''Admiral Broadway Revue'' is an American

live television Live television is a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. In a secondary meaning, it may refer to streaming television over the Internet when content or programming is played continuously (not on deman ...

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp ...

that ran from January 28 to June 3, 1949. The show was notable for being "television's first full scale Broadway type musical revue."

Distribution

The program was broadcast live on Fridays from 8 to 9 p.m. ET simultaneously on both the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

and DuMont networks. Live broadcasts were carried by 24 stations in 16 cities. Another 14 stations broadcast

kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 194 ...

recordings of the live episodes. The dual-network distribution resulted from Admiral executives' desire to have the program on NBC and to have it seen in Chicago. During the show's time slot, DuMont had sole use of the coaxial cable linking New York City to Chicago. Therefore, the company used both networks.

Overview

Episodes of ''Admiral Broadway Revue'' included music, comedy, well-known guest stars and "lavish production numbers". Each episode's dances, sketches, and songs related to a common theme such as cross-country, night life, and Radio City. The show was telecast from the since-demolished International Theatre (also known as the Park Theatre) at 5 Columbus Circle in New York City. The hour-long series was directed by

Max Liebman Max Liebman (August 2, 1902 – July 21, 1981) was a Broadway theater and TV producer-director sometimes called the "Ziegfeld of TV", who helped establish early television's comedy vocabulary with ''Your Show of Shows''. He additionally helped bring ...

, hosted by

Sid Caesar Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor, comedian and writer. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: ''Your Show of Shows'' (1950� ...

, and also starred

Imogene Coca Imogene Coca (born Emogeane Coca; November 18, 1908 – June 2, 2001) was an American comic actress best known for her role opposite Sid Caesar on ''Your Show of Shows''. Starting out in vaudeville as a child acrobat, she studied ballet and wishe ...

. Liebman, Caesar, and Coca went on to work on NBC's ''

Your Show of Shows ''Your Show of Shows'' is a live 90-minute variety show that was broadcast weekly in the United States on NBC from February 25, 1950, through June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Other featured performers were Carl Reiner, Howa ...

'', which debuted February 25, 1950. The series was sponsored by TV-set manufacturer Admiral, a competitor of NBC's parent company

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

and of DuMont, both of which manufactured

TV set A television set or television receiver, more commonly called the television, TV, TV set, telly, tele, or tube, is a device that combines a tuner, display, and loudspeakers, for the purpose of viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or using ...

s. The cancellation of the series resulted from demand for Admiral's TV sets exceeding the company's manufacturing capacity. Admiral's executives chose to shift the money spent on the program into an increase in manufacturing capabilities. Its final episode aired June 3, 1949.

Personnel

''Admiral Broadway Revue'' provided the first pairing of Caesar and Coca. Marge and

Gower Champion Gower Carlyle Champion (June 22, 1919 – August 25, 1980) was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer. Early years Champion was born on June 22, 1919, in Geneva, Illinois, as the son of John W. Champion and Beatrice Car ...

performed dance numbers on the shows. Others appearing on the show included Roy Atwill, Mary McCarty,

Bobby Van Robert Jack Stein (December 6, 1928 – July 31, 1980), known by his legalized stage name Bobby Van, was a musical actor and dancer, best known for his career on Broadway, in films and television from the 1950s through the 1970s. He was also a ...

, and Loren Welch. Charles Sanford conducted the orchestra, and Don Walker orchestrated the music. Writers for the program included

Lucille Kallen Lucille Kallen (May 28, 1922, Los Angeles, California – January 18, 1999, Ardsley, New York) was an American writer, screenwriter, playwright, composer, and lyricist. She was best known for being the only woman in the most famous TV writers' ...

and

Mel Tolkin Mel Tolkin ( Shmuel Tolchinsky; August 3, 1913 – November 26, 2007) was a television comedy writer best known as head writer of the live sketch comedy series ''Your Show of Shows'' (NBC, 1950–1954) during the Golden Age of Television. Ther ...

Episode and script status

Episodes of ''Admiral Broadway Revue'' were made available on videocassettes by Video Dimensions. The

Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York with a branch office in Los Angeles, dedicated to ...

holds 18

episodes of the series, and the

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the ar ...

has one episode. In 2000, workers who opened an apparently overlooked closet in

New York City Center New York City Center (previously known as the Mecca Temple, City Center of Music and Drama,. The name "City Center for Music and Drama Inc." is the organizational parent of the New York City Ballet and, until 2011, the New York City Opera. and t ...

found boxes of papers that belonged to Liebman, including "many scripts" from ''Admiral Broadway Revue''. A contemporary newspaper report indicated that the papers would go to the Library of Congress, where researchers could use them.

Distribution

Overview

Personnel

Episode and script status

See also

References

Further reading