Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Sid Caesar as a Performing Seal on Your Show of Shows

One of Sid Caesar's many talents was mastering the art of pantomime. His weekly TV program, Your Show of Shows, was the venue for Sid to display this talent. We have posted episodes of Sid pantomiming a piano concerto and a woman getting dressed.

Lets turn the clock back 67 years to April 1952 when Sid appeared in pantomime on Your Show of Shows as a performing seal with Imogene Coca as his trainer.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.



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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Sid Caesar Pantomimes Grieg's Piano Concerto

On May 25, 1957, Caesar's Hour featured Sid Caesar playing a pianist struggling through Grieg's Piano Concerto. Pantomime was always one of Caesar's strengths, and this skit doesn't disappoint.

Caesar's Hour wals a live, hour-long American sketch-comedy television program that aired on NBC from 1954 until 1957. The program starred, among others, Sid Caesar, Nanette Fabray, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, Janet Blair, and Milt Kamen, and featured a number of cameo roles by famous entertainers such as Joan Crawford and Peggy Lee.

Widely considered a continuation of Caesar's earlier programs, the Admiral Broadway Revue and Your Show of Shows, Caesar's Hour included most of the same writers and actors, with the notable addition of Larry Gelbart (who went on to co-create the M*A*S*H TV series with Gene Reynolds) in the latter show.

Nanette Fabray replaced Imogene Coca, who opted to star in her own TV series in 1954, The Imogene Coca Show. The writing staff of the show was reunited in 1996 for an event at the Writers Guild Theater in Los Angeles called Caesar's Hour Revisited, excerpts of which were broadcast on PBS under the title Caesar's Writers. 

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO. 




#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Sid Caesar Pantomimes Grieg's Piano Concerto

Today we're going back 61 years to May 25, 1957, when Sid Caesar performed in pantomime on Caesar's Hour. The subject was a pianist struggling to play Grieg's Piano Concerto. And in mock playing for almost six minutes, he manages to produce laughs all along the way. 

Sid's performance is reminiscent of similar ones by Victor Borge, but Sid adds his unique comic touch to every note.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.



#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Sid Caesar and Company Pantomime Toy Band Music Box

Reminiscent of the better known "Bavarian Clock" sketch from Your Show of Shows, Sid Caesar, Nanette Fabray, Howard Morris, and Carl Reiner perform in pantomime as a child's windup toy band music box.

This sketch appeared on an episode of Caesar's Hour on December 17, 1955. So let's turn the calendar back 62 years and watch the intricate movements of the players in the band as the toy goes through fast and slow cycles and finally breaks down.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.



#Throwback Thursday, #TBT

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: A Rare Classic Sid Caesar Pantomime - Woman Getting Dressed

The late, great comedian Sid Caesar, was a master at pantomime, and used it to great acclaim on his TV shows, Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour.

We are fortunate that an anonymous poster found some vintage clips of Caesar in some of his most famous routines, including this 7-minute solo sketch of a woman getting dressed.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.


#Throwback Thursday, #TBT

The Great Jewish Comedians: Ben Blue - Master of Pantomime

Ben Blue (1901-1975) was a Canadian-American actor and comedian. Born to a Jewish family as Benjamin Bernstein in Montreal, Quebec, Blue emigrated to Baltimore, Maryland at the age of nine, where he won a contest for the best impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. 

At the age of fifteen he was in a touring company and later became a stage manager and assistant general manager. He became a dance instructor and nightclub proprietor. In the 1920s Blue joined a popular orchestra, Jack White and His Montrealers. 

Blue left the band to establish himself as a solo comedian, portraying a bald-headed dumb-bell with a goofy expression. Producer Hal Roach featured him in his "Taxi Boys" comedy shorts, but Blue's dopey character was an acquired taste and he was soon replaced by other comedians. 

In 1951, Blue began concentrating on managing and appearing in nightclubs in Hollywood, San Francisco, and Reno. Blue and Maxie Rosenbloom owned and performed in Hollywood's top nightclub in the 1940s called "Slapsie Maxie's." In the 1960s he opened a nightclub in Santa Monica, California, called "Ben Blue's". It quickly became the "in" place and night after night was packed with top celebrities. Ben closed the club three years later because of health problems. He also made appearances in TV shows such as The Jack Benny Program and The Milton Berle Show.

Blue's film roles included many cameo appearances. In It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), his role was the pilot of the biplane that flew Sid Caesar and Edie Adams, and he played Luther Grilk, the town drunk, in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966). His other film appearances included small roles in The Busy Body (1967), A Guide for the Married Man (1967) and Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968). 

Here's Ben Blue in one of his pantomime skits on the Hollywood Palace TV show 50 years ago  (January 1, 1966).

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)