America After Dark "Marx Brothers Reunion" (lost episode of NBC late night talk show; 1957): Difference between revisions
(Great bit of TV history! Just polishing the article up a bit :)) |
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[[File: Marx Brothers America After Dark Reunion.jpeg|thumb]] | [[File: Marx Brothers America After Dark Reunion.jpeg|thumb]] | ||
'''''America After Dark''''' was | '''''America After Dark''''' was a late-night live news/talk show that aired on American network NBC for only a few months across 1956-7, and is now mostly famous as a failed attempt to retool the original ''Tonight Show'' after the original hosts departed. <ref>http://betterlivingtv.blogspot.com/2015/01/speaking-of-marx-brothers.html</ref> One ''AAD'' episode, however, gained notoriety on its own for unexpectedly hosting the reunion of all five Marx Brothers, by then comedy and film legends.<ref>http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=carsonjohnn</ref> Unfortunately, like most early TV programs, ''America After Dark'' was not routinely recorded and '''the episode is considered almost surely lost.''' | ||
==Background== | ==Background== | ||
''America After Darl'' was concieved by network executives a late-night counterpart to the network's early-morning staple, ''The Today Show'', thus featuring current news stories along with the celebrity guests. This retool was not at all popular with NBC affiliate stations and was already in serious trouble by February 18, 1957, when four of the five members of the Marx Brothers comedy troupe agreed to appear on the show together. | |||
Presented with this golden opportunity, | The brothers (Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo) had long since attained worldwide comedy superstardom via their films together, but by the mid-1950's the troupe had largely disbanded and the brothers embarked on solo projects. On February 18, 1957 Chico Marx, the eldest, was set to appear in ''The Fifth Season'', a comedy play premiering that night. <ref>https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0729158/</ref>. In a show of brotherly support, Chico’s younger brothers Adolf (Harpo), Julius Henry (Groucho), Milton (Gummo) and Herbert Manfred (Zeppo), stopped off on the way to their ''America After Dark'' appearance to attend the play. | ||
Presented with this golden opportunity, ''AAD'''s producers wasted no time arranging for all five brothers to meet in Chico’s dressing room for some photographs - and hopefully, a great deal of the fast-paced, off-the-cuff banter they were all famous for - prior to/after the scheduled five-minute segment at 11:15pm. Jack Lescouli, the ''AAD'' host at the time, oversaw the reunion. <ref>https://www.marx-brothers.org/media/tv.htm</ref> | |||
==Preservation== | ==Preservation== | ||
To date, no copies of this presumed classic comedy goldmine have turned up. A routine method of recording directly from film, either professionally or by the viewers did not exist at this point, but it is possible that kinetoscope recordings were taken. Unfortunately ''America After Dark'' was not considered a success, running through several hosts over its short lifespan in an effort to stay afloat - and recordings of its episodes would not have been valued highly in any case. | To date, no copies of this presumed classic comedy goldmine have turned up. A routine method of recording directly from film, either professionally or by the viewers, did not exist at this point, but it is possible that kinetoscope recordings were taken, as was sometimes the case with live performances thought worthy of preservation. Unfortunately ''America After Dark'' was not considered a success, running through several hosts over its short lifespan in an effort to stay afloat - and recordings of its episodes would not have been valued highly in any case. | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
Revision as of 20:44, 17 August 2022
America After Dark was a late-night live news/talk show that aired on American network NBC for only a few months across 1956-7, and is now mostly famous as a failed attempt to retool the original Tonight Show after the original hosts departed. [1] One AAD episode, however, gained notoriety on its own for unexpectedly hosting the reunion of all five Marx Brothers, by then comedy and film legends.[2] Unfortunately, like most early TV programs, America After Dark was not routinely recorded and the episode is considered almost surely lost.
Background
America After Darl was concieved by network executives a late-night counterpart to the network's early-morning staple, The Today Show, thus featuring current news stories along with the celebrity guests. This retool was not at all popular with NBC affiliate stations and was already in serious trouble by February 18, 1957, when four of the five members of the Marx Brothers comedy troupe agreed to appear on the show together.
The brothers (Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo) had long since attained worldwide comedy superstardom via their films together, but by the mid-1950's the troupe had largely disbanded and the brothers embarked on solo projects. On February 18, 1957 Chico Marx, the eldest, was set to appear in The Fifth Season, a comedy play premiering that night. [3]. In a show of brotherly support, Chico’s younger brothers Adolf (Harpo), Julius Henry (Groucho), Milton (Gummo) and Herbert Manfred (Zeppo), stopped off on the way to their America After Dark appearance to attend the play.
Presented with this golden opportunity, AAD's producers wasted no time arranging for all five brothers to meet in Chico’s dressing room for some photographs - and hopefully, a great deal of the fast-paced, off-the-cuff banter they were all famous for - prior to/after the scheduled five-minute segment at 11:15pm. Jack Lescouli, the AAD host at the time, oversaw the reunion. [4]
Preservation
To date, no copies of this presumed classic comedy goldmine have turned up. A routine method of recording directly from film, either professionally or by the viewers, did not exist at this point, but it is possible that kinetoscope recordings were taken, as was sometimes the case with live performances thought worthy of preservation. Unfortunately America After Dark was not considered a success, running through several hosts over its short lifespan in an effort to stay afloat - and recordings of its episodes would not have been valued highly in any case.