Caesar's Hour
Encyclopedia
Caesar's Hour is a live, hour-long American sketch comedy
television program
that aired on NBC
from 1954 until 1957. The program starred, among others, Sid Caesar
, Nanette Fabray
, Carl Reiner
, Howard Morris
, Janet Blair and Milt Kamen
, and featured a number of cameo roles by famous entertainers such as Joan Crawford
and Peggy Lee
.
Widely considered a continuation of Caesar's earlier program, Your Show of Shows
, Caesar's Hour included most of the same writers and actors, with the notable addition of Larry Gelbart
in the latter show. The writing staff of the show was reunited in 1996 for an event at the Writers Guild Theater in Los Angeles called Caesar's Hour Revisited excerpts of which were broadcast on PBS under the title Caesar's Writers.
A much more complete edit of the evening was made available on VHS tape, but has never been reissued on DVD. It featured Caesar with Mel Tolkin
(head writer), Neil Simon
, Danny Simon
, Mel Brooks
, Carl Reiner
, Larry Gelbart
, Sheldon Keller
, Aaron Ruben
, and Gary Belkin. The moderator and researcher was Bob Claster.
Caesar's Hour expanded on the format of Your Show of Shows with many sketches running a half-hour or more, including musical parodies such as "There's No Business" and "Towers Trot," and genre parodies such as "Bullets over Broadway" (a gangster movie takeoff) and "Aggravation Boulevard" (with Caesar as a Rudolph Valentino/John Gilbert character who fails to make the transition from silents to talkies). Many of the sketches are centered on a domineering star who flames out, prefiguring Caesar's post-series personal and career troubles.
in Los Angeles, California and The Paley Center for Media in Manhattan
and Beverly Hills, California
.
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
that aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
from 1954 until 1957. The program starred, among others, Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
, Nanette Fabray
Nanette Fabray
Nanette Fabray is an American actress, comedienne, singer, dancer, and activist. She began her career performing in vaudeville as a child and then became a musical theatre actress during the 1940s and 1950s, winning a Tony Award in 1949 for her performance in Love Life...
, Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner is an American actor, film director, producer, writer and comedian. He has won nine Emmy Awards and one Grammy Award during this career...
, Howard Morris
Howard Morris
Howard Morris was an American comic actor and director who was best known for his role as Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show.- Life and career :...
, Janet Blair and Milt Kamen
Milt Kamen
Milton Kaminsky , better known as Milt Kamen, was an American stand-up comic and actor with numerous television credits.Born in Hurleyville, New York, Kamen began his career as a regular on Caesar's Hour in 1954...
, and featured a number of cameo roles by famous entertainers such as Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
and Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
.
Widely considered a continuation of Caesar's earlier program, Your Show of Shows
Your Show of Shows
Your Show of Shows is a live 90-minute variety show that appeared weekly in the United States on NBC , from February 25, 1950, until June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca....
, Caesar's Hour included most of the same writers and actors, with the notable addition of Larry Gelbart
Larry Gelbart
Larry Simon Gelbart was an American television writer, playwright, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
in the latter show. The writing staff of the show was reunited in 1996 for an event at the Writers Guild Theater in Los Angeles called Caesar's Hour Revisited excerpts of which were broadcast on PBS under the title Caesar's Writers.
A much more complete edit of the evening was made available on VHS tape, but has never been reissued on DVD. It featured Caesar with Mel Tolkin
Mel Tolkin
Mel Tolkin, né Shmuel Tolchinsky , was a television comedy writer best known as head writer of the seminal, live TV sketch comedy series Your Show of Shows during the Golden Age of Television. There he presided over a storied staff that at times included Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Danny Simon, and...
(head writer), Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
, Danny Simon
Danny Simon
Danny Simon was an American television writer and comedy teacher. He was also older brother to acclaimed American playwright Neil Simon....
, Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
, Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner is an American actor, film director, producer, writer and comedian. He has won nine Emmy Awards and one Grammy Award during this career...
, Larry Gelbart
Larry Gelbart
Larry Simon Gelbart was an American television writer, playwright, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
, Sheldon Keller
Sheldon Keller
Sheldon Bernard "Shelly" Keller was an American screenwriter and composer.-Life and career:Keller was born in Chicago, Illinois and attended University of Illinois, where he began writing comedy with his fraternity brother Allan Sherman...
, Aaron Ruben
Aaron Ruben
Aaron Ruben, was an American television director known for The Andy Griffith Show Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and Sanford and Son .-Early life:...
, and Gary Belkin. The moderator and researcher was Bob Claster.
Caesar's Hour expanded on the format of Your Show of Shows with many sketches running a half-hour or more, including musical parodies such as "There's No Business" and "Towers Trot," and genre parodies such as "Bullets over Broadway" (a gangster movie takeoff) and "Aggravation Boulevard" (with Caesar as a Rudolph Valentino/John Gilbert character who fails to make the transition from silents to talkies). Many of the sketches are centered on a domineering star who flames out, prefiguring Caesar's post-series personal and career troubles.
Episode status
As with Your Show of Shows, most of the original kinescopes of Caesar's Hour were destroyed by NBC, so few epidodes remain. Many fragments from the series survive at the UCLA Film and Television ArchiveUCLA Film and Television Archive
The UCLA Film and Television Archive is an internationally renowned visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles. It holds more than 220,000 film and television titles and 27 million feet of...
in Los Angeles, California and The Paley Center for Media in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
and Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
.