Live television — two words that conjure up excitement, suspense, and a good kind of danger — is today mostly defined by sporting events, breaking news from the campaign trail, or yet 
another chance to watch Big Brother, American Idol or America's Got Talent.
Back in the day, however, television was nearly all live — and frequently great, if this five-minute clip gaining new life on the Web is any indication.
Watch as Sid Caesar (star of Your Show of Shows and Caesar’s Hour) deftly pantomimes a domestic argument with Nanette Fabray — a sort of battling Bickersons meets Beethoven. Caesar’s legacy has often been overshadowed by the later careers of his writing staff (Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Neil Simon). But as this sketch delightfully demonstrates, Caesar needed very few words — if any — to bring down the house.
He also had Mel Brooks writing for him. :-) A great entertainer with great writers is a force to be reckoned with!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely!
ReplyDeleteOh, this is excellent! In INDYPROV we have a similar skit of improvisation to music - it is wonderful to me how easily human interactions can be set to music. We'd love to see you at a show sometime if you could make it. :)
ReplyDeleteWould love to go sometime, love Improv.
ReplyDeleteI left off a writer's name, the great Larry Gelbart who died yesterday. In the LATimes obit, it said that Bob Hope once told Sid, "I'll trade you two oil wells for one Gelbart." His writing on M*A*S*H made me interested in writing and gave me a lot of jokes to use in Elementary school. LOL http://bit.ly/2JES56