''Tonight Starring Steve Allen'' is an American

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

hosted by

Steve Allen Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, radio personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-cre ...

. It was the first version of what eventually became known as ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...

''. ''Tonight'' was the first

late-night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show popular in the United States, where the format originated. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It i ...

, as well as the first late night television series of any kind to achieve long-term success. Allen's run as host of the show lasted for two and a half seasons, beginning in fall 1954 and ending with Allen's departure in January 1957. During its run it originated from the

Hudson Theatre The Hudson Theatre is a Broadway theater at 139–141 West 44th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. One of the oldest surviving Broadway venues, the Hudson was built ...

in New York City.

History

Originally a local program airing from 11:20 p.m. to 12 midnight on WNBT New York as ''The Steve Allen Show'', the program was moved to the full

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

network in the Fall of 1954. The first network episode of ''Tonight'' aired on September 27, 1954, and ran for 105 minutes instead of the 60-minute duration of modern talk shows (however, the first fifteen minutes were shown on very few stations). The announcer of the show was

Gene Rayburn Gene Rayburn (born Eugene Peter Jeljenic; December 22, 1917 – November 29, 1999) was an American radio and television personality. He is best known as the host of various editions of the American television game show ''Match Game'' for over tw ...

(who would eventually become a top-game show emcee, best known for his 22 years at the helm of the ''

Match Game ''Match Game'' is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and has been revived several times over the course of the last six decades. The game features contestants trying to match answers given by celebrity panelist ...

'') and the bandleader was

Skitch Henderson Lyle Russel "Skitch" Henderson (January 27, 1918 – November 1, 2005) was a pianist, conductor, and composer. His nickname "Skitch" came from his ability to "re-sketch" a song in a different key. Bing Crosby suggested that he should use the ...

. Allen's version of the show originated such talk show staples as an opening monologue, celebrity interviews, audience participation, and comedy bits in which cameras were taken outside the studio, as well as music; among the members of Allen's musical ensemble were

Steve Lawrence Steve Lawrence (born Sidney Liebowitz; July 8, 1935) is an American singer, comedian and actor, best known as a member of a duo with his wife Eydie Gormé, billed as " Steve and Eydie", and for his performance as Maury Sline, the manager and fr ...

and

Eydie Gormé Eydie Gormé ( ; born Edith Gormezano; August 16, 1928 – August 10, 2013) was an American singer who had hits on the pop and Latin pop charts. She sang solo and in the duo Steve and Eydie with her husband, Steve Lawrence, on albums and telev ...

, who later became a married couple. The success of the show led to Allen receiving a separate weekly prime time show, which aired on Sunday nights. Allen gave up the Monday and Tuesday shows, with guest hosts taking over for the summer of 1956. Beginning that fall,

Ernie Kovacs Ernest Edward Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962) was a Hungarian-American comedian, actor, and writer. Kovacs's visually experimental and often spontaneous comedic style influenced numerous television comedy programs for years afte ...

(who came over from the faltering

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...

) was the regular Monday and Tuesday host for the 1956–1957 season with his own cast and regulars, including his own announcer (

Bill Wendell William Joseph Wenzel Jr. (March 22, 1924 – April 14, 1999), known as Bill Wendell, was an NBC television staff announcer for almost his entire professional career. Life and career Born in New York City, Wendell served in the United States ...

; who would later work with

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman' ...

) and bandleader. A

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 1940 ...

of the very first episode survives and Allen's opening monologue has been rebroadcast many times on ''Tonight Show'' anniversary specials and in documentaries such as ''Television''. In his opening remarks, Allen makes the prescient statement that ''Tonight!'' "is going to go on forever" (an apparent reference to the show's run time, then clocking in at 105 minutes with commercials). With several hosts over the decades, it has done just that, albeit with a much different meaning than Allen intended.

Allen and Kovacs' Departure

Allen departed ''Tonight'' in January 1957 after NBC ordered Allen to concentrate all his efforts on his Sunday night variety program, hoping to combat

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

's ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...

s dominance of the Sunday night ratings. Kovacs, instead of getting the show five nights a week, was let go, and a radical format change was made (see below). After Allen's prime time show ended in 1960, he would intermittently return to the format he used on ''Tonight'' with syndicated programs bearing the name ''The Steve Allen Show'', from 1962–1964, 1968–1969, and 1971.

''Tonight! America After Dark'' (1957)

Rather than continuing with the same format after Allen and Kovacs' departures from ''Tonight'', NBC changed the show's format to a news and features show, similar to that of the network's popular morning program ''Today''. The new show, renamed ''Tonight! America After Dark'', was hosted first by

Jack Lescoulie Jack Lescoulie (November 17, 1912 – July 22, 1987) was a radio and television announcer and host, notably on NBC's ''Today'' during the 1950s and 1960s; a newspaper source lists his date of birth as May 17, 1912. Lescoulie was also known for h ...

and then by

Al "Jazzbo" Collins Albert Richard "Jazzbo" Collins (January 4, 1919 – September 30, 1997) was an American disc jockey and musician who hosted ''The Tonight Show'' in 1957. Career Born in Rochester, New York, in 1919, Collins grew up on Long Island, New York. In ...

, with interviews conducted by

Hy Gardner Hy Gardner (December 2, 1908 – June 17, 1989) was an American entertainment reporter and syndicated columnist for the ''New York Herald Tribune'', host of ''Hy Gardner Calling'', ''The Hy Gardner Show'', and ''Celebrity Party'', and an orig ...

, and music provided by the

Lou Stein Lou Stein (April 22, 1922 – December 11, 2002) was an American jazz pianist. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Stein joined Ray McKinley's band in 1942. He played with Glenn Miller when the latter was stateside during World War II. Afte ...

Trio (later replaced by the

Mort Lindsey Mort Lindsey (born Morton Lippman; March 21, 1923, Newark, New Jersey – May 4, 2012, Malibu, California), was an orchestrator, composer, pianist, conductor and musical director for Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Pat Boone, Jack Narz, and Merv Gr ...

Quartet, then the

Johnny Guarnieri John Albert Guarnieri (March 23, 1917 – January 7, 1985) was an American jazz and stride pianist, born in New York City. Career Guarnieri joined the George Hall orchestra in 1937. He is possibly best known for his big band stints with Be ...

Quartet). This new version of the show was unsuccessful, resulting in a significant number of NBC affiliates dropping the show. The format returned to a comedy-oriented talk/variety program on July 29, 1957, with

Jack Paar Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an American talk show host, author, radio and television comedian, and film actor. He was the second host of ''The Tonight Show'' from 1957 to 1962. ''Time'' magazine's obituary of Paar repo ...

being brought in to host his own version of ''The Tonight Show''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tonight Show, The

Allen Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Unive ...

1954 American television series debuts NBC original programming Black-and-white American television shows Television shows filmed in New York City American live television series 1950s American late-night television series 1950s American variety television series

History

Allen and Kovacs' Departure

''Tonight! America After Dark'' (1957)

See also

References

External links