The Phil Silvers Show

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The Phil Silvers Show (also known as You'll Never Get Rich and Sergeant Bilko) was a comedy television series which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959. It starred Phil Silvers as the conniving Master Sergeant Ernie Bilko of the United States Army, who spent his time trying to wheedle money using various get-rich-quick scams and con games. The series was created and largely written by Nat Hiken, and won three consecutive Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Series.

The show's success transformed Silvers from a journeyman comedian into a star, and writer-producer Hiken from a highly-regarded comedy writer into a publicly recognized creator. The American television business was already moving westward to Los Angeles, but Hiken insisted on filming the series in New York City, believing it to be more conducive to the creativity and humor.

The series was set in Fort Baxter, a sleepy, unremarkable (and non-existent) U.S. Army base in Kansas. The supporting cast included Harvey Lembeck as Cpl. Rocco Barbella, Herbie Faye as Pvt. Sam Fender, Maurice Gosfield as Pvt. Duane Doberman, Joe E. Ross as Sgt. Rupert Ritzik (the cook), Allan Melvin as Cpl. Henshaw and Billy Sands as Pvt. Dino Paparelli. The soldiers regularly helped Bilko with his schemes which were usually directed towards (or behind the back of) Col. John T. Hall (Paul Ford), the put-upon post commander.

The program, which was filmed in black-and-white, was widely rerun into the 1960s. The advent of color television rendered it, and many similar programs, less marketable than they had been previously. The series was rerun on Nick at Nite during the 1990s. Its popularity was especially enduring in Britain, where it is still shown occasionally by the BBC. In May 2006, 18 of the show's 143 episodes were compiled into a three-DVD 50th anniversary collection. Some of the show's actors went on to star in the sit-com "McHale's Navy."

The Phil Silvers Show was the basis of a critically and commercially unsuccessful 1996 movie, Sgt. Bilko, starring Steve Martin.

Trivia

• The Flintstones cartoon episode "Astro'nuts" shows an unnamed sergeant who is unmistakably a cartoon version of Sgt. Bilko. A longer-running Hanna Barbera Bilko homage can be seen in the character of Top Cat, whose vocal inflections and persona overtly mimic those of Phil Silvers.
• An episode of "The Lucy Show" guest-starred Phil Silvers as a demanding bank inspector where Lucy works. At one point her boss, Mr. Mooney, remarks that Silvers reminds him of a Sergeant he used to know.
• Nat Hiken named Phil Silvers' character after Steve Bilko, a legendary minor league slugger of the 1950s whose formidable Pacific Coast League power never carried over to his major league career.

External links

• The Phil Silvers Show at IMDb
• The Phil Silvers Show at the Museum of Broadcast Communications
• The Phil Silvers Show on the BBC Guide to Comedy
• Unofficial Phil Silvers Show Website: includes episode listing and synopsis