

For the 10th annual awards the following year, there was again a designated Comedy Series category, and The Phil Silvers Show won for the third year in a row. And despite it being long into the series run, the third year is an extremely important moment in television history, though one that doesn't often get discussed. The third episode of the season was called "Hillbilly Whiz" and it was the story of a new recruit from somewhere down south who had a great pitching arm. Bilko conspires to get him scouted by the pros, and there are cameo appearances by Yogi Berra and other players of the 1957 New York Yankees. And this would be neat in itself, but from a historical perspective, the other guest star is more important. You see, that hillbilly pitcher role was the television debut of Dick Van Dyke.




Dick Van Dyke apparently made such an impression that he returned later in the season playing Bilko's cousin, also a similarly folksy drawling amiable guy. It's clear from his two appearances that he has a kind of comedic personality that lights up the screen, and he plays well off of Phil Silvers. In just a few years, CBS would give Van Dyke his own series and he would become a star.

While Van Dyke's appearances are the main highlights of season 3, they are not the only bright spots. The series has settled into a groove and it knows what stories it tells. There are continued appearances from celebrities of the day. It's funny how some celebrities remain household names and others don't. Last season was the appearance of Ed Sullivan and Bing Crosby, and that still holds today, but it's quaint watching everyone flip out over the appearance of Kay Kendall, when most modern viewers would scratch their heads and say, "Who?"

Some of the stories also start to get a little sillier.  Paparelli spends an episode in drag in order to use a vacation that he won in a contestant, not realizing it was for married couples. Doberman continues to be a source of humor, particularly in "Doberman the Crooner", where it turns out he has a gorgeous Irish tenor voice, but only when he's sick.

One issue I do have is that by season 3 Bilko is made out to be sort of a gambling genius, and this doesn't really hold with earlier depictions of the character. Yes, he consistently gets the better of guys like Ritzik or some of his men, but in the very first episode he had a gambling debt. This heightened confidence in his abilities does lead to a wonderful episode where Colonel Hall finally gets the better of Bilko by scamming him with a professional card manipulator, shattering Bilko's confidence. And that's one of the nicest things about this season, is the effort in a few episodes for Colonel Hall to no longer be just a bumbler but learn from his mistakes and he actually gets the better of Bilko several times. This is a nice reversal, and it pays off for long-time viewers. In another episode, Ritzik learns the secrets of Bilko's scams when he talks in his sleep. It's fun to see the master manipulator get one-upped every now and then.

FAVORITE EPISODES: Hillbilly Whiz, The Big Man Hunt, Bilko Talks in His Sleep, Bilko at Bay, Doberman the Crooner, The Colonel's Reunion, Bilko's Cousin

UP NEXT: The Jack Benny Program