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Richard Rodgers (top) – Steve Lawrence – Steve Allen – Edie Gormé – ’twas a grand night for singing.

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Something special tonight – a celebration of the music of Richard Rodgers as presented by Steve Allen from January 19, 1956.

In case you weren’t aware, Richard Rodgers was one of the great American composers for the Musical Theatre in the 20th century. His list of accomplishments and notable contributions to Broadway are inestimable and they stretch the better part of that century.

With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the best-known American composers of the 20th century, and his compositions had a significant influence on popular music.

Rodgers is known for his songwriting partnerships, first with lyricist Lorenz Hart and then with Oscar Hammerstein II. With Hart he wrote musicals throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including Pal Joey, A Connecticut Yankee, On Your Toes and Babes in Arms. With Hammerstein he wrote musicals through the 1940s and 1950s, such as Oklahoma!, Flower Drum Song, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music. His collaborations with Hammerstein, in particular, are celebrated for bringing the Broadway musical to a new maturity by telling stories that were focused on characters and drama rather than the earlier light-hearted entertainment of the genre.

Rodgers was the first person to win all four of the top American entertainment awards in theater, film, recording, and television – an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony – now known collectively as an EGOT. In addition, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, making him the first ever to receive all five awards (later joined by Marvin Hamlisch). In 1978, Rodgers was in the inaugural group of Kennedy Center Honorees for lifetime achievement in the arts.

The extra added bonus to this appearance is the lengthy and in-depth interview Steve Allen does with Rodgers. Certainly a milestone.

The Steve Allen Show was the first in a series of prime time spin-offs from The Tonight Show, all of which were named after the host: Jack Paar (1962 to 1965) and Jay Leno (2009 to 2010) would follow in Allen’s footsteps.

The show launched the careers of cast members Don Knotts, Tom Poston, Louis Nye, Pat Harrington Jr., Tim Conway, Bill Dana, and, near the end of its run, Jim Nabors. The show’s most popular sketch was the “Man on the street” which featured Knotts as the nervous Mr. Morrison (whose mannerisms Knotts would later use for Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show), Poston as the man who could not remember his own name, Harrington as Italian golf player Guido Panzini, Nye as the smug Gordon Hathaway, and Dana as José Jiménez. Hathaway’s greeting of “Hi Ho Steverino!” became a catchphrase as did Jimenez’s “My name José Jiménez.” Dayton Allen also appeared in the sketch and spawned the catchphrase “Whyyyyy not?” Gabe Dell, previously a member of The Bowery Boys, was also a cast member. Gene Rayburn was the show’s announcer and Skitch Henderson was the bandleader.

Not sure if the video or a Kinescope of this show survives, but the audio certainly does.

A slice of Americana and a dive into the world of the Broadway Musical from the man who gave so much of it.

Enjoy.

The post Steve Allen – Richard Rodgers – 1956 – Past Daily Weekend Gallimaufry appeared first on Past Daily: A Sound Archive of News, History And Music.