Episode 191.5: The Ben Blue Show (March 30, 1950)
We catch up with a short-lived but pretty good variety show
What I watched: An episode of the short-lived variety show The Ben Blue Show, starring the eponymous Blue, with musical guests Carol Richards and Ed Gallagher. The show was directed by Ralph Levy and written by Jerry Seelen, Mannie Manheim and Morris Friedman. This episode aired on March 30 on CBS, and is available to view on YouTube.
Starring: Ben Blue (nee Bernstein) was a Jewish-Canadian performer and nightclub owner who got his foot into Hollywood as part of the comedic Jack White and His Montrealers orchestra. He had appeared in a number of films, but had never fight found a role that stuck. He would have a variety of small and guest roles over the next few decades, but owning and managing nightclubs soon became his main focus. For a moment, however, he was the star of a TV show.
What happened: Ben is introduced in grandiose fashion, with men from “the four corners of the world” proclaiming his greatness. Of course, when he comes out he immediately trips over the stage, has the curtain fall on him, and gets dragged up in the air when it comes back up. Ben gives a monologue about how his show only aims for highbrow comedy, but is interrupted by a trio of acrobats. The two men assume that Ben will catch the woman, but she goes sailing off stage. More gags interrupt, including a boy with an arrow through his head, a beggar looking for his fraternity pin.
A woman sings about how her love is like spring fever, presumably with a lot of sneezing. As she stops to look out the window, a man monologues about how it always feels like spring when the heart dreams of love. The stage is pulled away for four ballerinas performing Swan Lake. Ben wanders out haplessly in a tutu and prances around for a bit before being shot by a hunter off-stage.
A young couple are arguing about what to do with their night. He proposes going for an “old-fashioned walk”, and they do a song-and-dance routine about it. Gen Z would be scandalized by the things that happened on those walks.
The next sketch sees a boy causing a ruckus on a train ride with his sister, mother and grandpa. (Another throwback to my KFO fanfic!) Along comes dad Ben, weighted down with luggage, including snowshoes and a live dog. Things get even worse when he has to search for the tickets. The family starts trying to set up the sleeper car, but Ben proves very bad at giving Grandpa a boost. We get a brief appearance from a black porter, who offers Ben a ladder that he stubbornly refuses. Things get messy when Ben has to share a bunk with his kid, father-in-law, and dog. The dog is very well-behaved, all things considered. After the sketch we go right to credits, with no time for a signoff.
What happened: My expectations for short-lived variety shows are pretty low. We’ve seen a bunch of DuMont and ABC shows with second-string hosts introducing third-string acts, and even those on the richer networks are often pretty dull. But I did genuinely like The Ben Blue Show. Maybe it was just low expectations, but I enjoyed it more than I have a lot of variety shows with much bigger names. Ralph Levy, who previously worked on The Ed Wynn Show and The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, and brings the same level of verve even when working with a “lesser” talent.
The main thing that distinguishes The Ben Blue Show is the detail put into the physical comedy. The opening sketch, with the many heralds, must have required a lot of set design, and a physical stunt with at least a small chance of actually getting hurt, and the monologue also includes some brief gags that aren’t . The train sketch also involves a good amount of blocking, additional actors, and even a dog. It’s not quite Fireball Fun-for-All, but it’s a lot of work to make the audience laugh.
The variety acts are also pretty good, if nothing stand-out. Ben taking his own turn after the ballet dancers is a good examples of how these shows tried to merge the twin demands of the host’s comedy and featuring relatively earnest musical and dance acts. Blue maybe doesn’t have the personality of a Jerry Lewis, but he’s a great physical comedian. Taken in isolation, apart from my knowledge of their reputations, if you’d told me Ben Blue was the huge star and Bob Hope was the short-lived imitator, I’d believe you. But, alas, Hollywood is not always fair.
Coming up next: We’re back in the main timeline with Kukla, Fran and Ollie, as Fran tries to give a speech.