This Could Be the Start of Something Big-Steve Allen, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Ann Sothern
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- čas přidán 17. 02. 2013
- A great clip of one of my favorite moments from the Steve Allen Show as he is joined by Ann Sothern,Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Dinah Shore and a special mystery guest singing Steve's theme "This Could be the Start of Something Big". Thanks to my good friend JD Smith for the clip.
![What's My Line? - Eydie Gorme; Steve Lawrence [panel] (Sep 29, 1963)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/P5DXgN14iwU/mqdefault.jpg)
![What's My Line? - Eydie Gorme; Steve Lawrence [panel] (Sep 29, 1963)](/img/tr.png)
Anybody who has clicked on this fifty times or more, give me a thumbs up.
I start every morning of every day with this song. When the video ends I whistle it for the next three hours. It's a happy happy tune.
This always gives me a thrill to watch!
Guilty as charged.
Andy
ME!!!
These people were PROs.
Unfortunately, you will never see quality TV like this again.
Steve Lawrance passed today at age 88. Rest in peace, Steve, and say Hi to Eydie for us! We're not sad, but glad you're back together again!
Speak for yourself. I'm sad. Man... he was a great guy. A kind man, a true family man, and he was a wonderful entertainer. I saw Steve when he performed with his wife, Eydie Gorme, (who I happen to think was the best female vocalist of all time), and I saw Steve perform solo. Each and every time, after his shows, he spoke with as many people as he could. I was fortunate to speak with him, briefly, here in Vegas many times... up until 2015 when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. His passing is an especially painful one for anyone who knew him and his wife Eydie Gorme. Talk about a real love story! It was epic. Personally, I'm stunned that he lived without Eydie for as long as he did. By the way, if you ever want to know just exactly how a man is supposed to love a woman, take a look at how Steve cared for, honored, protected and respected Eydie. You know, maybe a bigger tragedy than Steve and Eydie both being gone now, is the fact that so many people don't even know who they are. Well, they are re-united now and can spend all of eternity in the protection of Almighty God. Steve and Eydie, thank you for decades of music, laughter and "drive-by" conversation.
May their memories be a blessing …
I didn't know, very sorry
The performers traveled a great distance backstage during the song. Starting at Stage 2 (Hope/Carson Stage), past the set construction and wardrobe depts -- and end up at Dinah's stage (Stage 3, later the Dean Martin, Midnight Specials, etc. Off camera is Stage 4 where I wrote in Laugh-In and Hollywood Squares. It was a huge distance -- with huge, clumsy color camera and connected to a number of unwieldy cables (no wireless in those Live TV days). amazing entertaining and technical feat!
I can't get enough of this. I like everyone in the video, but I just love love love Steve and Eydie ❤️! I'm almost 65 now, and I have fond memories of seeing them on variety shows in the 60's and 70's. One of my few regrets in life is never having seen them perform live.
❤❤❤❤️💜💜💜❤️❤️❤️❤️
I love them too! Miss them both.
Steve Allen remains to this day arguably the most underrated talent ever to grace Hollywood. Singer, songwriter, actor, producer...he could not only do it all, but he could do it all well. One of the founding fathers of television programming, Allen's joy and spirit are captured perfectly in this magnificent clip. Thanks for posting.
Couldn't agree more. And let's not forget, he wrote this song!
Nice as can be too. We met them and their sons in Vegas and had room service lunch with them.
@@michaelgrossman5913 I would LOVE to have met him. I am jealous. He was so bright, so witty, so multi-talented and a fabulous sense of humor. An important person in the history of television. A true visionary.
@@swarzeoz2550 My sisters and I were just kids.
We went to the Steve and Eydie show at The Sands and they had their sons David and Michael come on stage to sing a song.
The next day we saw the boys at the pool and made friends, leading to a few days of hanging with the families.
@@michaelgrossman5913 What a great story. Thanks for the share!
I am so glad so many are memorializing Eydie by viewing this clip. It could be the best version of one of my favorite songs. I am so glad I could share it with everyone!
Thank you! I grew up watching TV like this. It's what made me want to be a singer and actor. And I became both!
Thak you for this blessing of nostalgia. How high was the level of pop back then. ABFAB
this must be one of the greatest moments in tv-history
Mitch Albom's For One More Day brought me here. 😊
Same :)
michelle borja Me too!
Same here hahaha! :)
+michelle borja Me too... such a fantastic read. I sat down today and read the whole book :)
+michelle borja me too, just read today, and make me miss my mom, she past away 15 years ago
How they ever pulled this off in one take is beyond me. Amazing!
I can only imagine how long they spent rehearsing this, to make sure they're at the right place at the end of each verse (notice how they keep changing speed from verse to verse, to make sure they're where they need to be for the next person to step in, or turn to Frank Sinatra, or whatever).
AND to top it off, a cameraman walking backwards for three and a half minutes while someone picks up his cable behind him!
All done in 1958 with technology even cruder than we have in our phones.
THIS was art.
Could not be done today. Maybe in 5 takes but not live. Back in the day guys like Steve Allen and Ernie Kovacs worked unafraid. They had enough confidence in themselves that they could overcome any gaffes that might happen on live television. What we look at and marvel at what they did, now. They did without maybe a second thought. According to them, all they probably had to do was " clear the hallways".
Well, lip-synching it helped. Still a well-choreographed piece, though.
It was the start of something big, alright....1958 was the first of 55 years together for Eydie and Steve.
The greatest male/female singing duo of all-time. Hands down.
Dinah, Ann Sothern, Steve and Eydie with Steve Allen putting it all together. Can you imagine even coming close to accumulating this kind of talent today? All of them came along when you had to have real talent and versatility. All of them are among the greatest ever in their fields. Fantastic clip.
Don't forget ole Blue Eyes--Frank Sinatra!
That was not Frank!!
It was Duke Haslett, a Sinatra impersonator!!
I cannot believe the astonishing amount of talent in this video.
I have watched this clip 500 times if I have watched it once and it never fails to give me unbridled joy and happiness. This is a time that was the Golden Era of TV and entertainment. The business, performing, getting it right meant more to Steve and company than I think it means to those in the industry today. THANK YOU for viewing this video over 100K times. I hope it has at some point made you feel like it does me anytime I watch it.
goldenvmedia Only 500?
goldenvmedia totally agree...haven't watched it 500 times but I keep coming back to it and it also makes me happy.
goldenvmedia : me three....life giving
+goldenvmedia I have watched this countless times and it never fails to make me smile. And then admiration for all of the talent in front of and behind the camera to be able to pull this off on live TV in 1958. Thanks so much for posting this. Over 138,000 views now. I hope this is never lost.
+goldenvmedia There's also a reference to Chasen's, another legendary L.A. eatery,
This song is too happy to have been wtitten today.
Sad, but true!
It was an optimistic time. The rise of the American Empire. What we're experiencing now is the rapid decline.
Steve Allen himself wrote this song, and he and the other performers shown here were from the Depression-World War II era, so they weren't spared knowing life's hardships. It's noble--and perhaps profitable to those of us who came along later--that these folks were able to compose and sing convincingly a piece like this.
On the other hand, I'll concede that the world has become such a horrible place in the 21st century, and it's increasingly difficult to be optimistic about much.
On a personal note, at nearly 60, I'm tired of life's draining ups and downs, highs and lows. In my remaining years, I just want peace, privacy, and freedom.
@@kevinfitzmaurice4072amen!
@@kevinfitzmaurice4072 I agree wholeheartedly. I sometimes wonder how I make it through life day to day knowing what this world is like.
We will never see the likes of this again!
I would give anything to go back to these days. When life was happy and not full of crap. Too bad there isn't a time machine available. Thanks for posting this - it always puts a smile on my face. Makes me forget all the bad news.
I don't think anyone today could do what I just watched.
Class and talent; they don't make shows like this anymore!
This was delicious, but to say that no one can do this anymore, is ridiculous. There are many talented, classy people in the entertainment industry, still. Ever go to a Broadway show?
People are different now. And not in a good way.
@@swarzeoz2550 Broadway is not tv. Tv is garbage now.
R.I.P. Steve.
Steve Allen was a genuine genius...gobs of talent
John Cameron there was a line I’m not sure is 100% his but it was something like “it’s illogical to believe in god and illogical to not believe in god”
That should sum up his humour.🙂 I loved him. Big jazz fan too by the way.
The beautiful thing is, you could tell they all really loved each other here. The entertainment community was much smaller and tight-knit back then. Like a family.
Live TV was also something special as well. A nice shot of the glamour and excitement back then.
Smiling from ear to ear, every dang time I watch this.
Why can't television be like this anymore? Unbelievable arrangement! Incredible talent! The camera choreography alone is worth the price of admission. (and in those days there were no wireless cameras -- HEAVY cables!)
God what talent we were treated to back in the day.....
And what do we have today? RAP CRAP. What a disgrace to humanity. Certain groups have lowered the bar.
THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!!!! One long take, one camera...AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And perhaps one mobile "boom mike" too (that was kept from the top of the screen!).
Both the sound mixer and the choreographer deserved an Emmy just for this one piece.
To this audio engineer's ear, the equalization changed just as Steve and Edie began singing, suggesting from that point on it might have been lip synced. That would be just as amazing.
@@s51curtis I bet you're right about this having been lip synced as also the acoustics wouldn't really be that good in a warehouse type setting and it would eliminate the need for that boom mike not to mention blending in a live orchestra to provide the music.
@@s51curtis nonsense
This was a brilliant idea. Dinah's show did actually follow Steve's in 1958, so the one morphed into the other via this four-minute interlude. That they all managed to pop back into the central image over and over again at the right moment, still singing and walking in unison was amazing. Whatever amount of rehearsal it took, though, it was worth it.
This still amazes me to this day--- 3/7/24. Such talent could never be assembled today!
People I loved from my earliest childhood. Greatly missed. My favourite song of all time.
The show should have won an Emmy for this. Wow!!
WOW
This is gold!!!! Truly the class of Hollywood!!! They don’t make entertainers like them anymore. I’m 60 and love this era. I grew up listening to this kind of music! Love and appreciate this! 👍❤️😎
Thanks for watching. It was a golden era.
Just fantastic. Today's music is trash
Steve Allen was an amazing talent.
This is one of the most extraordinary video clips I’ve ever seen. I guess the world had to change, but I miss entertainment that was optimistic and uplifting.
Aside from loving this number and the performers, I am in a little bit of awe as to how they pulled this off, moving between two studios on live TV in 1958. One slip, one missed cue, and they would have been a laughing stock on national TV. Amazing!
+World of Capri! YES ! Just walking in sync must have been difficult enough. I love this clip
@@miltsar And singing LIVE!!!!!
@@burtihal I think they may have pre-recorded their vocals, but that doesn't make the sequence any less wonderful.
I don't even get how they handled the cables for the camera. Those cameras in those days were huge, and the cables were inches thick. It must have taken a small army of techs to be moving the cables, the very very long cables. Just one take for the performers, and just one take for the techs, and no do-overs.
Steve and Eydie's voices blended so well. Love them both
And that symbolizes the blended love their marriage undoubtedly shone.🤓
And they love each other! This performance was about two months after they got married. It was a long honeymoon that only ended when Eydie died in 2013 of a brief and undisclosed illness. I'm glad it was brief and have no desire to have anyone disclose anything about it, unless it would make it possible to undo it.
@@matticchio Every time I watch this tape, I'm struck at how beautiful a couple Steve and Eydie were. Thank god for You Tube. This has to be a favorite clip for their children and grandchildren.
This was an AMAZING number which demonstrates just how talented the Stars of yesterday were and how dynamic TV used to be. On this sad day after Steve Lawrence’s passing, I went looking for some of his wonderful performances on CZcams and came across this gem. Thank you posting it and Thank you Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Steve Allen, Dinah Shore, Ann Southern, and the Frank Sinatra imitator.
It renews my faith in humanity that there are over 60K people who have enjoyed this clip. I love all kinds of music, saw Timberlake during the summer, but there will never be anything quite as good as this stuff will there? Thanks for making me feel it was worth my time to post it!
When I was a kid, Steve Allen was the talent of my dad's generation I wanted to emulate. Musician, writer, philosopher, comedian… There seemed to be nothing the man couldn't do. I was sitting here trying to remember the lyrics to "This May Be The Start of Something" and Google sent me here. It gave me quite the nostalgic moment. All the people in the clip were prominent celebrities back then and it was a treat to see them all together.
Just GREAT stuff!! We’ll never see the likes of this again.
That is one virtuosic performance! I saw it a few years ago, and aren't we blessed to be able to watch it again, like many other recorded one-of-a-kind sessions. Absolutely inspiring!
Dinah had exceptional fashion savvy. Like Doris Day, she was the same person the public loved, not posing as someone else.
Six show-biz legends; this left me with tears of joy in my eyes. What a rare piece of entertainment history, and many, many thanks for sharing it with us lucky mortals!
My extreme thanks to the individual who posted the! This clip is truly fantastic. This was LIVE television, and they NAILED it!! Terrific performances by true professionals!
You are so very welcome. I am glad it brought you joy.
I really miss television like this. This is my favorite rendition of the song. Steve is now with Eydie. Love all the walking through the stage set ups.
Take THAT SNL! This is the best live singing walkabout I have ever seen. Every TV show should be this good. Poor Steve Lawrence retired when he lost his beloved Edie and now I read he is suffering from the dreaded Alzheimer's. Only Steve Allen could create this piece of joyous semi-improvisation. Appreciate the great when you've got it!
Steve Lawrence is the only person from this clip who's still living. He was just 22 years old at the time.
I'm pretty sure the singing is not live.
had a crush on steve lawrence forever. and love steve allen.
@@insomniatique4214 Yes--no radio mikes in those days and can you imagine five singers hauling one-hundred feet of mic cable? I think they are actually singing to a track (which was common in movie musicals) to get the correct expressions. This was when NBC first moved from their old radio studios on Vine Street to their first TV home in the San Fernando Valley. It's a pity that after the acquisition of the network by Universal, they sold this historic complex and moved up the hill to Universal City.
I have no words to describe the pleasure I got from watching and listening to this video. I will watch it many, many more times. It has been said thousands of times on youtube but it's true....they don't make music or entertainers like this anymore, and it's a shame.
Glad you enjoyed it! Makes it worth posting it!
Well, that was a bit of heaven...
Indeed it was. May each of those marvelous entertainers Rest In Peace.
daniel stanwyck Uhh, Steve Lawrence is still alive and (sorta) kicking. But, I agree with you.
I apologize. Yes, Mr. Lawrence is still with us. It must be very hard to go on without Eydie after so many years together. Bless him.
The GREAT Steve Allen!
Of all the increbile videos I've seen on CZcams, this one is right there at the top of the heap. Steve Allen, of course, wrote this great song, and it was Steve and Eydie's greatest hit record...just a fabulous video.
In addition to the effervescent musicality of this song, I think it showcases something that most people want to believe. No matter how ordinary you think your life is, "walkin' along the street," or "buying a toothbrush," it could happen to you: love, romance, getting swept off your feet, that instant awareness that "lookin' in someone's eyes", you might suddenly realize, "that this could be the start of something big," if you "keep your heart awake," and don't "let it slip away." On another blog I read recently about an article circling on Facebook written by a terminal care nurse who said the number one expressed regret she heard from her dying patients was, "I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me." In 2011 there was a large, national survey of Americans across all age groups that looked at what you might call "something big." The paper was called Regrets of the Typical American published by Roese and Morrison in Social Psychological and Personality Science. The front runner for regrets (18.1% of the time among respondents) was in the area of romance. Maybe for some people religion or some other restricting impediment never allowed them to pursue an amorous adventure so now and then I'm glad for upbeat tunes like this one that encourage people to follow their hearts and tap their toes.
Steve Allen was, and remains, a national treasure. Thank you for posting these extraordinary few minutes from an extraordinary, and exemplary life.
You are welcome. Glad it brought you some happiness!
Have always wished we had a "National Living Treasure" Award as they do in Japan. Steve would have been at the top.
It's too bad tv isn't like this today I would have loved to have been around back then.
I was. O what good times.🎹🎹👍
TV can't be like that today. The talent is gone, never to return. The cost of production would be astronomical, priced out of the market. And to boot, the NBC Burbank complex and CBS Television City have been sold to investors, never to produce another television show.
The song just kept getting better and better.
That was Frank Sinatra impersonator Duke Hazlett, a regular on The Steve Allen Show (which is why he didn't join the others and was only referred to as "someone who looks like Frank.")
No RAP CRAP! Clean, good all-American fun performed by talented people who are not making a statement or taking a stand against something or someone. The good old days!!!!!
Gotta be the most Republican CZcams comment I've ever read
'RAP CRAP' = another dog whistle. I liked it back then too - No Installed Russian plant stealing elections trying to make himself 'dictator on day 1' Nothing to have to make a statement against back then. But you'd have to be an American to understand. Poster clearly isn't.
First of all a great song written by Steve Allen and being sung by some of the greats of any time… What fond memories👏👏👏👏👏👏💋💋‼️‼️
Simply wonderful! Unfortunately we will never see life this way anymore. We've lost class, decency and all that superb talent. God bless those days and those of us who remember and hold onto them!
Dude -- Steve Lawrence is still alive.
What talent. What style. What a treat.
Steve Allen did write this; & it was his theme song. Takes me back to a time when Celebrities brought glamour & excitement to HOLLYWOOD, not to mention class & style , and most importantly TALENT to the audience. These were not just celebrities,These were STARS ! Sadly,all of them are gone,except for Steve Lawrence .
I don't know, there was just "something"
about Steve Allen, whenever you saw him you just wanted to run up to him and give him a BIG HUG!!!!!
+Neal Sausen It was so sad how Steve died. Someone crashed into his car and rather than get upset about it he got out and said "What some people will do to get my autograph" Unfortunately he bled to death later at a hospital.
@@rhagedorn Oh my god that's awful.
@@rhagedorn I had never heard that! Terrible!
I think, Duke Hazlett, the guy who impersonated Frank Sinatra, is still living.
I found this on you tube and was wowwwed ,
Watched it over and over lol
Steve Allen was amszing
This video has a big place in my heart.
Ann Sothern WAS a singer, and a fine one--her version of "The Last Time I Saw Paris" (Kern/Hammerstein) in 'Lady Be Good' (1941) is often excerpted in WWII compilations and I believe it was in one of the 'That's Entertainment's. The powerhouse singers and one triple+threat singer/songwriter/actor/producer/thinker (that's Steverino), plus the technical triumph of this sequence is very, VERY hard to top! Thank you for posting this!!
You're correct about Ann Southern (but) in "That's Entertainment" they used Dinah Shore's version (of "The Last Time I Saw Paris." Steve and Friends in front and behind the camera were AMAZING!
..and author...I'm reading a murder mystery by him now
@@BuckieBear Ann SOTHERN, not Southern.
There's another element that makes this even more complicated that no one's discussed. They go seamlessly from the Allen show to the Dinah show. I believe Steve Allen's show was normally in B/W; when they get to Dinah's set in Studio 4, you can clearly see the TK41 Cameras (color). I would imagine Steve Allen's show would've been done in B/W in Studio 1, and they went to their last break. During that last break Burbank techs would have had to prepare a color camera cabled to the Dinah studio for Steve Allen's song intro. Without going into detail, network wouldn't switch from black and white to color during a show as it would cause a unique glitch. When we see Steve Allen doing his spiel, it was probably done to a color camera attached to the Dinah studio, the b/w to color glitch would take place during the transition from commercial break to Allen starting out of his studio, and the walk to Dinah's set was probably in color. Think about it--if Dinah was in color, you wouldn't want the first few minutes in black and white. Because the early color cameras had multiple pickup tubes, that would also explain why this kinescopes image is a little "smeary" and not crisper, as in a typical B/W to kine.
You can see an RCA color camera as the group completes their circuit and re-enters Steve's studio at the end of the number. Steve's shows were in color, but most of the color tapes were "wiped" and reused 😟and all that exists are 16mm b/w kinescopes.
Priceless,,,,,,,,,,,,,simply priceless.
Never again will we see this . Not in today's world of show biz.
I miss these variety shows--they were always such a treat to watch.
Very catchy tune. Steve Allen could do anything. What a talent!
Not only am I loving this, but I'm obsessed with Eydie Gorme's dress. Just beautiful.
Stunningly good camera work...especially when you see just how HUGE and heavy the RCA TK-40 (B/W), -41 and -42 (color) cameras were.The average was 280 lbs. not counting the panhead and pedestal...camera alone! This must have been like wresting a mad grizzly bear while keeping framing and focus-no zoom lenses then. And hundreds of feet of thick 3'' diameter cable to wrangle-all while moving backwards-WOW!
Yes, leave it to Steverino and Crew to take the camera around through the NBC Studio Complex. They often sent a camera to the grocery store next door to broadcast during the show (something that David Letterman copied for his own talk show).
While it comes across as a casual presentation, think about what had to go into it. They had to have practiced this for several days.
The more you watch this, the more you'll wonder how they accomplished this.
One take, one camera, no cuts or edits. Just hundreds and hundreds of feet of cable, a motorized camera platform, and a heap of talent, including Steve Allen, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Ann Sothern, Dinah Shore and a cameo by Frank Sinatra. The song, of course, was written by Steve Allen.
It was probably done live too, anything could have gone wrong... I'm sure they rehearsed it a few times.
Definitely the camera is one of the 'talent' in this case, moving along with the action. Then there's a relationship between the action and the camera... quite fun! making you feel like you are there riding along.
it was probably on wheels
I would probably actually still watch television if we had entertainers of this quality creating content this wonderful.
This fabulous clip leaves me wondering how long they had to rehearse to get this so perfect. Not only the performers, but also the technicians didn't make a mistake. Simply amazing.
No high tech special effects and artificial image rendering needed....
I've had this clip in my computer memory for some time. I'm a collector of old Movies and Music. This TV show by Steve Allen was just great, With Edie, Steve, Any William and Tom Poston and Skitch Henderson and his orchestra and Steve occasionally playing the piano to name a few. i worked for an airline and had the pleasure of meeting Steve Allen in the early 1960's. He was in a gate lobby in the new Minneapolis airport and there was over an hour before his flight, so i invited him into our pilot ready room and he entertained u few lucky people till itty was time to board his flight and i escorted him to his seat from the operations office. Those were the good old days when stars were just people,
who treated just plain people like people.
This is a real treat to come accross this clip. I was six years old and remember watching this on TV with my mom and dad. I've loved and enjoyed each one of these performers,in their own right. I couldn't begin to count the many hours of entertainment from just these 5 people. This is definately TV archive material, that I hope will always be available for public use. This song is still as fresh today, as it was when Steve Allen published it in 1956. And don't you just want to get up, skip along...and sing and dance...with them...because it makes you feel so good!
Steve & Eydie!!! I need to own everything they ever recorded. What great voices, great arrangements, great vibe & joy. Love them.
The days of great talent, great style and truly entertaining television shows. Glad we can get some of these on DVD because new television shows are garbage and talent does not exist anymore.
Unquestionably one of the very finest creative insert segments ever devised of. Only one person could pull it off and that was Steve Allen. Master showman, incredible musician and composer and producer extraordinaire. I grew up watching Steve as a kid, on the tonight show and later his own show on KTLA coming out of the Hollywood Palace, in 1978 I had the great fortune to work with him during my personal career in TV. Those halls of NBC are where I spent my early days in TV, and his synchronized reverse dolly move (without track) was considered revolutionary even when I worked those hallowed halls back in 1979. Nobody ever came close to his imagination nor creativity, he was demanding and knew exactly what he wanted, but he was a man you could really learn from and he knew it, he knew it was a once in a lifetime moment to work with him. So was Orson Wells, Otto Preminger and David Lean. All of them friends and mentors I will never, ever forget.
✨Cant say enough about this generation of performers !!!✨🎶🎵🎶💪🏼😄
Steve Lawrence is still with us. 86 years old. His darling Eydie left us in 2013.
Sadly, now Steve reunited with Eydie (and one of their sons) about four days ago. 😢
This is wonderful! I'd almost forgotten how great it was when celebrities were talented, sophisticated and acted like adults. What happened, anyway?
marketing and dirty tricks
One of my all-time hero’s. Multi-talented, intelligent, and “real”. Absolutely unique!
This was a time when you could turn on your television set and watch talent, sadly gone.
Even in 2022 this kind of shot would be difficult to set up and make. The tech on that were at the top of their game in 1958. Don't know if they pre-recorded but the sound quality for the time was great. That was amazing. Geez, those cameras were so big at the time with cable everywhere.
There was nothing Steve could not do. The Orson Welles of TV.
Truly special - Steve Allen introduced a really exciting hip approach to tv. So great to see Steve & Eydie her voice was magic. One thing I will check if this whole show is available to view - many thanks for this.
That's one long cable attached to that camera! This wasn't easy to do back then!
MUSICOM PRODUCTIONS and the maneuvering of the camera & cables is incredible for a 50’s set up!
Eydie's dress was perfection. She stood out in the company of Such talented people. Wonderful.
I was ONE DAY OLD when this aired.
Like many others, I marvel at how technically difficult this must have been to pull this off in one take...live! Although it doesn't look like it, I can't see how the vocals weren't pre-recorded, unless the boom mike operator was brilliant. I'm going to pretend they were singing live. :-) No doubt, the orchestra was pre-recorded. Nice to see Ann Sothern singing. Great voice. I watch it over and over. Fabulous song!
Definitely lip-syncing to a pre-recorded track.
I agree. With the technology of the time I know the vocal quality is too good to be live but I really think it is live. Flawless recoding with cameras, lights and microphones from the Stone Age.
difficult enough to walk in synchronization....love this clip ...have watched it many times and it never fails to make me smile all the way through it
THAT...was ENTERTAINMENT! No small feat to consider the logistics, the timing, and making it all work. Steve Allen claims to have written 1000 songs, but here's one that he hit right out of the park.
I was in the audience in the 90's when someone asked if it was true that he had written 5000 songs and he responded by asking people to name 3 or 4 notes which he proceeded to improvise a new song on those notes and said " this makes it 5000 and 1."
karmanmechanic ;Try 10,000 songs!
This clip is from 9 February 1958. Steve Allen's variety show was on NBC opposite Ed Sullivan's wildly popular Sunday night variety show on CBS, but Allen's show nevertheless managed to survive for three seasons before moving to Monday nights for its final (1959-60) season. BTW Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé had a show of their own on NBC later in 1958, replacing Steve Allen's show for that summer.
Man... these people really enjoy each other, the vibes coming off this video are addicting. The logistics of doing this in one take is amazing, the talent of everyone involved is over the top.
One of the GREATEST!
If only Entertainment was still as good as these days.
Wow great entertainment by people from the past who can never ever be replaced by anyone today just Fabulous !!!!!!!!!
Here, below, are the lyrics to Steve Allen's "This Could Be The Start Of Something," a/k/a "This Could Be The Start Of Something Big" :
You're walking along the street or you're at a party
Or else you're alone and then you suddenly dig
You're looking in someone's eyes, you suddenly realize
That this could be the start of something big
You're lunching at Twenty-One and watching your diet
Declining a Charlotte Russe, accepting a fig
When out of a clear blue sky, it's suddenly gal and guy
And this could be the start of something big
There's no controlling the unrolling of your fate, my friend
Who knows what's written in the magic book
But when a lover you discover at the gate, my friend
Invite her in without a second look
You're up in an aeroplane or dining at Sardi's
Or lying at Malibu alone on the sand
You suddenly hear a bell and right away, you can tell
That this could be the start of something grand
This could be the start of something very big
Why don't you play your part? Please give your heart to me and see
This could be the start of something wonderful
Why don't you take a chance? Just try romance with me and see
You're watching the sun come up and counting your money, girl
Or else in a dim cafe, you're ordering wine
Then suddenly, there he is and you wanna be where he is
And this must be the start of something
This could be the heart of something
This could be the start of something big
As you may hear in this video clip, the lyric of the first line in the second verse is changed from "Twenty-One" to "Romanoff's" (a once-popular Beverly Hills restaurant that was a hangout for film stars of the 1940s and '50s ). And the lyric of the first line in the fourth verse is changed from "aeroplane" to "mountain top," and from "Sardi's" to "Chasen's," the latter a popular West Hollywood restaurant, also known for its celebrity clientele. This was to make the tune conform to this television program's Hollywood locale, from its original Manhattan inspiration, where Mr. Allen was hosting the original incarnation of NBC-TV's "Tonight," on which Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme also met and got their big start.
Also, as mentioned by another here, Ann Sothern (at the period of her performance here with Allen, Gorme and Lawrence) was, indeed, about to star in her second television sitcom, CBS-TV's "The Ann Sothern Show," after having already starred in the Tiffany Network's also-fondly-remembered "Private Secretary." In fact, two of Miss Sothern's "Private Secretary" co-stars, Ann Tyrell and Don Porter, would also be part of her cast of "The Ann Sothern Show." Porter (perhaps best remembered as "Professor Russ Lawrence," the father of Sally Field's title character in Screen Gems' "Gidget" series) was hired the second season of "The Ann Sothern Show" to replace Ernest Truex ("Jason McCauley') as Sothern's ("Katy O'Connor's") boss, "James Devery," a role Porter ably played on "Private Secretary" as "Peter Sands," the boss of "Susie McNamara" (Sothern) at the former's talent agency. Porter may also be remembered as the incumbent senator against whom Robert Redford's liberal upstart runs in 1973's "The Candidate."
Sothern is also remembered from her role in a series of 10 "Maisie" comedy films for M-G-M (a role given her after intended star Jean Harlow died suddenly), about the misadventures of a feisty former showgirl, and for having sung the iconic tune "The Last Time I Saw Paris," in 1941's "Lady Be Good." Sothern's last role was in the star-studded ensemble of 1987's "The Whales of August," with Vincent Price, silent screen star Lillian Gish, and Bette Davis, for which Sothern was nominated for an Academy Award for Supporting Actress.
Thank you for the lyrics. Now I can sing along and lift my spirits.
That was absolutely, utterly, fabulously, top-of-the-line television entertainment! Thanks for uploading.
RIP Steve Lawrence
Steve won the Grammy for his GRAVY WALTZ in 1963 so out of 45000 written tunes, TWO are not instantly forgettable!! Met him at Cornell and was a brilliant and pensive man.
What a time.....my sister was just born and our parents probably enjoyed this....
Wow! What a huge awesome bunch of Star Power here! Never to be matched again! Thanks SO much for sharing this fantastic footage for all to enjoy!
I remember watching this Steve Allen show when I was 9 years old and its still clear as day. Brings a smile to my face every time! Now THAT's entertainment!
Dressing up the back stage with icons really shows up today’s talented stars. How classy!
This is live, live live! Such fabulous talent! Such innovative thinkers.............