Kraft Music Hall (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Kraft Music Hall is an umbrella title for several television series aired by NBC
in the United States
from the 1950s to the 1970s in the musical variety genre, sponsored by Kraft Foods
, the producers of a well-known line of cheese
s and related dairy products. Their commercials were usually announced by "The Voice of Kraft", Ed Herlihy
.
was a radio
series aired from 1933 to 1949. It was one of the most popular programs of its type, particularly during the period (1936–1946) when it was hosted by Bing Crosby
. However, unlike similar programs, it did not make the transition directly to network television; Kraft's early ventures into that field entailed the sponsorship of a famed series of dramas, initially broadcast live, under the title Kraft Television Theatre
.
, who had become television's first superstar by hosting an earlier NBC program, the Texaco Star Theater
. An alternate summer host in the program's early period was the English comedian and singer Dave King. The program achieved its greatest success while being hosted by Perry Como
beginning in 1959.
, known as the Kraft Summer Music Hall, with singer John Davidson
as the host. Comedian George Carlin
was a featured regular.
Beginning in 1963, Kraft Music Hall specials hosted by Como were presented about once a month, through 1967. During the 1963-64
and 1964-65
television seasons, Kraft Suspense Theatre
(co-produced by Como's "Roncom Films") was broadcast in the same time slot during the remaining weeks.
In the fall of 1967, the Kraft Music Hall returned as a weekly series, but without Perry Como who abruptly ended his association with Kraft Foods after the 1966-67 season. A policy of guest hosts was implemented, employing some of the leading figures in the U.S. entertainment industry at the time, including Rock Hudson
, Lorne Greene
, George Burns
, Dinah Shore
and Woody Allen
. In 1968, the practice of regular hosts was reinstated, with programs starring, in succession, country
singer Eddy Arnold
, John Davidson (again) and Ed McMahon
. Arnold's programs all featured an appearance by comedian/impressionist John Byner
.
Other leading performers who appeared on the Kraft Music Hall on a reasonably frequent basis were Don Rickles
, Alan King
, Steve Lawrence
and Eydie Gorme
, Mitzi Gaynor
, Bobby Darin
, Roy Rogers
and Dale Evans
, Wayne Newton
, Johnny Cash
and Simon & Garfunkel.
was presented as an episode of the Kraft Music Hall, as were the earliest telecasts of the Friars' Club roasts
, which later became a regular feature of The Dean Martin Show
.
.
In the summer of 1969 - from May 14th till Aug 13th - Tony Sandler
and Ralph Young
, a.k.a. Sandler and Young
hosted the NBC Show for 13 weeks from London.
Some other programs that summer were hosted by Don Ho
) and Des O'Connor
in 1970 and 1971.
orchestra provided most of the music, again with the exception of the summer shows, and Peter Gennaro
was the choreographer
.
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from the 1950s to the 1970s in the musical variety genre, sponsored by Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...
, the producers of a well-known line of cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
s and related dairy products. Their commercials were usually announced by "The Voice of Kraft", Ed Herlihy
Ed Herlihy
Edward Joseph "Ed" Herlihy was an American newsreel narrator for Universal-International. His voice was heard in countless films on every subject, making him one of the best-known voices in broadcast history...
.
The original Kraft Music Hall
The original Kraft Music HallKraft Music Hall
The Kraft Music Hall was a popular variety program, featuring top show business entertainers, which aired on NBC radio and television from 1933 to 1971....
was a radio
Old-time radio
Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
series aired from 1933 to 1949. It was one of the most popular programs of its type, particularly during the period (1936–1946) when it was hosted by Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
. However, unlike similar programs, it did not make the transition directly to network television; Kraft's early ventures into that field entailed the sponsorship of a famed series of dramas, initially broadcast live, under the title Kraft Television Theatre
Kraft Television Theatre
Kraft Television Theatre is an American drama/anthology television series that began May 7, 1947 on NBC, airing at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. In January 1948, it moved to 9pm on Wednesdays, continuing in that timeslot until 1958. Initially produced by the J...
.
1950s
By 1958, Kraft was prepared to revive the Music Hall for television. The first host was "Mr. Television", Milton BerleMilton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
, who had become television's first superstar by hosting an earlier NBC program, the Texaco Star Theater
Texaco Star Theater
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successful examples of American television broadcasting, remembered as the show that gave Milton Berle the nickname "Mr...
. An alternate summer host in the program's early period was the English comedian and singer Dave King. The program achieved its greatest success while being hosted by Perry Como
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...
beginning in 1959.
1960s
In 1966, the program was a summer replacement for The Andy Williams ShowThe Andy Williams Show
The Andy Williams Show is a television variety show which ran from 1959 to 1971 , and a short-lived run in syndication, beginning in the fall of 1976...
, known as the Kraft Summer Music Hall, with singer John Davidson
John Davidson (entertainer)
John Hamilton Davidson, Sr. is an American singer, actor and game show host known for hosting That's Incredible!, Time Machine, and Hollywood Squares in the 1980s, and a revival of The $100,000 Pyramid in 1991....
as the host. Comedian George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
was a featured regular.
Beginning in 1963, Kraft Music Hall specials hosted by Como were presented about once a month, through 1967. During the 1963-64
1963-64 United States network television schedule
This was the television schedule on all three networks for the fall season beginning in September 1963.ABC began its new fall schedule a week early, beating CBS and NBC out of the starting gate. New series debuting this week included sci-fi anthology The Outer Limits, police/lawyer series Arrest...
and 1964-65
1964-65 United States network television schedule
This was the television schedule on all three U.S. TV networks for the fall season beginning in September 1964. This is the first full season in which NBC broadcast more than 50% of its schedule in color, a fact which the network emphasized during its September 19-25 premiere week.CBS and ABC,...
television seasons, Kraft Suspense Theatre
Kraft Suspense Theatre
Kraft Suspense Theatre, an anthology series, was telecast from 1963 to 1965 on NBC. Sponsored by Kraft Foods, it was seen three weeks out of every four and was pre-empted for Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall specials once monthly...
(co-produced by Como's "Roncom Films") was broadcast in the same time slot during the remaining weeks.
In the fall of 1967, the Kraft Music Hall returned as a weekly series, but without Perry Como who abruptly ended his association with Kraft Foods after the 1966-67 season. A policy of guest hosts was implemented, employing some of the leading figures in the U.S. entertainment industry at the time, including Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
, Lorne Greene
Lorne Greene
Lorne Greene , was the stage name of Lyon Himan Green, OC, a Canadian actor.His television roles include Ben Cartwright on the western Bonanza, and Commander Adama in the science fiction movie and subsequent TV Series Battlestar Galactica...
, George Burns
George Burns
George Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...
, Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
and Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
. In 1968, the practice of regular hosts was reinstated, with programs starring, in succession, country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer Eddy Arnold
Eddy Arnold
Richard Edward Arnold , known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more...
, John Davidson (again) and Ed McMahon
Ed McMahon
Edward Peter "Ed" McMahon, Jr. was an American comedian, game show host and announcer. He is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's sidekick and announcer on The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. He also hosted the original version of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995...
. Arnold's programs all featured an appearance by comedian/impressionist John Byner
John Byner
John Byner is an American actor, comedian, and impressionist who has had a lengthy television and movie career. His voice work includes the cartoon series The Ant and the Aardvark, in which the title characters are voiced by Byner's impressions of Dean Martin and Jackie Mason,...
.
Other leading performers who appeared on the Kraft Music Hall on a reasonably frequent basis were Don Rickles
Don Rickles
Donald Jay "Don" Rickles is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic....
, Alan King
Alan King (comedian)
Alan King was an American actor and comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. King became well known as a Jewish comedian and satirist. He was also a serious actor who appeared in a number of movies and television shows. King wrote several books, produced films, and...
, Steve Lawrence
Steve Lawrence
Steve Lawrence is an American singer and actor, perhaps best known as a member of a duo with his wife Eydie Gormé, billed as "Steve and Eydie"...
and Eydie Gorme
Eydie Gormé
Eydie Gormé is an American singer, specializing, with her husband, Steve Lawrence, in traditional pop music, in the form of ballads and breezy swing. She has earned numerous awards, including the Grammy and the Emmy...
, Mitzi Gaynor
Mitzi Gaynor
-Life and career:Gaynor was born as Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago, Illinois to Pauline Fisher, a dancer, and Henry von Gerber, a violinist, cellist, and music director. The family first moved to Detroit and when she was eleven to Hollywood, California.She trained as a ballerina...
, Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
, Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...
and Dale Evans
Dale Evans
Dale Evans, was an American writer, movie star, and singer-songwriter. She was the third wife of singing cowboy Roy Rogers.-Early life:...
, Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton is an American singer and entertainer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He performed over 30,000 solo shows in Las Vegas over a period of over 40 years, earning him the nicknames The Midnight Idol, Mr. Las Vegas and Mr. Entertainment...
, Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
and Simon & Garfunkel.
Taping
The series in late 1960s and early 1970s was recorded at the NBC studio in Midwood, Brooklyn, New York, at Avenue M and East 14th Street. A show with Rickles was partly taped on Avenue M and the Avenue M station of the BMT subway line, less than two blocks away.Country Music Association Awards and Friars Club' roasts
An early telecast of the Country Music Association AwardsCountry Music Association Awards
The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards, or the CMAs, and not to be confused with the ACM Awards, are voted on by business members of the Country Music Association. The first CMA awards were presented at an untelevised ceremony in Nashville's Municipal Auditorium in 1967...
was presented as an episode of the Kraft Music Hall, as were the earliest telecasts of the Friars' Club roasts
Roast (comedy)
A roast is an event in which an individual is subjected to a public presentation of comedic insults, praise, outlandish true and untrue stories, and heartwarming tributes, the implication being that the roastee is able to take the jokes in good humor and not as serious criticism or insult, and...
, which later became a regular feature of The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by crooner Dean Martin...
.
Summer hosts
Summer hosts during this late period of the show included BritonsUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
In the summer of 1969 - from May 14th till Aug 13th - Tony Sandler
Tony Sandler
Tony Sandler, is a singer, entertainer and performer...
and Ralph Young
Ralph Young
Ralph Stuart "Pep" Young was an American Major League Baseball second baseman. During his nine major league seasons, he played with the New York Yankees , Detroit Tigers , and Philadelphia Athletics .-Background:Young was a right-handed second baseman and switch hitter...
, a.k.a. Sandler and Young
Sandler and Young
Sandler and Young were a popular singing team from the 1960s through the 1980s, composed of Belgian-born Tony Sandler and native New Yorker Ralph Young....
hosted the NBC Show for 13 weeks from London.
Some other programs that summer were hosted by Don Ho
Don Ho
Donald Tai Loy "Don" Ho was a Hawaiian and traditional pop musician, singer and entertainer.-Life and career:Ho, of Chinese, Hawaiian, Portuguese, Dutch, and German descent, was born in the small Honolulu neighborhood of Kakaako, but he grew up in Kāneohe on the windward side of the island of Oahu...
) and Des O'Connor
Des O'Connor
Des O'Connor, CBE is an English comedian and singer. A former talkshow host, he was the presenter of the long-running Channel 4 gameshow Countdown for two years...
in 1970 and 1971.
Constants
Despite the variety of casts and formats employed by the program over the years, there were some constants as well. Longtime Kraft announcer Herlihy voiced all but the summer programs, and the Peter MatzPeter Matz
Peter Matz was an award winning American musician, composer, arranger and conductor. His musical career in film, theater, television and studio recording spanned fifty years, and he worked with a number of prominent artists, including Marlene Dietrich, Noël Coward and Barbra Streisand...
orchestra provided most of the music, again with the exception of the summer shows, and Peter Gennaro
Peter Gennaro
Peter Gennaro was an American dancer and choreographer.-Biography:Gennaro was born in Metairie, Louisiana. He made his Broadway debut in the ensemble of Make Mine Manhattan in 1948. He followed this with Kiss Me, Kate and Guys and Dolls...
was the choreographer
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
.