24/10/2013 1:41 pm  #1


Edsel Show

One of the big blockbusters on TV was the Edsel Show of October 13th 1957.
Bing hosted, with Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Bob Hope, and Loius Armstong, about the strongest possible team that could be assembled aty the time.

I have had an audio version of this for years and recently managed to pick up a DVD, which I thought would give me an extra, visual dimension to what I already knew of the content

I could hardly expect yet another dimension to the entertainment.

Apart from the fact that the labelling is misleading - it contains but 34 minutes of the full show, it is obvious that the producers of the DVD combined total ignoarnce of the content with blythe disregard for some basic research, and decided to give titles to the songs which they have dreamt up from their hearing of the lyrics. Hence the extra dimension to my entertainment. 

We start off with a song "Jazz", which I suppose is not too bad as a substitute for "Now You Has Jazz".
But it gets worse, and I am afraid I could hardly prevent myself laughing out loud.
"Baby, Won't You Please Come Home" becomes "Baby come Home"
"Mexicali Rose" becomes "Spanish Rose"  !!
"Sweet Leilani" = "You Are my Paradise"
"I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plan"  = "I've Lost The Man I've Found"
"Whiffenpoof Song" = "Ba Ba Ba""
"The Sweetheart Of Sigma Chi" =  "Girl Of My Dreams"
"September Song" = "These Precious Days"
"There's A Long Long Trail" = "Land Of My Dreams"
"The Birth Of The Blues" = "The Blues"
and after that lot the transmogrification of "On The Sunny Side Of The Steet" to "Sunnyside Of The Street" does not look too bad.

The DVD comes from Quantum Leap and is dated 2005.
People who produce material like this should be ashamed of themselves. They betray ignorance of their field of activity, disdain for a basic bit of research and a ridiculously low level of knowledge of some of the standards of the era with which they are dealing.

The only songs given the correct titles are "True Love" and "Road To Morocco",
Quite a number of songs from the show are omitted from the DVD. It would be interesting to know what the producers would have made of them. Would they have been able to distinguish "I'll Walk Alone" from "I'm Walking Behind You", what would they have made of "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive", or " 'S Wonderful"?



 

 

24/10/2013 3:49 pm  #2


Re: Edsel Show

There have been bootleg copies of the complete show floating about for ages. You might now even be able to catch it on YouTube if you keep your eyes open before the Sinatra lawyers yank it off the web.


All the best,
Paul M. Mock
 

24/10/2013 10:55 pm  #3


Re: Edsel Show

paulmock wrote:

There have been bootleg copies of the complete show floating about for ages. You might now even be able to catch it on YouTube if you keep your eyes open before the Sinatra lawyers yank it off the web.

Haha, tell me about it. There are a few Bing/Frank videos I'd like to upload to my Bing youtube channel, but I ain't gonna risk it.

There's a beautiful quality copy of the Edsel Show on youtube, part 1 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VFUZhttfxA

Supposedly the oldest videotape recording in existence. I have a copy of the kinescope and it's not nearly as nice. 

 

24/10/2013 10:59 pm  #4


Re: Edsel Show

Festival films has it.


Peace and Love! 
 

25/10/2013 2:02 am  #5


Re: Edsel Show

Haha .Yep They Definitely Should've Done Some Research. I Have To Laugh At Their Translation Of Bings Song Titles.

 

25/10/2013 7:33 pm  #6


Re: Edsel Show

Wasn't this the show that Bing and Rosie were at the studio, on time, if not early and Frank kept them waiting and they played a little joke on Frank during one of the songs?

 

28/10/2013 5:56 pm  #7


Re: Edsel Show

windyd wrote:

Haha .Yep They Definitely Should've Done Some Research. I Have To Laugh At Their Translation Of Bings Song Titles.

I agree, it sounds like a translation problem. Perhaps it was translated  through more than one language and then back to English, or at least into a far eastern language and back.

 

14/10/2015 8:31 pm  #8


Re: Edsel Show

IN 'The Chronicle' Centralia, Washington State - BC as Anita says - below Canada, in their edition on Tuesday 13th. October there is a note in 'Today in History', that in 1957 on CBS-TV - The Edsel Show - a one hour show presented by Bing Crosby, it was the first show to use  videotape technology to delay the broadcast to the West Coast.
I wrote to them reminding them that the 14th is the 38th Anniversary of Bing's passing. Nothing appeared but perhaps in Thursday's edition they may do something. They only publish on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I had sent them a photo of 'the cake' at Leeds.

 

09/12/2016 5:29 pm  #9


Re: Edsel Show

I'm bumping this thread as well if folks would like to see a quality copy of the complete "Edsel" show up on Youtube, posted by the person that found the master videotape that survived all these years at CBS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze0Az9tdkHg&feature=youtu.be


Zane Johnson
 

14/12/2016 6:13 am  #10


Re: Edsel Show

Thanks Zane, I'll look forward to seeing the show. It was telecast in Australia in August 1961 as THE BING CROSBY SHOW, possibly an abridged version). One reviewer wrote 'I have to hand it to Bing Crosby...All [who appeared] were excellent...[Bing] is still going as strongly as ever'. Ford did not release the Edsel here but I still have a small plastic model of the car which I obtained when it was launched as I happened to be studying in Chicago that year.

 

17/12/2016 5:47 am  #11


Re: Edsel Show

I've just watched THE EDSEL SHOW and seen some great artists at the top of their form. Thanks Zane.

 

21/12/2016 1:54 pm  #12


Re: Edsel Show

You are very welcome, Graham. That is the best version of the show I've ever seen. I've had copies of the multi-generational kinescope version, where the faces are so blurred it's frustrating. I'm glad that the poster (Kris Trexler) was finally able to put up this version up on YouTube (where it's been for a year, but I completely missed it until now!).


Zane Johnson
 

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