Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney and Louis Armstrong were the main stars of this special. Lindsay Crosby and Bob Hope also appeared but with much less screen time. The special was and still is highly entertaining. I do wish they had given Louis Armstrong more airtime though. Lots of great music, a little comedy and general star power. Still, this was a highly entertaining special with lots of great music and excellent, glossy production values. Even the kinescope looks stunning, and the videotape, judging by the clip I've seen, it even better! Though, Rosemary Clooney, who was certainly a great star, should have been given better material. She was sorta wasted here, which is a shame. In any case, the special was an all-round winner and decades later, it still holds much of the same appeal that made it such a huge hit in 1957. As for the commercials: There were a total of about three of them, each about 2 to 3 minutes long. The design of the "Edsel" car was an acquired taste, though I personally consider the admittedly unusual design to be underrated.
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Lame-Username-123426 November 2009
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Paul-30829 March 2004There seemed to be a lot of light hearted joking among Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra not to mention the surprise guest Bob Hope...it seemed they were aiming more for a comedy/music program rather than just a pure music show,and it hit it big.Giant ratings,excellent feedback from those in the business....it was the hit of the 1957/58 TV season.As for the Edsel car,I think those that didnt go to the dealers Oct 4 1957 to view the car,were repulsed by what they saw of it on TV.The close up shots of the vertical Horse Collar grille were the worst angle of the car,and they should have shyed from viewing that area much.Of course all the other bad press about the car (Teletouch shift problems,poor fit/finish,untested new features,squeaks and rattles)didnt help either(the car had been on sale almost 2 weeks before this show).Sales of Edsel were already in the toilet by the time this show aired...and its future in doubt already.Maybe this program would have been given more attention in the past 47 years if it hadnt been called the "EDSEL Show".... In the program Frank Sinatra mentioned "Edsel,its a great car".... Bob Hope said when he heard this was for Edsel cars mentioned " this will certainly get them out on the roads"...
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movibuf19622 January 2004"The Edsel Show" is generally not remembered today, but if you saw the 2002 retrospective of the famed CBS Television City studio in Hollywood, you saw a clip of this 1957 show in a medley of memorable musical variety moments. Its place in history is more technical than anything else; it has the distinction of being one of the first ever TV shows to be videotaped (and currently resides as the oldest surviving videotaped show), as opposed to being filmed on kinescope. If you were to purchase the tape of this show today, you'll only find a kinescope print on VHS, but there is a surviving show videotape of it which looks sensational (it resembles a live performance, clear as a bell, but in black-and-white) and is begging to be digitally restored. Maybe a DVD edition of this could be researched?