Mickey Rooney stars in this musical biography of George
M. Cohan which utilizes Cohan's songs to present a portrait of the actor/producer/manager/song writer/playwright/song-and-dance man from his early days in vaudeville to the last decade of his life when the once-great figure of the Broadway theater lost his touch as a creator of popular musicals but had great success as an actor. Some of the songs included in this production had never been heard before because Cohan had never gotten around to writing the music. 
SONGS include:"Yankee Doodle Boy," "Mary's a Grand Old Name," "Harrigan," "Give My Regards to Broadway," "You're a Grand Old Flag." 
This lost musical was produced & directed by famed Motion Picture Director (to become), Sidney Lumet.
                          

               October 18, 1954-May 27, 1957.
 Live ninety minute productions aired every fourth week. The range of material was vast, from dramas to musicals.

Mickey Rooney plays song and dance man, George M. Cohan one of the great figures of Broadway. He was for years successful in every aspect of the theater - actor, producer, manager, playwright, song writer, and song and dance man. The focus of this musical biography reflects Cohan's last decade or two of his life when he lost his touch as a creator of popular musicals.

The play emphasizes Cohan's days as a vaudevillian with the Four Cohans (George, his father, mother and sister Josie) and the musical comedies he wrote and starred in. 

Garry Moore narrates.

Songs include:
 "Give My Regards To Broadway," "Harrigan," "Shoes That Hurt," "The Lively Bootblack," "They're All My Friends," "I'm Going to Telegraph My Baby," "I'm Awfully Strong for You," "Why Did Nellie Leave Her Home?" "Grand Old Flag," "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "Mary Is a Grand Old Name," "So Long Mary," "The ABC Song," "Life Is Like a Musical Comedy," "Over There," "An Old Guy Like Me," "You Remind Me of My Mother," "Indians and Trees," and finale by entire cast: "Give My Regards To Broadway."

Directed by Sidney Lumet who recently directed his first motion picture, " Twelve Angry Men."

Considered a "LOST" broadcast by The Paley Center For Media.


                                       

July 29, 1957- March 30,1962. 

Announcer Hugh Downs opens the show, "The NBC Network Presents THE JACK PAAR SHOW with the Jose Melies Orchestra, and yours truly Hugh Downs. And now here's Jack."

Jack's monologue...an adult Disneyland, George Washington and why did he admit to cutting down his cherry tree?...famous birthdays in February and anecdotes about non-famous birthdays in February. 

Richard Hays sings "Sing You Sinners." Jack introduces Gypsy Rose Lee who discusses her relationship with sister June Havoc...early years performing together in vaudeville...switching birth certificates done by their mother. Jose Melies performs "Wedding of the Painted Dolls." Introduction of June Havoc who mentions that she has been performing since she was two years old. She relates who sister Gypsy posed in the nude winning many contests...first act together, "Baby June and her Pals."

Jack demonstrates new products, including a milking stool, a Lawrence Welk pretzel, Alaskan sneakers and an new book by Pat Boone. June and Gypsy sing duet "Til We Meet Again." 

Jack introduces Alexander King plugging stating that King is the most interesting man he has ever met. King plugs new book "Mine Enemy Grows Older." King relates that he was once a drug abuser, attending numerous programs to cure himself. 

Gypsy Rose Lee and sister June Havoc continue to relate stories about their early years in show business. Gypsy mentions that she was first married at the age of 13.
Jack mentions that the play "GYPSY" starring Ethel Merman will be opening soon. 
 Richard Hays sings "But Not For Me."

*Most of this series does not survive in any broadcast form. Kinescopes were discarded, burned, decomposed...whereabouts unknown. 2" Quadruplex Video Tape was expensive ($300 for a one hour reel), weighting 26 pounds, requiring great storage space. Video Tape could easily be erased and was used for new program recordings...retained briefly for a re-run and then erased or discarded. Legend has it that even Jack Paar himself hired a junk man to come to his home garage and paid to have JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOW recordings discarded (reels of kinescopes and video tapes) that were now cluttering up his space. 

During this era in television history archiving television programming was not a primary concern or vision, and considered an arcane pursuit. 

ARCHIVAL TELEVISION AUDIO, INC. retains over 70 complete and excerpt JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOW air checks (34 hours), including the complete Jack Paar's first anniversary telecast which was broadcast live from Havana Cuba (June 28, 1958). These originally recorded off the air pristine sound direct line 1/4" reel to reel audio tracks, recorded at the time of the original broadcasts, represent the only broadcast record of a "lost" visual telecast. ATA is the largest single repository (one collection), in the United Sates of Jack Paar Tonight Shows recordings. The combined archives of The Library of Congress, Paley Center for Media, and UCLA Film & Television retain a composite total of 13 hours of representative JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOW broadcasts excerpts, all KINESCOPES (sound quality inferior to originally direct line 1/4" reel to reel home recordings at the time of the broadcast). No COMPLETE intact visual and audio broadcasts survive. There are no extant video taped surviving RECORDINGS of the JACK PAAR TONIGHT SHOW...not even an excerpt. 

For four years and eight months Jack Paar reigned supreme as host of the TONIGHT SHOW with a crew of regulars, but only two stayed with him for the entire run; announcer Hugh Downs and band leader Jose Melis, a former army buddy. Familiar faces who appeared many times with Jack included Dody Goodman, Betty Johnson, Elsa Maxwell, Alexander King, Genevieve, Jack Douglas; and wife Reiko, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hans Conreid, Peggy Cass, Cliff (Charley Weaver) Arquette, and Jonathan Winters.

 Hugh Downs substituted for Jack Paar 79 times, more than any other substitute host. There were 20 different substitute hosts for Paar over the period of the series run. Joey Bishop substituted for Paar 31 times. Arlene Francis, 30 times, Jonathan Winters, 26 times, Orson Bean, 21 times and Johnny Carson 15 times. All together there were 243 broadcasts which had substitute hosts filling in for Paar during Jack Paar's TONIGHT SHOW tenure. The title of the late night broadcast changed to THE JACK PAAR SHOW which took effect on February 3, 1958. The first video-taped broadcast aired on January 5, 1959. The LAST LIVE broadcast was aired July 3, 1959. "Best of Paar " Re-runs began on July 10,1959. Beginning July 20, 1959 Jack Paar began taking off Monday nights & guest hosts would substitute for him (approximately on alternate Mondays). The first color broadcast aired on September 19, 1960.
Theme music, "Everything is Coming Up Roses" was first used beginning in the Fall of 1959. 

Location broadcast telecasts of the program telecast away from the Hudson Theater in New York City occurred 14 times during this series run. 

Jan. 13-17, 1958                     Miami Beach, Florida
July 28, 1958                        Havana,Cuba           
Nov. 3-21, 1958                      Hollywood, California
March 2-20, 1959                     Hollywood, California
Nov. 10-12, 1959                  Nassau, Bahamas (Video Tape)
Nov. 30- Dec. 10, 1959               Hollywood, California
March 28-April 1, 1960            London, England (Video Tape)
Nov.9-11, 1960                    Hawaii (Video Tape) - b&w
Nov.14-24, 1960                     Hollywood, California
March 21-24, 1961                 London, England (Video Tape)
Sept. 12-14, 1961                 West Berlin (Video Tape)
Nov. 14-17, 1961                  Hollywood, California (Tape)
Nov. 21-24, 1961                  Hollywood, California (Tape)
March 13-16, 1962                 London, England (Video Tape)




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

October 2, 1961 - August 30, 1963

Harry Reasoner and Mary Fickett are hosts for this live half-hour weekday series which deals with a variety of subjects, including art, science, history, fashion, travel, medicine, education, marriage, and customs. Included is a daily news report by Reasoner. Many celebrities also drop by and discuss their past, present and future career with Fickett and Reasoner. 

A review of past interview programs with Jack Benny, June Havoc, Bert Wheeler, and Jimmy Durante. Durante talks about fatherhood.