Polly Bergen & Sammy Davis, Jr on HOLLYWOOD HOUSE (1949)”
A Preview of the Next Big Epic CLIP JOINT - with Rex Reed on at the Triad, Monday July 15
On Monday July 15, I’m doing what is virtually the first “live,” in-person CLIP JOINT show since the pandemic. For years I have wanted to do a show celebrating the marvelous actress and singer POLLY BERGEN, and I wanted to enlist REX REED to speak about his long and warm relationship with the Great Lady (I knew her too, of course, but mainly only through Rex). I do hope all SLOUCHING TOWARDS BIRDLAND readers who live in the New York area will try to be there at the Triad Theater on Monday.
(The link to the Triad page is here.)
As a preview of that event - and also as an excuse to share some rare and wonderful footage - this installment of STB is focusing on a short-lived program from the very earliest days of television. This is what I call the prehistoric era of TV - or even the 78RPM period. (Special thanks to Rob Waldman for helping research this story.)
Hollywood House seems to have run for about three months on ABC-TV, launching on Sunday December 4, 1949, and continuing until sometime in February. It was produced by Joe Bigelow, and written by Bigelow and veteran comedy specialist Ukie Sherin (at one time a regular comic on the Kraft Music Hall with Bing Crosby). Equal parts sitcom and variety show, the program starred Dick Wesson “of the niteries” as a comic bellboy who interacts with celebrities at a posh Hollywood Hotel. (I’m not sure why the Variety clip above says it ran on Fridays, when the Ross Reports clip below says it launched on a Sunday.)
The first episode costarred Jim Backus “of the kilocycles” (later famous as both Thurston Howell III and Mister Magoo), presumably as the hotel manager and desk clerk, along with singers Gale Robbins and Connie Haines; Robbins apparently also took part in the comedy, whereas Haines, according to the Variety review, just sang. Music was provided by the Page Cavanaugh Trio, and Joe Besser - who surely needs no introduction to readers of STB - also made an appearance.
We have one episode - and I’m not sure who shared it with me (Anthony DiFlorio II, Alan Eichler, Burton Kittay, Howard Green, Steve Kramer, Jim Pierson, Dan Wingate? - I want to thank all of you!) In this particular show, Alan Mowbray is the hotel manager and desk clerk, and 70-year-old comedienne Sara Allgood makes one of her final appearances (she would die in September 1950) as a sentimental Irish maid. The real interest, however, comes from the musical specialties: Polly Bergen and Sammy Davis, Jr. Alas, Page Cavanaugh has been replaced by the Buddy Worth Trio, but otherwise, not too shabby!
This was so early in Polly’s career that she was billed under her birth name, “Polly Burgin.” She’s all of 19 here, and incredibly mature. Introduced by Alan Mowbray and accompanied by the Buddy Worth Trio, she gives out with a zippy rendition of the 1949 hit, “Dear Hearts and Gentle People” (Sammy Fain & Bob Hilliard); she still retains some of the Tennessee twang that you’ll hear occasionally in her later performances. (The above clip also includes the opening titles.)
Sammy Davis, Jr. turned 24 on December 8; although he previously appeared in three different theatrical musical short subjects (two Vitaphones and a Paramount short) this is the earliest footage I know of him from television. He’s given almost six minutes - a generous amount of time on a half-hour show - and though he makes the most of it, he only gets to show a fraction of what he can do. After some comedy patter with Wesson and Mowbray, he does three impressions,—Nat King Cole, Frankie Laine, and Vaughn Monroe—and then flies into a wild tap dance set to a boppish variation on “Oh, Lady Be Good.” Davis isn’t listed at all in the opening titles, but at the end of the show, the announcement is made, “Sammy Davis, Jr. appears through the courtesy of the Will Mastin Trio.” It’s truly surprising that Mastin and Big Sam agreed to let Sammy Jr. come on by himself; my guess is that they consented begrudgingly because chances for African-Americans to appear on national TV were few and far between in 1949 - and for many years to come - at least until Sammy hosted his own variety show in 1966. PS: It’s great to see Sammy with both eyes.
Polly’s second number is more typical of her later work in that it’s one of the all-time great standards - still relatively new - “Come Rain or Come Shine,” by Arlen & Mercer, introduced in the 1946 St. Louis Woman by Harold Nicholas. Polly is wise and mature here, well beyond her years. (She’s only 19? Give me a break. At age 19, I was sitting in mud!)
There’s also a comedy duet between Polly and star comic Dick Wesson, who later was a regular on the Jackie Cooper sitcom The People’s Choice (1955-’58) and still later served as writer for The Beverly Hillbillies, but is best remembered for his comic turn as “Francis Fryer” in the classic Doris Day - Howard Keel movie musical Calamity Jane (1953). The more I watch him in this episode, the more he grows on me; he not only does enthusiastic comedy shtick and wild dances (a la Milt Kamen), plus accents and impressions, but imitating a French singer he delivers a more than passable impression of the great Jean Sablon - le chanteur magnifique. (Speaking of which, this week’s episode of Sing! Sing! Sing! is a collection of French Songs with the wonderful contemporary American singer / pianist / songwriter / duo-ologist Eric Comstock picking his favorites. check it out below!)
I’ll be showing Polly’s numbers - and a great deal more priceless footage, plus personal reminiscences of Polly from her close friend Rex Reed - at the Triad on Monday. Hope to see some of you there!
Very Special thanks to the fabulous Ms. Elizabeth Zimmer, for expert proofreading of this page, and scanning for typos, mistakes, and other assorted boo-boos!
Sing! Sing! Sing! : My tagline is, “Celebrating the great jazz - and jazz-adjacent - singers, as well as the composers, lyricists, arrangers, soloists, and sidemen, who help to make them great.”
A production of KSDS heard Saturdays at 10:00 AM Pacific; 1:00PM Eastern.
To listen to KSDS via the internet (current and recent shows are available for streaming.) click here.
The whole series is also listenable on Podbean.com, click here.
SING! SING! SING!
June 29 - Americana - For the Fourth of July - Songs of Civil Rights & The African American Experience
July 6 - The Four Freshmen & Other Great Jazz Vocal Groups of the 1950s
July 13 - Bastille Day: Guest Co-Host ERIC COMSTOCK shares his favorite French songs! Formidable!
July 20 - The Margaret Whiting Centennial: “Happy Birthday Maggie!”
July 27 - “Calypso Blues” OR “It’s The New Calypso Bebop!”
SLOUCHING TOWARDS BIRDLAND is a subStack newsletter by Will Friedwald. The best way to support my work is with a paid subscription, for which I am asking either $5 a month or $50 per year. Thank you for considering. (Thanks as always to Beth Naji & Arlen Schumer for special graphics.) Word up, peace out, go forth and sin no more! (And always remember: “A man is born, but he’s no good no how, without a song.”)
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