The Hollywood Palace 

Various guest hosts present a musical variety show.

Stars:

Bing Crosby, Milton Berle, Dick Tufeld

Won 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 9 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Bing Crosby	...	Self - Host 32 episodes, 1964-1970
Milton Berle	...	Self - Host / ... 17 episodes, 1965-1970
Dick Tufeld	...	Self - Announcer 15 episodes, 1964-1969
Jimmy Durante	...	Self - Host / ... 15 episodes, 1964-1970

Storyline

Popular, long-running Saturday night variety show of the mid to late 1960s, originating from the Hollywood Palace Theater (formerly the El Capitan) on Hollywood Boulevard. There was a revolving guest host, usually a singer or comedian, each week. Bing Crosby was the most frequent guest host (including, of course, the Christmas Week show), but other frequent guest hosts included Sammy Davis, Jr., Jimmy Durante, Don Adams, Fred Astaire, and Judy Garland. The Rolling Stones made their first U.S. television appearence on this show in 1964. The waning popularity of weekly variety shows contributed to this show being cancelled in early 1970, but it's still well-remembered by its many fans.

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Plot Keywords:

variety show | 

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Taglines:

From Hollywood, The Entertainment Capital of the world. ABC-TV presents "The Hollywood Palace!"

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Music

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Certificate:

TV-G

Did You Know?

Trivia

Many Hollywood actors and actresses revived and expanded their careers by appearing on this show. Dean Martin's hosting deal negotiated with Producers Nick Vanoff and William O. Harbach allowed him to "sail into the theater" from the golf course, to tape the first rehearsal show, followed by the actual shows taping, with an hour crew-cast break. This allowed the audience to be turned around, Director Grey Lockwood to give pick-up notes, and Jack Denton to correct lighting and/or re-jelling lamp fixtures. Martin's musical material had previously been rehearsed by the orchestra the night before,. The show was rehearsed with full cast minus Martin's participation, with Stage Manager "Woody", delivering the scripted introductions for the show's guests. Because the show was so easy for Martin to perform, he and his Producer Greg Garrison were able to pitch a variety series starring Martin to rival NBC. Hosts Dan Rowan and Dick Martin hosted Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967) on NBC. their hosting assignment by creating Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967) NBC series. Fred Astaire and his production company taped a second special in 1967 to 1968. Production Designer James Trittipo divided his responsibilities between the show and designing scenery for Astaire's special. Actually, Art Director Hub Braden designed the Palace scenery while Trittipo was at NBC. Production Manager Jerry McPhie commented that Producer Nick Vanoff never knew that Trittipo was out of sight during the month of the special's production. He would show up on the day of taping and supervise in the control room booth.

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Connections

Referenced in Love, American Style: Love and the Mountain Cabin/Love and the Divorce Sale/Love and the Comedy Team (1969)

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Soundtracks

Put On A Happy Face
Written by Gower and Margie Champion
Performed by the Les Brown Orchestra and then the Mitchell Ayres Orchestra and the Mort Lindsey Orchestra

User Reviews

Great long-running variety show

Whatever happened to the variety show? Where today can you see acts like Senior Wences ('sawrrright? 'SAWRRRIGHT!); the guy who spun plates on fiber-glass poles to the tune of Khachaturian's "Neighbor's Dance"; the harmonica group who dressed in liederhosen and the midget went around biting everyone in the knee when he got kneed out by the other performers; the guy who tried to get his dog to jump through the hoop and the dog, instead, would slowly droop to the floor anemically; Carl Ballantine, the magician who had everything go wrong in his magic act; all those comedians and impressionists; the juggling acts; the acrobat acts; and a plethora of other folks who did acts in nightclubs and show rooms all over America? This was the place. We didn't get Ed Sullivan in our town during my early years, but we DID get the Hollywood Palace - on Saturday nights at 9 p.m. - just before "The Outer Limits" aired at 10 p.m.

The theme song was "Put On a Happy Face," played brightly by an off-stage orchestra (originally led by Les Brown). It was a pre-recorded show with a live audience, much like Ed Sullivan, except it had several guest hosts, largely consisting of Bing Crosby and Don Adams.

I remember it as the introduction of Raquel Welch to America. Raquel would come out each week and place a placard on an easel introducing the next act. If I'm not mistaken, she began on the show coming out in something akin to a Bunny suit (as in Playboy Bunny outfit minus the ears) with dark stockings? Anyway, I miss these types of shows. Steve Harvey is the closest thing to this type of show and it's a shame. It's just not "all that" in comparison to "The Hollywood Palace."

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 January 1964 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Palace Theater - 1735 N. Vine Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

American Broadcasting Company (ABC), United Artists Television, Zodiac Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White (1964-1965) Color (1965-1970)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1