TV Episode ID

[Shemp]

Rewatched an old comedy retrospective (Reader's Digest LEGENDS OF COMEDY [1993]), which includes a kinescope clip of Jack, George and Jimmy Stewart doing a soft shoe dance. Which episode is that from?

[Jack Benny]

Rewatched an old comedy retrospective (Reader's Digest LEGENDS OF COMEDY [1993]), which includes a kinescope clip of Jack, George and Jimmy Stewart doing a soft shoe dance. Which episode is that from?

My guess would be that it was a pre-recorded remake of the live episode that stared Jack, George, and Bing Crosby, but Crosby was probably unavailable so Jimmy Stewart subbed in for him.

[Moose Hatrack]

That does sound like Goldie, Fields and Glide.

[Jhammes]

Indeed, the fantastically awful "Goldie, Fields, and Glide", and this looks like a live "kinnie": A Youtube poster on this video mentions this as possible being a USO live broadcast?

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=CdGXNzsgkpQ

[Moose Hatrack]

I'm just going to toss this out... maybe from George's show? One of the YouTube commentators suggests 1968... No, it would have been in color by 1968. 1950's kinescope for sure.

[Jhammes]

Finally found it. The 1958 USO Christmas Show featured scores of celebrities, including this Benny Burns and Stewart musical "interpretation". No kidding. Goldie Fields and Glide are having fun, it would seem that rehearsal was deliberately kept to a minimum.

Several DVD reviewers on Amazon (and elsewhere) mention this was never actually broadcast: instead, the USO provided hundreds of film copies to be distributed to service personnel stationed worldwide.

This show has apparently been floating around out there some time, first commercially available on VHS, then later DVD, though unfortunately no upgrade on picture or sound. Public domain, perhaps?

[Moose Hatrack]

Anybody know if the armed forces had a "closed circuit" network that could have distributed this live to members of the armed services? Or was the kinescope the sole method of distribution?