The Hollywood Palace 

Various guest hosts present a musical variety show.

Stars:

Bing Crosby, Milton Berle, Jimmy Durante

Won 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 9 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Bing Crosby	...	Himself - Host 32 episodes, 1964-1970
Milton Berle	...	Himself - Host / ... 17 episodes, 1965-1970
Jimmy Durante	...	Himself - Host / ... 15 episodes, 1964-1970

Storyline

Popular, long-running Saturday night variety show of the mid-to-late 1960's, 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. TV appearence on the show in 1964. The waning popularity of weekly variety shows contributed to "Hollywood Palace" 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

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

After being canceled by ABC in the spring of 1970, the show was never re-broadcast in a re-run/repeated series format because of the musician's union contract fees, as well as the entertainer/actor rerun fees. The program was just too expensive for any network or for any independent marketing format.

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Connections

Referenced in Bing Crosby Christmas Crooner (2009)

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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."