Block, Upload, Automoderated users, edit, move, protect, rollback
57,799
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Created page with "'''''The Martha Raye Show''''' is an hour-long comedy/variety television series which aired live on NBC from January 23, 1954, to May 29, 1956. The series was hosted b..."
'''''The Martha Raye Show''''' is an hour-long comedy/variety [[television]] series which aired live on [[NBC]] from January 23, 1954, to May 29, 1956. The series was hosted by Martha Raye (1916-1994), a [[Montana]] native, who often called herself "The Big Mouth."<ref name="ms540425">{{cite web|first=Martha |last=Raye |work=[[The American Weekly]] |page=7 |title=Me and My Big Mouth |url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=53QxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yA8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5898,6485827&dq=martha-raye-show&hl=en |date=April 25, 1954 |accessdate=February 8, 2011}}</ref> Her boyfriend on the program and a foil for her humor was portrayed by retired middleweight boxer Rocky Graziano (1919-1990).<ref name="nyt531129">{{cite web |author=Val Adams|publisher=''[[The New York Times]]'' |title=Rocky Graziano: TV Actor and Ex-Fighter |page=X11 |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00C12F93B5A117A93CBAB178AD95F478585F9 |date=November 29, 1953|accessdate=February 8, 2011}}</ref>
Nat Hiken (1914-1968), her writer and director, went on to create the military comedy ''The Phil Silvers Show'' and the police sitcom, ''Car 54, Where Are You?''<ref name=ctva>{{cite web |url=http://ctva.biz/US/MusicVariety/MarthaRayeShow.htm |title=The Martha Raye Show |publisher=The Classic TV Archive |accessdate=February 7, 2011}}</ref> One of the producers, [[Norman Lear]], went on to produce ''[[All in the Family]]'' and ''The Jeffersons''.
==Funniest femme==
''[[TV Guide]]'' [[magazine]], which placed Raye on its cover for its January 15, 1954, edition, described Raye's comic antics as "boisterous, rowdy affairs, full of slapstick, wild plot lines and fantastic mugging - with appropriate crossed eyes, crooked arm and other contortionist business. But she's one of only a handful of clowns who can pull it off."<ref name=raye>{{cite web |author=Jim Davidson|publisher=Classic TV Info |url=http://www.classictvinfo.com/MarthaRayeShow/ |title=The Martha Raye Show |date=August 12, 2007 |accessdate=January 25, 2020}}</ref> ''Variety '' dubbed Raye "the funniest femme in television," at a time when her competitors included [[Lucille Ball]], Eve Arden, Gracie Allen, and Joan Davis.<ref name=raye/> Raye would be less remembered over the years than the other comedians because their work was shown in repeated rebroadcasts of their television series.<ref name=raye/>
Most ''Martha Raye Show'' episodes opened with a song-and-dance number performed by the Danny Daniels Dancers and later the Herb Ross Dancers. Known thereafter as Herbert Ross, the choreographer, would later be involved in such pictures as ''The Sunshine Boys'' and ''Steel Magnolias]]''. Hiken and writer Billy Friedberg left at the end of the 1953-1954 transitional season, and were replaced by Norman Lear and Ed Simmons, formerly of ''The Colgate Comedy Hour.'' Lear, who held the title of producer, went on to create [[CBS]]'s ''[[All in the Family]]'' and its successful spin-offs. Lear and Simmons largely followed the route that Hiken had blazed, and ''The Martha Raye Show'' lasted for two additional seasons.<ref name=raye/>
In the episode which aired on September 20, 1955, guest star Tallulah Bankhead, a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], and Raye, a [[Republican Party|Republican]], welcomed Gloria Lockerman, a 12-year-old [[African American]] girl who had been a winner on CBS's ''The $64,000 Question.'' Bankhead and Raye hugged and kissed the girl. Many protest letters came, and ''TV Guide'' claimed ''The Martha Raye Show'' lost popularity because of the incident.<ref name=raye/>
==Guest stars==
Other Raye regulars were Carl Hoff and his Orchestra.<ref name=ctva/>
Among the many guest stars who appeared, some more than once, were: Harold Arlen, Gertrude Berg, Art Carney, Jack Carson, Robert Clary, Jackie Coogan, Wally Cox, Margaret Truman Daniel,, Denise Darcel, Buddy Ebsen, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Eddie Fisher, Errol Flynn, Dick Foran, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Paulette Goddard, [[Benny Goodman]], Hedda Hopper, Stubby Kaye, Buster Keaton, Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb, Peter Lawford, Paul Lynde, Gordon MacRae, Harpo Marx, Dennis O'Keefe, Ezio Pinza, Robert Preston, Vincent Price, Edward G. Robinson, Cesar Romero, Charles Ruggles, and Rise Stevens.<ref name=ctva/>
==Scheduling==
''The Martha Raye Show'' actually began in 1951 on NBC under the umbrella title ''All-Star Revue.'' Raye began as a monthly replacement series for Sid Caesa's ''Your Show of Shows.'' The name ''All-Star Revue'' was retained until January 1954, with Raye as a frequent host.<ref>Alex McNeil, ''Total Television,'' p. 522.</ref><ref name="ct540120">{{cite web|author=Larry Wolters |publisher=''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' |title=Where to Dial Today |page=A6 |url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/506002332.html?dids=506002332:506002332&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI |date=January 20, 1954 |accessdate=February 8, 2011 |quote=The All Star Revue which is presented once a month when ''Your Show of Shows'' takes a night off on Saturdays is to be renamed the Martha Raye Show starting this week.}}</ref> The revised ''Martha Raye Show'' continued to air on Saturday until the fall of 1954, when it was moved to 9 p.m. Tuesdays in alternation with ''The Milton Berle Show'' and ''The Bob Hope Show''.
In the 1955-1956 second full season, Raye's program alternated with Berle and Dinah Shore's ''The Chevy Show.'' Her television competitors the first year included ''The Red Skelton Show'' on CBS. For the second full season, the competition was ''Navy Log'' and Hiken's ''The Phil Silvers Show'', both on CBS, and Hugh O'Brian]'s ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp'' on [[ABC]]<ref>Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', appendix, network television schedules</ref>
Raye's sponsors were RCA and Sunbeam Products.<ref name=ctva/> Years later, she was the principal publicist for Polident.
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martha Raye Show, The}}
[[Category:Television Shows]]
[[Category:Television]]
Nat Hiken (1914-1968), her writer and director, went on to create the military comedy ''The Phil Silvers Show'' and the police sitcom, ''Car 54, Where Are You?''<ref name=ctva>{{cite web |url=http://ctva.biz/US/MusicVariety/MarthaRayeShow.htm |title=The Martha Raye Show |publisher=The Classic TV Archive |accessdate=February 7, 2011}}</ref> One of the producers, [[Norman Lear]], went on to produce ''[[All in the Family]]'' and ''The Jeffersons''.
==Funniest femme==
''[[TV Guide]]'' [[magazine]], which placed Raye on its cover for its January 15, 1954, edition, described Raye's comic antics as "boisterous, rowdy affairs, full of slapstick, wild plot lines and fantastic mugging - with appropriate crossed eyes, crooked arm and other contortionist business. But she's one of only a handful of clowns who can pull it off."<ref name=raye>{{cite web |author=Jim Davidson|publisher=Classic TV Info |url=http://www.classictvinfo.com/MarthaRayeShow/ |title=The Martha Raye Show |date=August 12, 2007 |accessdate=January 25, 2020}}</ref> ''Variety '' dubbed Raye "the funniest femme in television," at a time when her competitors included [[Lucille Ball]], Eve Arden, Gracie Allen, and Joan Davis.<ref name=raye/> Raye would be less remembered over the years than the other comedians because their work was shown in repeated rebroadcasts of their television series.<ref name=raye/>
Most ''Martha Raye Show'' episodes opened with a song-and-dance number performed by the Danny Daniels Dancers and later the Herb Ross Dancers. Known thereafter as Herbert Ross, the choreographer, would later be involved in such pictures as ''The Sunshine Boys'' and ''Steel Magnolias]]''. Hiken and writer Billy Friedberg left at the end of the 1953-1954 transitional season, and were replaced by Norman Lear and Ed Simmons, formerly of ''The Colgate Comedy Hour.'' Lear, who held the title of producer, went on to create [[CBS]]'s ''[[All in the Family]]'' and its successful spin-offs. Lear and Simmons largely followed the route that Hiken had blazed, and ''The Martha Raye Show'' lasted for two additional seasons.<ref name=raye/>
In the episode which aired on September 20, 1955, guest star Tallulah Bankhead, a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], and Raye, a [[Republican Party|Republican]], welcomed Gloria Lockerman, a 12-year-old [[African American]] girl who had been a winner on CBS's ''The $64,000 Question.'' Bankhead and Raye hugged and kissed the girl. Many protest letters came, and ''TV Guide'' claimed ''The Martha Raye Show'' lost popularity because of the incident.<ref name=raye/>
==Guest stars==
Other Raye regulars were Carl Hoff and his Orchestra.<ref name=ctva/>
Among the many guest stars who appeared, some more than once, were: Harold Arlen, Gertrude Berg, Art Carney, Jack Carson, Robert Clary, Jackie Coogan, Wally Cox, Margaret Truman Daniel,, Denise Darcel, Buddy Ebsen, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Eddie Fisher, Errol Flynn, Dick Foran, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Paulette Goddard, [[Benny Goodman]], Hedda Hopper, Stubby Kaye, Buster Keaton, Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb, Peter Lawford, Paul Lynde, Gordon MacRae, Harpo Marx, Dennis O'Keefe, Ezio Pinza, Robert Preston, Vincent Price, Edward G. Robinson, Cesar Romero, Charles Ruggles, and Rise Stevens.<ref name=ctva/>
==Scheduling==
''The Martha Raye Show'' actually began in 1951 on NBC under the umbrella title ''All-Star Revue.'' Raye began as a monthly replacement series for Sid Caesa's ''Your Show of Shows.'' The name ''All-Star Revue'' was retained until January 1954, with Raye as a frequent host.<ref>Alex McNeil, ''Total Television,'' p. 522.</ref><ref name="ct540120">{{cite web|author=Larry Wolters |publisher=''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' |title=Where to Dial Today |page=A6 |url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/506002332.html?dids=506002332:506002332&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI |date=January 20, 1954 |accessdate=February 8, 2011 |quote=The All Star Revue which is presented once a month when ''Your Show of Shows'' takes a night off on Saturdays is to be renamed the Martha Raye Show starting this week.}}</ref> The revised ''Martha Raye Show'' continued to air on Saturday until the fall of 1954, when it was moved to 9 p.m. Tuesdays in alternation with ''The Milton Berle Show'' and ''The Bob Hope Show''.
In the 1955-1956 second full season, Raye's program alternated with Berle and Dinah Shore's ''The Chevy Show.'' Her television competitors the first year included ''The Red Skelton Show'' on CBS. For the second full season, the competition was ''Navy Log'' and Hiken's ''The Phil Silvers Show'', both on CBS, and Hugh O'Brian]'s ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp'' on [[ABC]]<ref>Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', appendix, network television schedules</ref>
Raye's sponsors were RCA and Sunbeam Products.<ref name=ctva/> Years later, she was the principal publicist for Polident.
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martha Raye Show, The}}
[[Category:Television Shows]]
[[Category:Television]]