Your Show of Shows

For the 1929 movie, see The Show of Shows.

Your Show of Shows
Imogene Coca and Sid Caesar in a 1952 skit.
Genre	Variety show
Created by	Sylvester L. Weaver Jr.
Directed by	Nat Hiken Max Liebman
Starring	Sid Caesar Imogene Coca Howard Morris Carl Reiner James Starbuck
Narrated by	Ed Herlihy (announcer)
Theme music composer	Mel Tolkin Clay Warnick Max Liebman
Opening theme	"Stars Over Broadway"
Composer(s)	Irwin Kostal Johnny Mandel Alex North
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	160
Production
Producer(s)	Max Liebman
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	90 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural
Original run	February 25, 1950 (1950-02-25) – June 5, 1954 (1954-06-05)
Chronology
Followed by	Caesar's Hour

Your Show of Shows was a live 90-minute variety show that was broadcast weekly in the United States on NBC (Saturdays, 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time/6:00-7:30 p.m. Pacific Time), from February 25, 1950, until June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca.

Other featured performers were Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, Bill Hayes, Judy Johnson, The Hamilton Trio and the soprano Marguerite Piazza. José Ferrer made several guest appearances on the series. The series was telecast from the now-demolished International Theatre (also known as the Park Theatre) at 5 Columbus Circle and the Century Theater, now demolished, in New York.

During 2002, Your Show of Shows was ranked #30 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

Production notes

The series was produced by Sylvester "Pat" Weaver and directed by Max Liebman who had been producing musical revues at the Taminant resort in the Poconos for many years prior. Caesar, Coca, and Liebman had worked on The Admiral Broadway Revue from January to June 1949. Writers for the series included Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Danny Simon, Mel Tolkin, and Carl Reiner who, though a cast member, also worked with the writers. Originating from vaudeville, the series is historically significant for the evolution of the variety genre, by incorporating situation comedies (sitcoms) like The Hickenloopers; this added a narrative element to the traditional multi-act structure.

A common misconception is that Larry Gelbart wrote for Your Show of Shows; he in fact wrote for its successor program, Caesar's Hour, which was broadcast from 1954 to 1957. Likewise, Woody Allen did not write for Your Show of Shows, as he only worked on several Sid Caesar TV specials that debuted after it.

Carl Reiner has stated that the time he spent on Your Show of Shows was the inspiration for The Dick Van Dyke Show. Your Show of Shows also inspired the 1982 movie My Favorite Year, produced by Mel Brooks, and the play Laughter on the 23rd Floor written by Neil Simon.

Ratings

• 1950-1951: #4
• 1951-1952: #8
• 1952-1953: #19

Episode status

Most of the kinescopes of the series were discarded by NBC, and so few copies of the series survive. A 1973 theatrical movie titled Ten from Your Show of Shows featured ten sketches from the series edited together.

In 2000, original scripts from the show were found in a closet belonging to producer Max Liebman in the City Center building in New York City. The find made the front page of the New York Times. It is believed they were left there upon Liebman's death in 1981.

After the program ended Imogene Coca starred in her own one-year NBC comedy and variety show, The Imogene Coca Show. Thereafter, Sid Caesar changed his format and initiated Caesar's Hour.

Syndication and DVD release

Reruns of surviving kinescopes were displayed by Comedy Central during the early 1990s. Skits from the series which are from Sid Caesar's personal collection are available on The Sid Caesar Collection DVD set.

External links

• Your Show of Shows at the Internet Movie Database
• Your Show of Shows at TV.com
• Ten From Your Show of Shows (1973) at IMDB
• The Sid Caesar Collection