Sid Ceasar and Imogene Coca

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=169 style=" border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC;" BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="017a0ad1dyxtip.jpg"> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="698" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 111 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="00d69690.jpg" border=0 width="105" height="105" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> Waxahachie Independant School District    <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#00FF00" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >               Waxahachie, Texas</FONT></div> <div> <B>Waxahachie High School Alumni 1962</B></div> <div> <B>WHS Seniors '62</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=268 BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="01f9b9c3.jpg"> <div>                                                   </div> <div> <B><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">  </SCRIPT> </B></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="5" CELLPADDING="18" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="560" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#00FF00" BORDERCOLORDARK="#00FF00" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#000000 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 1615 WIDTH="474"><div> <TABLE BORDER="3" CELLPADDING="10" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="248" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#FFFFFF" BORDERCOLORDARK="#FFFFFF" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 171 ><NOBR><div> <B><IMG SRC="1e1c8a30.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="163" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Your Show Of Shows</B></I></div> <bR> <div> USA, NBC (Max Liebman Productions), Sketch, b/w, 1950</div> <div> Starring: Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner</div> <bR> <div> Your Show Of Shows is a bona fide American TV classic: a splendid 90-minute live comedy-Variety show that dominated the genre at the time and indicated just what television comedy could achieve.</div> <bR> <div> At the helm was Sid Caesar, a dour man offstage but, on it, a comedic dynamo of perfectly timed slapstick and outrageous verbal gobbledygook. Born on 8 September 1922 in Yonkers, New York, Caesar later claimed that it was while listening to the immigrant labourers who frequented his father's restaurant that he developed his great skill of imitating vocal inflections, dialects and the cadences of foreign languages. His first successes, on stage, employed routines featuring such verbal gymnastics. Broadway producer Max Liebman worked with Caesar at this time before putting the comic on television in The Admiral Broadway Revue (DuMont/NBC, 1949) alongside another of his protégés, Imogene Coca. Liebman was then approached by NBC and invited to create a live revue for the network, and he duly built a show around the Admiral Broadway Revue regulars Caesar, Coca and Tom Avera, with writers Mel Tolkin and Lucille Kallen.</div> <bR> <div> Your Show Of Shows was unveiled on 25 February 1950 and benefited from one important lesson that Liebman and his crew had learned on the previous show: the camera was placed on the stage to create a more intimate atmosphere. Also aiding the new show's success, Caesar's growing confidence meant that his delivery, which previously had been marred by coughs and hesitations, improved immeasurably. Soon after, Carl Reiner was added for comic support and, later, so was Howard Morris (also from The Admiral Broadway Revue). Initially, Coca and Caesar performed separate routines, but when Coca ran out of solo material Liebman suggested she team up with Caesar. The result was dynamic: Coca and Caesar worked superbly together, a double-act made in heaven. Their slots quickly became the highlight of the show and the entire format was altered to showcase them. They performed many memorable routines over the years, the best being the recurring misadventures of the ill-matched married couple Charlie and Doris Hickenlooper. Other outstanding moments from Your Show Of Shows included the silent-movie and contemporary-movie spoofs starring the array of colourful characters that Caesar invented, especially Italian film expert Guiseppe Marinara and jazz musician Progress Hornsby.</div> <bR> <div> After Your Show Of Shows, Caesar, Reiner and Morris appeared together in Caesar's Hour (NBC 1954-57) but the absence of Imogene Coca was sorely evident. Then, in 1958, the BBC lured Caesar and his crew, including Coca, to London for Sid Caesar Invites You, in which certain skits from Your Show Of Shows were re-performed. This bold move gave UK viewers first glimpse of the US dream team, although some of the material may have been familiar - the impresario Jack Hylton had purchased a quantity of sketches and jokes for his Associated-Rediffusion ITV comedy shows. </div> <bR> <div> On 5 April 1967 the four central figures reunited for The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special on CBS (not screened in Britain) and in 1973 Liebman gathered together many of the best sketches for a feature film release, Ten From Your Show Of Shows. He also repackaged the surviving material for The Best Of Show Of Shows, a TV series of 65 half-hours - 28 of these turned up on C4 in the 1990s (under the title Sid Caesar's Show Of Shows), each programme featuring a number of sketches and comedy routines but without the Variety aspect of the original programmes. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> A reunion of Caesar with many of his writers, including Brooks, Reiner and Simon, taped in front of an enthusiastic Los Angeles audience, was screened in Britain on 24 December 1996 as Caesar's Writers, a one-hour celebration shown under the BBC2 Arena arts-documentary banner.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="laughter_4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Laughter 4"><B>Back</B></A></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=42 style=" border-top: 1px solid #CCCCCC;" BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="0182a2f1dyxtip.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="http://whs62.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net">Home</A>     <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Roll" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Roll">Roll Call</A>    <A HREF="http://whs62.net/In_Memory" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/In_Memory">In Memory</A>   <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Long_Ago" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Long_Ago">Long Ago</A>    <A HREF="http://www.whs62.net/Our_50s/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.whs62.net/Our_50s/">Our 50's</A>   <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Reunions" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Reunions">Reunions</A>   <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Today" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Today">Today</A>    <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Contacts" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Contacts">Contacts</A>    <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Links" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Links">Links</A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>